How do solder these ground pins? (Help a newbie please!)

[c0dehunter]

Hello All!
OK, I am about to make a custom cable in order to connect a Sony PVM-2030 (with 25pin connector) to a modern PC's VGA (15pin), and use MAME and other emulators (currently I am connecting my Commodore 1084S-D1 and it looks great!)

The VGA to 25pin schematic table is as follows:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48901682@N02/7588179296/in/photostream/lightbox/

The table comes from this forum post, however the actual diagram is INCORRECT:
http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=4028.0

I was determined to make a CORRECTED diagram, so I made this diagram instead:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48901682@N02/7588180386/in/photostream/lightbox/

The question that I have is this:
In the original table, it states that pins 15 to 24 are GROUND (corresponding to pins 6,7,8,10 on Sony's 25pin connector in the back). Do I need 10 (ten!) cables to ground these pins?

I can solder pins 6, 5, 4, 3, and 11 (R, G, B, H-Sync, V-Sync) but I am not sure about Ground pins.

Would you kindly let me know what pins (how many cables!) I need to ground?

also why the person who posted this table (RGB32E), states that: "The only pin you could optionally ground is pin 2 - audio select."

Any help regarding grounding those pins are much appreciated!

[Etienne MacGyver]

I think if you solder a wire over all those pins will do fine

it could be that its internally connected also all together, but i think one wire will be fine and just interconnect all the stated pins.

[c0dehunter]

Etienne, thanks for responding to my question!
OK, the thing I am not sure is this: I thought it is easy to connect this Sony PVM-2030 to a VGA, by connecting RGB, V and H sync and GROUND. In these forums, they talk about Composite sync and an ADDITIONAL device which combines the H and V signals:

http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=4028.msg32178#msg32178

User RGB32E states that:

"The PVM-2030 doesn't accept separate sync when analog RGB signals are used.  A sync combiner is required to convert RGBHV to RGBS.
The PVM-2030/2530 don't actually accept separate sync signals when analog signals are used. You'll need a device (extron RGB interface) or circuit (ask google) to convert the separate sync signals into composite sync (RGBHV to RGBS)?"

I think he is talking about connecting various real gaming consoles (SNES, SEGA GENESIS, etc) to this monitor. But all I am trying to do is EMULATION: using a modern PC and playing games using MAME and other emulators. For this purpose, I need to make a DB25 (Sony) to DV15 (VGA) custom cable and connect Sony PVM-2030 to my modern PC. My video card can send a 15KHz video signal using Soft 15KHz software (I am playing emulator games right now, connecting my PC to my Commodore 1084S-D1 and it looks great!)

Additionally I know this guy also was able to connect his Sony PVM-2030 to his PC without any sync composite device:

http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=4656.0

The more I think about it, the more convinced I am, that the reason RGB32E was talking about composite sync on Sony PVM-2030s is because he thought I was going to connect real game console this monitor.

[Etienne MacGyver]

i would just try it and see if you got image

you can try to combine h and v sync by simply put them together, and try AFAIK

[bencao74]

Hey,

 we`ve made in the arcadezentrum a little helper called UMSA.

http://www.arcadezentrum.com/forum/showthread.php?12417-umsa-1000&highlight=umsa

Finally we had a neat little PCB and I put it to my shop

http://wp1114205.wp150.webpack.hosteurope.de/xtcmodified/product_info.php?products_id=57

Take look at the sync strike, too. I thas a screw terminal breakout for signals coming from SCART RGB plus a DB15 HD vga style output.

[c0dehunter]

Well, thanks for the reply but my Sony PVM-2030 is a NTSC model and does not feature SCART (I live in North America). As for the forums, it seems informative, but unfortunately it is in German and I don't speak the language!

[level42]

You don't have SCART, but I just checked the Sony PVM-2030 manual and it has both analogue and digital RGB inputs.

The analogue one's are the same function as SCART RGB would provide....

[level42]

Here's the manual: http://www.esmo.com/catalog/PVM2030.pdf

[c0dehunter]

You don't have SCART, but I just checked the Sony PVM-2030 manual and it has both analogue and digital RGB inputs.

The analogue one's are the same function as SCART RGB would provide....

Thank you so much for your response. Do you know how can I make a custom cable 15pin VGA to 25pin Sony?

This is a diagram that I made based on table provided by the user named RGB32E
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48901682@N02/7588180386/in/photostream/#/photos/48901682@N02/7588180386/in/photostream/lightbox/

I am not sure when I tell the person who is about to make this cable for me how to make it, If I have him solder R, G, B, H-Sync, V-Sync, Ground, will that be suffice?

Thanks so much for your time!

[Etienne MacGyver]

Looks like you miss the ground in that picture..

[level42]

Yup, it looks correct to me apart from the Grounds. Depending on your cable, there will be grounds for each of the colors and also for the sync signals. Commect them all to a pin between 15 and 24 on the monitor connector. I am assuming you at hacking p a standard VGA cable as that would be the easiest way (that way the VGA side is already correct.

It will also probably work if you hook up just one ground HOWEVER, the grounds in the cable are used to shield the signals so they don't interfere with eachother, so you may have a worse picture than possible so that's why you should hook up all the grounds that are in the VGA cable.

[bencao74]

http://pinouts.ru/Video/VGA15_pinout.shtml

Bridge all grounds as Level42 said. connect one gnd between the connectors.

[c0dehunter]

Thank you so much, one quick questions: what does the user in other forum means when he says that I have to combine V and H signals to make a composite one? (my video card can already send a 15Khz signal via Soft 15Khz to my Commodore 1084S-D1 CRT monitor)

"you need to convert horizontal sync and vertical sync into composite sync, as a PVM-2030 won't accept separate syncs when feeding analog RGB."

I really appreciate your comments, you are the best!

p.s. hey bencao74, I love your blog and website, very interesting stuff! keep it up!

[level42]

http://pinouts.ru/Video/VGA15_pinout.shtml

Bridge all grounds as Level42 said. connect one gnd between the connectors.

No.....that is +not+ what I said. That would very likely work but you won't have every color signal separately shielded this way....you may get away with it with 15kHz CGA signals but anything higher and you will get interference....it is best to hook up ALL the ground WIRES from the cable to one pin each...
But it all depends on the used cable...

[c0dehunter]

Thank you kindly for your posts. How do I make a "composite" H and V signal then? Apparently, I can simply connect them, somehow they need to be made into a "composite" form:

http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?4774-25-pin-D-sub/page2&s=400b38312173d2901c016044cede0409&highlight=Sony

"I thought you needed some sort of magical logic chip to combine H and V sync?"

ou'd need to divide the H sync and combine them to get composite sync, I think you can divide Hsync with a D-type flipflop.

As you know, my video card is already compatible with Soft 15KHz (connected to my 1084S-D1 monitor)

Any help on H and V signals is greatly appreciate!