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[Boaty McBoatface]

Hello Gaf. I recently purchased a model 1 VA6.5 Mega Drive which I'm super pleased about, been trying to get one for a while to mod for 50/60hz and region free switching.

I bought this composite cable from Amazon, thinking the video would mildly blurry but also 'how it should be' with the dithering (video at bottom of post).

But for some reason, the image is really strange with these arrow shaped artefacts all over the place and jittering during motion:

Is this normal? Honestly while the RF signal is horrible it's actually better to look at than this imo, especially in motion. Through composite the colours are amazing and the sound is top notch, I just thought the overall video would be a bit blurry which is good for graphics that use dithering.

Before anyone says 'RGB bro', the reason I wanted to get original hardware was to avoid RGB/pure video feed which you can just do on emulation anyway. I just want to know if anyone else has experienced this or if it's just how it is. I was thinking maybe the cable could be the issue, but then I don't know which other one to buy instead?

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Composite was always shit, pixels crawling all over the shop.

Getting an RGB SCART cable was always one of the first things I did with consoles back then. God knows why they didn’t just bundle them like they did with the Saturn.

 

[cireza]

Is this normal?

Use RGB if you can. I would suspect something is wrong with the tiny pic you posted.

I have always played my MD on CRT through RGB so pixels have always been impeccable, I don't really understand why you would like to get the blur, with the few exceptions of games that use dithering (which sucks by the way), really not worth the poorer picture.

 

[s_mirage]

MD composite quality can be pretty garbage, though that looks awful. Component ageing probably isn't helping.

Out of interest, is it using an original PSU or a replacement? The reason I ask is that my Super Famicom came with an absolutely garbage cheap Chinese PSU, and the video output looked horrendous while using it. I replaced it and the problem went away. Actually, I think I used my old Mega Drive PSU with it for a while and it was fine.

 

[AngelMuffin]

Composite on the MD is notoriously bad, but that picture looks like it could be some other issue. On the other hand, the RGB output is quite nice and that’s what I use via a Sony PVM.

 

[Needlecrash]

Composite isn't great. Stick with RGB or SCART.

 

[SScorpio]

It could be either the video cable or PSU. Without knowing if you are using original or a cheap garbage replacement, it's not possible to really pin point.

Also, as other already said, the composite on the MD is just plain bad. Even with original stock cables it looked bad on my Sony HD CRT, while an '86 NES with composite out was razor sharp and looked almost like running an emulator.

As for just get RGB, outside of the smaller number of cases using composite dithering, RGB will just give you a much better picture. If you aren't playing a game that needs the effect, you're just giving yourself a worse picture for no reason.

 

[Boaty McBoatface]

MD composite quality can be pretty garbage, though that looks awful. Component ageing probably isn't helping.

Out of interest, is it using an original PSU or a replacement? The reason I ask is that my Super Famicom came with an absolutely garbage cheap Chinese PSU, and the video output looked horrendous while using it. I replaced it and the problem went away. Actually, I think I used my old Mega Drive PSU with it for a while and it was fine.

Using the original PSU. I did read about MD's having bad composite output (which I put down to it not being 'pure' like RGB), but I didn't think it would look this bad! I think recapping the MD is the way to go, and wouldn't be a bad thing anyway while modding. What gets me is the way the artefacts look like perfect arrows, I've never seen this before on real hardware My saturn has really wobbly video, which I know is down to a bad internal PSU and caps.

 

[existensmaximum]

Composite isn't great but it shouldn't look that bad. Don't know what the issue is though.

 

[Boaty McBoatface]

It could be either the video cable or PSU. Without knowing if you are using original or a cheap garbage replacement, it's not possible to really pin point.

Also, as other already said, the composite on the MD is just plain bad. Even with original stock cables it looked bad on my Sony HD CRT, while an '86 NES with composite out was razor sharp and looked almost like running an emulator.

As for just get RGB, outside of the smaller number of cases using composite dithering, RGB will just give you a much better picture. If you aren't playing a game that needs the effect, you're just giving yourself a worse picture for no reason.

Using original PSU with the amazon bought composite cable.

I'm definitely in the minority here but I just think the games look better in their intended way over comp/rf (urgh) compared to the perfect pixel nature of RGB. I mean in the end I'll probably have to go with Scart/S-video because of how bad this MD is but if there's a way I can avoid that I will.

Also it's not true that only some games were designed with dithering in mind, if you look at nearly any game back then you can see how different the sprites look when comparing video outputs, and what the artist intended. Earth Worm Jim in the video I posted is the best example, especially the splash screen before the level starts. It literally changes the whole feel of the game.

 

[keefged4]

Using original PSU with the amazon bought composite cable.

I'm definitely in the minority here but I just think the games look better in their intended way over comp/rf (urgh) compared to the perfect pixel nature of RGB. I mean in the end I'll probably have to go with Scart/S-video because of how bad this MD is but if there's a way I can avoid that I will.

Also it's not true that only some games were designed with dithering in mind, if you look at nearly any game back then you can see how different the sprites look when comparing video outputs, and what the artist intended. Earth Worm Jim in the video I posted is the best example, especially the splash screen before the level starts. It literally changes the whole feel of the game.

I get you, I prefer the comp/rf look for 16 bit game and under too.

I'd wager its the cable you are using from amazon.

 

[RoboFu]

You need one of these

And then one of these

 

[Shake Your Rump]

You didn't mention what TV. Those look like sampling errors on a digital display.

Also, never, ever buy cables that have AV and s-video combined. They always share the same pins between the two signals, splitting the composite over the s-video, fucking up both signals.

 

[TheDreadLord]

It seems to be a sync issue. What is the TV? Are you sitting right besides a router?

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

That cable could also not be properly shielded on top of plugging it into a TV set that may not have proper shielding around the inputs on the TV itself.

1) Try another TV (if possible) and check for similar results.
2) Try another cable

 

[Kadve]

I like how nobody read the OP about the guy not wanting RGB.

From my experience though Analog video signal depends heavily on the TV itself and what sort of ADC it uses. Alternative you might be experiencing electrical interference from something nearby. Possibly the mega drive itself if its PSU is poorly shielded.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

I like how nobody read the OP about the guy not wanting RGB.