PS/ONE LCD Clarification Thread

[therealeric]

Hey, nice job on that mod everyone. I was wondering if you could answer a question for me since you've gotten further than I...

I would really like to clear some of this up since there are several threads, several wiring diagrams and then you have different video cards and timings thrown into the mix. I would like to sort it out

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My goal is utlimately to get my own hardware working, but it seems like everyone would benefit if we could sort out all the directions that are out there.

I've been fiddling with my own SONY LCD for a while, used serio's wiring out of the PDF on his page, and tried the defaults in powerstrip for the 640x800i resolution MPro has on his page. So far, I've gotten a picture to show up on the LCD, but its sort of split into three horizontal pieces that scroll vertically. It would seem like this has to be a timing issue - but I'm not a hardware expert, so maybe the problem is there.

I'm running this off my Matrox G450, so it could be possible the symptom I'm describing would be what you get when your card doesn't support a composite sync... If that sounds like the case, please let me know.

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If you have had success, can you please tell me:
Are your timing setup for NTSC or PAL?
What hardware are you using?
(SONY PS/ONE LCD, Thrustmaster, something else?)
What kind of wiring did you use?
(Could you post a map, using the pin numbers that are used in the
PDF below? )

Did you add a resistor, or ground any other wires?
I used exactly this wiring diagram.

http://nakoruru.rudora.net/serio/data/PSOneLCD.pdf

On the VGA connector, I bridged the three color's grounds (pins 6,7 & 8). The others a straight through as outlined in the PDF.

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Some general questions on the two most popular mods,

Serio has a note that says binding pins 11 & 4 to ground (pins 6,7 & 8?) on the VGA connector will allow the PC to detect the LCD monitor in some cases. Why is that?

MPro's circut binds pins 13 & 14 on the VGA connector together, what does that accomplish? Why doesn't serio's circut do this? He also has a resitor between pins 13 & 14 and pin 2 on the VGA connector, what is that for?

Serio & MPro are using different LCDs (one SONY, one Thrustmaster) but they are both hooking them up to a VGA connector. Why is it they are using different pins on the VGA connector? It would have seemed like even if the LCD hardware differs, the VGa interface is still the same so the same pins would ultimately need to be used...

Suppose you want to hook this up to any video card, is serios hsync + vsync = csync circut always sufficent for this? You build this, and pretty much just use this instead of either of the above mods?

As an alternative, serios mentions that 1 XOR gate is a qucik way to do a similar thing. Will that work only with his mod? (e.g. won't work in mpro's circut?) Also, while I understand the logic of this concept, I don't posses enough electronic skills to just insert and XOR gate w/o further instruction. Whats a good XOR gate to use? Seems like it would be a bad to use an IC made for TTL or CMOS circuts here, so what do you use to build the xor gate? Obviously there ate two pins at least to connect for the gate, but there are probably others - where do they go?

Thanks for the advice?

[Vicious]

I think you mean 640x480i. Maybe thats your problem.

I am using a PCI Nvidia Geforce 2 MX 100/200 and a Sony PSone LCD and i just got it to work right today. I used exactly Starfox's diagram to make a cable- the diagram you used. I used Mpro's way to set up timing in Powerstrip with the default 640x480i (Arcade) setting because I have a NTSC screen. My card does not have Csync but I tried it anyways because I have a Matrox G200 PCI in the mail that I think has Csync. Everything is not very sharp or clear but I think this is because I don't have Csync. When I first set it up I did the cable switch thing, but I can shutdown and restart and everything will work. Startup is messed up until Powerstrip loads. I have Powerstrip preferences Auto-load with Windows and Restore settings on Startup so that my settings are restored and the screen is normal. One problem I have is that when it first starts up or initializes the new settings the bottom of the screen is at the top and the top is at the bottom. I just go into Powerstrip Advanced Timing Options and use the up and down arrows of the set of four arrows on the right of Position and Size to fix it. I click once on the up arrow and the screen scrolls and click once on the down arrow to stop it. This may have to do with not having Csync. One other problem is that when I go full screen in a movie and then out the screen shifts down a little. After a while of doing this the screen is all messed up and I have to fix it in by continuing to go in and out of full screen or in Powerstrip.

Does anyone know how to fix my problems so I don't ever have to mess with settings? Does a Matrox G200 PCI have Csync?

I hope this helps a little therealeric.

[therealeric]

Yes that does help quite a bit.

Does anyone have NTSC timings for powerstrip for the SONY PSONE LCD? MPro's don't quite fit the bill for me. I've been playing around with tweaking the settings, but I have not yet gotten a stable clear image.

I'm sort of close, but there is like a triangular black protrusion that moves along the left edge of my screen - its wierd.

[therealeric]

Yeah, I think if someone could post some NTSC timings (refresh rate, pixel clock, etc) for thier LCD that would really be helpful. Powerstrip's settings out of the box for the 640x480i Arcade don't quite fit the bill.

I'm afraid of just randomly moving these settings around because I dont want to drive LCD too far out of spec and fry it.

[Vicious]

I got those when I widened my screen. To get rid of tehm i could either make the screen less wide or lower the pixel clock. Try moving the pixel clock up and down.

[MTWallet]

Here are the settings I ended up using to get full screen width and no black flickering triangle:

Pixel Clock 12.696
Composite Sync Checked
Sync on Green Unchecked
Interlaced Checked
Horizontal and Vertical Polarity Negative
Only Real-time adjustment checked under Options

For Horizontal Geometry
Scan rate 15.870kHz
Active 640 pixels 50.410us
Front porch 32 pixels 2.520us
Sync width 64 pixels 5.041us
Back porch 64 pixels 5.041us
Total 800 pixels 63.012us

For Vertical Geometry
Refresh rate 30.286Hz
Active 480 lines 30.246ms
Front porch 6 lines 0.378ms
Sync width 8 lines 0.504ms
Back porch 30 lines 1.890ms
Total 524 lines 33.018

This is for a NTSC PS/One LCD monitor on a Matrox G200 AGP card. Here is how I got them:
The default 640x480i (Arcade) worked ok but the screen width wasn't quite wide enough, I used the stretch horizontal button but the more it stretched the higher the Horizontal Scan rate got until the screen lost sync, so I would then adjust the Horiz Scan rate down until it got nearer to 15kHz, then go back to stretching Horizontal. Once the screen was wide enough and centered, I tweaked Pixel clock, Horiz Scan rate and Vert Refresh rate until the screen was as clear as I could get it with no scan artifacts. All of this was done with a second computer connect to this one using XP's remote control so that if I lost sync on the LCD I could still see to change the proper items. Hope this info helps.

I got those when I widened my screen. To get rid of tehm i could either make the screen less wide or lower the pixel clock. Try moving the pixel clock up and down.

[Vicious]

MTWallet are the default windows fonts easy enough to read? Like at the top of windows and menus because I am getting a Matrox G200 soon and I hope it is a little clearer than what I have now. It will have Csync so I think it should be clearer. I don't even know why mine works as well as it does because I am not outputting Csync but have wired it up to use it.

[therealeric]

I tried those settngs - but no luck. I wonder if its ht evideo card

[MTWallet]

I wouldn't say the fonts are perfect, but I think it is easy enough to read and figure out what you are looking at.

MTWallet are the default windows fonts easy enough to read? Like at the top of windows and menus because I am getting a Matrox G200 soon and I hope it is a little clearer than what I have now. It will have Csync so I think it should be clearer. I don't even know why mine works as well as it does because I am not outputting Csync but have wired it up to use it.

[MTWallet]

When you have that black protrusion on the left side, try dropping your Horizontal Scan rate, the screen may go out of sync as you do so, but continue dropping it (use the down arrow on your keyboard since you can't see where to click) and the screen should come back into sync at a lower rate.

Yes that does help quite a bit.

Does anyone have NTSC timings for powerstrip for the SONY PSONE LCD? MPro's don't quite fit the bill for me. I've been playing around with tweaking the settings, but I have not yet gotten a stable clear image.

I'm sort of close, but there is like a triangular black protrusion that moves along the left edge of my screen - its wierd.