Genesis connected to LCD via RGB cable and XRGB Mini

[+Yurkie]

All I can say is WOW! I bought the Genesis(model 1) shortly after it came out in the US and playing it today on my LCD with scanlines, I can honestly say I have never seen it look so damn good. I am mostly a Sonic guy with the Genesis I can't even imagine if I love dozens of games.

 

The awesome thing about the Genesis(model 1) is that it puts out RGB wthout any mods. I bought a cable on ebay for about $18 and that's all I needed.

[Tempest]

Pictures! We want pictures!

[+Yurkie]

Youtube vids capturing do a much better job, a static pic doesn't do it justice

[Austin]

Not Yurkie's, but one of my buddies has this setup and did a test video of Sonic the Hedgehog. The video itself still doesn't do it justice 100%, but you can see the individual pixels even there, whereas footage looks blurry when taking it from my standard composite device. Link: http://youtu.be/gPpFVJUjh2Y

[Greg2600]

The Genesis was notorious for having putrid composite video. For whatever the reason, SEGA skimped on it. There is NO other system that benefits as greatly from using or modding to RGB in my opinion, it's like night and day. My setup also uses an RGB/SCART cable and a similar video upscaler (DVDO not XRGB), but I leave the scan lines off. Master System benefits greatly as well.

[108 Stars]

Every system benefits greatly from RGB. Sega was wise to offer that beginning with the Master System. the SNES offered RGB too, but it was never promoted in any way and Nintendo didn't sell RGB cables for it. Systems like the NES, N64 and 3DO are almost intolerable to me because of the lack of RGB, the picture just looks so subpar.. NES and N64 can be modified with special upgrade kits but it just seems dumb especially for N64 and 3DO that they didn't offer it. Two systems bragging with being high tech but failing to deliver the best video output other systems had offered since the mid-80ies.

[+remowilliams]

The awesome thing about the Genesis(model 1) is that it puts out RGB wthout any mods.

 

 

Yes, it's great that you can get RGB out of the 1,2 and CDX without mods.

 

Every system benefits greatly from RGB. Sega was wise to offer that beginning with the Master System. the SNES offered RGB too, but it was never promoted in any way and Nintendo didn't sell RGB cables for it. Systems like the NES, N64 and 3DO are almost intolerable to me because of the lack of RGB, the picture just looks so subpar

 

 

Yeah that pisses me off with Nintendo, no RGB, RGB, then no RGB again.

 

Luckily the xrgb is so insanely good that s-video looks fantastic

[+Yurkie]

Here is an Ebay link for the exact cable I purchased for my Genesis Model 1.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sega-Genesis-1-Megadrive-1-stereo-RGB-SCART-with-boosted-sync-TV-lead-/161152740209?pt=US_Video_Game_Cables_Adapters&hash=item258573ab71

[Greg2600]

Every system benefits greatly from RGB. Sega was wise to offer that beginning with the Master System. the SNES offered RGB too, but it was never promoted in any way and Nintendo didn't sell RGB cables for it. Systems like the NES, N64 and 3DO are almost intolerable to me because of the lack of RGB, the picture just looks so subpar.. NES and N64 can be modified with special upgrade kits but it just seems dumb especially for N64 and 3DO that they didn't offer it. Two systems bragging with being high tech but failing to deliver the best video output other systems had offered since the mid-80ies.

 

Well technically the SNES and N64 have S-Video, and the SNES in fact had one of the best composite video of that era. We can complain now, but prior to the early 2000's, nobody used anything but RF, Composite, or S-Video in North America, and S-Video was far scarcer. NES and TG-16 are fine in Composite on a CRT, on a LCD they look like crap though.

[108 Stars]

We can complain now, but prior to the early 2000's, nobody used anything but RF, Composite, or S-Video in North America, and S-Video was far scarcer.

Look under my avatar, I'm from Germany. Granted, even here all systems save for the Saturn shipped only with AV or RF cables out-of-the-box, and the masses used them. But for the real gaming enthusiasts RGB was the connection of choice here eversince the Mega Drive. Not neccessarily just because of the picture quality, but because of imports.

 

Europe always got the games after Japan and the USA, making modding systems popular. Also, since both Japan and NA used NTSC, and publishers did not bother to adjust them properly to PAL we had our games letterboxed (PAL has more vertical lines than NTSC that need to be filled) and with 16% slower speed. So fans started modding their systems more and more often to play in 60hz like NTSC. But only few TV sets supported NTSC. Using RF, AV or anything like that made the picture black and white. But many TVs supported RGB, and via RGB you can play 60hz in color. The side effect was a much better overall picture.

 

This procedure continued for the following console generations. The dedicated game fan just became used to RGB quality. And frankly, going back to RF or even the SNES composite after you are used to RGB is quite the downgrade. It's ike going back to watching your shows and movies in SD after getting used to HD. S-video is rather uncommon here. I understand that RGB is not used in NTSC territories, yet it's not like PAL-territories are a small market. So the idea that the 3DO, touted as the ultimate luxury multimedia center and the N64, with Nintendo bragging about the power of a silicon graphics workstation would not come with the ability to output the best possible picture is just bizarre to me. They couldn't do what the f'ing Master System could???

[Jess Ragan]

Pictures! We want pictures!

 

Screw the pictures, I want to know where I can get that cable! I've got a Genesis 2 and an Amiga 1084 monitor with an RGB port. I want them to make a love connection!

[Jess Ragan]

I could probably make a cable, but I'd need a 9-pin male mini DIN, and I've got no idea where to get one that would fit the Genesis 2. Any ideas?

[Rex Dart]

I could probably make a cable, but I'd need a 9-pin male mini DIN, and I've got no idea where to get one that would fit the Genesis 2. Any ideas?

 

Put standard jacks on the genesis so you don't depend on funky cables?

[Jess Ragan]

I considered that, but I'd rather have the funky cable than the funky Genesis. Of course, I do have a spare Genesis if I wanted to make some modifications...

 

I think I found the mini 9-pin DIN on eBay. It cost a little more than I'd prefer to pay, but what the heck.

[+remowilliams]

If you have any other systems you might want to hook to RGB (and that also have a SCART cable available) you might want to build a SCART to 1084 cable instead.

[Jess Ragan]

How the hell do you even MAKE one of these!? I attempted heating up the little solder cups on this mini 9-pin DIN and the plastic holding the pins melted way before the solder in the cups did. Stupid and aggravating. I won't even THINK of attempting this again until I have the tools and resources to do it right. Honestly, it's completely asinine. You may as well be expected to force Roseanne Barr through a garden hose.

[Jess Ragan]

Maybe I really should just cave and mod my Genesis from the inside, because I lack the tools and the surgical precision needed to make this cable. Anyone got a diagram of the motherboard with R, G, B, ground, and C-sync highlighted?

[Jagosaurus]

So can't SCART carry sound? Need the 3.5 cable (male) running from system, feeding into SCART so it's stereo?

[Greg2600]

So can't SCART carry sound? Need the 3.5 cable (male) running from system, feeding into SCART so it's stereo?

 

Yes, depending on the cable/system. The Genesis 2 using SCART is stereo (as AV was). Genesis 1 is not, when only coming out of the back AV port. However, there are cables made now that run a mini-stereo to the headphone jack, and that transmits stereo audio. I have this one.

 

 

Where it gets nutty though is if you have a Model 1 Genesis/MD and a 32X!!!! In order to get stereo sound, whether outputting to RGB SCART or even AV from the 32X, you must feed stereo into the 32X from the Model 1 Genesis. There's a cable for that too! I have this one. It replaces the original M1 to 32X cable set, and again, plugs into the headphone jack as well.

 

Edited February 25, 2014 by Greg2600

[Jagosaurus]

Yes, depending on the cable/system. The Genesis 2 using SCART is stereo (as AV was). Genesis 1 is not, when only coming out of the back AV port. However, there are cables made now that run a mini-stereo to the headphone jack, and that transmits stereo audio. I have this one.

 

Where it gets nutty though is if you have a Model 1 Genesis/MD and a 32X!!!! In order to get stereo sound, whether outputting to RGB SCART or even AV from the 32X, you must feed stereo into the 32X from the Model 1 Genesis. There's a cable for that too! I have this one. It replaces the original M1 to 32X cable set, and again, plugs into the headphone jack as well.

 

Let's get crazy lol.

 

IF you have:

Model 1 Genesis

Sega CD (either model)

32X

Mixing cable going from Genesis to S-CD

Stereo cables from SCD to TV

 

... Is the sound stereo coming out of your SCD on 32X games as it is on Genesis & SCD games? This would eliminate the need for your second cable unless the sound has to come out of 32X....

 

Edit: answered my own question. According to link below you must use a mixing cable with MK 1 Genny & 32X.

 

http://www.gametrog.com/GAMETROG/HOW_to_connect_Hook_Up_SEGA_32X,_SEGA_Genesis_Model_1,_SEGA_CD_1_c.html

Edited February 25, 2014 by Jagosaurus

[atarilovesyou]

I'm assuming only old school crt computer monitors had rgb ports on the back? I can't remember, but probably some high end tv sets also offered it. I've always been happy with component outs, even my nes on my lcd tv is good to my eyes.

[Reaperman]

I'm having trouble with my genesis setup and framemeister.

 

Setup is gen1+cd2+32x. Scart cable through adapter to jp21 into scaler.

 

1.10 firmware

natural/picture modes

sync bumped to about 20 to steady the picture

 

My problem is that the image is way too bright. It blew out a lot of detail on default color settings. I had to back brightness/gamma down as low as they can go, black up to 18 (from 0) and color settings all down a bit, but I'm still losing detail in hot areas of the screen. Saturation settings would probably help, but they seem to be grayed out. Anybody else have this issue? what are your settings?

 

It's sharp, and I can certainly see most of what's going on, but it's 'off,' and 'off' isn't exactly what I bought this thing for.

 

edited for pix:

On the left is how I and the internet remember the scene, on the right, is what I have. I especially don't recall seeing my foreground flowers blur into the background.

Edited March 28, 2014 by Reaperman

[Andromeda Stardust]

Are DIN plugs really that rare? They sell shielded MIDI cables at Radio Shack for cheap and I made my AV cable from one of those.

 

I originally bought my Model 1 Genesis in 2011. All they had at the store were Nintendo/Sega RF boxes, so I went online and bought an aftermarket AV cable for Model 1 Genesis. The cable I recieved was so horrid and brittle thin wires that the composite signal was actually worse than RF. So I went to Radio Shack and bought a 6ft shielded MIDI cable and a 6ft shielded RCA. Went home and spliced them into a custom 9ft Genesis A/V cable using solder to join the wires. The pinout is simple: the bottom pin is the ground, and the left and right pins are composite and audio. I forgot left from right or which side I'm supposed to view the schematic, but audio and composite are opposite each other and you can test them later and mark them red/yellow accordingly. But be careful not to short the wires together. One of the two unused leads is a VCC signal. Cross it with ground and the 5V regulator in your Genny is toast... Cut cables and expose the wires. Use a continuity test function on your multimeter to identify the leads. Cut away the two unused leads (2nd and 4th wires bottom left and bottom right) and seal them with electric tape. Solder the 1st and 5th wires (left and right pins, composite and mono audio) to the center tap of either shielded RCA cable. Solder the 3rd wire (bottom, ground) to the bare wire in the RCA cable. Wrap electric tape over the audio and video splices and finally wrap the whole exposed area with aluminum foil to ensure zero signal leakage. Finally rap the entire splice with black electric tape or heat shrink so there's a fat MIDI cable going into one end of the splice and two RCAs coming out the other. Test the leads to identify video and audio and mark them accordingly. I used hobby paint to paint red and yellow rings around the RCA tips, however I rarely use the distortion riddled mono audio end and instead route a stereo headphone-to-RCA cable from the headphone jack to my sound system. Set the volume control to 5 for clean, undistorted stereo sound.

Edited March 28, 2014 by stardust4ever

[Atariboy]

Been doing a lot of research on RGB and the XRGB Mini. What do you guys use for a RGB selector so you can have multiple systems hooked up without changing cables? The last thing I'd want is to spend that kind of money and be regularly unplugging and plugging things directly into the XRGB.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Been doing a lot of research on RGB and the XRGB Mini. What do you guys use for a RGB selector so you can have multiple systems hooked up without changing cables? The last thing I'd want is to spend that kind of money and be regularly unplugging and plugging things directly into the XRGB.

It's kind of fugly, but you'll need two multi A/V input selectors with the three RCA jacks each. They are dirt common. You could buy them new but they're cheaper used. Most A/V selectors have 4 inputs (input selectors with more than 4 inputs are rare but they do exist) so you might need to daisy chain if you need more systems. Use one input selector for audio (use red and white but leave yellow disconnected). Use the other input selector for video (I recommend red-red, green-yellow, blue-white). Press the same input button on both selectors to play desired system.