Sega Genesis Picture Quality Advice

[Quazimoto]

Howdy Ya'll...

Alrighty, so I recently acquired a nice little TV for next to nothing ($10 off craigslist).  It's a 15" SONY Wega LCD (model KLV-S15G10).  I plan on using this for my Sega Genesis (recently had to sell my NES and SNES, but will be using this TV for those once I reacquire them). Anyway, the Genesis looks pretty okay on the TV, but I ran across some pics of someone running an S-Video modded Genesis and I and now I can't stop thinking about improving my own picture quality.  The TV has both S-Video and Component inputs in back, so having read that the Genesis natively outputs a RGB signal, I grabbed this Sega Genesis SCART cable off eBay...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sega-Megadrive-II-2-High-Quality-RGB-Scart-Lead-TV-Cable-Stereo-NEW-/261091969356?pt=UK_Video_Games_Cables_and_Adaptors&hash=item3cca4b494c



I figured I'd probably need this anyway for any method short of moding the console itself, so I bought that.

Also had some eBay bucks certificates, so I grabbed these two things hoping to do an S-Video on "mod" on the cheap...


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Scart-Coupler-Joiner-F-to-F-Adapter-Extension-Cable-/380489013259?pt=US_Video_Cables_Adapters&hash=item5896e9980b


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Video-Male-20-Pin-Scart-to-3-Female-RCA-Connector-Coupler-Adapter-/321097838903?pt=US_Video_Cables_Adapters&hash=item4ac2ec3137



Everything arrived and I set it all up.  I was able to get a steady picture, however, the picture has white vertical lines all over it.  Looking underneath and between those lines, the picture does appear quite a bit crisper around the edges of the image than it does with standard Genesis AV cables, so I think I'm close, just missing something.  However, I'm not too technically inclined and the more I read on the topic the more confused I get.  I don't really want to get into modifying cables or anything like that and don't have a ton of money to spend on something like a DVDOedge, so I was hoping someone with more technical knowledge or experience might be able to offer some advice.

Would I be able to get a good picture with something like this...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-5-Meter-Scart-to-YPbPr-Component-RGB-Audio-Video-Cable-for-Dreambox-/321106162776?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ac36b3458

…  Genesis SCART Cable >>> SCART Coupler >>> This Cable >>> TV


Or, should I get this (which I've read works great) with an audio breakout adapter...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-SCART-RGB-to-YUV-Component-Video-Converter-Scaler-/221156873851?pt=US_Audio_Cables_Adapters&hash=item337dfa167b



For now, it's just going to be the Genesis that I'm hooking up.  A year or two from now I might be able to re-buy an NES, but I'm not to concerned about getting a better picture with that as it looks pretty good on this TV with just the composite cables.  So, I'm sort of inclined to grab the SCART to RGB cable linked above and try it, but figured I'd ask first and see what The Cover Project experts had to say.

Also, please do forgive me if this topic has already been covered in depth.  The search function hasn't worked for me for a few days now (just keeps trying to load the page, but never gets there), so I wasn't able to look too deep in the forums.

[eastman415]

That scart to rgb cable won't work. Component inputs on tv's use what is called YPbPr video as opposed to RGB video. The two are not compatible, and you would need to use a device designed to convert the signal from one to the other. This is made more confusing by the fact that cables for YPbPr are red green and blue.

The best signal you can get straight out of the genesis is s-video. It does do native RGB out on scart connectors, but you need a special monitor that can accept the signal, or you need to convert it. The setup you are using now should work fine assuming the coupler and scart to rca box are wired correctly. The wavy lines on your screen sound like one or both are not wired correctly, or they were poorly built.

The converter box you linked would be the proper way to get the native RGB converted to something your tv component inputs can use. I can't speak for that specific box though. You could try googling RGB to YPbPr converters and see what kind of info you can find on which ones work well for what you're doing.

[Nacho3]

I tried to do something similar to this with my Saturn but didn't ever get i to work. It just seemed like I was missing something and couldn't figure it out so I just bought an S-Video cable (very expensive ) and am pretty pleased with the picture quality.

[Blueprint]

I also have been thinking of buying a s-video cable for my saturn but i can't  justify spending the $50 when i only have a few games maybe i will try to mod it myself...

[wiggy]

Saturn S-vid mod is easy and cheap

[Quazimoto]

Many thanks for the info eastman415.  It is very helpful indeed.

Kinda makes me wonder why someone hasn't produced a Genesis S-Video cable.  Maybe it's difficult to do or something.  I'd probably look into modifying the system itself, but I have multiple Genesis systems that I switch between (call me crazy, but I think some games seem to run a little better or different models - but, it's entirely possible I'm nuts, so maybe that's just me).

Me thinks I'll just do some research and find me the best SCART RGB to YPbPr convertor I can get.  Will post the results when I have them, just in case anyone else is interested.

[eastman415]

I was wrong about the genesis. It's the saturn that can do s-video out on it's av connector, the genesis will require some modding. Sorry about that.

[Quazimoto]

I was wrong about the genesis. It's the saturn that can do s-video out on it's av connector, the genesis will require some modding. Sorry about that.

No worries...  Gonna just go with the convertor anyway, so no actual modding needed. 

[redsox2012]

I also have been thinking of buying a s-video cable for my saturn but i can't  justify spending the $50 when i only have a few games maybe i will try to mod it myself...

I can't believe how expensive the S-video cable for Saturn has gotten.  I bought one around 6 months ago for $20, and I hesitated a bit at paying that price for a single cable.  The picture quality is phenomenal though.  Well worth it if you can get one for a decent price.