S-Video woes

[nat]

No. This is still my original SNES bought new in like 1992/3.

[Tatsujin]

of course i'm using RGB with my SFC, which again is superior to SVID. but still the differences aren't that big as compared between composite and SVID.

[Joe Redifer]

Still waiting on that pic.

[SNKNostalgia]

It is probably the SNES system itself. My friend's SNES had the color go out slowly and then it went black and white. My original SNES starting acting really weird with anything that had to do with Mode 7 (jerked around and was slanted a little), also when playing FF3 the finger selector would go all over the place and then it died completely when I opened it to attempt a fix..... Weird stuff.

[Necromancer]

It is probably the SNES system itself.

Doubtful, considering that the cable causes the same problem when hooked up to a GameCube.  I'm assuming that the video is fine when nat uses the normal a/v cable.

[SNKNostalgia]

It is probably the SNES system itself.

Doubtful, considering that the cable causes the same problem when hooked up to a GameCube.  I'm assuming that the video is fine when nat uses the normal a/v cable.

Oh crap I didn't catch the part where he said Game Cube does it also. Was sleepy posting.. bad combo. Well just get a new cable, can't be that hard. I would just buy a multi cable for the PS2, Game Cube and X-box from Mad Catz. It is actually a well built cable. Mad Catz has gotten a lot better in the mid 2000's compared to their crap PS1 and N64 days. They now stand behind a lifetime warranty as it said on the cable's box.

[nat]

Still waiting on that pic.

OK, OK, I'm lazy. I get it.

So here's the best example I can find. It's hard to capture a good pic that showcases the problem but take a look at this. This is from the title screen of Super Adventure Island. The "Super" should be a solid color (some shade of red), not dithered. But it's got yellow specs all over which from a distance gives it a washed out look. The same for the blue sky, should be a solid shade of blue. Note how it also is speckled and looks like it has diagonal scanlines running through it. The effect is much more pronounced in person but this is the best I can do with a pic. Also note how the white part in the lower left does not have this effect, and only the normal horizontal scanlines are visible. That's one thing I've noticed-- black and white are not affected only colored areas.

In a game like Super Bonk 2 when you pause the game, the screen goes into a grayscale mode.  When this happens the image sharpens right up and all of these effects disappear.

[nat]

OK, here's another pic that shows more of the screen.

Notice how everything looks like every other pixel is missing and how speckly Wonderboy or whomever the f*ck he is looks.

[nat]

One last shot. This is a comparison shot produced by the all-mighty 32-bit powerhouse known as the PC-FX. Same TV, same SVIDEO port. Notice the absence of the "speckled" look and it only looks like there are horizontal scanlines, no vertical or diagonal ones.

[Joe Redifer]

I assume this is a CRT you are using?

That does look pretty bad.  If the picture "sharpens right up" when it goes into black and white mode, then it MUST be the cable.  The chroma if fuxored.  There is probably crosstalk.  You can get a similar effect if you try to take both luma and chroma from the composite output.  I did this with my Genesis once and got a similar result.  Basically you're not seeing true S-Video.  The composite signal is sent over both luma and chroma cables and the TV is left to deal with it.  So when the color goes away, it looks as it should.

Your SAI picture in the cave looks like a printed pic you'd see in an old magazine with the dot-matrix, etc.

[nat]

I assume this is a CRT you are using?

Yeah, it's a 2-or-so year old flat CRT.

That does look pretty bad.  If the picture "sharpens right up" when it goes into black and white mode, then it MUST be the cable.  The chroma if fuxored.  There is probably crosstalk.  You can get a similar effect if you try to take both luma and chroma from the composite output.  I did this with my Genesis once and got a similar result.  Basically you're not seeing true S-Video.  The composite signal is sent over both luma and chroma cables and the TV is left to deal with it.  So when the color goes away, it looks as it should.

Your SAI picture in the cave looks like a printed pic you'd see in an old magazine with the dot-matrix, etc.

Any idea what would cause a cable to behave this way? Physically, it looks fine (no rips, breaks, kinks, etc). I got it on eBay. Think it's worth going after the seller for a replacement?

[Michael Helgeson]

If its a workable cable that isnt injection molded completely you can try to redo it. Otherwise,try for a replacement,or get another one by diff manufacturer to be on safe side.

[Joe Redifer]

My guess is that the cable itself is designed to take all video from the composite pin on the A/V port of the SNES and any other attached console (like the SNES2 which doesn't offer true S-video from that port).  I am assuming this is not an official Nintendo cable.  Bad by design, not by damage.  The seller probably shouldn't be blamed since he/she likely plugged it in and it worked.  To most people, it works as intended.  But to people who actually care about such things, ug.

[SNKNostalgia]

I hear a lot about cheap ass S-video cables that aren't true S-video but just composite. This seems to be a problem with some Dreamcast cables that sold at an online store a few years back. Just get something name brand and you shouldn't have any problems. Hell, even an old POS Nyko S-video cable is better off having. Try a Gamestop or EB if you have to for a 3 in 1 cable for PS2, GC and XBox.

[Black Tiger]

This morning I played a Super Famicom using Gamestop's universal S-Video cable and the picture looked great.

There is a faint kinda grid pattern across the screen, kinda like the effects I see with my modded SMS and Genesis systems, the XMD-2 and similar to the Genesis 2 and CDX picture with a regular AV cable(only barely noticible). Its kinda like your SAI photo, but the dark spots are light spots instead and not so annoying. It didn't look like half the color was missing or anything.

The image remained solid and consistant the whole time. Since the clarity was a huge improvement over composite, I have no problem playing games like this. I couldn't find any of my dedicated Gamecube S-Video cables to test.

This cable was something like $7 at EB if you'd like to try it out.