SNES RGB

[Charlie Footstool]

I have recently hooked up my snes again (after having it returned from long term loan for 4 years!) and am using a composite cable to connect it (the one with red, white and yellow).

I stuck in the Gamecube RGB cable hoping to get a decent RGB output from the machine, but was met with an *extremely* dark image, which got progressively darker. I was under the impression that the SNES produced a decent RGB signal and that I could use the gamecube cable for it?

However, this seems not to be the case, so; what cable do I need to get a decent RGB signal out of the SNES? (if indeed it is possible at all)

Thanks

[gamelife]

i ran into a similar problem, i run my SNES via a s-video lead now.

when i tried the RGB SNES lead i got a picture at first which got darker and darker until i was left with no picture at all.

what causes this and how can you get round it?

rich

[Robin]

You need to chuck capacitors onto certain lines - Saurian will know.

[Papercut]

Other way around.

old Japanese RGB scart cables for NTSC Super Famicom/Super Nintendo had 220uF 6.3v electrolytic capacitors on the red, green and blue signals wired up inside the scart plug.

the PAL Super Nintendo does not need these.

the PAL GameCube RGB scart cable also has these 220uF 6.3v capacitors wired up to red, green, and blue, as well as a 220 uF cap on composite video.

to use either a NTSC SFC/SNES RGB scart cable or PAL GameCube RGB scart cable with a PAL SNES you need to at least remove the caps on red, green and blue and connect these signals directly.

with the PAL GameCube RGB scart cable you probably also want to wire up the composite video signal directly.

[mmmonkey]

I bought a cheap cube rgb lead from www.consoleplus.co.uk (well not from the website because he also does a computer fair near me) and removed the capicitors from red green and blue.

worked a treat.

Pete

edit - i should add that i have also ordered from the website and received stuff the next day everytime i order.

[Charlie Footstool]

Excellent advice people, thanks very much.

cable duly ordered, soldering iron at the ready...

[Charlie Footstool]

OK. I got an RGB cable from the site recommended by Hellbelly and modded it as instructed.

The results were amazing! The picture is crisp and vibrant. However, the image may be too vibrant! Is there a way to tone it down a shade? Oranges and yellows are particularly punchy.

I don't really want to piss about with the colour/contrast/contour settings on my TV as it will affect the RGB picture on all my other RGB consoles.

Any advice gratefully received.

[Papercut]

I was going to make some suggestions, but I'm not entirely sure what you could so.

The fact that its too bright without and too dark with the capacitors might suggest that you need different value capacitors of somewhere in between, but thats just a guess.

To try something like that seems a bit risky, but then so might be an over-bright picture.

How bad is the picture? Are you getting loads of white blurring and washed out colors, or is the picture just exceptionally sharp? If it was the latter, I'd try to stick with it.



Most snes games are really garish anyway, maybe it just looks odd after an XBox

[Charlie Footstool]

The picture is definately not washed out, its really sharp and bright. But some of the colours are so strong that they bleed into each other.

For example, the title screen of Starwing with the yellow text boardered with orange is really bright so the orange and yellow bleed together a little making the distinction between the two colours difficult to make out.

I think some of the subtlety (sp?) of the artwork may be lost...

Another example is in SF2:Turbo. The rounds won indicator (the little yellow and orange square with victory fingers in, next to the energy bars in the corner of the screen. i hope you know what i mean here!) is really bright, making it difficult to make out what exactly it is. it looks like a burning orange square!

it seems to be mostly oranges and yellows actually.

[Papercut]

hmmm... was there a cap on the composite video (or composite sync) signal aswell? If so, you could try removing that. Color bleed with rgb is really unusual, so unless you have searing whites it sounds like there might be a problem with the sync signal.

[Papercut]

... at this point though you want to be very careful that you don't end up damaging the tv or snes

might be best to give up.

[Yod@]

My MD1 SCART lead gave a really bright picture (I had to turn my TV's contrast down to minimum to give me a "normal" picture) so I used 100 Ohm resistors on each of the R,G and B pins to make it a little darker. Ditto for adding RGB to a SNES Jr. - the picture was too bright so I added the 100 Ohm resistors to get good results.

Might be worth a try on your SNES lead...
BTW is it a PAL SNES that you have, Charlie Footstool?

[Charlie Footstool]

It is PAL SNES. I had considered adding resistors to the R G B feeds, but was unsure if that would have any side effects on the console?

I might give that a try though. It sounds like it worked for you.

There was no cap on the composite signal, but I had intended to take it out if there was.

[Charlie Footstool]

I went back to look at the picture after your comment about searing whites Papercut. I would have to say that the whites are very bright too, I don't know about 'searing' - but they're certainly as bright as the oranges and yellows.

What are the implications of searing whites??

[Papercut]

I would say that means that the signal is too strong (the voltages are too high) and you run the risk of damaging something.

The adding resistors idea sounds like a good one. If 100 Ohm makes the picture too dull then try 75 Ohm instead, I've seen 75 Ohm resistors used on pal snes composite video cables...