XRGB-mini Framemeister

[darcagn]

That really doesn't look too bad, it might be the S-video or it could be that you have one of the revisions of SNES with poorer output quality. Which revision SNES do you have? If you don't know you can post the first 5 digits of your serial number and I could probably figure it out.

[arcadeswede]

Ok! I really need your help guys.
I've re-soldered the DIN8 - JAP SCART to a DIN8 - EURO SCART (I hope!) Now I need to know if I've done it correctly.
So, does anyone have a picture of a re-soldered working DIN8 - EURO SCART adapter?
Could someone please point out every pin, wire and what they do in the SCART-socket.

I'm afraid I did something wrong because I tried a Gamecube PAL RGB scart cable with my NTSC SNES and no picture. Only black screen with sound.

[Shining]

Hej där!

This might be due to you doing something wrong in re-soldering the adapter, but when using the official Gamecube cable with a US SNES and this adapter i get a black screen with sound. When connected through a scart switch i get both pictute and sound. Here's some input on what you might be encountering (haven't gotten around to open up the adapter though):

Wow, so many issues! Audio buzzing sounds like a ground connection isn't getting made to the mini. The only SCART to 8MDIN adapter/cable I use is the one I built myself. Maybe that's why mine works without any additional circuitry?!

I get that alot

Seriously though, i can live with having to switch between adapters as i don't have the skills to modify cables etc. But it sure would be nice to have only one for all of my consoles.

EDIT: So, i dug out my cheap old RGB scart switch and voila, now i get both picture and sound using the passive adapter. The switch produces artifacts so it's not really a solution.

I'm guessing that the passive adapter is missing ground connections. Perhaps it's only ground connection is on the outer part of the hood. Official Nintendo RGB cables don't connect ground to the outer hood, so that could explain what you're encountering. The switch could be joining all ground connections, so that could be why it works with that. Would it be easy enough to open the passive adapter and post a picture of the connections?

[Fudoh]

I'm afraid I did something wrong because I tried a Gamecube PAL RGB scart cable with my NTSC SNES and no picture. Only black screen with sound.

open both the Adapter cable and the Cube RGB cable and connect them while open. Check if all the important wires actually connect (video, audio and especially ground)

[arcadeswede]

I will take some pictures of my EURO scart so you can see if something is wrong with the wiring.
Pictures coming soon.

[Smashbro29]

I have to say I am getting a tiny bit irked missing the first few seconds of things. Does anyone know why games ever switched resolutions mid game? Seems like a dumb choice.

[Fudoh]

I'm suprised about the game portfolios you guys play. I can't even remember the last time I ran into those blanking problems.

There was what I call the dark age of gaming, when interlaced gaming was prominent. Companies tried to give users a high-res experience whenever it was possible, so menus and stuff were designed to run in high-res, while most of the gaming was still happening in 240p.

[arcadeswede]

Ok! Here's my re-soldered EURO SCART adapter.
Anything wrong with the wiring?

[Fudoh]

If you were to encounter a cable which only has GND on Pin 18, then it wouldn't work with this cable. Otherwise perfectly fine. Just add a bridge from any of the existing GND pins to Pin 18.

[arcadeswede]

Ok, thank you so much!
By, adding a jumper to PIN 18 will make it safe for working with most of the common RGB scarts out there?

[Smashbro29]

I'm suprised about the game portfolios you guys play. I can't even remember the last time I ran into those blanking problems.

There was what I call the dark age of gaming, when interlaced gaming was prominent. Companies tried to give users a high-res experience whenever it was possible, so menus and stuff were designed to run in high-res, while most of the gaming was still happening in 240p.

Mega Man X4 on the X collection, Mega Man X8.

I really like Mega Man X.

[Thomago]

In case somebody's interested: Retrogamingcables overhauled their Mini to SCART adapter cable in the meantime; judging from the looks of the the Mini-DIN connector the cables aren't handmade any more, but are mass produced now. Best thing about the overhauled cable: It now sits firmly in the Mini's RGB in. My old cable didn't do that.

[lettuce]

Noticed on the Wiki page there is now a section for individual console settings, under the Sega Genesis section i saw this

"Because the video clocks on NTSC and PAL consoles are different, you are strongly advised to use a genuine NTSC Genesis/Megadrive rather than a modded PAL unit. Using a PAL unit forced into 60hz can cause stuttering or other problems with sync. PAL60 handling is improved in firmware 1.07 but is still not as good as using a genuine NTSC console."

I never knew that having a modded PAL system with the 50/60hz switch would not be 1:1 match for a NTSC console??? Is that basically saying that if you had a modded PAL console and a NTSC console sat side by side and left both running the same game that after an hour they would be out of sync??

[Konsolkongen]

Yeah basically. Though the difference is so small that there is no way in hell you'll ever feel it when playing. Unfortunately this difference in clock speed is enough to cause stuttering on the Mini :/

The same might be true for other 50/60Hz modified EU consoles as well.

[darcagn]

w00t! Dreamcast looking great! Now I just need to drill the plastic, shorten/resolder the leads, mount the connector in, and add a 31KHz<->15KHz switch to the VGA box, and I'm done!

My verdict is: If you like the way the XRGB-mini upscales the Wii, then you'll like its performance on the DC.

Screenshots, including scanlines (click the image to enlarge):

[BuckoA51]

The same might be true for other 50/60Hz modified EU consoles as well.

Yeah, depends on your TV too I think. Amiga, Megadrive/Genesis and Playstation PAL consoles all cause stuttering on my setup when forced into NTSC. I know Fagin tested his PAL Megadrive in 60hz with his mini setup and didn't get any stuttering though.

[Konsolkongen]

Does your EU MegaDrive run stutter-free in 50Hz? My JAP MegaDrive which is also modified to play everything, stutters in 50Hz on the Mini. Just wondering if all 50Hz stutter or it's the same 50/60 clock mismatch going on.

[lettuce]

Does your EU MegaDrive run stutter-free in 50Hz? My JAP MegaDrive which is also modified to play everything, stutters in 50Hz on the Mini. Just wondering if all 50Hz stutter or it's the same 50/60 clock mismatch going on.

I have a ASIAN Megadrive which i modded with a single 4 position switch and havent noticed stuttering when playing in 60hz mode, havent played much in 50hz mod though...only Alien Solider and again didnt notice any stuttering but then wasnt watching/listening out for it, is it something you would notice straight away??

I just did a test with my PAL MD and modded ASIAN MD (in 60hz mode) both running SONIC side my side for an hour, and just flick the scart switcher between them and the both seem to be in sync, theres no noticable difference....now i guess i could leave them running all night and then see if there was any difference in the morning.......

[Fudoh]

The ASIAN MDs are japanese ones with an added PAL clock on the bottom. If you open up the MD, turn the mainboard around, remove the crystal, you basically have a genuine japanese unit.

[lettuce]

The ASIAN MDs are japanese ones with an added PAL clock on the bottom. If you open up the MD, turn the mainboard around, remove the crystal, you basically have a genuine japanese unit.

Really, so removing the crystal will result in a NTSC 60Hz system?, is there any advantage for me doing that now that i have it modded however???. Good to know for any future ASIAN MD's i get though

[Fudoh]

If you don't have any problems, no need to do anything. If you remove the crystal, the system will run on it's internal clock again. The crystal has added to provide a proper PAL 50Hz timing and to run the RF modulator included into many Asian MDs.

[lettuce]

If you don't have any problems, no need to do anything. If you remove the crystal, the system will run on it's internal clock again. The crystal has added to provide a proper PAL 50Hz timing and to run the RF modulator included into many Asian MDs.

From what Konsolkongen has said it might be suggested that a modded 50hz console wouldnt suffer stutter in either 50 or 60hz mode, but a 60hz console modded could cause stutter when in 50hz mode? In which case it might be best only to mod 50hz consoles rather than 60hz console, maybe the MD/Genesis consoles dont like the clock speed to be down clocked but dont mind to be up clocked from factory default clocks??

[Fudoh]

We also had the case where 50Hz PAL systems caused problems in 60Hz mode, so it's either way....

[lettuce]

We also had the case where 50Hz PAL systems caused problems in 60Hz mode, so it's either way....

Ah ok, wonder what is the cause on some consoles and not others, could be related to MD1 or MD2 consoles, type of mod carried out (theres a few ways of doing the same mod), LCD display used maybe etc

[BuckoA51]

Does your EU MegaDrive run stutter-free in 50Hz? My JAP MegaDrive which is also modified to play everything, stutters in 50Hz on the Mini. Just wondering if all 50Hz stutter or it's the same 50/60 clock mismatch going on.

Yes, it was stutter free at 50hz, tested with the 240p test suite scroll test (as long as you set the Mini to output a 50hz screenmode of course). My Japanese Megadrive is also stutter free at 50hz, though frankly I wonder why I bothered getting the mod done as I don't think there's any PAL exclusives on the MD worth bothering with are there?

Ah ok, wonder what is the cause on some consoles and not others

I don't think it's a question of what causes it on some consoles and not others, I think it's more likely to be different displays have slightly different tolerances.

The ASIAN MDs are japanese ones with an added PAL clock on the bottom. If you open up the MD, turn the mainboard around, remove the crystal, you basically have a genuine japanese unit.

Theoretically I believe with an Asian MD you could mod it so that it used the PAL crystal when set to 50hz and the NTSC crystal when set to 60hz, if you wanted to go to that extra bother.

[lettuce]

Theoretically I believe with an Asian MD you could mod it so that it used the PAL crystal when set to 50hz and the NTSC crystal when set to 60hz, if you wanted to go to that extra bother.

Would this be an 'improvement' of any than doing the normal mod? Do you have a link to this crystal mod method?

[BuckoA51]

Only worth doing if you were having problems. No links, it's just 'theoretically possible'. I seem to remember someone here did something similar with a SNES, was it you Konsolkongen?

[Rymdkakor]

Yup I'm using an adapter, it works perfectly with my Ps1, I sent pictures of it as well to the guy who made the cable so one would think that he made the cable so they'd work together...see anything strange that others might have missed?

I've tried loads of cable types, and the one with the least buzzing is the official Gamecube cable followed by the official SNES cable. The GC needs to be modified if used with PAL. There was about 2-3 times more buzzing with 3rd party and homemade "HQ" cables, but even the official ones are pretty bad with bright screens.

It doesn't look like there's anything connected to SNES scart cable pin 8? The sync stripper (SS) in your converter cable needs between +5v to +12v coming from the console or another source. But IIRC, the Framemeister+SNES doesn't work with the SS anyway(but the PS needs it). So you would be better of adding a bypass switch for the SS (the yellow sync wire in your converter cable).

If you get official cables, or other "properly" wired cables, you need make sure to link ground pin 17 with ground pin 4 at the EURO end in your converter cable, since the official cables doesn't use ground pin 4 (Playstation is opposite).

Also, I could be wrong

Ordered an official GC-RGB-cable from at guy in germany and got it in the mail yesterday. Just tried it out with my snes and the converter cable I have - no buzzing at all and everything looks MUCH better!
The colours look more vibrant, brighter, clearer, sharper and more "calm". I knew that there would probably be a difference but I newer hoped that it would be this much of a difference

THANKS!

[Overkill]

What are the best settings for 480p input like xbox 1, wii, PS2+GSM?

[theclaw]

The ASIAN MDs are japanese ones with an added PAL clock on the bottom. If you open up the MD, turn the mainboard around, remove the crystal, you basically have a genuine japanese unit.

Really, so removing the crystal will result in a NTSC 60Hz system?, is there any advantage for me doing that now that i have it modded however???. Good to know for any future ASIAN MD's i get though

No RF modulator is one of the top indicators for a japanese MD. Most units there never had one installed by Sega, utterly gone.

What are the best settings for 480p input like xbox 1, wii, PS2+GSM?

Try sharpness=1 on games that look as if they have some kind of filter or anti flicker effect.