Focus Fs454 Datasheet/pinout - Anyone Have It? Options

[DarkLegion]

I am thinking of tapping the internal sync from the board for vga,but I have a focus chip and the pinning is different to the conexant.I've had the full conexant datasheet for a while but have not been able to find one for the foucs chip.Well I don't even need the full datasheet just the pins for h-sync and v-sync.

Thanks

[DarkLegion]

Found it,do a search for an26939.pdf.Although it is actually pin compatable with the conexant chip...I was checking the wrong pins Now have just got to found some vias.

[EvilWays]

Google, Yahoo, DogPile, and WebCrawler turned up no results for an26939.pdf.

BTW, let me know what you find. I'm trying to put together a tutorial for the internal H/V-sync mods for all the boards that have a VGA capable BIOS that works for them.

[DarkLegion]

Well its not the full datatsheet anyway(it was just actually a datasheet of a something else made by motorola that used the focus chip)It won't give you any particularly useful information....it just confirmed that the pinning was the same as the conexant chip.Also dick smith electronics are slipping yet further,couldn't get hold of the schmidt triggers and they apparently aren't getting any more in.I had a go with tapping it directly without any extra electronics,and as expected it didn't work.And to be honest with you,after doing a bit of reading of the conexant datasheet and reading around various forums,I don't know that it will help.The only people I have heard using this method are some of the linux guys,and I have heard they have had issues with green tints too when not using cromwell.So it is probably the bios that needs to be fixed rather then the hardware...my (somewhat brief) experiences with vga,seem to indicate this as it is often game/app specific and certain apps will bring other apps down...i.e try launching unleashx(which is always partially green) and then boot into avaluanch and you will get green avalaunch.However if you boot avalaunch directly at bootup or from an app/game that can handle things properly,avalaunch will look perfect.If it is not the bios causing these problems then it could be the chip itself....I know that the conexant chip does not output correct vga sync levels,and this probably applies to the focus chip also.And this is the same whether or not it is tapped straight from the chip or not i.e direct sync and sync-on-green are the same sync driven at the same levels.Perhaps what will fix the issue is building a bios that disables sync on green and only enables H/V sync.....or alternatively substracting sync from green via hardware and again tapping the sync directly.I believe that it could be that sync on green is trying to match itself with component video rather then rgb on seom games....this issues is common on ps2's with the blaze vga adapter(which has both h/v sync and sync-on-green running at the same time).
Well that was a long rant....and sorry if it was disorganized,I was adding extra parts at random

[Risca]

I got the focus datasheet in my mail just now and all I can tell you is:
H-sync == Pin 35
V-sync == Pin 36

[m2m]

Hi. I've just made the RGB connection using the internal sync from the 35. and 36. pin of the Focus FS-454 chip. It works perfectly, i can easily change the resolution when using Dyne::Bolic, but the image is totally green beacause of the YPrPb signal. So I was thinking about two solutions:

1) to create an external YPrPB - to - RGB convertor, or
2) to get the RGB signal somehow internally from the box, so that the VGA connector can be nicely mounted above the AVIP plug.

I saw that the 454 chip has digital video input, so the 2) case seems to be a difficult one, but
if you know some links or have an idea how to get the RGB instead of YPrPb, pls. let us know.
Many thanks,
m2m

[The Zep Man]

[deleted this post since it didn't make sense]

Just for the completeness of this topic, here are the points for Conexant (probably also for Focus) on the mainboard:

Above mainboard
Underneath mainboard

This post has been edited by The Zep Man: May 27 2005, 04:55 PM

[DarkLegion]

You'll need a vga bios,m2m.I use ind-bios 5001 (vga version) which is the only I could get to work last time I tried (months back) but it is a good bios and should work well for you.I recommend that you use xbmc as your dashboard if you plan on running games/emulators from your hdd as the other dashboards don't initialise the bios/video encoder properly,which will leave you with a green screen in your dashboard and with anything that you lanuch after(except xbmc).
Just a note,this information was true around 5-6 months back,however another dashboard may have corrected this problem.I remember that an unleashx beta would work sporadically but I don't know if they have got it to work yet..and I don't think they were intentionally trying to get vga to work anyway so I expect it was just a side effect.

Also its good to see the internal sync method does work,could save people having to buy a sync seperator or requiring a SOG monitor...I don't really need it anymore though,as I can sync seperators for free and I have a SOG monitor anyway.This doesn't fix the problems with certain games either,as I think its pretty much been confirmed that its the bios and/or games fault.

[The Zep Man]

You can solve the color-init problem with some dashboards by not using mode 101 (1+3, VGA). You should use mode 110 (2+3, HDTV). This only works with iND 5001 and will also allow you to use 720p with your VGA-monitor.

[m2m]

Thanks, Guys!

I've just found some really good links regarning YPrPb -> RGB conversion:
http://home.att.net/~billhudson/rybyrgb.pdf

The Opamps are already ordered, so let'see next week, whether it workx.
Other good conversion shematics:
http://documents.epanorama.net/links/video....html#measuring

Questions:
Does that 5001 bios support 1024x768, or 1280x1024?
How complicated is to install it?

I'll definitely try the YPrPb -> RGB thing with Cromwell (this is what i have now),
just to be able to run anything with 1024x768. But if you say that 5001 comparable...

Zep Man, the 'Underneath mainboard' link does not work.
m2m

[The Zep Man]

Mmm, messed something up with the tags. Shame I can't edit it anymore.

Oh, well.

H-Sync/V-sync points
Above mainboard
Underneath mainboard (FIXED)

This post has been edited by The Zep Man: May 31 2005, 05:15 AM

[DarkLegion]

You can solve the color-init problem with some dashboards by not using mode 101 (1+3, VGA). You should use mode 110 (2+3, HDTV). This only works with iND 5001 and will also allow you to use 720p with your VGA-monitor.

Nah,that doesn't really help in my experience.,at least in the case of a focus based xbox (I don't have a conexant box with a vga mod to check,though).The worst part about this problem is that some emulators will be in green regardless of what you do because they use seperate xbes,which means that the XBMC trick won't work.I think it only applies to surreal and mameox but there may be others.What hdtv mode is good for is the fact that it outputs 480p instead of regular 640x480 which dodges the moire patterns I get on my screen in 640x480,so I'm happy I'm a bit concerned about how PAL games will work in HDTV mode though,since some of them require the box to be in pal mode and if I'm not mistaken HDTV doesn't work with pal? I know that regular mode 1+3 does work with pal games,so hopefully it works here also.

[The Zep Man]

Nah,that doesn't really help in my experience.,at least in the case of a focus based xbox (I don't have a conexant box with a vga mod to check,though).The worst part about this problem is that some emulators will be in green regardless of what you do because they use seperate xbes,which means that the XBMC trick won't work.I think it only applies to surreal and mameox but there may be others.What hdtv mode is good for is the fact that it outputs 480p instead of regular 640x480 which dodges the moire patterns I get on my screen in 640x480,so I'm happy I'm a bit concerned about how PAL games will work in HDTV mode though,since some of them require the box to be in pal mode and if I'm not mistaken HDTV doesn't work with pal? I know that regular mode 1+3 does work with pal games,so hopefully it works here also.

I have a 1.4/Focus Xbox with iND 5001 (BFM-version) loaded in 2+3-mode and haven't spotted any green games anymore (I start them the same way as I used with 1+3).

Just watch out when using 720p in HDTV-mode on a VGA-monitor. You need to mess around for a bit with color-settings in order to get a nice image.

Another reason for using HDTV-mode: you can turn on/off 480p, 720p and 1080i at any time you want without a true HDTV-pack (options don't show up in VGA-mode in MS Dashboard).

[fahrenheit]

I have a 1.4/Focus Xbox with iND 5001 (BFM-version) loaded in 2+3-mode and haven't spotted any green games anymore (I start them the same way as I used with 1+3).

Try Splinter Cell: PT and CT and also Top Spin. I have two Conexants and can't defeat the green tint for these games.

[St0mPeR]

Well spent about an hour researching all this, and i think that with a VGA cable and pins 35 & 36 of Focus chip going to 13 & 14 of VGA should make most monitor work with out a Sync splitter?right? So when I hook up my Hsync and Vsync i should get a singal to my monitor finaly, right? so it don't stay black w/o singal??
I wuz looking at this datasheet (.pdf)http://www.conexant.com/servlets/DownloadServlet/100381b.pdf?FileId=1813
and i got that their different chips but pretty much the same function, right?

well i think i'm going to try it.
any help out there? i could use it, i'm tired of these long days of searching
Thanks