RGBtoHDMI for STe -some questions

[exxos]

The age-old problem of making it all fit

If the ribbon is carrying digital RGB signals from the shifter directly, then it surely would not really matter the length as such? But indeed it should probably have some sort of series termination either way.

[Darklord]

It is ST and not STe based but...as far as the RGB2HDMI installation on my STacy goes,
the ribbon is quite long, as you can see in this picture:

Nearing Reassembly02.JPG (233.81 KiB) Viewed 50 times

[Pacman]

The age-old problem of making it all fit

If the ribbon is carrying digital RGB signals from the shifter directly, then it surely would not really matter the length as such? But indeed it should probably have some sort of series termination either way.

Yes, funnily my biggest challenge is making it fit, and not the circuit design itself
Are you suggesting resistors in series placed between the RGB/mono outputs from the video shifter chip and the inputs of the buffer board? See schematic below.
Would this give some rudimental protection to the STe video shifter in case of static electricity etc?

rgbtohdmi_buffer_resistors.png (189.05 KiB) Viewed 21 times

It is ST and not STe based but...as far as the RGB2HDMI installation on my STacy goes,
the ribbon is quite long, as you can see in this picture:

I see what you mean about a long cable.
And it's working without any issues? Is there a buffer board in that chain?
I think a 10-15cm long cable (or less) between the shifter's RGB pins and the inputs to the buffer would likely be enough so I can physically mount the PCB to some safe place, using existing mounting posts and so on.

I could design a small daughter-board which solders directly to the video shifter's resistors and has a (low profile) IDC connector which goes to the buffer board itself. I know it's not ideal to only attach that small PCB to just the 13 resistors alone, but since it's a small/lightweight board and the buffer board will be securely placed somewhere else that daughter-board will likely not be under much stress.
A picture says more than a thousand words they say... (please excuse my drawing skills )

RGBtoHDMI_daughterboard.png (1.31 MiB) Viewed 14 times

[Darklord]

I see what you mean about a long cable.

And it's working without any issues? Is there a buffer board in that chain?

It works fine. The only (annoying) thing to me is sometimes when you first boot it up there's a short
period of time where it "blinks". I asked about this in a couple of places and was told that was normal,
just the setup adjusting itself and getting "in sync". There's a calibration you can do from the menu
and I've done it multiple times but it doesn't make a difference. It goes away, from almost instantly
to a minute or two so it's not an issue, AFAIK.

I do believe there is a buffer. I bought my setup from RetroLemon UK and here is a picture of the
pieces that came with it. I put it in a 3D printed case after assembly.

61574_IMG_20220307_082928_226.jpg (87.21 KiB) Viewed 3 times

[Darklord]

Here's a short video I posted on Youtube showing the "blink".