What RGB Mod Is This?

[zi11ion]

Hi folks. I need more information about this RGB Mod on this pre-owned, pre-modded TurboDuo that I picked up at an auction.

The system works fine, but unfortunately, it didn't come with any cords for the RGB port. Researching it on the net I couldn't find anything about this particular type of RGB mod. It's a DB15 port, like the old Mac video ports, on the back. This leaves the regular AV out port untouched and totally usable.

I picked up a DB15 to HD15 (VGA) adapter with 10 dip switches on it, but haven't been able to find a combination of switches that works for it. Plugging the adapter into the DB15 port disables the normal AV out port.

I'm starting to think that this adapter I'm trying to use isn't going to work for it, and that I might need some other sort of cord, like a DB15 to SCART.

Is anyone familiar with this particular RGB Mod and able to tell me more about it, or what cord it will need ?

Here's some photos of the system on Imgur.
https://imgur.com/a/eJslCXI

RGB Modded Turbo Duo from an Auction.

Thanks for any help!


https://i.imgur.com/AeUlpCF.jpeg

[NightWolve]

Definitely never seen that kind of output port used for RGB, interesting!


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[Keith Courage]

 I haven't seen one like that before but I did see one once where somebody had used a DVI connector for a PC on it.

[majors]

I used a db9 before, but only because the RGB monitor I was using had one for input. I wonder if the og modder decided to use the 15 pin as a standard for their setup. If you open it up you can prolly follow the wires to see what pins are RGB...then ghetto-style just shove some wires into the respective holes and from there run to your monitor(for testing before buying needed parts to make your own db15->whatever).

[NightWolve]

Yeah, you'll just have to open it up to see where the RGB and C-Sync wires were connected and build your custom cable accordingly.

With any luck, color matching wires were used or the RGB amp PCB specifies what's what. You'll also need a security bit if the screws weren't changed out to regular Phillips style as our modders do as a courtesy.

Le Steve, one of our best modders, thinks this might've been done by a Canadian modder, but bothering to find out who is probably futile at this point.

To be clear, what input port does your RGB monitor accept ? You mentioned you played around with a VGA, but you *should* just be dealing with the SCART port only in this case...

[SignOfZeta]

You didn't mention what you are plugging the system into. If it's a VGA monitor it isn't going ever work with low res RGB.

The thing with the dip switches...is that for impedance or something? Running NEC monitors on 90s Macs? Either way, you don't need it.

I have a Genlock with a DB15 on the cable. It was a thing for some time in 90s pro video in certain areas. Perhaps the guy who worked on it had that in mind. You certainly don't need 15 pins...but I'm not sure if anything that  accepts a DB15 actually needs 15 pins...

As others have said, open it up and follow the wires.

[zi11ion]

I was plugging it into my OSSC to the VGA port, but since that might not work, I may need to get a DB15 to SCART cable. I don't have an RGB monitor unfortunately, just the OSSC.

I suppose I should just open up the system and see what's going on in there. I'll post sometime this weekend with photos of its exposed innards.

Thanks for all of the help, folks!

[SignOfZeta]

Ok well, fair warning, this could be hard to solve. The PCE doesn't natively output a useful RGB signal so it is usually amplified in some way and there are like 20 different versions out there. My history with cheap scalers and PCE RGB has been pretty shitty. Not with Micomsoft stuff but with others.

So what I'm saying is that it's going to be hard to tell if the wires are hooked up rignt if your box won't sync to it and show a picture even if they are. This is a situation where having an actual analog RGB display is invaluable.

Do you at least have other RGB sources so you can say the scaled and display work for sure?

[turbokon]

I bet it's just a straight RGB mod using a DB15 port.  Like Night said, you should be able to make a db15 to scart cable easily.

[zi11ion]

OK, I have images of the inside of my TurboDuo. Here's the photo album with all of the close-up shots I got:

https://imgur.com/a/f0Z5xHE

Inside the pre-modded TurboDuo

Here's the inside of my TurboDuo. At the top, you can see the rainbow of wires that is for the region switch mod, and to the right of that a few colorful wires snaking around for the RGB mod. And, what's that black thing stuck to the metal ?

[SignOfZeta]

It looks to have some kind of amplifier, one of the earlier versions, bugged together under heat shrink, it looks like.

[MNKyDeth]

From what I can tell. Green wire is Green, blue wire is blue, yellow wire is red. Assuming they kept the same color coding through the amp you can assume those color wires on the vga port are the same.

The brown and red single wires from the 5 pin din port I believe are going to be your right and left audio.

The red and orange wire combo is going to be 5v.

Purple wire is composite video, where you would get your sync signal for the video.

The yellow and orange wire combination I think is ground.


It's really hard to tell from the pictures where everything runs to and from.


I would focus on making your connection from the blue, green, yellow wires that come from the amp and the purple wire for sync.
Then the brown and red wire for your left and right audio.

The 5v and ground rails you shouldn't need to worry about on an external cable unless the equipment you are using needs it.