Mod to improve Sega Genesis composite out?

[CRT Gaming]

Hi everyone, new to the forums So I guess I am a odd ball as I prefer to play all my classic game consoles with good ole composite RCA cables on a CRT. I know most people now a days prefer S-Video or RGB etc. But I don't care for the extra sharp pixel look you get with those. I like the slight blur of composite cables. Its how I remember playing as a kid. Now all my consoles are fine with composite out. They all look good in my opinion. But as I am sure everyone knows the Sega Genesis composite out is ugly. The colors bleed and are not the brightest and the artifacts around sprites is awful. Ive read of a specific Model 2 Genesis that is supposed to have a decent composite out. I don't own that version and they are hard to come by and can be expensive. I was wondering if there is a way to actually improve to composite out. Maybe some way to bypass the encoder or something. Or will installing RCA jacks simply solve the issue and improve the video quality. All my other consoles from my NES to my Turbo Duo look awesome on composite. Just wish my Genesis did too. Thanks...

[SoundGammon]

Did you try running the video through a vcr or dvd recorder?

[CRT Gaming]

Did you try running the video through a vcr or dvd recorder?

No should I? I run either my model 1 or 2 Genesis through a composite switch box just like the rest of my consoles. If I run it direct to the TV it still looks rough, no improvement.

[SoundGammon]

Give it a try, can't hurt!

[jjh76]

Another thing you can try - take the output from the RF jack and plug it into an FM trap, then plug the output from that into a powered signal amplifier. I haven't actually tried this with a Genesis but with some of my other consoles it makes the RF signal look as good as composite.

Edited February 10, 2018 by jjh76

[CRT Gaming]

Another thing you can try - take the output from the RF jack and plug it into an FM trap, then plug the output from that into a powered signal amplifier. I haven't actually tried this with a Genesis but with some of my other consoles it makes the RF signal look as good as composite.

Hmmm thanks, might give this a try. Hopefully the RF output when cleaned up and amplified looks better than the encoder for composite.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Was going to say, there honestly isn't much you can do about the composite from the Genesis. I remember it looking better on a CRT than RF when I played them in the 90s and early 2000's. But about 6 years ago when I fired mine up on composite on my flat panel LED, I immediately sought out for upgrades LOL. The Genesis is a system I love, but it really does have atrocious composite output compared to other systems of the same era. That is why I s-video modified my original and then eventually move onto HDretrovision cables that I use on it now.

[zylon]

I'll 2nd that. My Gen1 has terrible video out, but looks comparatively great in RF. I use a phono male to coax female adaptor and regular coaxial cable to TV.

[icemanxp300]

I think you need to be more specific about what genesis you have. If model 2 I use rwy cables you can get from China cheap and they work very well. I actually use the same cables right now on my model 1 as I have a 32x on it and the 32x outputs via the same cable. However using just an nes r/f on my model 1 w/out 32x works well too.

 

If you are using a genesis model 1 r/f try using the nes one and see if that helps. If using the genesis model 2 r/f box, toss that they are garbage and buy a new rwy cable. It could be your cable you are using is just bad. The genesis model 1 as well has it's own composite out already that requires the big cable. I think there may be a few model 1's that lack that but I am not 100% certain.

[Andromeda Stardust]

i have a model 1 va7 genesis with the dreaded grungy mono audio. rf is clean through a nes brand switch. i bought a model 1 cable on amazon with thin wires and it was terrible. so i went to radio shack and got a sheilded din midi cable and a rca cable and spliced my own av cable out of it. the difference was phenominal! to fix the grungy distortion audio, i simply dont use the mono feed. simply use the headphone slider at volume 5 for flawless line level stereo. but crappy av cables are no fun. hope this helps. no need to mod the console if you use good cables.

[CRT Gaming]

Ok so I ended up doing a S-Video mod on my Genesis. Honestly glad I did, I like this even better than composite. Its like in between composite and RGB. Perfect imo. Thanks for all the replies guys.

[iesposta]

Ok so I ended up doing a S-Video mod on my Genesis. Honestly glad I did, I like this even better than composite. Its like in between composite and RGB. Perfect imo. Thanks for all the replies guys.

"In between". Exactly! I like that. Describes it perfectly.

If you're nostalgic, you've played it on a television. RGB might be "too clean" for your taste.

S-video is perfect if that's the case (and worst case you can "convert" S-video back to composite with cables or boxes, and/or upscale S-video to HDMI).

 

This is the best / easiest solution if you can solder a few parts.

It's as simple as a Transistor and 2 Resistors.

I found everything, transistor, resistors, s-video connector, in 80's scrap electronics / computers.

 

The circuit is similar when done on the 32X, but is has a small, hard-to-solder-to place.

Regular games played through the 32X with S-Video look even better than the Genesis S-Video (both connections will work, but 32X games need the output of the 32X), but you have the trouble of a 2nd power supply and the sound run from the front headphones jack.

My model 1 was bought as recapped.

I did add the 10MHz crystal and switch (so you can go back to the stock MHz) to overclock and lessen the slowdowns of some games.

[Austin]

Ok so I ended up doing a S-Video mod on my Genesis. Honestly glad I did, I like this even better than composite. Its like in between composite and RGB. Perfect imo. Thanks for all the replies guys.

 

I was going to write before I read this post, you may want to consider S-Video anyway. It's sharper than composite by a long shot, but it still has a soft look overall. It's a great balance if you really need to have the softer look on a CRT, but still have a big improvement over composite. Glad to hear you are happy with it!