PAL Dreamcast - 60Hz at 480i via VGA?

[andykara2003]

The PAL Dreamcast generally outputs games at full speed in VGA (progressive) mode but unless they’re optimised, outputs at a slower 50Hz on RGB. But I like my 6th Gen games interlaced. I suspect that it’s not possible, but can you trick the DC to output 480i60 on PAL games that usually run at 50Hz by somehow outputting 480i via the VGA output or by some other method?

[fernan1234]

But I like my 6th Gen games interlaced.

Same here! Yes it can be done with any region console. You can modify any cheap DC VGA cable to do this, you just need to lift/remove the pin on the cable console-side connector that tells the console to switch to progressive (I think it's the combination of both pins 6 and 7). I believe it's pin 6 you need to lift but you should confirm in case I remember wrong.

I think another approach is to start the game with an SD cable like composite, S-video, or SCART, and then swap in the VGA cable, but that will get annoying if you do it every time.

If you get a DCDigital you can get interlace from the HDMI output (and then use a DAC) if the "cable detect" setting is enabled and you have an SD cable (or modified VGA cable) connected.

[andykara2003]

Great, thanks very much for that - I might go with the swap then as I don't play DC games that often and the cable mod sounds a bit fiddly. I have a VGA to scart adapter from Tim Worthington so hopefully that should get the 480i signal to my Trinitron. Do I need to do anything in the console settings or will it automatically jump from 576i50 to 480i60 when I swap the cables?

[fernan1234]

Do I need to do anything in the console settings or will it automatically jump from 576i50 to 480i60 when I swap the cables?

For this I have little idea since I have never used PAL games. My guess would be that the console will output the interlaced mode corresponding to either the console or the game, so for PAL it would only be 576i50, which means you'll be at the mercy of the game being PAL optimized. I'm also guessing that using a GDEMU instead of discs could get around this problem.

[andykara2003]

Ahh OK, I got the wrong idea, no worries. I guess the only way to do this, then, would be to have an external box that interlaces 480p & that sounds a bit inauthentic. Perhaps I'll just buy a US DC. I like the idea of the GDEMU, but am one of those that likes to use original media.