Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'S Video'.
Found 6 results
-
My RGB SCART cable for my PS1 just arrived earlier today. I won't deny, the difference in clarity and overall quality of colors is immense. I think it is pretty understandable for us retro gamers to naturally hunt for the highest quality video output we can, or perhaps aim for an experience that accurately recaptures our childhoods. However, there is one key element that advocates for higher quality video cables almost never mention: dithering. Basically, it's that checkerboard-y pattern you see in the vast majority of PS1 games. If it's a 3D game, it will almost certainly have it; especially if the game in question has a darker color palette. The reason why the developers added dithering was to fake additional color depth that simply wasn't possible with the hardware otherwise. You know how certain games such as DOOM on PC have a very visible dark color gradient the farther the distance is from the player? That's called color banding. It's when the gradient of colors isn't smooth, and you can clearly see the color go from brighter to darker, and vice versa. A smooth gradient doesn't exhibit this, and it's one of the biggest advantages when working with a higher color depth. Again, this simply wasn't possible on the PlayStation's hardware. Some of you may be thinking "but wait a second, didn't the PS1 support 24-bit color?" and you'd be absolutely correct. A 24-bit color depth allows for 16.7 million possible different colors. However, it wasn't feasible for the hardware to calculate such a high color depth for fast 3D graphics. In reality, most games on the PS1 were actually 15-bit color in gameplay (32768 possible different colors), and 24-bit in still images (such as title screens). Sony was very aware of this technical limitation, so they included dithering as an option on the hardware to combat this — it was built-in. In turn, many developers used this to combat the otherwise extremely visible color banding that would be present. And this is where composite video comes in. Due to its nature, composite video will naturally blur two adjacent colors together. What this means is that the dithering pattern is far, far less noticeable when using a composite video cable. ESPECIALLY when paired with even the most basic consumer CRT. What you see instead is a very smooth gradient that will fool the human eye into thinking it is seeing more colors than it actually is. It's extremely clever. Of course, this has other affects as well. We all know that composite video is by no means known for it's clarity. As such, 2D elements tend to suffer, such as text. But on a CRT, it has the potential to look superb. While developers were often working with Sony PVM/BVM monitors that supported RGB, unless you lived in Europe, almost no one had access to RGB video. Sony and the developers knew this, so they took advantage of the limitations of composite video for the aforementioned reasons. It's a classic tale of genius engineers making the most out of limited hardware. To summarize: Composite video does a great job at hiding the arguably ugly dithering pattern present in almost every PS1 game It's far more accessible and easy to get a hold of for a reasonable price Many consumer CRTs support composite, making it easy to get into if you're just starting to get into retro gaming It's convenient As for me, would I switch back to composite now that I have an RGB cable? Well.... -
I have a 7800 with a friend and he's having a helluva time finding a S-Video mod kit for my 7800. Are these available anywhere? To my knowledge it's still the easier way to get a really sharp picture out of a 7800. I haven't heard of anyone RGB modding or HDMI modding them....but maybe i'm out of the loop. There are an abundance of AV mod kits, but once you've seen that crisp clear S-Video picture on a CRT it's really a standard you try to maintain. Can anyone point me in the right direction, or are they just not being made currently? If so, what is the alternative or replacement or next mod/standard that has come along? Thanks so much for any insight on this predicament as the guy who modded my first 7800 (Electronic Sentimentalities) has since retired.
-
I'm looking for a legitimate set of S-Video cables that will work on the SNES, N64 and GC. From the reviews I am reading on various sites some cheaper S-Video cables are actually just a passthrough for a composite signal. No! What is the point of that. Below are a set that I found on Amazon and appear to be pretty cheap and actually put out an S-Video signal. Can anyone confirm that based on the listing? If not is there another set somewhere you can confirm are legitimate S-Video signal cables in the Nintendo output style? My application is for an SNES mini and N64 being hooked up to my CRT with S-Video inputs. I have found S-Video looks great and is the best way to get a decent picture out of your system without resorting to mods (which I often do anyway, lol) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LE3EAIK/?coliid=I1LBKDS0R8LAYR&colid=3C9JYID8UW0H3&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it -
NOTE: THIS GUIDE IS NOT YET COMPLETE IN THIS ONE POST! THERE IS PLENTY MORE TO KNOW AND I'M JUST GETTING STARTED! CHECK BACK IN LATER POSTS FOR MORE INFO! Hello AtariaAge! This is a guide I've wanted to put together for a while about getting the best possible image (and audio!) quality from all of your retro consoles, including Nintendo, Atari, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, and even other consoles like the Colecovision, TG-16/PCE, Neo Geo, and Intellivision! IMHO one of the coolest things about collecting games today is the fact that we can experience them better now than we did years ago with the new technology available to consumers via the magic of the internet. If you've ever wanted to make your games look amazing on real hardware, this is the guide for you! Check out this comparison! It is truly stunning to see. For starters, you need to understand the issue non-HD consoles present: to plug into the largest amount of standard consumer televisions, all consoles from the Atari 2600 all the way until the Wii were packaged with either a Coaxial RF (Radio Frequency) cable or composite RCA cables. These pack all of the audio and video into one and three cables respectively. The video is condensed and is ruined before it even reaches your TV. However, with the power of better cables many systems can output superior quality right out of the box! Take the SNES (non-mini) for example. It can output a superior Video signal! Check out this comparison! It is even more stunning in person! However, the SNES can still do even better! RGB is a video signal that carries the video and audio over even more pins than S Video, separating the red, green, and blue parts of the image. Most RGB signals are carried over SCART cables, which were popular in Europe but never available in the USA: Here it is! The glory of RGB! However, you may have already noticed an issue here: even if your console does output a superior signal like S Video, RGB, Component, or VGA, how do you display it? Like I said no American TVs had SCART inputs ever. Also, what about systems that don't output anything anything above RF, let alone RGB, like the Atari 2600 and ColecoVision? Don't worry, there's much more to come very soon! This is just a teaser post for anyone who hasn't been lucky enough to see the glory of RGB and retro consoles looking their best. -
Hi. I have a question related to compatabilty and modification of an Atari 5200. I know it is recommended that you purchase a 2 port system since the 4 port ones run power and rf through a proprietary prone-to-breaking switch box that is hard to replace. However, if I purchase a system I will be getting it s video modded. Does anyone know if the modification bypasses this switchbox (I know there is a power jack mod too), which would negate any issues and actually make the 4 port a superior option? Thanks
-
Ebay Listing eBay Auction -- Item Number: 150867660264
- 13 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- Atari 2600
- Video mod
- (and 5 more)
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord