BNC (RGBS) Output to Plasma

Michael Roma

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I have a HP PL5060N plasma TV (see link to specs below) that I would like to display my Sega Star Wars Arcade on to save some space in the gameroom.

The plasma has a VGA input that I was going to use but will I simply need a BNC to VGA cable to do this like this...

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=bnc+to+vga+converter&hl=en&cid=12765768459760178807#

If not, what is needed to make this happen?

HP PL5060N Specs
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c00608348.pdf

swa_bnc1.jpg

These go out to the rear projection TV...

swa_bnc2.jpg

That is a male BNC connection.
 
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Out of curiosity, what are those 4 BNC outs labeled? That VGA to 5-wire breakout you listed uses RGBHV, but your output only has 4 (instead of 5) Does Star Wars just use one sync cable?

A lot of pro AV plasmas actually have 5-wire RGBHV connectors on them. But yeah, that is a converter cable that adapts 5 wire to VGA and vice versa. My only concern though is that the Star Wars game might not be outputting a signal that is VGA or RGBHV compatible because it only has 4 BNC connectors instead of the normal 5 (or 3 for some component video applications).
 
This is an easy one - sort of.

On the connector side of the metal cage should be a standard 15 pin VGA connector.
Plug this directly in to the monitor's VGA connector.

Now here's the tricky part ... the game outputs a medium resolution signal, I don't know if
that will work on that particular model TV. We've done dozens of conversions with Vizio
TVs and they work happily with Sega medium res games (Lost World, Daytona, Star Wars, etc).
If it doesn't work you'll need to get a converter card off Ebay for $40 or so.

JD


I have a HP PL5060N plasma TV (see link to specs below) that I would like to display my Sega Star Wars Arcade on to save some space in the gameroom.

The plasma has a VGA input that I was going to use but will I simply need a BNC to VGA cable to do this like this...

That is a male BNC connection.
 
I just checked the connector side of the PCB stack's metal cage and do not see a VGA connector. There is a 5 pin molex with R, G, B, B/W and W wires (video I assume) that comes out and connects to the board that outputs the video signal via BNC connectors. You can see it in the above pictures.

- Mike
 
I just checked the connector side of the PCB stack's metal cage and do not see a VGA connector. There is a 5 pin molex with R, G, B, B/W and W wires (video I assume) that comes out and connects to the board that outputs the video signal via BNC connectors. You can see it in the above pictures.

- Mike

It should be on the big CPU cage mounted on the side
of the monitor cabinet.

JD
 

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It should be on the big CPU cage mounted on the side
of the monitor cabinet.

JD

Any idea which Sega Model 2 or 3 systems have the VGA connector? I haven't seen that before on any of my Sega Model 2 or 3 games. I have the following Sega Model 2 games: Sky Target, Virtua Cop 2, Wave Runner. The Model 3 game I have is Sega Super GT.
 
Any idea which Sega Model 2 or 3 systems have the VGA connector? I haven't seen that before on any of my Sega Model 2 or 3 games. I have the following Sega Model 2 games: Sky Target, Virtua Cop 2, Wave Runner. The Model 3 game I have is Sega Super GT.

I don't know about the Model 2 games, I don't have
any out in the warehouse to look at. The Super GT should
have the connector. The manuals for the games that have
them show it listed in the wiring diagrams.

JD
 
Here is a pic of my SW metal cage. No VGA connection.

/swa_video.jpg[/IMG]

Hmm, I guess there are different variations. Basically you
will need one of these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/RGB-CGA-EGA-YUV...890?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19be367b12

You will take the video out from the 5 pin connector, pipe it
through this converter than connect the converter's VGA output
to the monitor. I use these boards on Arm Champs and a lot
of Cruisin' Exoticas. It should work fine on a Star Wars.

JD
 
I have one of the converter board you recommended on the way (should be here by this weekend hopefully).

Do I take the 5 wire (R,G,B,S,Ground) molex connector that comes from the main game PCB (and plugs into the board that converts it to BNC connections pictured above) and plug that into this converter board at the 8 pin RGBS connector?

I am assuming that this is where it will need to go but I will need to create a connector to match up the R,G,B,S, Ground wires. Am I correct?

- Mike
 

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I have one of the converter board you recommended on the way (should be here by this weekend hopefully).

Do I take the 5 wire (R,G,B,S,Ground) molex connector that comes from the main game PCB (and plugs into the board that converts it to BNC connections pictured above) and plug that into this converter board at the 8 pin RGBS connector?

I am assuming that this is where it will need to go but I will need to create a connector to match up the R,G,B,S, Ground wires. Am I correct?

- Mike

The card should come with 2 connector cables, a 6 pin for the
video and a 2 pin for the power.

The 2 pin connector hooks up to 5 volts.

With the 6 pin connector, tie off the yellow lead, you
shouldn't need it. Clip the end of the video 5 pin connector
going to the card cage, match up the red to red, blue to
blue and green to green. Connect the white from the game
(sync) to the gray (may be white) on the converter. The last
wire from the game is ground which connects to the black
wire on the converter. Connector your power connector to a
5 volt source (I think you can use 12 volts too).

There are 2 VGA output connectors, connect either one
to your monitor or TV.

Once you turn it on you need to do a little tweaking. You should
immediately see some Chinese lettering appear on top of the screen.
After a second you will get a picture or a NO SIGNAL message. Press
and hold AUTO for a second, usually this will get everything
going. Now go into menu and you'll have to fiddle around to
get the thing into Engrish (I think it's the last option). Once
you get into Engrish you can change the resolution, adjust the
screen, etc.

I did a Lost World in a 42" LG TV about 2 years ago, it's
still running. We've got a dozen Arm Champs on the road
with these in them too.

JD


PS - I didn't misspell Engrish.
 
JD, Thanks for the very detailed instructions!!! I am hoping to get the converter board today or tomorrow and connecting it soon thereafter.

- Mike
 
Alright, the converter board arrived today and I connected it (JD, those instructions were spot on).

I adjusted the color pots and hit AUTO and it looks pretty good. Only issue is that within a minute or so the picture on the TV becomes washed out and looks terrible. Any suggestion?

- Mike
 
Alright, the converter board arrived today and I connected it (JD, those instructions were spot on).

I adjusted the color pots and hit AUTO and it looks pretty good. Only issue is that within a minute or so the picture on the TV becomes washed out and looks terrible. Any suggestion?

- Mike

Yes.

Go into the setup menu, find the options that say CLAMP ST and CLAMP SP

CLAMP ST should be set to 03, CLAMP SP should be set to 04.

If they are already set to this, then try increasing the settings by 1 digit. SP should
always be higher than ST.

JD
 
That did it!!!

Pictures looks a hell of a lot better now. The picture is not as bright and vivid as the original rear projection but will do until I tweak it a little more. Are there any generic settings you use for color, display resolution, etc?

- Mike
 
That's the problem with upconversion. It never looks
as good as it did on the monitor it was intended to be
displayed on.

You have to play around with the settings, I usually set the
output resolution to 1024x768 (the highest setting doesn't
work well on LCD TVs, usually I get a blank screen) and
then tweak the various settings on the card and TV
until it looks its best.

Curious thing about using LCD's in games, one of our employees
is a DDR freak and claims there is a "lag" when using LCD TVs
on a DDR or Pump it Up.

JD


That did it!!!

Pictures looks a hell of a lot better now. The picture is not as bright and vivid as the original rear projection but will do until I tweak it a little more. Are there any generic settings you use for color, display resolution, etc?

- Mike
 
I just wanted to publicly thank PCJohn for taking his time to share his knowledge. Thanks to him I was able to effortlessly get my SWA to display on my plasma.

Thanks again PCJohn and I really appreciate your willingness to help.

- Mike

SWA_mounted01.jpg
 
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