Sega 32x non blurry s-video mod

[Drakon]

The reason why I love the 32x is because it gets rid of the jailbars with no quality tradeoff when encoding other signals....it's nothing but perfect looking s-video. I assume that a rgb to component encoder looks nice but I've never actually tried it as my best looking tv only does s-video. I recently ordered an external rgb to component encoder / converter that's known to work great with a sega genesis but the only tv I have with component inputs sucks....it's more for that fuzzy warm feeling of knowing I can get component if I ever need to. Still the 32x s-video mod costs practically nothing to do, 1 transistor, 1 resistor, some wire, a s-video connector, a little solder. The only thing that's a pain about it is tiny soldering if you're not used to that....but there's way tinier soldering out there...I guess the cost of buying a 32x is a downer to some people but on the plus side you can play 32x games if you ever feel like it

For people who don't want to drop the money to buy a 32x the revised s-video circuit for the internal cxa1145 encoder is quite a nice alternative:

http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthr...-less-jailbars

The cxa1145 s-video mod isn't as good looking but it's certainly good enough if you don't feel like buying a 32x so it's a great alternative if you're looking for the best bang for your buck. It all depends on what level of quality you're looking for really.

[MEGADRIVE Jeroi]

Why not to buy scart converter that outputs s-video or component? NO jailbars then.

[Drakon]

Why not to buy scart converter that outputs s-video or component? NO jailbars then.

You could but it wouldn't look as nice with s-video. Re-encoding the image makes it not as good looking. The 32x does a fantastic job. I think with rgb to component you're not re-encoding the image so it's more of a lossless thing. That's what I did at first a long time ago, I externally encoded the rgb to s-video.

uploaded a new recording from the s-video 32x:

[tenchibr]

I did some research to fix my mistake; what I did was by removing that 0 ohm resistor, I scraped the solder pad off, and that's why I could not solder. But it seems I can fix it by exposing the area I scraped and reveal some surface to tin, and then, by tinning, I will create a new solder pad. I hope.

[MEGADRIVE Jeroi]

You could but it wouldn't look as nice with s-video. Re-encoding the image makes it not as good looking. I think with rgb to component you're not re-encoding the image so it's more of a lossless thing.

What? That is just what 32X does! It takes rgb and encodes s-video out with encoder chip. The rgb out of megadrive is untouched rgb. If you have good external encoder the s-video can be as good or better than 32x.

[Drakon]

Okay I can wire up my cxa2075 circuit to either the rgb outputs on the av port or right into the rgb from the vdp. Wiring it into the vdp rgb looks a lot better than the av outputs. If you can explain why that would be fantastic. All I know is passing the rgb through the cxa1145 first makes it look worse when I externally encode the rgb. With the 32x the rgb needs to pass through the 1145 first because it's unamped from the vdp. So when I wired my cxa2075 circuit into the rgb output from the 32x again it didn't look as good as I wanted...which is why I looked into s-video modding the 32x instead....which is how this thread started.

[Drakon]

Some 32x action in beautiful s-video

[Drakon]

updated schematic using the transistor I used:

[YAGRS]

Okay, I tried this mod, and I am having issues. One thing that I just noticed is that I removed the wrong resistor. Instead of the one circled in your pic, I removed the one above it.

The video I get from this mod looks great in terms of color and brightness, but I'm having an issue with image clarity. It's like I get two images with one overlaid on top of the other but shifted a couple of pixels to one side. This is really noticeable in a game like Monster World IV, as my pepelougoo has four eyes.

Any idea what might be causing this?

[Drakon]

what you removed isn't a resistor it's a capacitor. The effect you're getting is because your video signal is still attached to the rest of the circuit which is disconnected when you do the mod properly. I know what you're talking about because I had the same effect before I disconncted the 0 ohm resistor. You can mail me your 32x and pay me 50$ plus return shipping to get it done right.

[YAGRS]

Or, I can just remove that resistor. Which I did. Now, the video is perfect. Great mod!

I assume that I don't need that cap I mistakenly removed. Everything appears to be running fine without it.

[Drakon]

Or, I can just remove that resistor. Which I did. Now, the video is perfect. Great mod!

I assume that I don't need that cap I mistakenly removed. Everything appears to be running fine without it.

Yeah the cap is further down the circuit disconnecting that 0 ohm resistor (it's the same thing as a piece of metal) obviously disconnects anything that comes after it. And yes it's a great mod.

[Chupperson Weird]

I just attempted this mod but I'm having some difficulty with the chroma, apparently. The luma amp seems to work but the colors show up only as blurry edges to the b&w images. I'm attaching some photos to demonstrate. I've actually tried this on two 32xs now, and one of them had other problems so I wasn't sure if it was the system or the mod. I got a fresh one and tried on it but I came up with the same results. Have you seen anything like this before? Am I grounding it improperly? Any help will be appreciated.

32x1.jpg
32x2.jpg

[Drakon]

I have no idea. You'll have to draw a schematic of how your system is wired. Mine works fine on my tv and my capture card.

[Chupperson Weird]

I think I'll try just re-wiring it and making sure everything connects properly... I'm honestly not terribly experienced doing this stuff. I'm assuming the ground under the AV jack is as good a place as any to connect my ground wires? Otherwise I'm using the same schematic that's on this thread.