Of Megadrives, Scanlines and Modified consoles

[Spyke]

I'm sorry if this post is a little bit long-winded, but it's a long story and I need to get it off my chest. I'll try to condense it as much as possible.

Got multiple consoles. Heard about SLG-3000 and SLG-in-a-box. Bought SLG-in-a-box (SLGBox) for multiple consoles and tested. Got it working with PS2, Jp PS2, Xbox 360 (all composite output) and Jp Saturn (RGB Scart). Works well, lovely scanlines. No problems in 640x480 on 19" LCD TV.

Bought modified Megadrive 1 console. Multi-region mod.
LED=Red=PAL 50hz,
LED=orange=US 60hz
LED=green=Jp 60hz.

Now, the console itself is "ok". It's a modified PAL 1601-05 model so it was never going to exactly set the world on fire. It ran Japanese games ok. When I loaded US or UK games, it refused to run them in their native regions, and insisted in running them in "green mode" (Jp 60hz). Ok, I thought that was a bit odd but just lived with it - at least I could play the games.

So eventually I realised that the region mod simply was not working as it should - it just played EVERYTHING in Jp mode. Is this normal?

On top of this when I ran the console through the SLGBox I got it set up so that it gave a decent image with scanlines, but the screen image would jump about every few seconds, making it unplayable.

When I connected the console directly to the TV, no problem.
When I connected the console to a scart splitter box to the TV, no problem.
When I ran the console through the SLGBox, signal jumped all over the place.

I tried different VGA cables and different MD RGB Scart cables. No difference.

I bought a genuine original Japanese HAA-2510 console.

Obviously this console is a whole different league ahead of the modified Asian console, in terms of audio and video output. But also it runs games faster. Eh?

So that prompted me to assume that the "Japanese mode" on my modified console is not actually running at the correct speed!!!

Also, when connecting the Jp HAA-2510 console through the SLGBox I get good decent signal again, superb picture quality (and superior audio of course) with scanlines... but every 30 seconds the signal cuts out, then resets and comes back. Gameplay continues throughout the picture absence - I can hear it still - but it consistently does this every 30 seconds. I removed the cartridge lock and tested UK, US and Jp carts, and the same applies to them all.

I connect the console directly to TV, no problems.
I connect console to scart splitter then to TV, no problems.
I connect through SLGBox, image cuts out every 30 seconds.

I'm a bit hacked off to be honest.

I've emailed the seller of the modified console asking why the console runs everything in Japanese mode, and why that Japanese mode is not the same speed as a genuine Japanese console.

I've also emailed ArcadeForge many times looking for help and suggestions about the problem getting the SLGBox to work with EITHER of my MD consoles. Replies have now dried up.

So... does anyone else out there run a MD1 console through a SLGBox and have it working with scanlines and no image interruption? If so, how did you get it to work?

Thanks for reading.

Ant

[Spyke]

I spent some time playing around with the Japanese MD1 console and SLGBox tonight.

I made a significant discovery.

I had been running the console using the scaler set at 640x480, having read on various forums that this was the "best" resolution to run the console at to get old-skool style visuals with scanline generators. Well, I set the resolution on the scaler to 1024x768 and the intermittent "no signal" problem just disappeared - just like that!

Of course the scanlines are now a bit less obvious (finer) due to the larger number of vertical pixels but it is still a very pleasing effect, so in effect is working perfectly with the MD now. I understand that other scanline generators have a line-doubling feature which can make the scanlines more obvious, akin to the 640x480 resolution, on higher resolutions, but the SLGBox is made to a budget and doesn't have that feature.

So, that's one problem sorted! Still haven't heard anything about the modified multi-region MD console yet. My Japanese one however is now my new favourite (for now...)

Ant

[theclaw]

Does the picture appear letterboxed?

Megadrive hardware supports 50hz with Japanese.
Just considered "unused", so modders and emulator authors tend to disregard it.

50hz/60hz isn't quite an exact mod. Most users don't notice the console's NTSC or PAL timing crystal is different.

[Spyke]

Interesting...

I don't actually remember if it letterboxed or not. I've got it disconnected and stored now I'm using the Japanese one. If it did I was probably able to adjust using the scaler function though.

Ant