TV help

[Gunstar Zero]

I'm not a modder. I wish I was but I'm not, I don't know the first thing about how to do this stuff and I have no idea where to start learning how so maybe one day but not this week. As a result I don't have an S-Video genesis and so I'm not even going to try and hook it up to my HDTV. I did once...and it looked nightmarishly bad.

For a while I was using this teeny tiny little CRT. It had a VCR attached to it, it looked like the kind of thing we used to have in our kitchens. Very small. But despite the size not being glamorus, it looked 100X better than the HDTV does.

But I really wanted a size upgrade so last week I started updating my Genesis hangout corner. Got some new chairs, storage spaces, it looks great. Then I went to Goodwill and found a nice, larger CRT for 18 dollars. It looked newer, for a CRT, and was made by Sanyo, who also made my HDTV.

I guess because of its size and because it looked like a more recent television than the tiny one I had at home I didn't even bother to check....Feel free to call me an idiot here because I am one....But I just assumed it would have AV out.

Nope.

Just a cable out. I don't have a cable out for my Genesis so I had to canabalise one. I used an NES cable first. It worked, but would often mess up after a few minutes. I started finding I had to stack something under the cable to lift it up in or to keep the contacts in place I guess but it never lasted, it would always have to be readjusted every time I played. I thought this was just the NES adapters problem so I used a TG-16 cable next. At first I thought this was working better but then, same problem.

The obvious solution here is go get a different TV. I know. One with AV out. One day maybe I will but its really a huge pain to get rid of a TV here and so I'm wondering if this is something I can fix. I imagine this is the TVs problem not the cables, because it did the same thing with both cables. Is there something I need to tighten? Or is this a lost cause?

The really frustrating thing is when it actually does work, the TV looks great, even plugged into a cable like that. I've switched back to the tiny one for now because I'm sick of dealing with it (the tiny one has AV on the front) but its disappointing because the colors were bright and crisp and when the cable cooperated it was a very clear nice screen.

[EclecticGroove]

It really depends how the TV is built. But the coax input (the cable) is pretty basic. You would have to open the TV up unless there is a specific small access area for that one part, but that's all up to the TV.

As to how to fix it? It's probably a cracked contact, which is simply to fix if you have a soldering iron. Just heat the cracked point a bit till the solder melts and makes a solid contact again.

If it's something like an actual cracked circuit board, or a legitimately damaged component... an $18 TV probably isn't going to be worth it to do more to fix. But none of that will be apparent until you can validate the problem itself.

And just for clarity sake, it's input on a TV... saying your TV has coaxial (cable) out or A/V (Usually RCA connectors) out means it is sending that elsewhere, not accepting it from something :P
Some TV's do actually have that capability (usually only for sound however, not video).

[xelement5x]

It sounds like you need an RF adapter to do the input into the TV? Those are pretty common with the Genesis and you can probably find one for a couple bucks.

However, I would recommend just taking the TV back to Goodwill and getting another one with proper inputs. It took me months to find the TV I wanted at my local thrift, but I'd always make sure to check the inputs when I was there.

[MEGADRIVE Jeroi]

Firstly if you going to ask help about electronic product that has model numbers and common manufacturer, please, please provide the model and series numbers in your thread. This way we can take a look for service manual and have a view of your tv. When you ask that my tv dosen't work, how can anybody read your mind that which tv model it is?

Secondly it is a bit weard, if tv has only coaxial input and nothing but outputs, why the heck the tv don't have composhit/s-video input connectors if it is newer model?

Thirdly why do you buy a tv for consoles if there is no video inputs for them?

[TrekkiesUnite118]

Firstly if you going to ask help about electronic product that has model numbers and common manufacturer, please, please provide the model and series numbers in your thread. This way we can take a look for service manual and have a view of your tv. When you ask that my tv dosen't work, how can anybody read your mind that which tv model it is?

Secondly it is a bit weard, if tv has only coaxial input and nothing but outputs, why the heck the tv don't have composhit/s-video input connectors if it is newer model?

Thirdly why do you buy a tv for consoles if there is no video inputs for them?

A lot of cheap buget model CRTs only came with Coax inputs in the US. This was especially common towards the end of the retail life of CRT TVs. My Samsung CRT has 3 Composite (technically 2, the side input is the same as the 2nd rear input), 1 S-Video, 1 component, and 1 coax input. Though it also cost quite quite a bit when I bought it in 2003/2004.