FPGA Replay Board

[AmigaPixel]

Me Too! I feel like a kid in a toy store again.

[AmigaPixel]

That... I WANT THAT!

Me Too! I feel like a kid in a toy store again.

[AmigaPixel]

oops! Didn't mean to posrt that twice!

[mikej]

Status update:
I'm in China now. The production B02 database has been sent to manufacture today. I will source the remaining couple of components in the next week to build the next batch. I've also getting the ATX power adapter board made and some more patch daughterboards for attaching other stuff.

There are a number of developers working on a range of platforms - I'm working on a ZX spectrum port at the moment.

I've had some very nice communication with the NatAmi team and I wish them well.

I'll post some more pics ASAP.
Best,
Mike

[TheGoose]

Status update:
I'm in China now. The production B02 database has been sent to manufacture today. I will source the remaining couple of components in the next week to build the next batch. I've also getting the ATX power adapter board made and some more patch daughterboards for attaching other stuff.

There are a number of developers working on a range of platforms - I'm working on a ZX spectrum port at the moment.

I've had some very nice communication with the NatAmi team and I wish them well.

I'll post some more pics ASAP.
Best,
Mike

Can't wait. Pics, yes!

[Heiroglyph]

I've had some very nice communication with the NatAmi team and I wish them well.

This is great to hear.

The products don't directly compete and only help make the community better.

I can't wait until I can get my grubby little hands on both of them.

[digiflip]

@mikej how much would it cost to implement display port in a future revision of FPGA arcade? ie there are adapters to hdmi with sound for that and vga I think.

[freqmax]

@digiflip, Very likely an additional transceiver chip and PCB impedance matching would have to be done to get DisplayPort. But more people are likely to have an DV I, HDMI or VGA monitor around than a DisplayPort one. KISS in other words.

Anyway it's not a rocket science to convert a DVI signal into DisplayPort externally. Some companies even sell such adapters.

Speaking of this. Is it possible to sneak audio bits into the existing CH7301C-TF-QFP64 and use an DVI-2-HDMI cable and make the TV-set get audio that way without getting into the licensensing hot zone?

[digiflip]

yeah but still dont have sound in a dvi socket or can you put sound in the dvi port?

[freqmax]

The HDMI  specification says audio is delivered in packets. And wikipedia says it uses 8b/10b encoding for video and 4b/10b for data. And the datasheet for 7301 mentions no control or bypass for the line coding. So it means that chip can't handle it. Unless you with some mathematical wizardy can express 4b/10b data through an 8b/10b encoder.

Other than that either a replacement or external DVI decoder chip chained with an HDMI encoder chip together with the digital audio stream would have to be used to solve this.

A feature solution is to use a rocket port of an Spartan-6 to drive the "DVI" port. A passive cable and som code changes can then turn it into an HDMI source. Without the legal liability I hope.

[digiflip]

so it not has simple has replacing one video chip for another

[freqmax]

If you create a PCB that can do HDMI officially and sell then you risk getting slapped with a 10 000 USD/year fine + 0,04 USD/port. So a solution that can get around that will do. Also keep in mind that the bit timings on these serial links are really tightly packed with PLL locked clocks in parallel. This makes it only possible for FPGAs that have really fast I/O at Gbit/s speed and PLL to go with it. Which limits choices severely.

The chip package 64-LQFP for the 3,3V LVTTL to DVI chip seems handleable. You could try to replace the existing chip with another chip soldered on an adapter PCB. Just watch for wire inductance between the board and the impedance matching, etc.. And don't forget those decoupling capacitances.

A feature solution could be to put the while video converter (LVTTL-DVI) on a little expansion board of it's own. That way it could be inofficially upgraded without anyone being able to claim any responsibility for the base-board PCB creator.

[Methanoid]

I'm away on a business trip at the moment so I don't have access to the two monitors to check and they'll be "discontinued" models by now anyway... ... ah, found it:

Viewsonic VA2223wm 21.5in 1920x1080 5ms DVI SPK

I bought it from Tiger Direct and they very good about putting the monitor specs on their site.

Here's a list of all of their current Viewsonic monitors:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Category/guidedSearch.asp?CatId=12&sel=Mfr;Mfr_903

Their cheapest is this one for $99 that does 50Hz with a single VGA input:
Viewsonic VA1931WA-LED 19" Widescreen LED Monitor - 720p, 1366x768, 10000000:1 Dynamic, 5ms, VGA, Anti-glare

Then there is this one (similar to what I bought) with VGA and DVI for $159:
Viewsonic VA2231wm 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - 1080p, 1920x1080, 16:9, 1000:1, 100000:1 Dynamic, 5ms, VGA, DVI, Integrated Speakers

One word of warning, they do list 2 "square screen" models and they show 56Hz-75Hz so you'll want to avoid them for PAL modes unless you have an Indivision.

Darrin, how about this Asus monitor?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236112

Specs say Hv from 50Hz upwards on digital and analogue inputs.

You said your monitor only has D-Sub (analogue). Will you have to plug a DVI-VGA adapter in? I might need to do same as I need HDMI for 360, DVI for PC.

[espskog]

I'm gonna pick up a Samsung HDTV "monitor" of 23" and be a happy-camper with that one as it will have inputs for all my retro stuff, plus that it is 50Hz compatible. And it costs next to nothing...oh, and it has a tuner aswell -- which I ironically won't use ;-)

[digiflip]

I recently got an lg 22" full hd for 140 gb pounds from amazon warehouse stock( i think it was unused sent back stock)

[Methanoid]

I'm gonna pick up a Samsung HDTV "monitor" of 23" and be a happy-camper with that one as it will have inputs for all my retro stuff, plus that it is 50Hz compatible. And it costs next to nothing...oh, and it has a tuner aswell -- which I ironically won't use ;-)

Which? Every Samsung I've seen is 56-83hz...