SNES S-VIDEO MOD - Blurry? Is this normal?

I did an S-Video mod on my Super Nintendo (actually two of them). One is the original first model, and the second is a later revision (not the mini). On both of these SNES the S-Video is kind of blurry and on a CRT it looks slightly worse than composite. However, on an LCD the S-Video does look better than the composite does.

Is this normal? Is there some way to fix the blurriness?

I was really surprised because my S-Video mods for the Genesis 1, Genesis 2, and Genesis 3 make those consoles look much better via S-Video, while with the SNES S-Video actually doesn't look as good as composite (unless you are using an LCD).

Just to be clear, there are no distorted graphics or anything like that. It is just slightly blurry.

Is this for a mini SNES? S-video looks great on regular SNES consoles without any mods, as long as you have a decent cable.

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Originally Posted by Black_Tiger

Is this for a mini SNES? S-video looks great on regular SNES consoles without any mods, as long as you have a decent cable.

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When I said "not the mini" that actually meant that it was not the "mini SNES".

It isn't the cable as I actually have a real S-video port on both SNES consoles. I'm using real S-Video cables, which have been tested working using three S-Video modded Genesis consoles and a DVD player.

I have read that blurry S-Video is an issue with the older SNES in several forums.
Example:
http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewt...p?f=25&t=37716

Are you talking about an LCD or a CRT in your statement? The reason that I ask is that on an LCD the S-Video looks better than composite, but on my CRT the S-video looks worse than the composite although only slightly.

As far as using S-Video cables that use the standard SNES port for an unmodded SNES, I bought one of those and it doesn't work correctly for the SNES. It had weird diagonal lines everywhere. Apparently, some of those cables are only compatible with the Gamecube and Nintendo 64 as some type of line is cut that the SNES uses for S-Video.

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Originally Posted by Majestic_Lizard

I did an S-Video mod on my Super Nintendo (actually two of them). One is the original first model, and the second is a later revision (not the mini). On both of these SNES the S-Video is kind of blurry and on a CRT it looks slightly worse than composite. However, on an LCD the S-Video does look better than the composite does.

Is this normal? Is there some way to fix the blurriness?

I was really surprised because my S-Video mods for the Genesis 1, Genesis 2, and Genesis 3 make those consoles look much better via S-Video, while with the SNES S-Video actually doesn't look as good as composite (unless you are using an LCD).

Just to be clear, there are no distorted graphics or anything like that. It is just slightly blurry.

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That's like saying "I added a player 1 controller port to my sega genesis".

Snes consoles have diagonal lines over s-video, even rgb modified nes / famicom systems have the same issue. You can fix this by adding a resistor to chroma (470 ohms is a good value). Some snes s-video cables are indeed wired wrong. I started modding because I bought a snes s-video cable that had the s-video connections wired into composite video.

Older snes systems will have more blurry s-video than the onechip models because the rgb from the ppu in the older one is more blurry. Still the older one s-video will look much better than composite from the same system, that applies to any model.

And yes zomfg I only use crt tvs.

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Originally Posted by Drakon

That's like saying "I added a player 1 controller port to my sega genesis".

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It's still pretty nice to have dedicated jacks for things like S-video, don't you think?

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Originally Posted by ApolloBoy

It's still pretty nice to have dedicated jacks for things like S-video, don't you think?

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Personally, I'd rather have a larger stock of Nintendo S-video cables. :p The standard was pervasive enough to merit that being the preferable option IMO. Actually kind of weird Nintendo deviated from that connector with the Wii rather than just remapping certain pins (configured in software) like the PS1 to PS2/PS3. (namely the RGB lines to Component)

Hmm, I wonder if there's actually interest in having NES-001 (toploaders) modded for the Nintendo multi-out ports. ;)

For the MD, modding AV jacks makes a little more sense due to the much lesser standardization of its multi-out connector, and less easily/cheaply obtained cables, but even then it's not a big issue. That's assuming you're not going SCART adapter anyway. (if you're using composite, and have a MD1 and SMS, then standard cables are kind of useful . . . with S-video mod and a model 1, there's really no other jacks needed anyway -stereo Y adapter and S-video cable)

On another note, I really don't remember seeing diagonal lines in SNES S-video . . . or SNES (or N64) S-video ever being blurry. I know stock SNES RGB is a bit "soft" or blurry compared to the MD, but S-Video is relatively sharp. (especially with the resolution the SNES runs at -both the fact that it's lower and maybe also that it's a partial multiple of the NTSC color carrier -dot clock is 1.5x 3.58 MHz)

If they're there, those lines are less obvious than the vertical intermittent lines in MD RGB or S-Video . . . Jailbar issues aside. (there's odd, faint vertical lines visible on most MD's I've seen -composite too, but S-video/RGB makes it more obvious, and they're spaced much wider apart than the RGB jailbars -or composite video luma artifacts for that matter)

hello im new here


i wish to know , what is best cable to connect sega mega drive 2 to crt tv ? what cable get best picture, thanks

I'm going to try the resistor.
Update: Resistor does eliminate faint diagonal lines which were present when viewing through my LCD.
However, I was not seeing those on my CRT, due to the blurriness.

I'm beginning to think I just have a $hitty CRT.

Drakon, what model CRT do you have? I think I'm going to start looking for a new one. I'd rather not be picking them up at random as this is time consuming.

I only use the LCD for testing purposes, as often I sell consoles on eBay and I need to know if the S-Video works with the LCD for that purpose.

Speaking of SNES s-video, I have an s-video and composite cable, and I've plugged it in using just composite. Unclear, undefined visuals, as expected. Then I tried s-video. It looks WEIRD, like the sharpness got turned up WAY too high. Now, if I plug in both s-video AND composite, the s-video signal clears up and I get a nice, clean image. What the hell's going on there? Is that normal?

can someone tell, what cable have best quality picture with sega mega drive 2 connect on CRT TV

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Originally Posted by S0nic

can someone tell, what cable have best quality picture with sega mega drive 2 connect on CRT TV

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That depends on:
* Does the CRT support S-Video, RGB, or Composite?
* Is the CRT NTSC or PAL?

This is the same for Super Nintendo consoles. You must first answer those questions.

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Originally Posted by Majestic_Lizard

That depends on:
* Does the CRT support S-Video, RGB, or Composite?
* Is the CRT NTSC or PAL?

This is the same for Super Nintendo consoles. You must first answer those questions.

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PAL CRT , i have sony trinitron tv have scart

Just for the record, it's been confirmed that the SNES JR. gives a slightly better s-video signal than the fat snes.

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Originally Posted by Thunderblaze16

Just for the record, it's been confirmed that the SNES JR. gives a slightly better s-video signal than the fat snes.

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what is SNES jr cable?

what is best choice for my sega mega drive 2 PAL on CRT TV ?

Pretty much all video signals look better on the Super NES Mini than the original-model Super NES. Composite is a lot brighter and sharper, S-Video looks brighter too (not that much different than Composite on the Super NES Mini, oddly enough) but I noticed vertical lines on my Super NES Mini, and RGB is CONSIDERABLY better than an original-model Super NES (brighter and sharper).

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Originally Posted by Waterfaller

Speaking of SNES s-video, I have an s-video and composite cable, and I've plugged it in using just composite. Unclear, undefined visuals, as expected. Then I tried s-video. It looks WEIRD, like the sharpness got turned up WAY too high. Now, if I plug in both s-video AND composite, the s-video signal clears up and I get a nice, clean image. What the hell's going on there? Is that normal?

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That almost sounds like a cable that passes Composite through S-Video rather than actually passing proper S-Video. Get a multimeter and check for continuity between the Composite plug and the Luminance pin on the S-Video plug.

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Originally Posted by S0nic

PAL CRT , i have sony trinitron tv have scart

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Get SCART cables. Don't settle for anything less.