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Post by smegforbrain on Sept 10, 2006 13:37:59 GMT -5
I'm assuming that this is possible. I'd like to consider hooking up my old PSX (well, assuming I still have it) to my computer. This will make it a little easier to test games (with nice, real stereo sound) than going back out to my living room and plopping down in front of my tv. What would I need to make this happen? (Yeah, yeah, this probably belongs in Chat, not General.. )
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Post by Gamesoul Master on Sept 10, 2006 14:32:53 GMT -5
It is very possible. What kind of wires do you have for your PSX?
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Post by patrickp on Sept 10, 2006 16:18:45 GMT -5
You need two things, basically: an AV out lead for your Playstation and a card (graphics card or capture/TV card) with a composite video input. You could use a regular RF lead into a tuner input, but the quality wouldn't be as good as direct composite/audio; nor would the sound be in stereo (I may be wrong, but I don't think Playstations were ever made to output RF with stereo sound?). I do it myself - as you know, GM - works fine. The standard Playstation AV out usually terminates in 3 phono (RCA to you transatlantic types) plugs; if you're inputting into something like an AIW input box with 3 phono (RCA) sockets, these will just plug straight in. If you have a video only input, as with a VIVO card, you'll need to adapt the video phono (RCA) plug for this (unless it has a phono (RCA) input socket already) and run the audio phono (RCA) plugs into your sound card - that'll usually need a 2 x phono (RCA) sockets to 3.5mm stereo jack adapter. Edit: one word of warning: if your video input is via an s-video type socket, you may need to use the manufacturer's adapter for this; many of them have non-standard pin-outs. Also, as I said, for video you'll need a card with some kind of composite video input. But for sound, all you need is a sound card: almost all sound cards incorporate a line input, usually via a 3.5mm stereo socket - so, even if you don't have the technology for video comparison, you can directly compare the sound.
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Post by TheCloudOfSmoke on Sept 10, 2006 18:26:24 GMT -5
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Post by smegforbrain on Sept 10, 2006 20:57:12 GMT -5
You need two things, basically That simple, eh? (Note, my head is spinning a little at the moment from reading all that. ;D) Well, I'm not sure what I've got at the moment. I'll try and sort it out more whenever I haul this machine up from under the desk to replace the power supply. I'm considering getting a new vid card at some point, and having a card with tv-tuner stuff on it is something I have in mind. Are you comparing how games work on pSX with the real PlayStation smegforbrain? I would like to do some of that, yes.
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Post by Gamesoul Master on Sept 11, 2006 3:50:15 GMT -5
Well, you don't need a new graphics card to do this. I asked what kind of hook-ups you have because if you're using coaxial or s-video, you can simply buy one of the cheap PCI cards that've been around for years (like ATI TV Wonder... $50.00 at most) that takes in those two types of video input. Then for the audio (if you have audio cords... cuz if you have coaxial, the sound is already taken care of through that), you can just get a converter really cheap that converts the red/white sound to a headphone plug (RCA to 3.5mm... about $3) which you can then plug right into your sound card. Both of these can be easily found online, or even at someplace like Best Buy or Circuit City (amongst many places).
All this I know quite well, as I have been doing stuff like this to record audio/video from games since the days of my 133MHz computer, where emulation was mostly out of the question. I have setups for running my computer's A/V into my stereo and TV, and for running my stereo, DVD player, and TV into my computer.
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Post by patrickp on Sept 11, 2006 12:43:50 GMT -5
If you do want to get a graphics card with video capabilities, I'd say get a VIVO card unless you specifically want/need the tuner capabilities. I get my TV through cable, for instance, and the box is what selects the channel, so a tuner is a bit superfluous; I do find it annoying that my best video card is an AIW (All-in-Wonder; i.e. with a tuner) rather than a VIVO (video in/video out; i.e. with video composite/s-video input/output only), which is what I would prefer.
As well as that, VIVOs basically just have an extra chip, while AIWs have a whacking great tuner on them that often makes it hard to find a good cooler to fit. And VIVOs usually seem to be the same specs as the equivalent non-video card, whereas AIWs are sometimes a bit downrated. Also, of course, AIWs cost quite a bit more than the equivalent straight card, whereas VIVOs aren't usually much different in price to a straight one.
I find it annoying that, whereas ATI (and both GM and myself like ATI cards) seem to do AIW versions for pretty much every level of card, their provision for VIVOs seems to be somewhat random; it can often be hard to find one that's not way under or way over (in terms of specifications) what you actually want.
Or, as GM says, just get a straight card and a TV/capture PCI one. I keep meaning to try that option, but never have.
But I would say that, unless you want the use of a tuner, go for the direct video/audio option (most/all AIWs also do VIVO; I would presume TV cards do, too). Better image and much better sound: converting signals to RF and then back again does the quality no good at all.
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Post by smegforbrain on Sept 11, 2006 18:40:44 GMT -5
Well, I had originaly considered just getting a tv card, like a Hauppauge WinTV. I'd just like to get a new video card because I've replaced/upgraded damned near everything else in this computer already. I'm in no rush to do this, seeing as how I haven't gotten much game testing done lately anyways, but I wanted to throw it out there to see what you guys had to say.
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Post by Gamesoul Master on Sept 12, 2006 0:06:09 GMT -5
My RCA to 3.5mm converter provides virtually no loss of sound quality, and I'm pretty sure I'm quite picky enough to notice. And I do like that option, as it contributes to the cheapest solution of good quality. Getting a video card with the capabilities you need is quite expensive compared to video cards you'd actually want that may not have the capabilities. If you plan on spending at least a couple hundred on your new video card, though, you might as well go for the full featured one, as the difference is less than $50 when you get up into those price ranges (as most of the higher end cards they now make have the features, whereas my low-end ATI Radeon 9250 256MB card has only video-out).
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Post by patrickp on Sept 12, 2006 13:05:08 GMT -5
Actually, that isn't necessarily true, GM. Certainly, an AIW is considerable more expensive than a standard card from the same series, and but a VIVO isn't really any more expensive, usually; it's more just a matter of finding the right card with VIVO capabilities.
That, of course, also depends on whether you need a tuner or not - and you're certainly better off using direct video/audio in than RF for a Playstation.
And yes, any standard 2 x phono (RCA to you lot) to 3.5mm stereo plug converter shouldn't really produce any compromise in sound quality. It's just straight-through connections.
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Post by Gamesoul Master on Sept 12, 2006 22:16:04 GMT -5
Finding the right card is certainly correct, but the lower-end cards (like mine) are much less likely to have the capabilities. It's not a matter of it being more expensive, but rather that it just so happens that the lower cards are much less likely to have what you need.
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Post by Truth Unknown on Sept 13, 2006 3:07:42 GMT -5
Oh when your testing the games. Turn off Cropping of the input and look for black bars/boxes/etc and report it here. I would like to verify if games do or do not have black bars.
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Post by Gamesoul Master on Sept 13, 2006 3:48:38 GMT -5
@truth Unknown: It took me a minute after reading your post to realize this wasn't the "black bar" thread anymore.
"Cropping of the input"...? Where is there an option for that? I assume you're not talking about a pSX option, but I'm pretty sure I don't have that option *anyplace* computer or TV related. I swear I feel like I'm missing a joke here...
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Post by patrickp on Sept 13, 2006 12:33:53 GMT -5
In the settings for all the versions of ATI's MMC TV/Video In app that I've seen, there's an option to crop the picture - usually on the Display tab. AFAIK, it's to hide the top few lines that carry telext information etc and look like video distortion along the top of the screen. It doesn't crop very much; I don't think it would conceal black bars. I always disable it, but it is usually on by default. Finding the right card is certainly correct, but the lower-end cards (like mine) are much less likely to have the capabilities. It's not a matter of it being more expensive, but rather that it just so happens that the lower cards are much less likely to have what you need. The ATI 9xxx range has very few VIVO cards: ATI themselves only make (I think) the 9200 and maybe the 9000 cards as VIVO versions. That meant that, until the X cards came out, there were no ATI VIVO cards better than the two I mentioned (which are the bottom cards in the range). No 9700 versions or 9800 versions. I did pick up a Sapphire 9600 Pro with VIVO when the 9600s first came out, but that soon got discontinued for some reason. Above that, VIVO models are better represented in the X cards (X700, X800 etc). The 8xxxs were unrepresented - there weren't very many models anyway. But in the 7xxx range there was the Radeon 64MB DDR, which was a cracker in its day and was a VIVO card (still got a couple - you can pick them up reallly cheap on ebay) and older cards than that, I've got a Rage Fury Pro (which is a Rage 128 Pro card) that's got VIVO. Another card that was great in its day.
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Post by Gamesoul Master on Sept 13, 2006 13:44:03 GMT -5
Well, when I made that statement, ATI was not the only company on my mind. Since I don't really expect everybody to love ATI as much as us, I had every company in mind, based on what I've seen, looking at Best Buy and online inventories in general, it always seemed like the higher-end cards were more likely to have the capabilities. I'm just glad my 9250 has video-out (both S-Video and the yellow A/V video (wish I knew the technical name for those R/W/Y cords)).
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