Genesis/Mega Drive AV image issue

[Jonas_S]

Hi all,

I recently bought a Mega Drive (the european Genesis) and a bunch of classic games. Included in the package was an RF-cable. I was, however, far from satisfied with the image quality it offered so I decided to buy the following AV-cable:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0374135824

I received it today and plugged it in. Sure enough, I got a sharper image than before but the problem now is some kind of distortion in the image.

Here is an example from Sonic 2:
http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/7167/img3160.jpg
The distortion is mostly present in the center of the picture. The text "the hedgehog" is barely readable.

Another example. Again from Sonic 2:
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/5996/img3159r.jpg
It almost seems that entire rows of pixels are displaced.

Third and last example. Still Sonic 2 (I really like this game ):
http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/368/img3158.jpg
Here, the issue is seen in the top left text of the screen.

I have an HD TV (LG 42PX4RV) and a Sega Mega Drive 1.

Any ideas of the cause of this problem or a solution to it?

Best regards,
Jonas S, Sweden

[elvis]

You're getting some horrible signal loss.

Are you using the yellow composite lead? Or the black S-Video lead? S-Video will always give a clearer picture.

Other than that, ensure the connector into the console is a tight fit. Also ensure you don't have other cables (especially power cables) running close in parallel either the console or the A/V cables. Doing so can cause interference (crosstalk), especially on cheap/thin cables with little shielding.

And if your TV has a "game mode" setting, use that. Also try to disable any deinterlacing or comb filtering for low res progressive scan input modes (most 8bit and 16bit consoles are progressive scan - interlacing didn't become popular until the 32bit era). I doubt this will help you in this specific case, as it appears more to do with bad signal over the cables.

[Droid party]

Are you using the yellow composite lead? Or the black S-Video lead? S-Video will always give a clearer picture.

I don't beleave that's an s-video plug you see in the pic. I think you'll find that's the plug that goes into a model 1 mega drive. Looks kinda similar in the pic, however if you saw it in the flesh you'd see that it's quite a bit bigger.

[Hobie-wan]

Yeah, the black is the SMS/Gen 1 plug. Image is not to scale.

[elvis]

I don't beleave that's an s-video plug you see in the pic. I think you'll find that's the plug that goes into a model 1 mega drive. Looks kinda similar in the pic, however if you saw it in the flesh you'd see that it's quite a bit bigger.

Ah yes, that will teach me to skim the pictures too quickly.

The other comments still stand, however.

[Hateshinai]

For the best image quality you need an RGB cable. The Ebay seller you linked to has them. In fact I bought one from him recently. The price of RGB cables is a bit higher but the improvement in picture quality is worth it.
Since you live in Sweden I suppose your TV will likely handle RGB without too much hassle.
(The only good thing about living in Europe, when it comes to gaming, is the RGB compatible TVs. We don't have to bother with converters and such, but have to put up with letterboxed slower games unfortunately.)

And I strongly suggest you mod your Megadrive with a 50/60 Hz switch, which will allow you to play games full screen at 60 Hz as well as play US games. It is a very easy mod requiring only basic soldering skills.

[Jonas_S]

Thanks for your tips! I've just ordered an RGB cable.
I'll let you know how thinks work out once I get it.

[Jonas_S]

I just got the new cable and the difference is huge! I now get a crispy, crystal clear picture. Thanks for the help!

[Hateshinai]

I just got the new cable and the difference is huge! I now get a crispy, crystal clear picture. Thanks for the help!

No problem. Have fun!