Questions that do not deserve a thread

[bobrocks95]

1. You're not in europe.
2. Who cares about composite and S-Video?

So this is PAL only?

It's not for me, but my brother.

Pick a color you like and buy that then. Both sides of that comparison look pretty awful... The jpeg compression isn't helping either.

Probably a different video encoder, I've never heard anything about the hardware blur being removed.

[Magicalbottle]

So I just got my BNC to SCART cable with built in sync cleaner for my PVM 2950QM. However, i'm getting a really garbled up screen and it goes black after every 10 seconds or so. The AES has been tested on a PVM 2130QM with the same RGB cable. The PVM has been tested with a VCR. Any ideas? Is the cable faulty?

[Fudoh]

So I just got my BNC to SCART cable with built in sync cleaner for my PVM 2950QM

If you bought a BNC to Scart cable you're using it in the wrong direction and that won't work.

Your cable got a female scart connector ? Unscrew it and check if the sync line is connected to the right pin. Also if you got a stripper built into it, you have to make sure that your source delivers enough power on the right pin to actually power the stripper IC.

[Magicalbottle]

So I just got my BNC to SCART cable with built in sync cleaner for my PVM 2950QM

If you bought a BNC to Scart cable you're using it in the wrong direction and that won't work.

Your cable got a female scart connector ? Unscrew it and check if the sync line is connected to the right pin. Also if you got a stripper built into it, you have to make sure that your source delivers enough power on the right pin to actually power the stripper IC.

Yes, it's a female scart connector. I don't know what pins to check though...

[Fudoh]

Pin 20 is where the sync signal from the console's RGB cable connects to. Also check which pin is powering the stripper and if that pin is present on the RGB cable.

[Magicalbottle]

Thanks, but I'm not really a tech guy. I just contacted the seller.

[Fudoh]

do you have to be tech guy to unscrew the scart connector and take a look ? The the cable's direction is wrong, you can spot it.

The seller will guide you through the same questions and if your NG's RGB cable doesn't provide the power to run the stripper, it's not the adapter cable's fault, is it ?

[Ikaruga11]

1. You're not in europe.
2. Who cares about composite and S-Video?

So this is PAL only?

It's not for me, but my brother.

Pick a color you like and buy that then. Both sides of that comparison look pretty awful... The jpeg compression isn't helping either.

Probably a different video encoder, I've never heard anything about the hardware blur being removed.

Which one would you say is better though?

[Dochartaigh]

If you bought a BNC to Scart cable you're using it in the wrong direction and that won't work.

Side question: Right now I use my SCART to BNC cables to go from the video game console (ends in SCART) to my Extron Crosspoint switcher (with BNC's). Would I NOT be able to use those same SCART to BNC cables on the output side? For instance was thinking of going from the output side of the switcher, going from BNC to SCART for a transcoder which only has a SCART input - just want to make sure those adapter cables will work in the opposite direction before I try this.

[Fudoh]

No, you wouldn't. Scart has fixed pins for RGB, but for Audio and Video/Sync it has input and output pins. These switch around when you change the direction and/or the gender.

BNC to male scart (e.g. from Extron to display or processor): sync on pin 20
BNC to female scart (e.g. as an adapter with a Scart/Scart cable plugged into it): sync on pin 19
Male Scart to BNC (e.g. from a Scart switch to an Extron crosspoint): sync on pin 19
Female Scart to BNC (as used by Magicalbottle): sync on pin 20.

[Magicalbottle]

do you have to be tech guy to unscrew the scart connector and take a look ? The the cable's direction is wrong, you can spot it.

The seller will guide you through the same questions and if your NG's RGB cable doesn't provide the power to run the stripper, it's not the adapter cable's fault, is it ?

Pin 8 is powering the sync stripper. RGB cables have bin 8 soldered, so should be ok.

[Fudoh]

and did you check for pin19/20 ? If you got a female Scart end, sync should be taken from Pin 20 for your desired direction of the cable.

[Magicalbottle]

and did you check for pin19/20 ? If you got a female Scart end, sync should be taken from Pin 20 for your desired direction of the cable.

Yeah I did, it's a female scart end, I got this cable:



I'm going to try some other rgb cable for my Neo Geo to see if it works. I also read someone had the same problem and needed a passive BNC breakout cable in the end, but I don't have any.

[Cirventhor]

I am having a very strange problem with Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 1 on the original XBOX. It is the PAL version.

When I set the XBOX to NTSC the image is greyscale and off-centered, and when I set the XBOX to PAL there is no image at all. The OSSC just reports "no sync", but audio plays. Any idea what may cause this? I have no such issues with any other XBOX game, which leads me to believe there might be something off with this particular game or even the disc.

[ZellSF]

I am having a very strange problem with Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 1 on the original XBOX. It is the PAL version.

When I set the XBOX to NTSC the image is greyscale and off-centered, and when I set the XBOX to PAL there is no image at all. The OSSC just reports "no sync", but audio plays. Any idea what may cause this? I have no such issues with any other XBOX game, which leads me to believe there might be something off with this particular game or even the disc.

Does PAL work on other titles?

[Cirventhor]

I am having a very strange problem with Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 1 on the original XBOX. It is the PAL version.

When I set the XBOX to NTSC the image is greyscale and off-centered, and when I set the XBOX to PAL there is no image at all. The OSSC just reports "no sync", but audio plays. Any idea what may cause this? I have no such issues with any other XBOX game, which leads me to believe there might be something off with this particular game or even the disc.

Does PAL work on other titles?

Yeah, tried a number of games, both PAL and NTSC and everything works fine except for this one game.

[Ikaruga11]

Is there any difference in picture quality between the official Nintendo S-Video cables for the SNES, N64 and GameCube?

I'm getting my brother Nintendo S-Video cables for his N64, but I'm not sure whether I should buy the official SNES, N64 or GameCube S-Video cables. As you know, all three consoles use the same Multi-A/V port, so SNES, N64 and GameCube video cables be used interchangeably.

So does it even matter? Are all three official S-Video cables the same quality?

[ChuChu Flamingo]

One thing you need to watch out for is that finding a third party S-video cord can be a major pain in the ass. If you get the wrong one it will produce a checkboard pattern due to them pushing composite through S-video and not outputting true S-video.

I would imagine all official S-video cables are the same quality. The two I have which are Monster and some third party one do not introduce the checkerboard artifact.

Here is one that retrorgb recommends.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-best-S-vide ... SwEppUPd4d

[Xer Xian]

They're the same thing (down to the model number), the only difference is the package. The first version was different but I can't see it being any better/worse.

Also, I remember you once asked if there was any difference between RGB and Component for GBPlayer games - I recently bought a capture device (and an official GC RGB cable) and tested this, among some other stuff. Here's a GIF with some screenshots (first one of each is Component, second one RGB). Any difference can be attributed to miscalibration (I calibrated the capture device for component and didn't bother to change settings for RGB).

[Dochartaigh]

BNC to male scart (e.g. from Extron to display or processor): sync on pin 20
BNC to female scart (e.g. as an adapter with a Scart/Scart cable plugged into it): sync on pin 19
Male Scart to BNC (e.g. from a Scart switch to an Extron crosspoint): sync on pin 19
Female Scart to BNC (as used by Magicalbottle): sync on pin 20.

They don't make this simple do they? Thanks for the info!

I'm using the cable Magicalbottle is (from the same seller, but without the Sync Stripper). Sync would then be on pin 20.

In order to use that same cable on the output side of my Extron Crosspoint, to plug into something like the Shinybow SB-2840 (RGBs SCART to YPbPr converter), the sync seems to be on the same pin 20, and I would just need to convert the female SCART to male SCART so I could plug it into the Shinybow (which a short male to male SCART cable would do that). Does this sound correct? (Shinybow is out of stock right now otherwise I would have one and just plug it in and test it

[Ikaruga11]

One thing you need to watch out for is that finding a third party S-video cord can be a major pain in the ass. If you get the wrong one it will produce a checkboard pattern due to them pushing composite through S-video and not outputting true S-video.

I would imagine all official S-video cables are the same quality. The two I have which are Monster and some third party one do not introduce the checkerboard artifact.

Here is one that retrorgb recommends.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-best-S-vide ... SwEppUPd4d

Yes. We have the official composite cables that come with the Nintendo 64, and a third party composite + S-Video cable that pushes out a composite signal through S-Video, producing a checkerboard pattern. I think it looks slightly sharper and cleaner than normal composite, despite the checkerboard pattern. Is fake S-Video really worse than normal composite?

[ChuChu Flamingo]

For one you wouldn't have that checkboard effect, but you should definitely see improvements in color and sharpness if you buy a new cable. Keep in mind when using any video connection, converting it to a higher standard really doesn't add picture quality. I think the quality bump you're seeing is because it isn't running through a comb filter when running composite directly vs s-video

I think what is happening with these cables is that they are taking composite from the AV connector and converting it to S-video via mickey mouse shenanigans. Since composite has luminance and chrominance on one connector it then converts it to S-video and splits it up over the two s-video pins Y/C Luminance and Chrominance. In doing so there must be a lot of noise hence why you get that checkerboard pattern. Not sure if I got this all right, but this is what I surmised.

[Ikaruga11]

They're the same thing (down to the model number), the only difference is the package. The first version was different but I can't see it being any better/worse.

Oh great. That makes things a lot easier and simpler. That is actually the one I just bought!

I've heard a lot of great things about the Monster S-Video Cables for the SNES/N64/GCN. How they offer the perfect image quality for S-Video and are extremely well made, especially for a third party. They are, however, extremely expensive (~$100.00) and have seemingly disappeared from the internet.

I did a lot of researching online and have not found any testimony or comparisons between the Monster S-Video cables and the official Nintendo S-Video cables. Just against other third party S-Video cables that have and don't have the yellow composite plug. I wonder if the Monster cables really are better?

Also, I remember you once asked if there was any difference between RGB and Component for GBPlayer games - I recently bought a capture device (and an official GC RGB cable) and tested this, among some other stuff. Here's a GIF with some screenshots (first one of each is Component, second one RGB). Any difference can be attributed to miscalibration (I calibrated the capture device for component and didn't bother to change settings for RGB).

Yes, I did ask once if there was any difference between RGB and Component for GB/GBC/GBA games. Thank you for testing it out and making a .gif on it! They look nearly identical, but you can see that RGB is brighter in some colors. I wonder how it would look if you calibrated your capture device's settings for RGB?

For one you wouldn't have that checkboard effect, but you should definitely see improvements in color and sharpness if you buy a new cable.

Nice. So not only will the checkerboard effect disappear, but it it'll be a lot sharper and more vibrant than what it already is!

Keep in mind when using any video connection, converting it to a higher standard really doesn't add picture quality. I think the quality bump you're seeing is because it isn't running through a comb filter when running composite directly vs s-video

True. It's like those shitty Composite to HDMI adapters for the Wii.

I think what is happening with these cables is that they are taking composite from the AV connector and converting it to S-video via mickey mouse shenanigans.

So it's slightly better than composite, but still a lot worse than S-Video?

Since composite has luminance and chrominance on one connector it then converts it to S-video and splits it up over the two s-video pins Y/C Luminance and Chrominance. In doing so there must be a lot of noise hence why you get that checkerboard pattern. Not sure if I got this all right, but this is what I surmised.

Yeah, I heard that connecting the composite plug to the same display port as S-Video fixes this issue.

[ChuChu Flamingo]

The monster cables are good, but paying $50-$100 for them would be dumb. I would be curious to see test done on them , but I doubt one would notice to the naked eye. For starters, the connections are way too damn tight (rca ones mainly). All monster cables have this problem (even component cables for PS2 and others). The connection was so tight it ripped both my grounds off my AV splitter for audio.

With this in mind I decided to bend the circle ground jack just a fraction to make plugging them in not murder anything it plugs into. Works great afterwards.

[Ikaruga11]

The monster cables are good, but paying $50-$100 for them would be dumb. I would be curious to see test done on them , but I doubt one would notice to the naked eye. For starters, the connections are way too damn tight. All monster cables have this problem (even component cables for PS2 and others). The connection was so tight it ripped both my grounds off my AV splitter for audio.

With this in mind I decided to bend the circle ground jack just a fraction to make plugging them in not murder anything it plugs into. Works great afterwards.

Yeah, it is really dumb. I actually did find an S-Video comparison of the N64 with the Monster cables, but it was against KMD.
https://youtu.be/TWLPnCTpBz0

I wish someone who has both the official Nintendo S-Video cables and the third party Monster S-Video cables would do a high quality comparison between the two, just like this video. And Jeez, that's really unfortunate. I actually read a lot of comments during my research on how tight the plugs are, so you aren't alone at all. Seems like they're not worth it.

That being said, I just realized that the official Nintendo SNES S-Video cables I bought aren't actually the first model.

First model of official Nintendo S-Video cables:


Official Nintendo S-Video cables I just bought on eBay:


The only difference I can see between the two is that the first one has a box in the middle of the cable and mine does not. What do you think that box is for? Maybe it's sending a composite signal and the box is separating the luminance and chrominance?

[Einzelherz]

It's a magic filter that cleans the video to near RGB quality. It was expensive so they axed it.

[Ikaruga11]

It's a magic filter that cleans the video to near RGB quality. It was expensive so they axed it.

Does anyone know which motherboard revision S-Video got better on the N64?

[Xer Xian]

The only difference I can see between the two is that the first one has a box in the middle of the cable and mine does not. What do you think that box is for? Maybe it's sending a composite signal and the box is separating the luminance and chrominance?

Fitting even a basic a Y/C separator in there would make production costs higher than directly tapping s-video from the multi-out (and quality would be worse too), so that's most definitely not the case. That (clunky) box is just for sorting the wires to different cables.

Does anyone know which motherboard revision S-Video got better on the N64?

I guess no one here cares enough about s-video to research/experiment about that. I kind of do since I recently acquired a JVC monitor with no RGB/Component module, but I don't care for the N64 specifically.

[Ikaruga11]

Fitting even a basic a Y/C separator in there would make production costs higher than directly tapping s-video from the multi-out (and quality would be worse too), so that's most definitely not the case. That (clunky) box is just for sorting the wires to different cables.

Ah, I see. Makes sense. I didn't notice that the older S-Video cable starts out as one cable instead of three separate cables like the newer S-Video cables. Would that mean that the newer cables should have a sharper and cleaner signal in theory? Since the audio wires are shielded from the video wires at all times, unlike the older cables.

I guess no one here cares enough about s-video to research/experiment about that. I kind of do since I recently acquired a JVC monitor with no RGB/Component module, but I don't care for the N64 specifically.

Well, what I can do is look up serial numbers of Funtastic N64s on eBay and try to correlate the corresponding motherboard revision. Do ALL Funtastic N64s have the improved Composite and S-Video output?

[Xyga]

I'd love it if the Pikachu Edition model happened to have the best video output of all, and everyone would struggle and pay unreasonable $ to add that horror to their nice dark-tech-looking setup.