cheesestraws
Well-known member
Thankyou!
Good & reasonable HDMI scaler: Extron RGB-HDMI 300(A)
- Thread starter cheesestraws
- Start date
Thankyou!
Skate323k137
Well-known member
I found a DVD in my box for my RGB-HDMI 300, my mac refused to read it, I have a windows machine taking an ISO and I'll upload it somewhere when it's done.
The Disc is labelled "Extron software products dvd issue 2011.1," and googling that didn't seem to bring up anything exact.
Skate323k137
Well-known member
It's like 2.5GB, I have now uploaded it to archive.org.
Extron software products dvd issue 2011.1 : Extron Electronics : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Extron software products dvd issue 2011.1This was included in the factory box for the RGB-HDMI 300A Scaler, and contains content for numerous Extron products.
archive.org
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Thanks @Skate323k137, I just got one of these devices as well, but no CD.
cheesestraws
Well-known member
Thanks for this!
Skate323k137
Well-known member
I have a feeling you're not alone, people probably hoarded and / or simply lost them over time.
Not a problem at all, whenever I realize I have something potentially unarchived, this is the least I can do.
As an owner of at least 4 different devices of theirs, I find it a bit rough that the software is restricted on the website now when I went to look, so I simply hope this helps others who own the devices access the drivers and documentation they are entitled to.
Mk.558
Well-known member
I don't know. All I got for mine was the device and the power brick. Filename is "SPPCPSetupVer1x4.exe". I think it's been v1.4 for awhile now.
All I can say is, PM if you want it. I found a copy of the firmware online somewhere, so yeah.
Another item that's on the RGB-HDMI 300A page is a vector image test image. You can find a version here.. Save the page to disk, all files, and it's yours.
Phipli
Well-known member
Well, that's more than most of us.
Mk.558
Well-known member
heh yeah I specifically saw the power problem and heard about people who had to wire up their own (or use a benchtop power supply) and thought -- bah I'd rather not deal with that. I mean it's not hard, you can go to mouser or Jameco or digikey and get a power supply easily and the little male plug, but #effort.
cheesestraws
Well-known member
You've got a newer version than is on the CD - the CD has 1.2.
Just as another data point here, the RGB-DVI 300 appears to be the same thing, just with a DVI output instead of HDMI, and a quick scan of eBay suggests that they seem to be cheaper.
Doesn’t do audio, of course, but at least for my use case I don’t need it. And DVI is trivially adaptable to video-only HDMI if you need it.
I just scored one for $25 shipped, will report back when it gets here.
Doesn’t do audio, of course, but at least for my use case I don’t need it. And DVI is trivially adaptable to video-only HDMI if you need it.
I just scored one for $25 shipped, will report back when it gets here.
eharmon
Well-known member
I've also had reasonable luck with the very similar DVS 401 DVI, which has the benefit of a normal IEC power port.
I found the latest firmware for it here: https://archive.org/details/extron-dvs-304-dvi-fw-2x16
I found the latest firmware for it here: https://archive.org/details/extron-dvs-304-dvi-fw-2x16
Can confirm, the RGB-DVI 300 works beautifully on my IIfx with an E-Machines Futura SX. With a bit of fiddling I've got it displaying 1152x870 at 1:1 on my 1280x1024 Dell LCD. Looks a LOT better than being scaled up! It's also very nice that by default it saves configurations per video mode, so you can switch between multiple machines without having to set it up every time.
At least with my card and Mac-VGA adapter, it seemed to prefer composite sync - separate H/Vsync worked but the first few lines had weird 'smearing' artifacts that I could never get to go away, and while it would sync with sync-on-green, it seemed to upset the automatic gain control, and the colours were all wrong.
The only annoyance with mine was that it would always output video, even if there was no input signal, so my monitor would remain switched on, displaying a black screen. The manual hints at a "Power Save" setting, but at least on mine it was nowhere to be found in the menu - you have to go in through the RS232 configuration interface.
For posterity: the control interface is 'real' RS232 (not TTL level) 9600 baud, 8N1, and the incantation to enable Power Save is: <ESC>1Psav<CR> - with this set, it will only output video when it sees a valid input signal, so your monitor will turn off as it should.
They're 3.81mm-pitch "Euroblock" connectors. Extron sell special colour-coded versions of the mating connector with a cable strain relief, but plain screw-terminal connectors are cheap and plentiful on Amazon etc. Just make sure that you get the 3.81mm version - they're available in several different sizes!THAT'S where I've seen it before. That's been really needling at me.
No need—helpfully, the pinouts for both the power and RS232 are printed on the back of the machine
View attachment 25913
View attachment 25914
Skate323k137
Well-known member
In the inverse, the DVI-RGB 200 is a great box for hooking HDMI/DVI computers to VGA monitors and projectors. I still use one regularly.
Mk.558
Well-known member
Why don't you post your configuration settings here as I was fiddling with something and saw that resolution too, but it sure is a weird one. My graphics card on the IIci only outputs 640x480, which is weak, but better than nothing, but at least is QuickDraw accelerated? Yay?
Trying to think how I recognize that resolution. Is it one of the available built-in IIci video options? The Rocket will not work with my display card, so I have to use built in video with the Rocket
If I could get 1:1 output, then I can crop out the black in video processing software, then pixel-double it. Or something. I don't know. Making a video with the star of the show 640x480 blackbarred to 720x480 is another option.
Sure! I've got:
Input Configuration:
- Pixels: Total 1456, Phase 9
- Start: 100 H, 130 V
- Active: 1152 H, 870 V
- Position: +64 H, +77 V
- Size and Zoom both 1152 x 870
That gives me a nice centered stable image on my 1280x1024 Dell P190S, from the E-Machines Futura SX in my IIfx, using a '10 switch' Mac-VGA adapter with switch setting '59' (composite sync on pin 13, and a weird non-standard sense code specific to E-Machines cards) The optimal phase setting varies a bit depending on color depth, but that should be a good starting point.
It was a fairly common resolution for monitors in the 19-20" size range - if I remember right, the Radius Two Page Displays I used to have used it too.
Phipli
Well-known member
It isn't a IIci resolution, but several early Apple Nubus cards did it and it was a supported resolution for Quadras and later.
It's the resolution of the Apple Two Page Display (21") monitors.
68krazy
Well-known member
@halkyardo Thanks for this tip, I just got one of these and the monitor staying on was really bugging me. Mine also did not have the power save option in the menu. With your instructions I was able to rig up the serial port on an old Windows 7 laptop and use PuTTY to send the magic command over RS232. Problem solved.
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Mk.558
Well-known member
Here are the settings I've used to dial in what I would consider "Acceptable" output for one of these to capture with OBS or something. Since it's an upscaler, it'll take in the 640x480 4:3, and stretch it up to 1920x1080p 16:9 out of the box, which is undesirable for retaining aspect ratio. The following outputs it as 720x480p 4:3, which can then be easily edited with a NLE video editor.
Assuming factory default, with Auto-Image just completed, modify the following:
Assuming factory default, with Auto-Image just completed, modify the following:
- Picture controls:
- Position: H +40; V +0
- Size: H 640; V 480
- Zoom: 640 480
- Output Configuration:
- Resolution: 480p@60
- Input configuration:
- Pixels: TOT 1301; PHS 31
- Start: H 45; V 138
- Active: H 964; V 480
- Audio delay: Appears that default is fine.
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