Recently I got a couple of video adapters, so I thought I'd post my quick tests with them. One is a SCART to component converter, the other a S-Video (S-VHS) and Composite to HDMI converter. I also re-tested the Koryuu, which converts S-Video and composite to component. For my uses I'm just interested in using them to get old games consoles working with a modern TV (Philips 50PUS8204/12).
Startech VID2HDCON2
Firstly the Startech VID2HDCON2 S-Video and Composite (and sound) to HDMI converter. This has an S-Video in port, Composite video in (RCA) port, and 2 RCA ports for left and right sound in. Then an HDMI out port.
It takes 5V power, but the jack is smaller than a standard barrel jack. (Mine didn't come with a power supply so I used a USB to barrel jack power with a barrel jack adapter to step it down to the smaller size). Then there's a power switch to turn it on and off.
On the front you get a button to toggle between Composite and S-Video and some LEDs to show you which one is selected and that the device is powered.
While this converter does work okay, it makes the 4:3 ratio consoles stretch to 16:9. Changing the aspect ratio on the TV settings has no effect. So no good to me.
Koryuu
The following tests were using the Koryuu to convert S-Video to Component, then the OSCC to convert to HDMI. The Koryuu has S-Video and Composite inputs on one side, and Component out on the other.
The Koryuu works okay. Have to press input button on Koryuu for a couple of seconds so it changes from red to green light to select S-Video. The Koryuu needs to be turned on before the console(s). Suggest: OSCC on, Koryuu on, change Koryuu to S-Video, change OSCC to YPbPr, turn on console (and select correct switch on S-Video switch if using one).
For sound you need a dual female RCA to 3.5mm stereo male cable. The stereo end goes into the AV2 audio in port of the OSCC. The small switch on the OSCC between this port and the HDMI jack needs to be positioned towards the edge of the case for the jack to be used as AV2 audio in rather than AV1 (SCART) audio out. The Koryuu itself does nothing with sound.
If the TV keeps saying "Video format not supported", putting the TV in standby then turning back on should fix it.
QED QCV EA0053
The QED QCV EA0053 has SCART input on one side and Component out on the other.
When I purchased the QCV it didn't come with a power supply. I found online suggestions that it used a 7.5V DC power supply. This was just mentioned in an online forum, I couldn't find anything more official about the power supply needed. So I tried 7.5V and it does work with that. Possibly it may work with 5V, but I've only tried with 7.5V DC (positive tip). The jack size is standard barrel jack.
Like the Koryuu, I tested this with the component out going into the OSCC. The OSCC does SCART RGB in, so this converter isn't actually needed for this, but I just purchased it because it was cheap and wanted to see how well it worked.
The main issue with the converter is that it doesn't deal with audio at all. So you need to use a SCART pass-thru adapter with audio out into the converter so you can extract the audio. I didn't think the adapter we had would work for this, but it did.
Using RGB SCART into the dumb switchable SCART / RCA adapter into QED SCART to Component converter then to the OSCC makes the sound & video cut out every so often (with PAL GC as source). It does the same without the dumb adapter (but obv. no sound). SCART straight into OSCC has no issue.
Running the component out from the QED QCV straight to the component in on the TV (so bypassing the OSCC) gave no issues. The image was stretched to 16:9, but changing the aspect ratio on the TV settings fixed this. So there seems to be something about the component output from the QCV that the OSCC doesn't like.
When trying this initially, connecting straight to the TV didn't black out but I got 2 bars of weird static effect that slowly move down the screen over the picture. After trying some higher quality audio RCA cables (I don't have long enough high quality component cables, just cheap ones) then I found it actually gave a good quality image.
Using the dumb S-Video to SCART adapter with a S-Video input into the QED SCART to Component converter gives no image or a very dark grayscale image. TV also says "Video format not supported". So the QED QCV does need RGB SCART and won't work with S-Video or Composite (both of which can be transmitted over SCART).
Conclusion
If you don't have an OSCC and want a cheap way to get RGB SCART into a modern TV that supports component, then the QED QCV is a cheap way to do this.
The Startech VID2HDCON2 is not a good way to get S-Video and composite video into a modern TV, at least for stuff that uses a 4:3 aspect ratio, which will be most things you'd want to use it for. The Koryuu works well. If I didn't have the Koryuu, I would probably look at the Kaico OSSC None RGB Add On Board, which seems a bit better featured.
If I didn't have the OSCC (or even if I did but I had the spare cash), I'd look at the RetroTink 5x Pro, which does about everything you need for connecting older games consoles to a modern TV.
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