Connecting a Raspberry Pi 4 to a CRT via composite out! (how to & why you should)
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- Опубликовано: 24 апр 2022
- A few troubleshooting tips:
If you're getting no video through the yellow composite try plugging the red or white into the video input on your tv. Depending on the cables the signal may be sent down one of the other colors instead.
If you get a video signal but the picture has black borders adjust the overscan setting in retropie setup and you can also adjust the overscan values manually in your boot config file. Try adjusting the values in small increments and rebooting until you get the picture scaled the way you want it.
Set a 4:3 CEA resolution in retropie, CEA is for TV modes. the video will be interlaced on a standard crt unless it supports progressive scan. You can set the resolution to 240p manually with some editing and adjusting but I leave it at 640×480 60htz.
Thanks everyone for watching if I can help get you up and running I'll always try but I'm no expert and there's alot of different factors when messing with retropie. Anyway here's hoping you the best, keep it classy and game on.
In this episode I'm talking Pi, enabling component out functionality, and why a CRT might be a perfect companion for this awesome little powerhouse! 📹 👍
TRRS to RCA cables
www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B06W2J...
how to enable 240p
/ pi4_35mm_to_rca_compos...
#raspberrypi #retrogaming #pi4 #crt #retropie #emulation #emulationstation #howto #gameplay #eldenring
At age 52 I'm a Gen X'r and a friend recently said our generation is the bridge between analog and digital. So by default I absolutely love what you've done here. Well done!
Thank you so much!
Generation X were those born between 1965-1980 (source: Pew Research Center). I'd say Gen X grew up in an analog world. Millennials (meaning they "came of age" around the turn of the century) were born from 1981-1995 and are more of the bridge-generation between analog/digital.
Wrong that is millennials
@@GenX-RadRat Nah, .. if you were born in 81, the absolute earliest for millennials, then by the time you started using technology.. computers, cell-phones, etc, then that puts your “coming of age” in the mid to late 90’s where everything is already digital. In contrast, being born in 1970 I came of age in the 80s where at the beginning we only had like 5 to 7 TV channels where many people still had black and white TVs, and rotary dial phones! Our first computers in the mid 80s were the Commodore 64 and the original Apple. Music also began to have digital attributes in the late 80s with CD's. I think the first CD I bought was Bon Jovi Slippery when wet. So GenX watched the analog to digital explosion happen first hand while most millennials were still in diapers and sucking their thumbs. Kind of like how they still do now apparently by missing out on analog.
@@oldowl4290 Yes, we witnessed the transition from analog to digital.
Informative and vibey video 😎I can't wait to get my Pi setup for CRT goodness and this will prove to be a great resource!
This is a splendid video. I'll probably never use it, but I never knew this about the audio jack on the pi!
Thanks so much for checking it out!
Just ordered the trrr cable today 😬. I got a small 13 inch crt tv that’s just collecting dust, time to put it to good use 👍🏽👍🏽
Great video. Still love the ones where I see you sitting in the host chair. Gives that connection to a person.. Not just a video game.
Thank you as always😭 ☺💙 I'll be back in the next one 😂
Thanks this is exactly what I was looking for!
this video literally is what am looking for EXCACTLLY thanks man
That's awesome! Really hope setup goes as smooth as mine did
@@videothumbtv unfortunately it didn't go well
Btw does any cable works
Because i tried 3 generic cables
But the image is shaking And black and white display i can barely see raspberry pi logo
I have a well knowledge about raspberry and other distros
Lakka - batocera - recallbox
And all of them gave me same result
@@Galaxiancerberus dang sorry to hear that, from what I understand the signal wiring is very specific for the component so some cables won't work like others and sometimes you can try swapping the yellow for red for video cause it might be outputting that way depending on the cables, also heard the most recent pi updates have messed with component out, haven't updated mine since this video so not entirely sure how bad that is. Wonder if your display is out of sync, using the proper hertz for the display also 🤔
Picked up a tiny 7" black and white crt monitor with the intention of turning it into a dmg gameboy emulation machine, this looks like the right way to go, as before i was using a modded wii and theres a bunch of menus you have to click through with a wii remote. Good video 👍
Video is very professional! I hope to see more of your videos in the future
Thanks so much!
@@videothumbtv no worries ❤️
Wow! Thank you SOOO much for this :D
This video has some good information. I also love the production value!
Thanks so much! The Pi community is awesome, just glad this info is easily searchable now 👍👍
Dope video love the editing
Thanks so much!
cheers, helped me put a pi in my car to play ps1 games on my lunch break via av in on my radio ✌️👍
This man is a hero 😂👍👍
Great video!
Baller. Just in time for Halloween gaming sessions
i do this on a pi 3A+ and manage to have 480i in Emulation Station and menus, but games are 240p (mmm dem scanlines!!). The method i use is a lil less involved than most, using some premade files found on the Retropie forums, even working with non-core emulators like DOSBox (Tandy 1000 stuff looks great in 240p). I just use Sony cable from an old Digital8 camera kit (oddly, Video and Right Audio are swapped so Composite is on the Red tip of this cable lol), and i have it currently hooked to an RCA TruFlat. Gunlord on the Dreamcast is especially slick on it. sometimes a preset has a shimmer so i had to go into the settings and tweak them a bit but it pops so well on my stuff, and all of the games look great. Currently playing Neo Geo with a beer as i wind down for bed :) love the video.
This is awesome
Hi @-TSLA Can you share your image? I can't make it work with my Raspy 3b. Thank you!
Im going rgb scart to pvm. Thanks for this info.
SUBSCRIBED!
Thanks so much!
I've got a bunch of TRRS cables on me and tried this out. The ones I've got need me to use right audio as video, but otherwise works perfectly fine.
Your comment saved me after 4 days of troubleshooting. Thanks!
been trying for 2 weeks to finish this. I changed cables and i was still not working. The config.txt change was what was missing. Thank you!
So awesome this could help
I was bummed to hear you’re using a Pi 4, but that quickly left when you said old models have it too. So i got some research to do for a 3 B+
Yess! From what I've read around seems easier on older models for sure
sdtv_mode=16 (or 17 idr) is the NTSC-J version of 240p for composite, looks fantastic since it removes the pedestal (basically, its like going from limited colorspace to full colorspace, perfect blacks on the CRT)
however, adjusting underscan settings on the pi4 doesn't actually adjust the beam of the CRT, so SNES content squished to fit a severely overscanned tv will instead be software-adjusted, so the resolution no longer scales properly and you end up with jitty artifacts ;-;
BUT
This is awesome, thank you for posting!
@@videothumbtv yw; tho it's best enjoyed on a CRT that has the smallest overscan possible :) Have fun!
Hey dude! I have a question, I've edited the config.txt file to enable the TV out. I don't use Retropie but Blast16 with a retroflag megadrive case. The on/off button function flawlessly but just adding that portion of code makes the Pi not turn on. Do you know if has anything to do with the image or the case?
It's a bit ironic that the CRT displays that used to be thrown out everywhere are suddenly far more expensive than the Pi 4 these days.
Hi! Did you have to mess with the settings to get the picture properly centered (without any black bars around it) or did it just work for you? Also, do you know how to make the color look better? It looks pretty washed out compared to my SNES
To fix black bars you'll want to mess with the overscan setting which if I remember is in raspiconfig display settings (toggling on/off depending on what you're getting) then reboot. From there if you're still getting some bars you'll want to manually adjust the overscan setting in your boot config.txt file (just lower or raise the numeric values incrementally, save reboot see what you get until you get it where u want it. Sound like alot but it's not really, I did do this before I made the video. As for colors I didn't mess with anything, my only suggestion is picking a good 4:3 resolution there for the sharpest picture inside your space. Hope that helps!
Can we downsample from a higher resolution to 480i or 480p and/or add filters like AA etc ????just wondering if I can make my older titles looks better than they originally did
Hi, did you get any screen tearing while running final burn or mame on a crt? I got screen tearing after installing Redream
Haven't done a ton of testing in mame but what I did play I didn't have tearing that I remember but redream will have some tearing for me even outputting hdmi so that one could just be the spec limitations. Def helped performance when I overclocked though
I figured this out extensively, hats off it’s not simple or easy, lots of pitfalls lols
😂 Definitely dependant on what builds and settings people are already using I'm finding out more and more, pi's are so fiddly but so worth it when It you get what you want up and running
RGB-Pi is way better. A bit more expensive but definitely worth it. Image quality is perfect, because it's pure RGB output, not composite. Pixel perfect and extremely sharp. Additionally Their OS (RGB-PI OS) is perfectly optimized for CRTs.
This sounds really cool, gonna have to look more into this 🤔 thanks for the heads up!
Switch to PAL60 and you will get 90% of RGB quality for free.
it's SCART only though, so no good for consumer CRT's.
@@katanamaker I mean, in EU every TV had SCART. My Sony Trinitron from 1993 has SCART RGB input. Literally the best option for consumer TVs.
Hey what type of tv would i need like connections etc, im in the UK and want yo get a crt tv and i bought yhe wrong kind a while ago
Hey Video Thumb, I have my Pi connected, everything is displaying and all.. but i don't have the display options that you got in your video. I am missing especially the 720x576 50Hz option for my PAL CR.. even if I select the sdtv_mode=2 or 18, nothing changes. I still have significant overscan, and i literally searched for 4 hours now. After buying a new cable, changing here and there, setting up retropie once more, i just can't get it to work. I only have DMT options, all 60Hz, and the default one 720x480 (NTSC) 60Hz.
Maybe you can help, thanks a lot in advance, your video was a start for 2 sleepless nights, in a good sense, because troubleshooting can be fun until some degree.
Thanks in advance, Min
Dang, that is unfortunately outside my range of knowledge, changing the sd_tv mode values for pal was my first thought as well but you've already got that, I did have to manually adjust my overscan values a little for my display but it was really just trial and error. Wish I had more help to offer if I come across any fixes I'll def post here, hope you can get it sorted!
@@videothumbtv hey! Thank you very much for your reply, I will let you know, if I come along a solution as well, but for now the overscan game has to be played I guess :)
Have a nice weekend and take care! Thanks again!
when i tried this it was so close to perfect, but compared to the native console theres a lot of dot crawl at native 240p
Could you use these TRRS to RCA cables on a gaming pc or do they only work exclusively for Raspberry Pi?
I believe the 3.5mm headphone jack on PCs or any other devices usually only outputs audio, while the same jack on Pi has video output as well, which is why you would probably only get sound output if you used the same cable on any source other than a Pi.
That's a great question, I'd think the same thing as Jakov but not sure at all
Modern gaming PCs do not have TRRS outputs with composite video. If it does have TRRS jack it's for mic input and stereo out audio only.
is 240p composite output pixel perfect compared to older consoles like NES/SNES? I know on the pi3 there was a hardware limitation, so pixels were smeared
Wish I could say for sure, haven't tried myself yet but have seen people say they're getting really good results with 240p config methods. I've still been sticking with 640x480 for convenience 😂
If you want pixel perfect, buy RGB-Pi cable and use their OS.
You cannot get a progressive signal from a composite cable into a CRT, period. Even if the config text settings are set to 240p, if you are outputting the video signal into composite, the TV will revert that signal into interlaced. That's the limitation of the composite input of the CRT. With that said 240p and 480i in the config text will have different results, but it will never be a true progressive signal via composite video.
@@sirmiluch6856RGB/SCART is great and all, but not everyone lives in the UK or Europe. SCART in CRTs was not so prevalent in other regions of the world.
@@lancepage1914 The question wasn't about progressive vs interlaced, it's more about how each console (nes, snes, master system, etc...) all output a different 240p signal based on their internal hardware and resolution, and pi3b+ can't change how it outputs 240p to match each console
Can you use other controllers with this like a ps2, nes, or snes controllers with USB connections?
You would need a controller converter to USB for those controllers. It would be a lot cheaper to use a PS3 controller or a SNES or NES clone controller that has USB.
How is this using video streaming apps like Plex or Netflix on the Pi? Will it convert the videos to 480i and rescale to 4:3? Or, any way to get it to do that on the Pi?
Haven't tried those apps but I've watched some RUclips videos connected to a crt this way and it's pretty surreal looking 😂 but it doesn't convert to 4:3 it just kind of smooshes it the best it can
With composite, it will always convert the video to 480i, that's the maximum capability of composite - that all the CRT TV is capable of displaying via composite as well.
No rescaling will occur, it will just squash all widescreen material into 4:3. If you wanted the correct picture scale that would require specific configuration, then the widescreen aspect sides would be cut off of course.
Does it support component output?
Random question... Where did you get the cart for your TV? And can you give me a link? Lol
It was a utility cart from Target, they're great for smaller CRT's. Not sure if they still carry them but it was only like $20👍
For whatever reason, even after following your directions, and using the exact same cable, I only can see DMT display modes, and no CEA modes are showing up. Got any idea why that may be?
Hmm is it an ntsc crt?
@@videothumbtv it is, yes! I'm in North America. Do you possibly have a link to the pi image you use? Or is it entirely custom?
Oh, and I suppose it's worth asking, since we don't actually see you select it in the video. Are you using CEA 480? Or DMT 480? Because if you're using DMT, my problem is clearly elsewhere. Basically, my display has a black square border around it, regardless of which of the DMT display types I choose, and I'm a bit stumped...
Ok shoot I was gonna say you can enter a different value in config for pal and ntsc was thinking maybe it wasn't liking the refresh or resolution 🤔 do you get clear picture over dmt? I can try to image my pi setup it's just a standard raspbian os image if I remember correctly but have heard some updates since then have messed with composite out since then but mine is still good
I was using cea 640× 480 60htz since dmt should be for monitors, if you're getting a clear image with borders that's pretty normal and is just an overscan issue which you can disable overscan in raspi config or manually adjust the values in the boot config until you get it the way you want it
Does this still work when i hook it up to an old 12 inch sharp crt the video is black and white and extremely glitchey to the point where you cant read anything on the screen. update i changed the resolution and now nothing shows up
Hmm couldn't say for sure what's happening there, if it takes rca it should work with the right cables, depending on the cable you can try swapping the usual yellow video for one of the other colors since the video signal can be output over a different line with the pi depending on what cables you're using for a stable picture. If you changed resolution and your display can't see it you might have to modify the boot config.txt file on your computer or just over hdmi and try again
Awesome
I get it to work now on another crt. Good picture but there is no sound.
I just received my Pi 4, I'm looking for the best way to connect it to my CRT(250P 15hz), but in the redit link I found a lot of conflicting information... Is there any pre-assembled image today in 2024 that solves the vast majority of problems?
I'm a little confused. When you're selecting 480, is that supposed to be i or p? Because I assume your set doesn't support 480p. I've tried these settings a a bunch of others and can't get a solid picture through composite on my pi 4. It's always some kind of messed up.
it is displaying 480i on my set, I get a bit of flicker here and there from the scaling but nothing too bad, I've seen people who downscale to 240p say it resolves this as mostly everything more properly aligns. Also CEA mode when selecting resolution is for TV's and DMT is for monitors so you'd want to be using a 480 CEA resolution, what kind of issues are you getting?
@@videothumbtv so, I follow things step by step through every guide, and I get a garbled mess on screen. Basically it looks like no sync, but according to my PVM, it is syncing.
@@MysticPrysm dang I haven't messed with any pvm's unfortunately, looking into it seems like they have alot of specific adjustments that could be causing issue, what model is it?
I think my reply got deleted or something. But PVM-14N6U. Simple pvm. Just RGB, svideo, and composite. Not many options to change. Composite from other sources work. The trrs cable I'm using works on another device, but I don't have another to test with the pi. I can contact you elsewhere to show you my settings to see if they're the same.
@@videothumbtv Pretty sure it is the cable actually lol. Just did a continuity test and the base pole is ground. Soooo, new cable it is. lol
Hi, I’m having a problem where retro pi isn’t filling my entire screen and no matter what I do, I can’t change the resolution.
Are you getting black bars on the sides? If so you'd need to change the overscan settings which can be enabled disabled in raspiconfig if I remember correctly and you may need to play with the overscan value settings in the boot config.txt, just trying higher or lower values until you get the space filled out like you want it, hope that helps
Any ideas as to why it may show a splash screen on the CRT then a black screen after that?
Hey did you work it out I'm getting the exact same thing! So annoying
@@bodyblow I did but I don’t remember the exact issue. It came down to my config being set for PAL rather than US
Ive bee trying to set up my pi4 like this but can't figure it out.
What issues are you having?
@@videothumbtv ive been following tutorials exactly but it doesn't work. I have a pi4 and the right cables. I might purchase another set of cables to see if that is the issue.
@@FormulaSumo hmm are you getting picture or sound at all? Sometimes swapping the red and yellow cables will work since it's wired very specially depending on the cables. You might also try disabling hdmi output first in raspi config 🤔
Nearly working perfectly, for some reason its in black and white for me, any ideas on how to get colour?
Hmm not something I've run across personally, hope you can find a fix!
For me I get nothing but wierd noises and disturbences. I have a PAL Sony crt. What kind of crt do you have?
hi, i made all and the rapsy work very well but Dreamcast and Naomi crash with my composite cable and they don't start, how can i do? have someone the same problem?
HI, I have the same problem. Could you solve it?
What thumb drive is that?
8bitdo wireless adapter
Now, how to do that using video components? I have a Pi4 and idk how to connect my Pi to my CRT TV and have signal :(
If you meant your CRT has component video, with the separate Red, Green, Blue inputs for the picture?
You would be better off using a different method. You will want a HDMI to Component Transcoder. Obviously the picture will come out of the HDMI this way using this method. That will give you a much better picture than inferior composite video.
You mentioned less lag on a CRT than LCD. How many frames of lag on a CRT if you had to guess?
Zero, that's the whole point.
@@Gr00t you misunderstand. CRT is 0 lag. Because emulation on a pi is sequential and not in parallel, every game is processed in it's CPU cycle one at a time. Pi will have lag because of this. My question is really poorly worded, so I'll give you that. What I want to know is what the lag is from a pi to a CRT. It won't be 0 because of emulation.
@@TheMikeyb86depends how pedantic you want to be. A CRT draws frame top to bottom on the vertical scan. The top will be >0ms and by the time the frame is drawn at the bottom that will be ~16ms. That is 1 frame at 60hz.
As for latency of the emulation, you can expect anywhere from >2-6 frames and that's being very generous.
You can expect input latency from your controller too, it all adds up.
Most retro games will run around 60hz, but that all depends on the game itself.
But with all that said, the latency will be perceivably less with a CRT over any LCD. Unless of course you ran a game at 120hz (VRR) which the Pi may not even be able to do and you have an OLED TV or a monitor capable of black frame insertion, that's the only way a modern screen will beat a CRT at input latency.
The Pi doesn't have the power of a regular PC. But the fact that it has composite video capabilities right out of the box, you can plug that sucker right into any CRT - that's the power of the Pi. For any other use case, I wouldn't bother with the Pi if I wanted a better picture using a composite signal.
Add
"hdmi_force_ hotplug=1" to the configuration line if you're having issues
Where at? right below the other?
@@kerras72 yes and then turn off the other
@@graufuchs88 thank you for your reply. Added it still nothing on the screen. But thank you
@@kerras72 did you take away the quotation marks when you did it?
@@graufuchs88 yeah. It might be the cables I’m gonna test a different set
Honestly this video is useful, but it feels like a school eesay.
Fair 😂
I have a PAL Sony Trinitron crt, 50hz. (It is compatible with PAL 60hz with ps2 and wii)
I followed the steps in this video but all I get on my tv is disturbence and wierd artefacts and noises.
Does anyone know if PI + crt works on european crts? Is there an additional setting in the config that needs to be changed in order for this to work?
Have you already tried to switch the red and yellow cables when plugging them into the tv?
@@paulhemebert496 Yup, did that.
@@ESEJESEJ You will need the correct configuration settings to make that work, I don't know what they are.
You need to find out if the TV does NTSC, it should be able too if it can do PAL 60hz.
Also, if you are using a European CRT with a SCART input, I wouldn't use inferior composite, I would use a Pi to SCART attachment.
@@lancepage1914 I managed to get it to work by buying a new/other cable
I can't enter any config on the pi 4. Changing the config on my pc did nothing for me. I don't think it's the wire. I got the right one. Not sure why it's not working for me
Do you mean you can't access the boot config?
@@videothumbtv haaa I'm so dumb. I was typing sudu instead of sudo.
@@videothumbtv and I got everything working now.
@@nickg.1360 thats awesome 😂👍
@@nickg.1360 wich cablr did you use and wich version of raspberry pi did you install can you share info please
you think i could get a trrs and use it on a windows pc?
Hooking the pi to a PC monitor? If that's what you're after a vga adapter would prob be better and easier. Depends on what inputs you're trying to work with
@@videothumbtv no like hooking a windows PC up to a CRT TV
@@Fardzilla oh shoot that I'm not sure 😂 but my guess is that it prob wouldn't work only because the devices I've seen output over trrs have been wired and designed specifically for that output method usually as a space saver, I'd imagine you'd need an hdmi to av or vga to av converter for something like that
@@videothumbtv i have a cheap hdmi to composite adaper but there is a notacible amount of lag so it kinda sucks lol.
@@Fardzilla dang, yeah they're usually not great 😂
Anyone been able to test this on the Pi 5?
so far i did not found any working tutorial to output 240p from 3.5mm on rpi4
Dang I'd love to see a proper 240p also just to check it out, if you come across something that works please feel free to post and share so we can try out
@@videothumbtv its your lucky day mate
I have just crossed my hands on a working method
It's the same one in the description of yours
And i can confirm that 240p is working flawlessly
I tried and compared the results by my self
Contact me for more info because i will not upload a tutorial in the current time
@@Galaxiancerberus oh my god that's awesome! So cool you've got that working I've definitely got to sit down and try and make it happen, will be in touch 👍👍
@@videothumbtv i can save you your time mate
And send you a preconfigured files and folders just let me know if you want it
@@Galaxiancerberus that would be amazing! Email is Videothumbmedia@gmail.com that would be a gigantic time saver 😂
does anyone knows which game is the one at 6:35?
ActRaiser 2
I want scart :(
Getting nothing but a black screen after the splash screen
Crap. They removed the audio jack from raspberryPi5 :(
Oh wow haven't checked out the 5 yet!
Sadly not working on my TV with new cables oh well
Are you getting any picture at all? Sometimes trying the red or white connector instead of yellow from your cable in your tv's video input will work. Depends on the cables but that works for some people since it's output very specific and some cables output it weird
@@videothumbtv thanks for reply. Got new cables and it works thanks
@@kerras72 awesome!
sadly, this solution is not up to date anymore since they broke the rca composite out with a recent kernel
Oh man, that sucks sometimes I'm afraid to update my pi with the stable build and settings I have now
@@videothumbtv yeah, don't do the same mistake I did
@@kleinergaming2008
Am on Retropie 4.8 and i can confirm it's working perfectly
If u need help tell me
@@Galaxiancerberus i need your help. it wont display at all after following this video.
@@Galaxiancerberus i get nothing but a black screen with some crazy glitching and audio buzz please help. i followed every instruction
Has ANYONE used this method to run LIGHTGUN emulation with real hardware on the Pi's?
this does not work i just have to reinstall os
Can you do this with a Raspberry Pi 5?
it doesnt work :(
Говно видео сигнал, через вых 3.5 и отстой звук. Разрабам руки отбить за такую техническую недоделку.
Is it possible to use an original NES lightgun with the retropie connected to a CRT? Perhaps with a lightgun converted to USB?
That is an awesome question I wish I had the answer to 😂
Hey, any idea where you got the stand in the video?
The stand for the tv? It's a utility cart from Target. They're pretty great for smaller CRT's & only like 20 bucks👍