SNES (Super Nintendo) RGB Cable (for North American NTSC)

[Ed Oscuro]

Dude, I bought 2 official SNES JP RGB cords. Let's not even talk about the price.
24 bucks ain't nothin'.

Indeed. The SCART to BNC adapter I need to order is a bit more expensive than that total, too (though once you've bought one, you've bought all you need).

[ApolloBoy]

On a sides note, the Sega Genesis cable that I bought from retro_console_accessories, although has stereo out

Uhh that's not an audio output, that's an input. You're supposed to plug that into the headphone jack on your Genesis.

[c0dehunter]

For my SEGA Genesis RGB SCART (and stereo cable), I guess I have to get one of these for my SEGA Genesis audio cable then:

3.5mm Stereo Female To Two RCA Stereo Male Y-Cable



this is her response:

"There's no point to RCA breakouts on the genesis cables, because if people want RCA breakouts they can just get a 3.5mm to RCA cable very cheaply off amazon or something. The genesis already has a 3.5mm sound output, and it's better to seperate audio from the SCART if it is at all possible (completely cuts out any interference.)"

She knows her stuff! Best cable-maker ever!

[c0dehunter]

On a sides note, the Sega Genesis cable that I bought from retro_console_accessories, although has stereo out

Uhh that's not an audio output, that's an input. You're supposed to plug that into the headphone jack on your Genesis.

I connect all of my consoles to my AV unit sitting beneath my Sony monitor: My PS1, Saturn, SNES, have their own dedicated RCA audi out which are connected to my AV unit, which is connected to speakers. If I connect it to the headphone jack, where do I hear the sound then?

thanks.

[ApolloBoy]

She knows her stuff! Best cable-maker ever!

Now you're just being a dunce. What she said is 100% correct, there is no point for having a breakout on the model 1 Genesis since you have a headphone jack which outputs stereo audio already there on the console itself! The only reason why the cable has a headphone jack is if you want to route audio through the cable to your SCART breakout cable or switchbox, or if you're using a TV that has audio inputs through SCART.

[Fudoh]

But if you do a proper internal stereo mod to your MD/GEN (by adding a 2nd OP-amp) you have BETTER sound quality than by using the headphone output and then an audio breakout from the DIN connector actually makes sense again.

[c0dehunter]

Instead of the connecting to the headphone jack, can I get the following adapter:



And connect the stereo cable coming out of the adapter that she made for me, and then connect to my AV unit?

[CkRtech]

I don't think you are following what ApolloBoy was trying to explain. He's probably pulling his hair out at the moment, so I'll step in.

The 3.5mm section of your RGB cable you bought is supposed to plug into the headphone port of the Megadrive/Genesis. It takes the stereo output from the Genesis and routes it down the cable to the SCART connector. The video is pulled from the larger DIN connector that you plug into the back of the Genesis. In short, two outputs from the Genesis are combined into a single SCART output for your TV.

The response you were given for RCA was basically this - If you want RCA stereo outputs, just use the cable she sold you for the video part and leave the 3.5mm plug from that cable disconnected. Buy a separate 3.5mm to RCA stereo cable either locally or off of ebay, plug that into the headphone port, and use it to deliver your audio.

Does that make sense?

[c0dehunter]

Buy a separate 3.5mm to RCA stereo cable either locally or off of ebay, plug that into the headphone port, and use it to deliver your audio.

I wish there was a 'cleaner' way of doing this: I wish the cable came with STEREO RCA (Red-White) so I could connect them DIRECTLY to my AV unit, rather than the odd way of routing sound from the front of the SEGA Genesis console.

[c0dehunter]

OK, I connected my SEGA Genesis via the RGB adapter, and I noticed some 'jailbar' visual artifacts at the bottom of the screen. I have posted my concern at this forum, and they say that it seem to be normal (neither cable is bad, nor my SEGA Genesis model 1 system):

http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread ... post651153

Your thoughts are appreciated as always!

[evil_ash_xero]

I run into that problem with a couple of games too. I wouldn't worry about it.

[Fudoh]

And you assume that everybody is registered at sega-16.com to view those pictures ?

there is a line of multi-colored pixels showing up (appears and disappears) at the bottom right, or left corner of the screen

without seeing the pics, what you describe is normal.

[c0dehunter]

Sorry, here are the images:





It shows up in most games, but not in all: Golden Axe 2 looks normal for instance.

[Fudoh]

OK, I was confused by your mentioning of jailbar-like effects. Those "palette" pixels are normal. You usually simply adjust the overscan setting for your MD, so that they're not visible anymore.

[c0dehunter]

That is a bummer, since PVM-20L5 does not have presets, therefore, if I change the setting for MD, then it the centering of the image is going to be a bit 'off' for other consoles, or my retro gaming PC. But many thanks for reassuring.

[Shining]

Hijacking this thread. I recently purchased what i believe is an official French RGB SNES cable. It looks almost identical to an official Gamecube cable and has the same pinout but the housing is grey instead of black. It works fine with my US SNES and XRGB-Mini but the picture is much darker compared to the official GCN cable. Is there something that can be done about that? Like removing some caps or anything like that? I'm not that technical, tho..

[ApolloBoy]

It probably has 75 ohm resistors inside the SCART connector, which you need to remove.

[Shining]

Great! So is it the little white thing to the lower right in the first picture or the black thing in the middle in the second picture i should desolder?

[Ed Oscuro]

Pull your camera further from the cable...or put it in macro mode, if you have one. There's a minimum focusing distance for all lenses.

That striped brown/tan component on the bottom-right corner of picture #1 looks like a 75-ohm resistor, but I don't know if you can just desolder that and be on your way (i.e. if the pins need to be shorted together, I don't know).

[Shining]

Sorry, these are not my pics. I found them on the net and it is the same cable as mine. I will take new, better photos when i get home tonight.

[darcagn]

I just wanted to say that I received the shielded SNES JP-21 cable from Retro Console Accessories on eBay and it performs fantastic compared to the one I had from somewhere else (I believe Play-Asia). While there is still audio buzz in some scenarios, it is much lower than the other cables (and I'm only hearing it when I'm cranking my system to the max anyway), and I don't know if it's my imagination, but the colors look nicer and more vibrant too. She seems to only have one left, and at $19 before shipping it is not a bad deal at all either. I highly recommend this cable for the SNES esp. if you don't want to pay the ridiculous prices for the original Japanese JP-21 cables. One downside is that the one that is listed as FULLY SHIELDED is only available in JP-21, not SCART, so I had to rewire it myself--but it only takes a few minutes.


However I am going to do the SPDIF mod on my SNES anyway when the parts come in from Mouser tomorrow, since it's really easy to do and I don't have to do any case modding if I set it up where the RF port is. I think I will then have a near-ultimate SNES experience: SNES 1CHIP-03 model (the best video quality model IMO) with c-sync, with fully shielded RGB SCART cable to XRGB-mini to 51" 720p Plasma, with digital SPDIF to my very nice sound system.

[kel]

Sorry, these are not my pics. I found them on the net and it is the same cable as mine. I will take new, better photos when i get home tonight.

Remove the resistor array (the long black 5 pin component in your second picture), then cut the traces on the PCB for R, G and B and solder 3 220uf electrolytic capacitors in place of the cut traces for R, G and B with the + side of the caps connecting to the console side of the PCB.

If you have any sync problems after modding the cable then put a 75 ohm resistor between sync and ground but I doubt you would need to if you are using it on the mini because the mini has a sync level adjustment option anyway.

[Ed Oscuro]

One downside is that the one that is listed as FULLY SHIELDED is only available in JP-21, not SCART, so I had to rewire it myself--but it only takes a few minutes.

All their cables currently listed are described as "fully shielded." Strangely, for the JP-21 devices (both yours and also the "raw sync" one) they write this:

This is the fully grounded version of the cable, with individual ground wires to every ground point in the plug. Most third party cables for Nintendo products sold on eBay lack shielding inside the cable and grounding wire connected to this shielding at both ends. This is due to the lack of external metal shielding on the Nintendo multi out socket, our assumption is that many third party manufacturers consider it redundant to properly shield the whole cable. However, official Nintendo cables feature correct shielding connected to both grounding pins inside the AV multi out. We use the same method in our cabling to cut out audio buzz to the best degree possible.

For the SCART versions they don't include this blurb, but it would be really strange if they didn't also execute grounding there. For that cable, they say this:

Full 1.5 metres long, no loss of quality over shorter cables thanks to shielding.

However I am going to do the SPDIF mod on my SNES anyway when the parts come in from Mouser tomorrow, since it's really easy to do and I don't have to do any case modding if I set it up where the RF port is. I think I will then have a near-ultimate SNES experience: SNES 1CHIP-03 model (the best video quality model IMO) with c-sync, with fully shielded RGB SCART cable to XRGB-mini to 51" 720p Plasma, with digital SPDIF to my very nice sound system.

Sounds a treat. Been considering this myself, but I've yet to look at my own SNES video and audio quality.

[CkRtech]

However I am going to do the SPDIF mod on my SNES anyway when the parts come in from Mouser tomorrow, since it's really easy to do and I don't have to do any case modding if I set it up where the RF port is. I think I will then have a near-ultimate SNES experience: SNES 1CHIP-03 model (the best video quality model IMO) with c-sync, with fully shielded RGB SCART cable to XRGB-mini to 51" 720p Plasma, with digital SPDIF to my very nice sound system.

Sounds a treat. Been considering this myself, but I've yet to look at my own SNES video and audio quality.

I've had the CL chip sitting on my table for more than a month. I need to just sit down and give it a go.

[Retro Access]

Hey,

I'm the seller who has those cables on ebay.

If I'm "sold out" I may not be literally sold out (as in, components wise.) They are my best seller. They currently sell out faster than I can make them.

If you send me some communication I will let you know when I am next listing them so you can snag them before others do.

I am always more than happy to provide such cables to people who have a valid resource for information like this site. I get too many returns because of people who do things like buy a SCART to YUV converter and don't have a compatible TV for the non upscaled signal.

[Retro Access]

One downside is that the one that is listed as FULLY SHIELDED is only available in JP-21, not SCART, so I had to rewire it myself--but it only takes a few minutes.

For the SCART versions they don't include this blurb, but it would be really strange if they didn't also execute grounding there. For that cable, they say this:

Full 1.5 metres long, no loss of quality over shorter cables thanks to shielding.

All the cables are wired the same way. 5 grounding lines and shielding connected properly.

I would get around to editing the listings but no matter what they sell out quickly so I guess I've been lazy.

Edit: and my laziness caused somebody extra work. Very sorry about that darcagn.

Also one other thing here. I am actually legally deaf. I can't really hear the interference people talk of. I can hear the sound, but it sounds great to me. If the cables are still producing a buzz at certain tines (like a white/bright screen or high volume) I will work towards producing better versions.

For now I feel the cheaper option vs expensive and rare official cabling should be fine.

Higher quality cabling costs a tad more. I'm trying to produce an affordable solution with low noise. If you have any input just pm me on this forum, if you think it needs improving more. I will force my husband to listen to the output haha, and he's normally not in the least bit interested. He didn't appreciate my demo of early genesis 1 sound vs later genesis 1 sound today.

[darcagn]

Finished it all up!

Because I like to live dangerously, I soldered directly to the legs of the CS4806 instead of using an adapter board. It didn't turn out the nicest, but it works perfectly. I don't usually like to use hot glue too much, but I decided to use a little bit to pin down wires just to keep things less stressful while working on it.

The c-sync mod was done by the previous owner of this console.

Before:


In progress:


After (I also sanded off the words "RF OUT" and "CH 3 - CH 4" from the panel and sealed off the channel switch hole with hot glue):



Of course, now all buzzing noise is completely eliminated from all games. There is still a slight hiss of silence when I crank my receiver all the way up, but that is to be expected. Since my receiver is capable of getting video input from the XRGB-mini while still using audio from the coax/optical ports, I think I'm going to pick up some more CS4806 chips and do this mod for my Dreamcast and Saturn, and possibly others.

I'm still very glad I got the high-quality multi-out cable from Retro Console Accessories, though, as my next project will be adding multi-out to my NES, and SPDIF isn't possible for NES.

Retro Access

Thanks for continuing to offer excellent cables on eBay. I'm way too lazy to make them myself.

[Ed Oscuro]

One downside is that the one that is listed as FULLY SHIELDED is only available in JP-21, not SCART, so I had to rewire it myself--but it only takes a few minutes.

For the SCART versions they don't include this blurb, but it would be really strange if they didn't also execute grounding there. For that cable, they say this:

Full 1.5 metres long, no loss of quality over shorter cables thanks to shielding.

All the cables are wired the same way. 5 grounding lines and shielding connected properly.

I would get around to editing the listings but no matter what they sell out quickly so I guess I've been lazy.

Edit: and my laziness caused somebody extra work. Very sorry about that darcagn.

Also one other thing here. I am actually legally deaf. I can't really hear the interference people talk of. I can hear the sound, but it sounds great to me. If the cables are still producing a buzz at certain tines (like a white/bright screen or high volume) I will work towards producing better versions.

For now I feel the cheaper option vs expensive and rare official cabling should be fine.

Higher quality cabling costs a tad more. I'm trying to produce an affordable solution with low noise. If you have any input just pm me on this forum, if you think it needs improving more. I will force my husband to listen to the output haha, and he's normally not in the least bit interested. He didn't appreciate my demo of early genesis 1 sound vs later genesis 1 sound today.

Hey, I was going to send a PM on eBay about that. Just to confirm, all the SNES SCART / JP21 cables sold recently have had each wire grounded, as the one description says?

Hopefully I can get my SNES running up soon to give this a shot. Higher quality cabling might be interesting, but if it's more than good enough then I'm willing to settle. There's always the possibility of doing the S/PDIF mod, anyways.

[Retro Access]

Hey, I was going to send a PM on eBay about that. Just to confirm, all the SNES SCART / JP21 cables sold recently have had each wire grounded, as the one description says?

Hopefully I can get my SNES running up soon to give this a shot. Higher quality cabling might be interesting, but if it's more than good enough then I'm willing to settle. There's always the possibility of doing the S/PDIF mod, anyways.

Yes all the cables are essentially the same just with different pinouts. They've been that way for over 18 months.

[BazookaBen]

Man, after reading this thread, I'm glad I roll my own cables.

A/V connector (from random RF adapter) > resistors and caps (if necessary) > VGA connector

And with that, I use the same VGA to BNC cable to hook up all my consoles to my PVM.