Retrovision Making Component Cables for SNES/Genesis

[lisalover1]

Big news for all you image quality nuts here on RB; someone is finally going to make component cables for the SNES & Genesis (and also possibly Dreamcast)! The company is called Retrovision, and they're going to be launching a Kickstarter soon for the cables, so we'll see how this will all pan out. The price is still unknown, sadly. I'm kind of surprised no one has tried this before, but I guess it is a very niche market.

http://www.retrocollect.com/News/hd-ret ... ables.html

[MrPopo]

Hmmm... I might have to snag at least the Genesis cables. My X-RGB3 handles the upscale of my SNES over S-Video very well, so I don't know how much quality I'd get. But my Genesis still looks pretty bad for reasons unknown. Only problem is I need to figure out where to get the extra component input; my switch box is maxed out and while the X-RGB does have a component in (with an adapter) I was never able to get it to look right.

[TSTR]

In for Genny cables.

[nightrnr]

...interesting...

Will definitely consider getting one of each.

[CRTGAMER]

Sega blew it by not incorporating SVideo and offering RGB and Composite only as the choices out of the 8 pin Genesis socket that few NTSC TVs of the day supported.

I anticipate the proposed new 3rd party cable will not just be wires, but have some sort of conversion PCB inline to get the "RGB Sync On Green" to work as regular component 480i. Boxes are already out there that do this, a simple matter of adapting the different cable connections.

As for the kickstarter concept, not a penny from me. Bring the cable to market first. If the product is good and at a reasonable price, only then I will put the money up to buy one.

[Kidpanda]

Sega blew it by not incorporating SVideo and offering RGB and Composite only as the choices out of the 8 pin Genesis socket that few NTSC TVs of the day supported.

I anticipate the proposed new 3rd party cable will not just be wires, but have some sort of conversion PCB inline to get the "RGB Sync On Green" to work as regular component 480i. Boxes are already out there that do this, a simple matter of adapting the different cable connections.

As for the kickstarter concept, not a penny from me. Bring the cable to market first. If the product is good and at a reasonable price, only then I will put the money up to buy one.

Back in 1988 I'm pretty sure there were not many TVs that had S-video, or the ones that did were higher end models, couple that with the fact that the Genesis was drawn up most likely in 87 makes it even longer in the tooth. The SNES came out in 91 which TV tech had made some pretty big strides by then.

[dsheinem]

I didn't think these consoles output that kind of signal?

Don't people usually have to internally mod the Genesis just to do S-Video, for example? I know that's the case on my modded Genesis...

[TSTR]

I didn't think these consoles output that kind of signal?

Don't people usually have to internally mod the Genesis just to do S-Video, for example? I know that's the case on my modded Genesis...

They don't. RGB is a different colorspace than YUV. There will likely be a converter chip inline with the cable, as CRT mentioned.

[dsheinem]

I didn't think these consoles output that kind of signal?

Don't people usually have to internally mod the Genesis just to do S-Video, for example? I know that's the case on my modded Genesis...

They don't. RGB is a different colorspace than YUV. There will likely be a converter chip inline with the cable, as CRT mentioned.

oh, ok, so there's not actually any better signal coming from unit - just a YUV signal that is transferred in a cable to an output that fits more modern TVs.

Right?

I guess what I am asking is: would plugging this cable into a component connection on a CRT TV give me a better picture on that TV than the S-video cable I am using now?

[dunpeal2064]

Well, assuming your console is modded, then you are pulling an S-Video signal straight from the unit. (Unless you are converting from SCART/RGB?)

This cable would pull a pure RGB signal from the unit, and convert that to Component. Assuming the converter isn't of poor quality, the image should be better than what you currently have.