I just got a VDIGI for my PJ and Xbox looks awsome. My dash looks like crap because if you don't have Xbox Live the dashboard doesn't support 480p(some kind of upgrade when you log in) Most games have worked for me so far except for my kid's Spongebob game. Xbox in HD on the 9' diagonal screen is awsome. Same for Progresive scan DVD player.

Not needing the PC for viewing makes the PJ kid friendly. I can also make DVD's of my kids favorite shows with my Tivo and I get 2 hours peace and quiet per disk!

Quality of the video is at least as good as with the PC.

It is worth every penny. Just go to VDIGI.COM and order there. You will be assured of getting the the most recent version and I've seen them go on ebay for more (with shipping)than you pay retail from them. Go figure.

Don't be afraid of the shipping from Hong Kong. I got mine in about a week in perfect condition.

I will try to post screen shots from my PJ. I've owed them since finishing my build months ago. Too much work to have time to fool around with tech stuff.

Just thought I would add my $.02 here

Hang in there!!

hanginthere, I would love to see pics of the xbox in action and a movie via the progressive scan dvd player. I have been trying to decide on what to go with.

Chad N.

Do you think this part http://www.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dk...=225210&Site=US can be used instead of MAX4383?

Thanks for your $.02 hangingthere. I am asking for one for Christmas along with component cables for the gamecube. I hope I get as good of results as people are with the xbox.

you will have to buy the proper cable for the gamecube but they are available and not too expensive.

One thing I forgot to add is that if you have a Mod chip in your game system(like me) you can also watch Divx movies downloaded from the internet. I've had Madagascar saved to the HD for some time and it looks really good even with the compression needed to make the file a managable size (about 700mb if I remember correctly). I tried it the 1st day.

Just thought I'd throw that out there for the techies.

Hang in there!

The link doesn't work. However, I have heard of the AD8061 working. Unfortunately, Digikey only has the single amp per package for individual sale, meaning you will have to use 3 of them. I haven't done too much research on this particular op amp......maybe they offer a 3 or 4 amp per package design.

It would be easier to request a 4383 sample from Maxim, though.

Sorry guys-

I am in the final stages of finishing off my basement, where the projector is at, and haven't had time to take any pictures...

The day I received the Vdigi, I hooked it up to a P-Scan DVD player, and ran it. In my opinion, it doesn't hold a candle to an HTPC. I noticed the colors were washed out, and the detail was not nearly as good as my HTPC.

My HTPC is a P4 2.4 Ghz with ATI All in Wonder 2006 - also running FFDShow

I also noticed that text was very broken up, almost like there was some kind of pixel shift. I'll take some pics and post them.

I haven't hooked up the PS2 to the VDigi yet - I finally found a game that will output progressive scan (GUN) and will hopefully test it this weekend.

One thing I can say is that with the PS2, you need to have a TV connected to it first. You have to enable the progressive scan output through the game menu - unless you could do it blindly, your'e sunk. Once it is enabled through the menu, then you can unhook the composite cable off the TV and switch to component.

I'm not certain that the Vdigi is the best option for PS2 users. If you don't mind the constant changing from composite to component, then it would be OK.

My guess is that the PS3 will support progressive scan natively, like the XBox 360.

Will post pics soon-

Chad N.,

I am not sure what I did wrong but when I connected my transcoder I just built to the monitor it says out of range. Also, it says something about adjusting timing and frequency.

Any idea, Chad?

Thanks

What resolution were you trying with the transcoder? Remember, most 15" LCDs will not handle 720P or 1080i. Were you getting the "out of range" with 480P?
If so, try disconnecting the vertical sync from the VGA out.

Also, when you get the "out of range" message, does your monitor give you any numbers for the horizontal and vertical sync frequencies? (My CRT does, but the LCD doesn't).

Did you remember to substitute the 680K resistor in place of the 340K on R30 of the schematic?

Thanks, Chad.

I tried it on my 21" CRT monitor and I selected 480p, 720p, and 1080i output.

No, it did not give any H or V sync frequencies. and yes, I did replace 340k with 680k.

Note: This moring I found the mistake I made on the board. I soldered H sync to pin 14 and V synce to pin 13 of VGA connector.

I'll try again when I get home today.

Chad,

It sort of works now. With my own dvd that I made it can display fine. But with dvd I bought from store (Madasgascar) it is still out of range. The message keeps poping up and saying that RE-CONFIGURE YOUR DISPLAY-1024 x 768 @30Hz AND 1280x1024@60Hz.

Any idea Chad.

Hmm that seems like more of an HDCP protection issue. A homemade dvd doesn't have HDCP but a store bought one does. See if yu can turn HDCP off on your dvd player. Check here : http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks

Paul, was the "1024 x 768 @30Hz" message with or without the vertical sync connected?

Most monitors will give you both the vertical and horizontal sync frequencies when displaying an error on a particular resolution. You just posted one. Since it is 30Hz, I am assuming that is the vertical, and at 1024 x 768, it should be somewhere around 60 or 75 Hz.

Since it works with a burned DVD, either the DVD player is halving the vertical sync frequency, or your Madagascar DVD is encoded in 480i, not 480P (very unlikely, as I have never heard of a 480i DVD, but the vertical sync for 480i is 30Hz).

This may be a simple and dumb question, but...

Has anyone looked into inputting a 720p, or 1080p signal to a transcoder, and then inputtung the output of the transcoder to the VGA input of the Avermedia TVBox 9. Then the TVBox 9 could scale that signal to whatever resolution your lcd takes.

I do not know if this is feasible, but in theory it should work. If the TVBox 9 accepts 1280X1024 VGA signals, then it should accept the transcoder output, which is basically mimicing a VGA output of 1280x1024. If the TVBox 9 then rescales that to the typical 1024 X 728 resolution of a typical 15" lcd, it may work.

Those with an avermedia and transcoder might want to give this a try.

Chad, yes, that was with vertical snyc connected. But, I tried that with 17" LCD though.
I'll try again tonight without the vertical snyc connected.

Usually with video processors like that, the VGA is just a pass through. The controls of the box do nothing to the VGA signal being input. It's a little misleading when companies advertise "VGA input" for these things.

I was afraid that may be the issue with these. However, if the converter can display "box within a box", then it has to process the signal first.

It would be a nice experiment, though, for people who have Avermedia TVbox9s. If it worked it would provide a way to get HDTV from a TV box. The Avermedia is noted to have a much better signal processing capability than the n6.

OK, I e-mail Avermedia to see what they have to say about it. Here is the e-mail:

"Is the VGA input to your Avermedia TVBox 9 converter simply pass through, or can that signal be rescaled to another resolution before outputting to the VGA out. As an example, can I input 1280 X 1224 resolution to "VGA in" and get a signal with a resolution of 1024 X 768 at "VGA out" for my lcd.

Will the TVBox 9 downscale a VGA input signal?

Thank you,"

Hopefully, they can come back with some good news.

OK, FYI. I recieved some answers back. I was unable to get a very clear answer from their tech support. It seems that straight yes and no answers are unavailable. Maybe I was not clear enough in my questions. Don't know. But it looks like the VGA input is simply passed through. It cannot be rescaled. that's my interpretation of his answers.

It was fast tech support, though. The whole process took about 15 minutes via e-mail.

Your message on Wed, 21st Dec 2005 6:28 pm
Is the VGA input to your Avermedia TVBox 9 converter simply pass through, or can that signal be rescaled to another resolution before outputting to the VGA out. As an example, can I input 1280 X 1224 resolution to "VGA in" and get a signal with a resolution of 1024 X 768 at "VGA out" for my lcd.

Will the TVBox 9 downscale a VGA input signal?

Thank you,
1


Message by johna on Wed, 21st Dec 2005 6:32 pm
It can be used as a pass through at different resolutions. For example, say you run your computer desktop at 1280x1024 resolution and you want to connect a Playstation to the TV Box. You can set the TV Box to 1024x768 and use the LCD at that resolution, then when you switch back to PC, the PC will remain at 1280x1024 resolution.
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Regards,
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AVerMedia USA
2


Your message on Wed, 21st Dec 2005 6:53 pm
Thank you for your quick response.

What I interpreted was that the VGA input was simply passed through to the VGA output. IS there any way to rescale the VGA input to a different resolution for the VGA output.

As an example, can I input 1280 x 1024 to the VGA in and watch that signal at 1024 X 768 at the VGA output.

Thank you,
3


Message by johna on Wed, 21st Dec 2005 6:57 pm
Well, your PC would be running at 1280x1024 going into the VGA box and the Playstation would be going 1024x768 in to the VGA box in my example. Then, when you switch the source on the box between the two, the monitor will scale to whichever resolution is being fed into it.
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4


Your message on Wed, 21st Dec 2005 7:08 pm
One more question,

Since my monitor does not run at 1280 X 1024 and my pc does not output lower than 1280 x 1024 (hypothetically) is there any way for me to instruct the TVBox 9 to rescale the VGA input to a specified resolution at the VGA output?

I am basically asking if it is possible to instruct the TVBox to rescale the VGA input signal to a specified VGA output resolution the same as it does with the component signals and such. I do not want the VGA input signal to be simply passed through, if possible.

Thank you,

Thank you,
5


Message by johna on Wed, 21st Dec 2005 7:11 pm
Well, as far as your PC resolution, that is dependent on both your PC's video card and your LCD. You cannot have the VGA box rescale your PC's resolution. It will only scale the resolution of the devices attached to the box, such as a video game console, dvd player, cable signal, etc.
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Chad,
I tried with Vertical sync disconnected last night but it was still the same thing-the message keeps poping up and asking to reconfigure the display frequencies. I'd tried with two different dvd players; one with regular component oupts dvd player, and the other with upconvert component output dvd player.

I'll probaby rebuild the whole thing again.

By the way, have you had any chance to try the new National IC (LMH1251) yet?

I too, am waiting to hear more about this new chip.

No, I haven't messed with the LMH1251 yet. I am done experimenting with these circuits for now. I tried adding brightness and contrast adjustments to the DIY transcoder, but its just too hard to get the seperate RGB levels tuned properly with the POTs I have available. I'm not happy with the overall brightness of my projected image (not related to the transcoder), so I broke down and bought a Vdigi (see this thread).

Can someone post a picture of their homemade transcoder? I would like to see what this thing looks like. Also, can it be made using a simple single video input vs. the Y,Pr,Pb setup.

It's not homemade. It's vdgi screenshots. Awesome to say the least. It has playstation 2 and gamecube shots too. 59.00 with xbox component cable. may find it cheaper somewhere else with some searching.

http://xbox.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.h...p%3BItemid%3D58

Here is another component-coax-composite-vga input to a vga output.
http://www.allaboutadapters.com/provitoxgasc.html

129.00

This one is 239.00 has all the above choices and more.
It does this too.
Converts all analog TV/Videos into digital type in DVI format at 1280x1024 pixels
Converts all analog TV/Videos into progressive scan type in VGA or RGBHV format at 1280x1024 pixels
Converts all analog TV/Video into HD type in YPbPr format at 480P/720P

5 Inputs:
TV Input: Coaxial (RF)
Video 1 Input: Composite Video Input
Video 2 Input: S-Video Input
Video 3 Input: YCbCr( 3xRCA) - Component Video Input for 480i interlaced video
VGA Input: 15 pin D-sub connector
3 Video Outputs:
VGA Output:15-pin D-sub VGA connector
DVI Output: DVI connector
HD Component Video Output: YPbPr with 3 RCA jacks.

http://www.allaboutadapters.com/5x1prviscsw.html

Thanks for the info, but I was hoping to try and build one, if anything, for the challenge. The only problem is I have no idea what I'm looking at in the schematic drawing. I get the idea of this being resistors on possibly a PCB board, but I'm not sure about the actual hookups or the wiring, was hoping to copy something.

Just got my vdigi for christmas and still waiting on my gamecube component cable. It is probably stuck in customs somewhere. Tested the vdigi with the xbox and it looks promising. I just need to adjust the brightness a little and I will be good. Might have my friend bring over his 360 and see what it looks like on the big screen. Once I get my gamecube cable I will post some pictures of the xbox and gamecube in action.

I ran across a breadboard (solderless connection board) at Radio Shack. I think it would be a good idea to use one and after you get your transcoder working then transfer over to a regular board.

I also ran across this symbol page. LINK
for reading a diagram.
How to use a breadboard. LINK

Radio Shack. LINK

I'm not sure a breadboard would work. The frequencies going through this design might be too high. The type of connections of a breadboard limit the frequency the circuit can work at.

But I may be wrong...

Exactly right you wouldn't get good results running video bandwidths on breadboard, soldered point to point wiring might work but you really want PCB traces with power and ground planes when working with video everthing makes noise and everylittle bit of noise degrades your image.

OK, I am not knowlegeable about these video formats (i.e. 480i, 480P, 720P, 1080i) that are mentioned in this thread, so I am really lost. So could someone please answer the questions below in an easy to understand way?

What I have is an older 15" LCD monitor I am building into a projector, and I would like to view my DVD player (component), my cable TV (no converter box), and a computer. From Chad's posts, it appears that I can play only my DVD player using the DIY transcoder (and computer straight through via VGA).

There was a lot of talk about whether the LCD is 480i, 480P, etc compatible, but all I want to know is if I can play a DVD in both the widescreen and 4:3 formats on my projector using this transcoder.

Also, what is hardware is required to play cable TV on the projector? Has someone come up with a DIY design for that?

Thanks!

15" LCD = 1024 x 768
17" LCD = 1280 x 1024
480i = 640 x 480 interlaced (30 frames/sec, 60Hz field rate one even and one odd = Frame)
480p = 640 x 480 progressive (60 frames/sec)
720p = 1280 x 720 progressive (60 frames/sec)
1080i = 1920 x 1080 interlaced (30 frames/sec, all even lines then all odd lines)

So to get true HDTV at 720p you need a 17" LCD although with scaling you can display the 720p image on a 15" LCD.
If you don't have a cable box you need to tune the channels using something, either your video outs if they exist on your TV or an external box like the Aver Media TVbox9 or the Viewsonic N4/N6 (the N6 is needed to convert to 1280x1024 the N4 tops out at 1024x768)

Anybody with any pics yet?
Say you do?
Anybody?

Where can I order the parts to make a transcoder? I checked mousers website and can't find the LMH1251 there, and the only place I could find it wanted $150 for a sample. I would love to build my own, if someone can point me in the direction of the parts. I'd even buy a vdigi, but they are sold out on the website.

You can order samples of the LMH1251 and LM1881 directly from the manufacturer.

National Semiconductor

Yah, and they want $150 for one. Is there no other way to get these parts? Its not really DIY friendly unless someone orders 100, then they are only $3.50 a piece. The LL website should carry a kit so we can make our own. Hint Hint

No, the $151 price tag is for the 1251 evaluation board. Click on the blue "SAMPLES" button in the 1251 section for the LMH1251MT. Trust me, I did it for the 1881. Then it was completely free, but I think you have to pay a small fee now. Try it and see. The reason companies like this offer free or very cheap samples, is that they want people to design commercial products that use their ICs. That way they sell more.

Chad, the problem I'm having with my LCD TV right now is the inability to use it with my computer because of the lack of a VGA input. Will the LMH1251 take an outputted VGA signal and translate it to component?

No, it only goes one way....component to VGA. Apparently you didn't have any luck finding a cheap video card with component out?

I do have a video card, but it has composite/s-video, and thats not really what I'm looking for, but I'd deal with s-video if it became necessary, but I'm having trouble finding my connector for the s-vid, composite out cable that came with my graphics card. I searched for it, but I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for, it is a 4-pin out on my video card, and froogling didn't find me much.

Would it be in any way possible to intigrate a standard cable input, for just cable tv. I know you can get a cable for say xbox with an rf connection, so is it possible to get an input to the lcd from that, or do you need a tv box?

No. Transcoders convert component to VGA, nothing more. You need a TVbox for RF.

I've ordered a sample (of 2, in case I do soemthing stupid) of the LMH1251. Hopefully it won't take the full 15days shipping time to arrive.
I'm going to use the referance design from the datasheet and etch a PCB using this method. Hopefully I'll have a fully working proof-of-concept design in about 3-4 weeks (about the time It'll take for my next paycheck to arive and to order my LCD panel).

If the results are good enough, I might make some of these for Lumenlab members who want one (depends on if the results are really worth it, and if the construction itself isn't too expensive or time consuming. I have a life too!). The 480i support looks to be a killer feature over other commercial products.

I want one!
I was waiting for someone who'd make a transcoder with this chip.
Good luck.

After reading some more about monitor resolutions, I found that most monitors don't support 480i.

OK, I've knocked up a schematic:


From what I can glean from the datasheet, I should be fine with E24 approximate values for everything but the Rext 10Kohm resistor, which has to be a 1% (brown band) tolerance at least, for the voltage referance.

::EDIT:: Yes, I do realise the connector labeled as 'VGA' is not a D-sub. It's just for schematic purposes, not layout.

update: The transcoder and op-amp chip samples were about £10, and the rest of the components were about £45! Unless I can find a cheaper source of components, it might be too expensive to make these to order (unless I charged more than £60 each + shipping).

Can you post pictures when you are done making it?

I've got a thread here that I'll update with any progress.

what kind of resistors are needed? thick film?

thanks