making a supergun on a budget?

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Penguinmasta

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I've been looking into making a supergun for a while now to test my boards the boards that i have, that don't get hooked up in my cab that often.

I have a Killer Instinct board that I broke by putting my eeproms in backwards in, I got new ones but it still won't boot so i sent the board to the guy (revisionx.com) i bought the new eeproms from and he couldn't get it to boot up ether but felt the board was able to be fixed.

Now over the weekend i bumped into a guy that i know from a small radio station who works on all of their electronics and he mentioned he'd help show me how to repair the pcb. To know that the board "works" i'll need to be able to hook it up to a tv since we'll be working in his lab.

I don't have alot of money so i'm wondering what is the cheapest (doesn't have to be pretty) way that i can make a supergun that will power on my board (i have a spare arcade psu) and just display video for now (i can work on controller ports etc. later).

all opinions will be appreciated.

thanks.
 
alphagamer

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cheapest solution would be scart rgb as output, so there is no video converter necessary (the most expensive part of a supergun).
 
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Penguinmasta

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alphagamer said:
cheapest solution would be scart rgb as output, so there is no video converter necessary (the most expensive part of a supergun).
Click to expand...

Where would you recommend someone pick one up? or just google search for Scart rgb? are there different types and what would you recommend for this project?

thanks.
 
werejag

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you do not have scart tv Penguinmasta. you live in the usa. get a jrok encoder
 
xiao_haozi

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Penguinmasta said:
Where would you recommend someone pick one up? or just google search for Scart rgb? are there different types and what would you recommend for this project?

thanks.
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Yeah like werejag said, you would need an rgb tv with scart so unless you have one you need an encoder.
Check ebay as you can find like the old namco rgb encoders that output composite and svideo for like 10-15 dollars.
If you want something newer, you can just get an svideo DIY neobitz from Jeff Kurtz (http://neobitz.com) for about 40 i think.

If you have an arcade PSU that works then you are well on your way. Could just wire up a quick mono speaker into the gun and then wire up some cheap db15 connectors (usually only like 25 cents a pop from a place like jameco).
 
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Penguinmasta

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xiao_haozi said:
Yeah like werejag said, you would need an rgb tv with scart so unless you have one you need an encoder.
Check ebay as you can find like the old namco rgb encoders that output composite and svideo for like 10-15 dollars.
If you want something newer, you can just get an svideo DIY neobitz from Jeff Kurtz (http://neobitz.com) for about 40 i think.

If you have an arcade PSU that works then you are well on your way. Could just wire up a quick mono speaker into the gun and then wire up some cheap db15 connectors (usually only like 25 cents a pop from a place like jameco).
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xiao_haozi - is this what you're talking about?
Ebay encoder

Just to make sure before i place a bid :)

thanks everyone for your suggestions. I'm a huge fan of KI1 and after buying the cab only played it for about 2 hours before i tried to upgrade it to KI2 and broke it. I have a baby on the way and any money for my personal arcade just went to null. so the cheaper i can get this board fixed/running the better.
 
tomwaits

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If you happen to have an old NEC multisync or Commodore 1084 monitor it's pretty easy to make an RGB cable. The biggest issue with RGB is that you need to have a older monitor like these that can sync down to 15kHz horizontal. Building a cable is cheaper than an NTSC converter and much better picture quality.

If you want to spend a little more the Vogatek supergun works pretty well. He lists them on ebay.uk pretty often but it doesn't look like they're available right now. The last listing ended a week ago...
http://cgi.ebay.com/NeoGeo-MVS-and-...eo_Games_Coin_Operated_MJ?hash=item3a51f1d310

It lets you use a standard PC power supply, SCART or NTSC video connectors, headphone jack, and has a controller wiring block to wire up connectors however you want. It's not really suited to consolize but it's good for a workbench / test setup. The Mk. 3 version with SCART output is a little cheaper.
 
Xian Xi

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If you plan on playing Killer Insticnt you will need to learn about kick harnesses as well.
 
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Penguinmasta

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Xian Xi said:
If you plan on playing Killer Insticnt you will need to learn about kick harnesses as well.
Click to expand...

I've got kick harness down, after converting the KI cab to MVS then soul edge. I'm wanting to make something just for testing. so once i fix what ever the problem is, and i boot it up i know something is being displayed on the screen. With out having to put it back in the cab each time.
 
sackashiet

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only problem is sometimes you may have issues with video encoders and the tv you are using. only a real arcade monitor can be trusted to test if a board is working or not.

I recommend the JROK encoder with JROK sync cleaner. I have the component only v4.1 and it was only $55. theres other models and I think composite & s-video models are cheaper.
here's the site: http://jrok.com/hardware/RGB.html

I wouldn't bother with the ebay ones, you want a quality video encoder especialy if you're planning to use it to test if boards are working or not.
 
Xian Xi

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sackashiet said:
only problem is sometimes you may have issues with video encoders and the tv you are using. only a real arcade monitor can be trusted to test if a board is working or not.

I recommend the JROK encoder with JROK sync cleaner. I have the component only v4.1 and it was only $55. theres other models and I think composite & s-video models are cheaper.
here's the site: http://jrok.com/hardware/RGB.html

I wouldn't bother with the ebay ones, you want a quality video encoder especialy if you're planning to use it to test if boards are working or not.
Click to expand...

For component the Neobitz is better, but for S-vid and Composite the JROK is better as it has a higher compatibility. Always get a sync cleaner, must have.
 
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Penguinmasta

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xiao_haozi said:
What's so wrong with a Namco encoder?
Click to expand...

I'd like your take on this. These are the boards i currently have are.

KI1
Soul Edge
and two MVS boards (both MV-1 boards)
the only other boards i'm looking at getting are possibly a couple of the Mortal Kombat series.

any reason that Namco encoder wouldn't work well with those?

to me $20 bucks is better than $50. I can get 20 bucks lol, trying to spend $50 just to build something to test and diagnostic isn't going to fly past the wife.
 
sackashiet

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personally I've never tried the namco encoder, maybe others can tell you more about it, but I vouch for the Jrok encoder and the Neobitz. also like Xian Xi said the Neobitz has better Component picture quality than the Jrok. and sync cleaner is a must.

I think some of the mortal kombat games (that you're looking at getting later ) have a weird sync and the sync cleaner fixes the signal. so no matter what encoder you go with, make sure you get a sync cleaner.



Penguinmasta said:
I'd like your take on this. These are the boards i currently have are.

KI1
Soul Edge
and two MVS boards (both MV-1 boards)
the only other boards i'm looking at getting are possibly a couple of the Mortal Kombat series.

any reason that Namco encoder wouldn't work well with those?

to me $20 bucks is better than $50. I can get 20 bucks lol, trying to spend $50 just to build something to test and diagnostic isn't going to fly past the wife.
Click to expand...
 
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Celestein

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Is a sync cleaner what changes voltages to be correct for RGB output to another monitor?

I'm building a super-gun for out-put to a monitor that takes in RGB through the BNC ports. Would I still need one of these just to get a non-dark picture out of the monitor? Even though it's RGB -> RGB.

Anyone know of one just for RGB->RGB? Seems expensive to pay $40-$80 for a board when I don't even need it for component/svideo/scart.
 
xiao_haozi

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Celestein said:
Is a sync cleaner what changes voltages to be correct for RGB output to another monitor?

I'm building a super-gun for out-put to a monitor that takes in RGB through the BNC ports. Would I still need one of these just to get a non-dark picture out of the monitor? Even though it's RGB -> RGB.

Anyone know of one just for RGB->RGB? Seems expensive to pay $40-$80 for a board when I don't even need it for component/svideo/scart.
Click to expand...

Why not just use some pots? If you are just using RGB put a pot on each line for adjustment.
 
DanAdamKOF

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I know a guy who built a supergun for use with Konami's Digital 573 motherboard (for DDR), and he used a Namco encoder since he wanted to build it for real cheap. It works fine for him. I guess take that as you will.
 
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Penguinmasta

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I just placed a bid for the $10 Namco encoder. I'll let everyone know how it goes.

thanks for your advice.
 
sackashiet

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I think the namco Encoder looks pretty good. I'm sure if you're using a CRT TV you probably will have no issues.

anybody know when Namco made these? I wonder how good they are with todays newer HDTVs
 
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