Outputting 240p RGB Scart from a modern Nvidia GPU 

Cheers man, appreciate it

Amazing, thanks for sharing your experience!

Hey man, so you were able to get 15kHz signal out of an GTX 970? Without any driver modification? At 60Hz instead of 120Hz? I thought that was impossible.

I have the same question are you outputying at 15khz please?

​@@gshaw3000Yes. 15khz with just official drivers. However I didn't get retroarch to scale games correctly. I had better results with an old AMD gpu and CrtEmudriver.

I got it working with a cheap HDMI to component converter and followed the settings in the video. I didn't try retroarch yet but the screen looks bad. Everything is way to big in 240p on crt tv. I tried 576 interlaced it worked as testing the modification but NVIDIA has made it so these interlaced setting aren't selectable now

Do more modern ones have the low pixel clock limitation on DP? I know HDMI is always locked, in all my tests with different GPUs from Nvidia, Intel iGPUs and AMD it needs at least 25.20MHz to work (which is the exact pixel clock of 640x480p@60Hz the minimum "official" resolution supported on PC) I've never tested DisplayPort so I had no idea it had no limit. I've always heard all digital connections had the limit and only analog didn't. Would love to try this on my main PC to play modern PC games at 240p (as we all know super resolutions only work with things like Retroarch sadly) but I'd hate to waste money on an adapter only to be disappointed. Right now I have PCs with a 3060, RX 480 and now a RX 7900XTX so all fairly recent GPUs.

@@AJ-po6up Eventhough i haven't tried it yet, but i have a feeling that your RX480 probably can pull low pixel clock via DP. Try to find an OEM HP DP to VGA adapter (the second hand unit should be not expensive). the adapter is confirmed working with low pixel clock resolutions.

Crtemudriver has its plus points, there isn't really a perfect solution

I have old radeon HD6850, but it just shows me black screen, when i update drivers or just start everything on CPU... haven't try it with CRT yet.

Nice, hope it works for you

It’s not working… I get signal but there is flickering and artifacts as horizontal lines mainly in the lower area. I’ve tried different standards and numbers…. So you have any tips? Have a Sony trinitron (tried on 2 different models with the same results) and a 1080ti 😢

Flickering and artifacts sounds a bit weird, my experience has been I either get a solid picture or nothing (on 2 different tvs). Sure it's not a cable issue or a connection not quite in right somewhere?

@@londonretrovideogames1473 I’m giving up for today. I’m using a quality hdmi cable from kabeldirekt. Same as the scart I’ve been using for the switcher. There is the possibility that the HDMI to VGA lil converter is the faulty piece. I ordered several cables and adaptors, including DisplayPort to VGA, gonna do more tests tomorrow. Sent videos and photos to retroupgrades. I really hope it’s the cable. 🤞

@@londonretrovideogames1473 yessss! It was the cheap adapter. I’ve been tweaking the custom resolution and the tv geometry. But now I have some pesky pixels on the top and bottom that aren’t showing, like just a few pixels cropping out of the screen, will tweak the numbers and see what happens, but so far this gadget is THE BOMB!!!!! 😎😎😎😍🥰

Only adapters that have a frame buffer add meaningful lag. Most dp or hdmi to vga adapters don't have one as there's no scaling.

Thanks! Glad it was useful

Thanks pal, appreciate it

My guess is that it should, the key is getting the right resolution out

Technically you're sending a native signal to the crt so I don't see an issue long term. Check out crtemudriver too, useful for 32bit games that swap from 240p to 480i

Crt emudriver I think is a little more flexible due to switchres which for ps1/saturn means you can go from 240p to 480i on the fly. I use mister or original hardware for these so it doesn't bother me. It's also been mentioned that the rtx cards might not support 240p but I don't have experience of that

Hope it works for you!

@@londonretrovideogames1473 unfortunately not. Getting a rolling picture, can you help? Thanks

Sounds like it's getting signal, probably a case of playing with the settings. Do you have Instagram? Send me a dm with pics and I'll see if I can help

Thanks, I've sent you a message with a pic

Doesn't crt emudriver just use the gpu to send the signal, can't you have another one to do the heavy lifting?

@@londonretrovideogames1473 Yeah you can, I used to run it on my main gaming rig which at the time had both my GTX 980ti and AMD HD 5450 and it was great. Only downside was certain Steam games with Anti-Cheat (Ex. Dragonball Fighterz) require Windows Test Signing turned on. But when you're running CRT Emudriver (Custom Drivers Not Approved by Windows) Test signing has to be turned off in order for CRT Emudriver to work. So it was a pain in the ass constantly enabling/disabling test signing and having to reboot. So I ended up picking up a Dell Optiplex 7020 for $100, refurbished it, installed my AMD 5450 and am using that as a dedicated retro games pc for Launchbox/Big Box/RetroArch and Fightcade. I recently upgraded my main GPU to a RTX 3060 and my old GTX 980ti is just sitting in it's box. I'de pair it with my AMD 5450, but the Optiplex, 7020 only has one PCI-E for 1 GPU... So if I can install a 600w power supply in the Optiplex to power my 980ti... This could be epic.

@@londonretrovideogames1473 Yeah you can render with one and use another for just displaying to the TV/Monitor, one thing I've found is that is better to use different brands as drivers can collide when they're different generations of the same brand i.e an old AMD GPU with a new AMD GPU, like having an HD 5450 and a RX 6700 at the same time would create a conflict since the drivers you need for the HD 5450 are super old as it's been EOL for a long time while you need new drivers for the RX 6700, same with nvidia, a 710 with a RTX 3060 is a no-go. But with different brands you could have a crazy combo like an HD 5450 and a RTX 4090 at the same time with no conflicts (hopefully)

Did you have any luck with this?

Yes, but you will get 480i output, not 240p by default. I'm not certain how to get 240p using that method

You'll need something to convert vga to component in that case which I'm less familiar with. Crtemudriver might be another option

You can run multiple resolutions but it won't switch on the fly. If you run a high resolution and then just use integer scaling it will be fine (at least for the vertical). Multiple horizontal resolutions might be helpful

@@londonretrovideogames1473 Good to know! You just saved me a bunch of stress, time and frustration. Thanks, London 🤟

If you are going to do that you might want to use crt emudriver and an old Radeon card. I used a 1060 3gb here

Still fighting with it, but I am able to output interlaced video albeit at a weird aspect ratio and tiled (essentially the image is squished and duplicated once over.) Interestingly original xbox is also outputting the same way over component. I'm guessing that vga2scart adapter is the key to this.

Update with vga2scart converter. Has made zero difference. Same signal issues. I've tried dozens upon dozens of settings with custom resolution utility and no luck. I think I'll have to try the emudriver at some point.

​​​​@@stainp First of all if you have an AMD GPU, even a modern one - you need to use CRTemudriver. It's a pretty involved set up, but once it is nothing works better. Secondly, try a HDMI to VGA converter. They don't cost much and have no noticeable latency. When using CRTemudriver, you can set up a virtual EDID with the selected HDMI out. That will make your life a lot easier as it will always default to the resolution that you configure as desktop resolution. Third, you may have to set up super resolution modelines. This is especially important with modern GPU because they have a higher pixel clock minimum. Basically that means that's the only way to get 240p 15khz, for example: 2560x240p.

There is an option for it but I couldn't get it to work, might work with some fiddling. Possible the vga adapter doesn't like it

This here is for playing on a crt tv with scart input. I have numerous vga crts too. For that you have two options for 240p, one is run 120hz and then black frame insertion for 60hz which you can do in retroarch. Other option is 480p and use artificial scanlines to block every other line back to 240p. Both will give a BVM like look but with reduced brightness so get a late, high end crt monitor. Personally I'd suggest a crt tv for 240p though. Hope this is useful

A dm on instagram might be a good idea, happy to help

For a TV it will be 576i over scart. A component set might be able to do progressive scan, but those are rare in Europe. I struggled to get interlaced resolutions to work via this method, probably need to experiment more. I did find that you can sometimes push more than 240 lines within the spec of the signal. Depends on the TV but I got one doing 250p

@@londonretrovideogames1473 I thought 576p was a thing on RGB? Don't DVDs play 576p in Europe? I got a Beovision MX4000 for the purpose of displaying content from a VGA output from an older laptop. I guess It's only composite for those higher resolutions? In this case, what in your opinion would be the best solution for this? Thank you for your help.

Dvds will be interlaced 576i not 576p. I think there is the capability to display that progressive resolution from a theoretical standpoint but I don't think you'll find it implemented whereas component can display those progressive scan resolutions with implementations in commercial products. You could definitely run with an interlaced resolution but it will have the limitations such as flicker. You could get something that is a more standard hdmi to scart adapter but it'll have a little lag. Most of these output 480i/576i which I talk about in the video. You're not going to get a progressive scan resolution though, better off with a vga monitor for that usage

@@londonretrovideogames1473 Interlaced 576i? I never knew. I guess the same goes for S-video, since I got myself an "EASYCEL HDMI to S-Video RCA Converter" on Amazon DE, and the s-video is really bad. I tried making some custom resolutions to 576p on the HDMI output in hopes of somehow bypassing the scaler, by going native resolution. I am not sure if it worked though. Composite output on the box makes a better picture, though it looks a little washed out. That is why I asked you if there is a specific solution to rule them all? About the high resolution progressive scan and VGA monitors; I wish I could, but they are nowhere to be found here in Denmark. It really makes you kick yourself for not getting one, or them all, when they where given away for free in piles.

​@@Mr_Wh1 hi, i am also getting a beovision mx 4000. Did you have any luck pushing 576p or 480p on it through vga2scart? Gonna try 240p via the method in this video but more options are always better.

It's just a hp one I bought on ebay, sorry to hear you're having issues. How much fiddling with the settings have you done? It might just need something tweaking to be just right. Maybe also try a higher horizontal resolution

@@londonretrovideogames1473 I ended up trying a ton of different resolutions and custom timings but couldn't get anything to work on my SCART modded Trinitron. I'll test out another TV with SCART as well as another adapter to see if I get better results.

what gpu card that you are using?

What resolution are you outputting? You could maybe try a higher horizontal resolution

Not tried groovymame. It's treating the TV as a monitor so unless it's doing something particularly funky, I'm guessing it should be ok. Good to hear your crtemudriver experience, this seems like a fairly reasonable option

There are custom BIOSes for the Radeon letting CRT outputgoing straight from the card, without the need for programs or hardware hacks.

@@jimbotron70any idea where to get thet bios?

@@InvictusCore Sure, search the ATOM-15 utility

​@InvictusCore did you found anything?

Crt tvs don't "save" resolutions. It sounds more like a geometry issue. Is this 480i on a pal TV? Are you sure the service menu doesn't have geometry controls? Most do

@@londonretrovideogames1473 Interesting you may have solved the issue. My CRT TV might be a PAL CRT and my GameCube being NTSC is not communicating the image properly. I tested my gamecube on a Sony Wega CRT and it filled up the whole screen perfectly. When I hooked up my Dvd player and even ps3 in S-video it fills the whole screen perfectly, so I did conclude that the black bars on the side is part of the picture the GameCube is generating. I tested 240p and its perfectly fine fills the whole screen even with a N64 though being a NTSC. The CRT is Samsung TX-R2035 and I am looking online or even the back sticker and dont see it being a PAL CRT. The CRT does say 60hz on the back , and I do know PAL CRT had dif hz rating not to sure. Also read online that 3rd party based cable could cause the gamecube to send a 16/9 image rather than a 4/3 so i am waiting on OEM cable I bought to test once more and see.

I think it's a hp one, I'll dig it out. What issue with the hdmi adapter did you have?

@@londonretrovideogames1473 The screen black with no color, and there is flickering artifacts like the one on yours, no matter what resolution i put in Nvidia control panel. I have tried super resolutions too, to no avail. I'm using a PAL Philips television (29PT5458/01)

Thanks, I wasn't aware that this isn't possible on rtx cards, unclear why that would be. Crt emudriver would probably be sensible in that case

Have you got any link to that anywhere, I have a 2070 RTX and it lets me set the resolution but it doesn't seem to be working.

@@irti Link to what? The USB VGA, CRU or CRT Emudriver?

@@spacemidget9416 somewhere that says not possible on RTX cards

@@irti Hi im just curious, did you get it working? And did you use a DisplayPort2VGA converter or HDMI2VGA converter from your graphics card?

Where are you based? You need an hdmi or displayport to vga adapter, a vga2scart box and a scart to scart cable

@@londonretrovideogames1473 Germany

Feel free to dm me on instagram, I suspect it's a case of playing with the settings. Something that worked for my Sony crt tv was pulling and reconnecting the vga cable

For composite you need to mix all of the rgbhv signals from vga into one. You might be able to do it with something like this: a.aliexpress.com/_Ev07Vhx

Sorry, I've only explored this with Nvidia cards, look up what custom resolution options there are and see if you can get 240p. Conceptually it should work the same if you can output the right resolution

Wouldn't just making a resolution of 240p with the program called Custom Resolution Utility and connecting it to your tv would work. What's the need of adapters? I can push out progressive or interlaced on my modern LG OLED TV 4k. Why so many things? Just make custom resolution and connect to tv.

We're talking about outputting an analogue signal to a crt tv over scart here. 240p will look way better on a crt than it does on an oled

I have the same card, I've used an adapter from DVI-I to VGA, and my adapter from VGA to SCART from a retro game store. If you can get DVI-I to SCART it would be better. You also need emudriver to output the analogue signals and to generate the custom resolutions.

if your are okay if your pc is going to be a dedicated for 240p gaming, then you can try to install crt emudriver on it, because your gpu met the emudriver spec

How much have you played with the settings? What resolution are you using?

@@londonretrovideogames1473 Im just trying to set it as "standard" 240p like yours. I notice yours was flickering nicely before you did the settings, where as mine is just a black screen set on AV1 - it does have the RGB icon showing in the corner but no actual picture.

@@chickenbites8877 do you think the dp to vga adapter is working correctly? Is the crt working ok with a different signal?

@@londonretrovideogames1473 the CRT works fine with my sega saturn. I bought a cheap DP to VGA cable, maybe thats it! I also note its showing as a "Digital Display" in NV control panel, when in fact its a real CRT.

try 1920x240 resolution, your gpu card might have a pixel clock limitation

I see there are inexpensive SCART to svideo adapters, but I am concerned they will introduce lag or other unwanted effects.

You can get lag free rgb to svideo adapters. Take a look at ones designed for the mister fpga. I've seen them on aliexpress

@@londonretrovideogames1473 Am I understanding correctly that part of the purpose of the VGA2SCART card is to convert the 31khz signal of the PC to a 15khz TV? And this is (at least one reason) why you couldn't just use a VGA to SCART cable?

No, it takes a 15khz of rgbhv signals and converts it to rgbs where h sync and v sync are combined to composite sync

@@londonretrovideogames1473 So you're saying our NVIDIA cards can output 15khz on their own? Or is there a different part of the chain responsible for fixing that?

As I describe in the video, custom resolution out of the pc via hdmi or dp, convert to vga and then use a sync combiner such as the vga2scart to go from rgbhv to rgbs. If you don't mind about lag then any hdmi to scart adapter will work

​​@@londonretrovideogames1473then there's the issue of aspect ratio. I don't want a situation where you get 16:9 video on a 4:3 screen. Does it stretch it by default and if it doesn't how do you switch it to 4:3. Because I'm not sure the sat nav monitor has aspect ratio settings. Samsung dex does not have an option that isn't 16:9

@@brucemclaren- that might be an issue, output resolution and ratio should match the display

​@@londonretrovideogames1473yeah but if it stretches the video by default I'll be okay. And there's an ausie guy who says if pin 8 has 0V the monitor itself will decide what aspect ratio to use. But i guess I'll just have to use try and error

​@@londonretrovideogames1473you know what? I think I'm gonna use a vga scaler then put together a transistor and a few resistors to make a sync combiner. If my first year elections teacher did a decent job i should be able to pull it off. The circuit diagrams look reasonably straight forward lol

That sounds like composite rather than separate rgb. Yellow, red and white cables? Or maybe component, I think I've seen people selling vga to component transcoder boards. Something like a.aliexpress.com/_m0C25ya which should work similarly to the vga to scart board I use here. You're right that scart is pretty rare in the US. You might be better with trying to set up crt emudriver in this case if the above board doesn't work for you

Thanks for taking a look

Scart is a connector and can carry multiple signals but component is almost never carried over scart. Hope it works for you, heard a few people having difficulty with sync issues. I've had this working on two separate tvs, a Sony in addition to the b&o here

@@londonretrovideogames1473 Do you have the same settings on your Sony as you entered in this video?

@@irti yes, basically followed the same approach

@@irti I did have to pull the vga cable and reconnect for it to sync properly

@@londonretrovideogames1473 cheers, this is a Sony and if it doesn't understand the signal it just shows a black screen which isn't helpful!

Thanks, more modern crts seem to be much more tolerant of the signal specs. This has worked with both the crts I've tried

@@londonretrovideogames1473 actually I usually have problem with csync on the very last CRT models they sold because they tried to make the a bit too smart auto detecting signals etc haha older models that just feed whatever you plug in won't really care

Interesting, in addition to this b&o I've had a widescreen Trinitron working with this method

@@londonretrovideogames1473 anything that has auto detection of s-video over scart will not work :D Still I'm not saying it's a super huge problem but some people might run into this issue and might need to just find another CRT

What resolution are you outputting? Component or composite converter? Send me a dm on instagram and I'll see if I can help

If it's PAL, have you tried setting it to 50 hz? Some older PAL CRTs don't support 60 hz.

from what i've learned, interlaced resolution only works from either hdmi or dvi-i on that card, but only works on the old driver version. you can try using hdmi/dvi-i to vga adapter and set the resolution to 1920x576i 50hz from CRU.

You'd need something to combine the rgb signals to composite. The thing with vga to scart is that the rgb signals are the same, it's just the sync that is different

you can use a VGA to Composite trandcoder instead of SCART. but i never seen any composite transcoder that have a clean signal. all that i've tested have a rainbow artifact, which is pretty annoying.

There are pros and cons vs crtemudriver, I'm not 100% what is better currently

@@londonretrovideogames1473 what are the pros and cons

But requires an older card

@@delatroy You have a bunch of extra PCI slots so that's no problem. You can put a x16 card in a x1 slot even, just need to cut out the right wall of the slot with a knife. Or use an adapter if your case has enough space.

​@@lulkLogani have ITX motherboards 😢

Can you do this for later consoles gen emulators? PS2, Wii, GC and etc using an HD CRT on the PC?

it doesn't work with nvidia cards, unfortunately (at least new ones)

That sounds like component output rather than rgb and component isn't typically transferred over scart. Find me on instagram and send me a dm and I might be able to help more

@@londonretrovideogames1473 That only explains alot, thanks 👍

lol no

@@Guillaume-ek2mq lol yes, try that. Keep an extinguisher handy.

Why don't you send me a dm on instagram and maybe we can try to diagnose, can be a little finicky such as unplugging and replugging the vga cable for example. I've had this working on two different tvs with my 1060, I don't see why a 3070 would be different

@@londonretrovideogames1473 Cool thanks ! I will dm you tomorrow :)

your card might have a pixelclock limitation. try 1920x240 resolution see if it's work

Been a while since I did this but I think I've had it work with both hdmi and dp adapters

@@londonretrovideogames1473 well then, i tried this config, and I do have sync combiner working just ok, but nvidia resolution panel won't let me configure this :( I wish you could sync with me on some communicator and help. I know i'm a stranger but maybe you could find some time.

@@CykPykMyk you can send me a dm on instagram

@@londonretrovideogames1473 Awesome! Found you and messaged :)