Hi everyone!
So I recently found my trusty old Elgato EyeTV Hybrid, which lets me input analog and digital signals to my iMac; including SCART & composite inputs. I've plugged all my old consoles into it and it works perfectly. Today I picked up a connector that will finally allow me to plug the SCART output from the CPC SCART kit I have to the composite-in block for the EyeTV.
I was just settling down to play some fun, old games when, to my immense disappointment, I found this is the best quality output I'm getting from the CPC.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CblQ7jZUUAEeLAy.png)
Any ideas what could be wrong, guys? I haven't a clue. The CPC was cleaned inside only a few months ago, to stop another video problem I had at the time (the monitor was flickering, rolling and mostly displaying all black until I cleaned the dust out of the CPC - since then it's worked perfectly).
The CPC outputs properly when connected to a TV using the SCART cable and the other parts of this connection all work when tested individually. The problem only occurs when I plug it all together.
Any ideas, guys?
SCART can carry RGB video, composite video or S-Video.
The SCART leads for use with the CPC (well, the two that I have) only carry the RGB signals due to the CPC machines only producing RGB signals and a monochrome composite video output on their video output sockets.
If your Elgato EyeTV Hybrid is looking for a colour composite TV signal, it's not going to find one. As on the common SCART leads the composite video pin carries composite sync. hence a black picture. If you do see anything as well as the black, that will be bits of the sync signals being misinterpreted.
The monochrome composite video output is on pin 6 of the DIN socket. See the pin out on the Wiki here (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Connector:Monitor).
This monochrome composite video needs to be wired to pin 20 of the SCART plug if you are happy with having a monochrome picture.
Mark
Thanks. I'll talk to the manufacturers and see if there's a way to get it to look for mono composite (I can't find one).
Note that there are more than two ways to wire up a SCART plug to a CPC. See the entry in the Wiki here. (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/TV_SCART_cable)
So a SCART lead from a different supplier may give you a monochrome picture.
Mark
PS, I have just edited my earlier post.
I think we now have 3 current threads on SCART issues that all amount to the same thing. You need the correct voltage on the RGB select pin of the SCART. A capacitor or a 1.5v battery. The capture card is trying to display composite hence the dim black and white picture. A solid 1.5 across the pin solves it in 95% of cases.
I got it all working!
It appears to be a power problem - thanks for putting me on the right track, guys!
Running the RCA jacks straight into my EyeTV gives the black screen, above, but if I use my DVD Recorder as a pass-through, it boosts the signals and I get to see the CPC in all its glory. :)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cczv5qGW4AALnwZ.jpg)
That is not how a CPC should look. It's too dark and very very blurry.
Yes, it's not how a CPC should look. It is, however, better than black-on-black.
I'm not finished working on this thing just yet and once I get proper RGB output (the DVD Recorder I'm using as a pass-through is clearly downgrading the signal) then I'll post again but for now at least I can use my beloved CPC. :)
My solution with what tools I had available is to connect the scart on a vcr with two scart sockets.
Then I output the second scart to rca.
That sounds something like what I was doing here.
The connections go: CPC SCART output -> DVD Recorder with SCART-to-RGB output cable -> EyeTV device -> iMac
It's not the best quality ever, but it's a good start.