NTSC SNES rgb problems, half screen distorted

[hellbelly]

Hi

I have an original brick like NTSC SNES that I want to get working on my Samsung LCD without having to use any kind of XRGB2 etc.

I used info from http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=3387.0 to get my MD working, by adding the cap and resistor for CSYNC to work properly.

I have a generic SNES RGB cable, I have modified it as per the correct diagram here http://members.optushome.com.au/eviltim/gamescart/gamescart.htm#snes, except that I am using CSYNC from pin 3, instead of CVIDEO from pin 9 (http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=av:nintendomultiav.  My image is now stable and doesn't roll at all.

BUT, the top half of the screen does suffer from some distortion, it looks like every other horizontal line of pixels have shifted to the left (or right!).

RGB with problems


SVID fine (just not as crisp in real life when compared to RGB on my TV)


Can anyone offer any advice on why it could be doing this, and maybe how to fix it? 

The RGB cable originally had a 220uf CAP on the scart pin 20, according to the diagrams it shouldn't be there, but I've tried it with it on and off and it didn't make any difference.  Neither did adding some 75Ohm resistors to the RGB signal to darken the image a bit.

Many thanks
Pete

[Alcahest]

Hi hellbelly,
I'm afraid you will not like to learn the source of this problem: your TV.
I've had the exact same issue and there's a quite large thread about it here:
http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=3263.0
(please read my final answer on the topic).

Edit: I see you know about S-Video not being affected by the issue already.
See you,

Alcahest

[RGB32E]

Hi hellbelly,
I'm afraid you will not like to learn the source of this problem: your TV.
I've had the exact same issue and there's a quite large thread about it here:
http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=3263.0
(please read my final answer on the topic).

Edit: I see you know about S-Video not being affected by the issue already.
See you,

Alcahest

Which TV did you end up with?

EDIT:
@hellbelly - While you mentioned not wanting to use an XRGB unit, the XRGB-3 does an incredible job of scaling 240p RGB to 1080p.  Also, a group of us on the Shmups forum translated and localized the XRGB-3's Japanese OSD (menus) and shmups user "akumajo" got Micomsoft to release English firmware for the XRGB-3!!!  The English FW just became available last week! 
http://www.micomsoft.co.jp/xrgb3_update_setup_v2_12e.exe

Here's a picture of the English FW on my XRGB-3 (in B1 - scanline mode):

[Alcahest]

Hi RGB32E, very nice work on the XRGB-3 English firmware; tempting!

As for my TV, I just went with another Sony. I think the main difference is that the first one was using "Bravia Engine" and the new one is using "Bravia Engine 3".

(OT protip: never get a Sony with "Bravia Engine 2", it has undefeatable edge enhancement that even minimum Sharpness will *not* remove!)

[RGB32E]

Hi RGB32E, very nice work on the XRGB-3 English firmware; tempting!

As for my TV, I just went with another Sony. I think the main difference is that the first one was using "Bravia Engine" and the new one is using "Bravia Engine 3".

(OT protip: never get a Sony with "Bravia Engine 2", it has undefeatable edge enhancement that even minimum Sharpness will *not* remove!)

Interesting.  I've seen many different implementations of BE2.  A friend's BE2 based TV won't display 240p via component for some reason (>240p only), yet on my TV with BE2Pro it will display just fine!    So, where did you hear about the EE problem (not familiar with that)?   

[Alcahest]

The EE issue affects BE2 for sure, not certain about BE2PRO.
You can read about it here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1099702
Before settling on a model equiped with BE3, I had one with BE2 for a week and indeed when you do Full pixel (1:1) on 1080p sources and reduce sharpness to the minimum value, you can see it's not perfectly neat as it should be, the edges are (very) slightly bleeding. But that only impacts 1080p sources afaik.
See you,

Alcahest

[hellbelly]

Only just noticed the replies to this!  That's interesting news about the english firmware, looks very very tempting.

Pete