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Arvid - homebrew arcade video card introduction
#339302 - 04/26/15 03:07 PM
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I'd like to introduce my homebrew open source and open hardware project called Arvid.
I think some of you might like it.
The name stands for ARcade VIDeocard and the goal is to produce perfect TV output
for arcade games of the past emulated on modern PCs.
The first prototype is up and running, video is here:
https://youtu.be/cIl1TJGvT5M
Feaures of the card
- more than 40 refresh rates ranging from 50 - 61 Hz which allows
smooth scrolling while preserving original game speed.
- pixel perfect resolutions: 320, 256, 288, 384, no interpolation
or scaling is involved.
- videomodes use progressive mode, that means natural scanlines.
More info and build instructions here:
www.volny.cz/molej/arvid
Cheers!
ole
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Re: Arvid - homebrew arcade video card introduction
[Re: ole]
#339304 - 04/26/15 05:00 PM
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What niche are you trying to fill? Modern AMD cards as well as the ArcadeVGA, combined with the upcoming G-Sync technology, seem to have this particular market sewn up already.
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Re: Arvid - homebrew arcade video card introduction
[Re: MooglyGuy]
#339306 - 04/26/15 05:27 PM
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Hi, thanks for pointing out these products.
At first, Arvid is a hobby project, something you can build at home. Next, it produces TV signal, not VGA signal, so you can hook it to 'old' CRT TV. As far as I can see the cards you mentioned don't have TV output (maybe I'm wrong). Also it is external, so you can use it with your laptop or mini pc where you can not plug-in standard video card.
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Re: Arvid - homebrew arcade video card introduction
[Re: ole]
#339307 - 04/26/15 05:30 PM
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that's good news,as i had an arcadevga,and the compatibility issue,especially with windows 7,were so atrocious that i ended up selling it.that tv out is a godsend,really
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Nice...
[Re: Solstar]
#339698 - 05/06/15 10:45 PM
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although when you say TV out you actually mean SCART (UK/Euro), as you say in the video. That's totally different. Or, rather, it's the same as using an AVGA, or other card with Soft-15khz, etc, but yours needs no drivers. That's cool. But I was thinking you meant TV out like S-Video or Component.
Anyways, I'd love to see what the folks at BYOAC, particularly Ande Warne, would say about this. I recommend posting over there.
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Scifi frauds. SF illuminates.
_________________
Culture General Contact Unit (Eccentric)
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Re: Nice...
[Re: Traso]
#340769 - 05/31/15 12:07 PM
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SCART/euro - that's true. Composite or S-VIDEO out is not supported. I guess it should be possible to add AD724 (or similar) IC into the Arvid circuit to support both. Maybe S-Video can be achieved even by reprogramming the code that generates the videosignal on PRU, but that would require more investigation/time (anybody feel free to experiment, remember the source code is there and is open).
My near future goals with Arvid is to produce a public port of Arvid-Mame for Win, Lin, and Osx (along with reasonably presentable source code  ), so that people could actually do something fancy with the board straight away.
Edit:
I've released first public version of arvidmame - an unofficial port of mame that outputs the video via Arvid.
Links are on the Arvid web page I mentioned on the top post.
Edited by ole (07/04/15 07:41 PM)
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Re: Nice...
[Re: Traso]
#346260 - 10/26/15 12:43 AM
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I built an RGB to Composite (CVBS) convertor circut (according this doc: http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/RGB_SVideo) and it works well with Arvid. The colors are washed up and there are noticable artefacts (dor crawl on red areas etc.), but that's the limitation of CVBS. The main thing is the circuit (based on AD724 chip) doesn't mess-up refresh rates an also sync is fine (preserves scan lines and progressive mode), so overall it's a positive outcome. I haven't tried S-video (the chip produces S-video out as well), but will try it if there is interest.
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Re: Nice...
[Re: ole]
#346319 - 10/27/15 06:59 AM
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> I built an RGB to Composite (CVBS) convertor circut (according this doc: http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/RGB_SVideo) and it works well with Arvid. The colors are washed up and there are noticable artefacts (dor crawl on red areas etc.), but that's the limitation of CVBS. The main thing is the circuit (based on AD724 chip) doesn't mess-up refresh rates an also sync is fine (preserves scan lines and progressive mode), so overall it's a positive outcome. I haven't tried S-video (the chip produces S-video out as well), but will try it if there is interest.
Mmmmm. There's or used to be a dude at BYOAC called MonMotha, who knows about output formats. I remember him saying something like the colorspaces of RGB and Component were slightly different or something, and that minimal changes were necessary to go from one to the other. Something. Might be worth looking up, or just hollering at him over there. On that note, did you post over there? I bet they'd go apeshit over this implentation and all.
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Scifi frauds. SF illuminates.
_________________
Culture General Contact Unit (Eccentric)
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), so that people could actually do something fancy with the board straight away.