GBA Transverter Review

Excellent review seen. Your bad number 3 is most likely the result of normal TV overscanning. The amount goes down the better quality set you have, but consumer sets can't typically do better than 3-5%. Broadcasters are well aware of the problem, but game devs manage to forget all too often. Aaaah, this thread is bringing back memories of playing Warsong on a crappy hotel TV!

Chibi:

http://pages.prodigy.net/tan.ax/GBAT...er/PBSmall.jpg
This is how much it takes up unscaled.

http://pages.prodigy.net/tan.ax/GBAT...er/Desktop.jpg
Here it is running on my 21" VGA monitor.

http://pages.prodigy.net/tan.ax/GBAT.../sonicwide.jpg
This is the wide screen setting. Anything within the red border is what approximately shows up on the screen. If the video capture card is set to PAL mode and the Transverter as well, the cropping border expands and more detail shows, but there's a terrible dot crawl and discoloration, no doubt a product of voltage levels and frame-rates being fundamentally different from those of Europe.

Edit: LHadatt: The connector doesn't have RGB leads, therefore you can't use component or RGB cables with it. To test the device I have used the cable that came with it and my Interact PSOne AV transparent cable. They both output composite, S-Video and righ and left pre-amplified audio.


seen

So wait... could I plug my Sony PS1 monitor into this thing?

That would be sweet...

I can see the gears turning already...

Doesn't that defeat the purpose of hooking up to a TV?

Quote:

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Originally posted by 88mph
So wait... could I plug my Sony PS1 monitor into this thing?

That would be sweet...

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I knew someone would ask about this. No, you can't just plug the monitor in, because the designs of both don't physically allow it. You can come close to the AV port on the Transverter, but the PSOne screen is turned over in a way that it stares right into the GBA screen. You use an extension cable like the one here, or create some kind of an L shaped adapter plug then that would work. And even then, you would have to hack the Trasnverter to output RGB on pins 11, 12, and 9 respectively, which is not that difficult to do. I may do it today, but my PSOne monitor is broken so I have only my ugly 16 color CGA monitor to test it. I'll try to do it if I have time.


seen

Well, I did it. I modded the Transverter to output RGB video on it's video connector.

http://pages.prodigy.net/tan.ax/GBAT...r/RGBPSone.jpg
An image of the RGB modded GBA Transverter running Sonic Advance on gutted PSOne monitor. The vertical white crap on the screen in because the LCD is fractured in that area. Otherwise, the screen is stretched to it's maximum in full screen mode unlike the GBA TV Adapter, which has a solid border around it. No portions of the screen are cropped in Full and Wide screen modes as with composite video output. The scaling of the screen looks better than that of the GBA TV adapter, in RGB mode, i.e. they double every pixel instead of every third pixel, so the image looks more consistent. The Transverter is definitely the one to get if you want to use the RGB connection. The modification itself was not difficult, but you must have a steady hand because you're soldering to the video chip directly.

http://pages.prodigy.net/tan.ax/GBAT...ter/RgbMap.jpg
This is how to hack the Transverter to output RGB video. The c-sync line is optional, but the majority of my RGB cables work with that pin, so it is present in the diagram.

I have to say that I'm surprised to see that the Transverter performs better in RGB than the GBA TV adapter. Also, I must mention that the previously encountered pixel holes are sometimes not present when the system is reset. The visual quality is not diminished in any way by this.


seen

Wow, that's some great info there! I might need to order one for myself if the full screen picture on this one is actually useable. :) Sadly, my hand is not so steady with a soldering iron. I like big obvious solder points. Not that any of that would stop me... I'll just bust out the chip I ruined on a Cube component cable (my hand wasn't steady enough that day) for some practice solders.

It wasn't that difficult to solder to the points on the chip. Just rest the soldering iron on something and poke. Also, use very little solder... no globs, because you might bridge neighboring pins, and then you have to get it off, which is not a pleasant procedure.


seen

I have updated the GBA Transverter review on my website to include comparisons of the screens output by both the GBA TV Adapter and the Transverter. It is also now up to date with all of the talk encountered here.


seen