Guide for: MiSTer with CRT TV using component connection

[victor]

Hello All,

Finally I was able to setup my Taki Udon MiSTer Pi with my CRT tv (KV-27FS120) using component connections and hope this can help someone that needs to setup the same.

Why would you want to do this?

• because you have an old CRT tv lying around (or you may have a high quality CRT tv such as a Sony PVM/BVM)
• you prefer the authentic look and feel of games with genuine CRT scan lines
• there is no input lag introduced by the CRT tvs when displaying the analog gaming video signal
• many other reasons...!

Assumptions:

• you already have the MiSTer Pi full stack (main board, I/O & A/V board, USB board) and have assembled everything including the smaller "L" shaped A/V board
• you have a CRT tv with component input
• you have successfully setup the firmware for your MiSTer Pi following Taki's video (I had trouble with this because I tried using a usb memory stick -- this does not work! You need to setup with micro sd card!)
• you have already know/learned how to find game ROMs and load them onto the MiSTer Pi initialized micro sd card

What else you need:

• a VGA to 3 RCA component video cable (like this)
• a 3.5mm to 2 RCA stereo audio cable (like this)

Steps:

• connect your MiSTer Pi micro sd card to your computer
• edit the MiSTer.ini file (found in the root of your micro sd card) and activate the following 2 settings (i.e. change the value from 0 to 1):

  Code: Select all

  ypbpr=1
  vga_sog=1
  

• save the .ini file changes and re-insert the micro sd to the MiSTer Pi
• connect the VGA cable to the VGA port on the MiSTer Pi and the 3 RCA connections to the respective (red/green/blue) component connections on your CRT tv
• connect the 3.5mm cable to the audio port (next to the VGA port) on the MiSTer Pi and the 2 RCA stereo (red/white) connections to the matching red/white audio component connections on your CRT tv
• power on your MiSTer Pi

That's it! (at least this is what worked for me, after many trial and errors)

One last note: I noticed when I play "EUR" region ROM games, the video display will go crazy and lose vertical sync flicking constantly -- I fixed this by setting the "Video Region" setting from the default "Auto" to the type supported by your CRT, either NTSC or PAL. After doing this, the EUR games displayed properly again.

Anyhow, I hope this can help others enjoy MiSTer Pi fpga on CRT tvs.

Enjoy!

[DarthWhatthewhat]

Thank you for this, it was very helpful.

Also, for those who end up purchasing an el-cheapo cable that might have the wrong color RCA heads on it (mine, for example, has red white and yellow heads and wires instead of red, blue and green colored heads and wires):

If you are looking at the male pins of your cable on the DE-15 (i.e. the VGA) connector, with the longer row of pins up and the shorter row of pins down, Pin 1 is at the top left.

Pin 1 is Red. Pin 2 is Blue. Pin 3 is Green. Use a multimeter in continuity mode and find which center pins beep out correctly.