Awful, annoying SCART buzzing

[quash]

I have taken my first foray into SCART with my JP Model 2 Saturn. I have it hooked up to a SCART -> HDMI converter and the picture quality is awesome.

But there's this incessant buzzing that is driving me up a fucking wall. I can move the connector around a bit and get rid of it for a moment but as soon as something happens on screen it comes right back.

What gives? I thought SCART was supposed to have separate wires for everything? After searching around a bit I am seeing that this is something of a common issue. Are SCART cables typically so shitty that they interfere with themselves? Is RGB-21 any better? Where do I buy SCART cables that don't suck? Alternatively, does anyone make RCA or BNC cables for the Saturn? I figure that would be a one-off kind of deal since neither Amazon or eBay are showing any.

Between this and being stuck on 50hz for over a decade, I don't know how you Europeans did it.

[gray117]

Like vga cables not all scart cables were created equal. Very few are actually fully wired - even some of the nice ones - since 99% of the time you're not in a setup that makes full use of everything...

Ideally each line would be wired and shielded.



The reason? ...Cost... Manufacturers cheaping you out...


Damage/jarring to the head/pins can cause a line or the casing ground to come loose.



Are any of these issues the cause of your buzzing?

Maybe... but might also be the adapter... hard to tell without trying the saturn/cable directly on a scart input.


The solution? Open it up and tinker...

...or many people buy custom cables from here:
https://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk/games-consoles/sega



And yes the awkwardness of the plug, it's fragility and the difficulty in determining/finding/fixing a problem with cables is the reason why scart was generally only a consumer/low grade cctv thing and professional equipment largely stuck to bnc cables...

[quash]

So these cables you linked to are all individually shielded? I had no idea that this kind of thing had to be specified for SCART, lol...

I'll give them a shot and report back. I have another cable but I'm pretty sure it's RGB-21 since I bought in locally in Japan. Perhaps I'll rewire that one first.

[viletim]

quash,

Some really crappy SCART leads have a poor ground connection. Only a single tiny wire which acts as the return path (ground) for all the audio video signals. You get buzzing audio as well as other problems. Good cables use a shielded cable with the shield acting as a low resistance return path. It's easy to check if the cable has no shield by opening up the SCART end and having a look. There's no way to fix a cable with a poor ground.

Another possibility is that your cable is fine and the A/V socket on your Saturn has corroded a bit. RGB SCART requires a better connection than a normal AV cable to prevent audio interference because it contains four video signals instead of just one.

RGB21 and SCART are pretty much the same thing with a different pin arrangement.

[RocketBelt]

I have had a bad scart cable once before, a horrible thin thing like a bit of old shoelace that caused colour banding.
I threw it out and swapped it for a nice thick one. But that's the only problem I ever had with scart, I found you could buy fully wired quality cables in any hardware shop for a few pounds. So it wasn't all bad.
Being on 50hz was rubbish though.

[darcagn]

My suggestion is to install a SPDIF connection into your Saturn. You'll get crystal clear perfect audio matched with beautiful RGB video.

[RGB32E]

My suggestion is to install a SPDIF connection into your Saturn. You'll get crystal clear perfect audio matched with beautiful RGB video.

While potentially the ideal solution (I from personal experience agree), it's not a requirement if you're just connecting to TV speakers, but most definitely is if you're connecting to a high performance Hi-Fi system. The right cabling can make the Saturn's native analog audio quite palatable, and can be devoid of buzzing regardless of the picture level! However, the op does not appear to have the right cabling and this can be solved by ordering one of the Micomsoft cables this week from Solaris Japan..

[speedlolita]

I completely separated the audio on my Super Famicom to a headphone jack that I installed where the RF module used to be to get around this myself recently. Works a charm.

[quash]

RGB21 and SCART are pretty much the same thing with a different pin arrangement.

I am aware of this, but I didn't know until now specifically how it differed. It seems that you all are correct in that it is an issue with the ground wire and that it could equally effect either.

I'll have to overhaul the Saturn at some point, since it started exhibiting phantom controller inputs yesterday. If cleaning the contacts on the controller and AV ports don't fix things, I may just keep this one around for spare parts.