[misternoob]

@nmalinoski
thanks, I’ll see if I can get a hold of those cables

@harrumph
I thought the Wii only had PAL50 and PAL60 output options, but if I get a PAL softmodded Wii I’ll be able to run NTSC games at their proper speeds?
And thanks for the other comments

[misternoob]

I really appreciate the feedback, guys.

– I didn’t know later RF boxes were actually modulating composite signals. That’s interesting to know.
– While I’ve read that composite and S-Video can output 240p, I thought that the only way to get a progressive output from the Dreamcast was through a VGA box. When I read about it, people were talking about VGA Boxes so that’s why I assumed it only worked that way. I’m probably wrong, so don’t quote me on that.
– I got a Hakko FX-888D earlier this year cause I decided to learn how to solder properly. And thanks for the tips on what else to get.
– I’m glad that region lock on the Dreamcast is easy to by-pass.
– Wasn’t the external RF box on the NES just a switch to select either antenna or console?
– I have a Sony 1080p and a 4K TV, plus a PS2 with component cables. Both TVs work with the PS2 running 50Hz PAL games (directly connected through component). Same was okay for an early Panasonic flatscreen, an early Phillips LCD and a more recent Samsung LCD. And I’ve tried a PS3 with region free PAL DVD concerts through HDMI on the Sony TVs, they also worked without any change in configurations. So, at least in my experience, modern TVs are less fussy about color regions and just accept both inputs. Just to clarify, I’m on an NTSC area, and all of my older systems are NTSC as well.
– According to the SegaRetro, there has been only one VGA Box model and it was only released in Japan. From the photos on eBay, there’s only composite, S-Video and DB-15 outputs. And the SCART cable was only released in Europe as a simple cable.

By the way, Christoff uploaded this video on the DCHDMI output last week, if anyone haven’t seen it yet – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXsah8INPi0. Just showing off how clear Crazy Taxi 2 looks, plus the OSD.

Well, getting a Dreamcast ready for my HDTV sounds a little less of a daunting task.
I’ll wait for the DCHDMI, if it proves to be impossible to buy like the UltraHDMI, then I’ll resort to Toro. I don’t have enough shelf space to install the Akura without bending the cable.

Thanks for all the help.

[misternoob]

Thank you so much for all the in-depth information, nmalinoski
After reading your post, I’ve research a bit more to understand some aspects of what you said

I’m gonna re-write my first post just because it helps me have a better thought flow.

= the Dreamcast has “officially” 4 ways to connect to the TV:
* RF: I had no idea this existed until today, I thought the N64 was the last console to have an official release of an RF modulator
* RCA composite: 480i only, luma and chroma carried on a single wire (1)
* s-video: 480i only, carries chroma and luma in two different wires
* SCART: 480i only, capable of carrying RGBs (meaning the sync is carried in a 4th wire) (2) (3)
* DB-15: 480p only, capable of carrying RGBHV, very susceptible of visual noise due to poor cable shielding (meaning the sync is carried through 2 wires) (4) (5)

notes:
1 – luma is the “how bright” the image is, chroma are the colors
2 – SCART is capable of carrying up to 1080p if the hardware allows it, but it’s not the case of the Dreamcast
3 – sync is signal that combines vertical and horizontal lines
4 – DB-15 is usually called VGA, which is a bit of a misnomer

= Dreamcast games have 3 resolutions:
* 240p: can be sent through SCART and DB-15
* 480i: can be sent through composite, s-video and SCART
* 480p: can be sent through DB-15

notes:
1 – few games can output 240p
2 – most games can output 480p, but not all
3 – it’s possible to trick certain games into run in 480p with a VGA Box that can output both through RGB and DB-15
4 – certain games don’t support RGB output at all, so for all of them a patched image is required
5 – if running games through GDemu, GDmenu has an in-built option to force 480p output

===
I’m not in a hurry to play on the Dreamcast, I mean, I’ve waited 19 years, what’s another year?
My only concern about the DCHDMI is the complexity of the installation. My soldering skills aren’t as good as needed for a project like the UltraHDMI, and where I live there’s no modders I can trust to install that kind of thing.
I’m assuming the Dreamcast port only output analog signals, so an external FPGA solution like the ones for the GameCube can’t be expected, right?

Also, DCHDMI should have a better image/audio quality as it’s getting data directly from the GPU, and not converting the signal from analog to digital like Akura does.

How complicated is it to run Dreamcast games from another region?
The PlayStation 2 had region lock and even with modchips, swap tricks, or whatever, PAL games would be black and white on a NTSC TV, unless a component cable was used.
I’m assuming the Dreamcast can output both 50Hz and 60Hz without bigger mods, right?
I think I read that the original Xbox had serious troubles with that kind of thing, and even if the European consoles had an PAL60 option, running NTSC games was a bit troublesome. So I’m still concerned about all the things I don’t know.

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