I'm still a little bit confused by this topic.
On the internet you can find plenty of places that sell Dreamcast RGB Scart cables, so is there any reason why you would want this Toro adapter if you're not planning to use VGA?
(Dreamcast + RGB scart cable + Framemeister = good quality... right?)
That's a very good question!
It all comes down to what the Dreamcast itself can support. So the Dreamcast can output at 240p, 480i, and 480p. RGB SCART by default, can't do 480p at all. 480i is the max. The difference is that 480i and lower uses a protocol called RGBS, while the VGA mode uses RGBHV. The Dreamcast will not enable RGBHV mode, and therefore 480p without what it considers a VGA box.
So conceivably you could just use an RGB Scart cable into the framemeister and it'd work fine. It just wouldn't be the best. You'd only get 240 or 480i. Most people consider 240p to be superior to 480i so really you're talking SNES video quality here lol.
So what the Toro manages to accomplish is telling the Dreamcast it's a VGA box, then combining the h and v sync to allow the RGB SCART to carry either the RGBS or RGBHV signal. One other benefit that the Hanzo/Toro offers is there is a switch that switches between the different video modes. Some games don't allow the 30hz (VGA) signal and need the 15hz signal instead. Other's, you can trick into displaying at the better resolution:
VGA Switch Trick:Before you boot your Dreamcast disk set the switch on your VGA Box so that it is outputting to the TV. Now proeeed to boot the Dreamcast Disk after the disk starts booting and before the dreamcast makes that chiming sound when it loads a game set the VGA Box to output to your VGA monitor. If your timing is right your Non-VGA game should now be displaying on your VGA Monitor. This may take a little practice to get the timing right but once you get it right you'll be tricking your Dreamcast like a pro ;-)
Even further down the rabbit hole:Many games that don't support 480p can be patched to play 480p. Being that Dreamcast reads backed up games so easily, this is really simple to implement.
Dreamcast Compatibility list and Guide.
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I must have missed something haha
Sooo...
. I'm already looking at my next purchase from him.
I didn't know until reading a few articles yesterday, but he was a programmer before and made a lot of games that we love today. He also was the one to push some games that wouldn't have made it to the market otherwise, including Pokémon and Smash Bros, which are pretty big franchises nowadays. He really did a lot of great things for us gamers.