Photos Latest Purchases Thread: v2.0

Yarp. Just arrived.

 

Moar PowerMac gubbins!

1GHz G4 PowerPC CPU board



64MB ATi Radeon 9000 Pro AGP

 

Surprise purchase for the studio. (Last run from what I read)

 

Since I and the fiancée are out with our cameras quite a bit and we think about starting a YouTube channel (for fun, maybe later for dem moneyz) this does make some kind of sense. Our monitors (120% sRGB according to the spec sheet) should be a good starting point and with the right calibration might even be better than expected for the lowly price of 220-230 Euros we paid for each one.

 

ROG-Strix-XG279Q

A bit of a treat for me along with a few other market place purchases. Going from a 24" 1080p TN+ panel to this is unreal, damn near blew my socks off.

 

I can't leave it alone.

I swear off it for a couple of years and, usually after selling all my remaining WC bits, I jump right back in.

I'm a lost cause.
Don't try and save me - I'll just drag you down with me.

 

... into the dark, deep waters?

 

"Clean up in aisle 3 please.'

 

I definitely didn't buy a PS2 slim.

Definitely not.

I'm definitely not looking for a passable RCA to HDMI adapter.

 

Don't worry, your secret is safe...ish.

 

If your TV supports it the PS2 can use YPbPr component and output 720i native. It looks masses better than any of the upscalers I tried on my PS2.

 

Hm. I honestly haven't looked that hard.

I have two options;

A/V receiver with component, and RCA. 4k TV

2k monitor with HDMI.

Of course, that assumes that the monitor even responds to the PS2's offered resolutions.

Although I'd not even considered that the PS2 can do component because I'm smort.

 

Ooo! Ooo! Me! Me! I can help! I can help!

If you're happy to use VGA, get a PS1/PS2 SCART cable (which of course you do, forget that Composite rubbish!), and solder up a board, then...

I designed a SCART interface board for the cheap GBS-8200 upscaler boards (you can get cheaper than that if you're willing to wait for China shipping). It includes a sync stripper to output a clean CSync signal (GBS-8200 doesn't really like sync'ing to SCART's Composite Video signal) and proper termination resistors.

I've just had the latest revision of the PCB through from China, so I'll happily spare one. Or I could send you the gerbers and you could order from a PCB house of your choice - I paid $6 for the latest revision, plus about $15 shipping, from JLCPCB. Shipping to your way would be cheaper though - all my deliveries from JLCPCB get routed through Germany.

Of course you'd have to cobble together a few commodity parts (couple of resistors, couple of caps, LM1881 IC) and source a SCART socket though.

This is also a really good low-impact option:

I actually have a PS2 YPbPr Component cable that I'm not doing anything with. I've no idea what shipping costs are to Deutschland are like, but I can look into it.

There's a bunch of PS2 games which natively support 480p via the component cable. Which is nice.

There's also another option but it's a lot more expensive: the OSSC upscaler. Unless you want to go really high end and spank loads of money on a Framemeister xRGB, the OSSC is about the best upscaler out there.

 

See, there's a slight problem there - I don't have anything with VGA on it. Literally nothing. I don't even think I have a DVI-VGA adapter.

I have seen your boards, and if there was an HDMI out option without more adapters than cable, I'd definitely be PM'ing you an address and some cashmoney to DIY it, although with most of the DIY having been done what with you having doing the heavy lifting of board design and all.

Not an ounce of this is pressing, though, as I've no idea why I bought the PS2, the only PS games I have anymore are MGS1 and MGS2. I'm sure over time I'll collect more.. I did see Tetris Worlds on ebay earlier, after all. Didn't even know that was a thing.

 

Offer is still there for the component cable though

 

Overnight I was pondering some more.

Using your fancy board, I could go;

PS2-SCART > Fancyboard > GBS-8200 > VGAinput-HDMIoutput > Monitor/TV/whatever?

If so, I think that's going to be the choice to go for. The RCA-HDMI adapters I see floating around all look utter bum, and have .. wobbly reviews.

Edit: I found a board that appears to be much the same as the GBS-8200, but has HDMI out on it. Curiouser and curiouser.

 

Actually... I'm sure that some variants of the GBS-82XX boards do have HDMI output... I'm not sure what to search for though TBH...

These boards may not be entirely plug and play though.

 

It took some doing to find 'em, and they do look far less common than the 8200. Also, you're about to get a message.

 

Cheap acrylic case to build an arcade controller. Buying acrylic sheets and cutting it myself probably costs more than what I paid for this!



Spotted a set of illuminated buttons with a USB encoder on Amazon earlier, so I'll be ordering that next - once I check that the buttons can actually fit in the case. They're not exactly Genuine Sanwa Arcade Parts™ (cookie if you know the reference) but I can always upgrade later on down the line.

Those suction cups on the bottom can do one though, I'll get some decent rubber feet.

 

iPad 2019 32GB space grey - O2 offering up some good deals, I’ve been considering it for a while but couldn’t justify the pros £35 a month....£18 per month I’m willing to take the jump. I missed my old iPad 2...

1. 

also went for this in terms of storage, not a big fan of cases that restrict usage. Needed some serious organisation in my life so this should do the job nicely!