32X got rid of all my jailbars!

[roadkill]

So I just got my 32X back from sending it to get modded for S-Video, and I couldn't believe it! All of my jailbars that I saw with my Model 1's own S-Video are all gone when using the 32X's S-Video. I knew the 32X video encoder was good, but damn, it does a fantastic job of cleaning up the picture and even making the colors more vibrant.

I'm using an S-Video/Composite to VGA upscaler btw which has low input lag. Thought I'd just share this so that anybody whose got jailbar problems also, whether it be S-Video or RGB, I'd say get a 32X!

[CrossBow]

I actually did s-video mod my 32x and it did get rid of some of the jailbars but not totally. Then again, what I was calling jailbars could have easily just been the vertical banding that Model 1 units also show. No idea, but it took for me to cut the trace on the color subcarrier from my model 1 va3 attached to pin 50 on the VDP to finally remove 90% of the jailbars. They were made worse when I got an HDRetrovision cable and they came back horribly. That is why I opted to cut the trace on the main board. Even through the 32x the bars were nasty on RGB from it.

So it still is very much console dependent I think.

[roadkill]

So it still is very much console dependent I think.

I think it's more so dependent on what you have your Genesis S-Video or RGB plugged into. When I used a cheap, typical S-Video to HDMI upscaler, there rly wasn't any jailbars (maybe a bit of rainbow banding). But I couldn't stand using it because of the input lag, despite it not being as bad as one of those cheap $50 SCART to HDMI upscalers. When I hooked up my Genesis S-Video to a VGA upscaler, it was a jailbar galore, but I was satisfied at least with the input lag. Now with plugging the 32X into it, the 32X completely cleared it up. I was pretty shocked. I think there's still a bit of banding, but it's hardly noticeable except on like a solid black screen.

But then again maybe it could be console dependent? I do have the MK-84000A model 32X, if that makes any difference in video quality. I know it's not my Genesis because it cleared up the jailbars on my Model 2 VA4 as well.

[bultje112]

So I just got my 32X back from sending it to get modded for S-Video, and I couldn't believe it! All of my jailbars that I saw with my Model 1's own S-Video are all gone when using the 32X's S-Video. I knew the 32X video encoder was good, but damn, it does a fantastic job of cleaning up the picture and even making the colors more vibrant.

I'm using an S-Video/Composite to VGA upscaler btw which has low input lag. Thought I'd just share this so that anybody whose got jailbar problems also, whether it be S-Video or RGB, I'd say get a 32X!

interesting. I may need to buy a "better" rgb cable to see if jailbars go away. it did with neo geo aes.

[zyrobs]

Makes me want to give it a try, but a 32x costs 200 pounds today? Fuck that, I'd rather buy a Multi-Mega instead.

[roadkill]

I made a couple of comparison photos. Look closely at the blue sky, ocean and most especially Tails' orange head, then you can see the difference.

Genesis Model 1's S-Video:



MK-84000A 32X's S-Video:

[Eep386]

32X looks more saturated, but very nice overall. (I don't mind deeply saturated colors IMO, so long as they're not excessively lurid.)

[Xaranar]

Looks pretty good. Now if only I could figure out a way of getting my VA6 model 1 to not show jailbars in RGB, when the OSSC is set to 320x224 optimised mode, despite doing an RGB bypass.

[MCJeffsy]

Hi Roadkill... those results look decent. Please could you kindly share which s-video to vga upscaler you are using? I'm looking at trying a similar setup.

Also, when you upscale, do you still keep to 4:3 ratio, or stretch to 16:9?

[roadkill]

Hi Roadkill... those results look decent. Please could you kindly share which s-video to vga upscaler you are using? I'm looking at trying a similar setup.

Sure. This is the exact one that I have: https://www.ebay.com/itm/AMALINK-VID...wAAOSweNta2NiR

Also, when you upscale, do you still keep to 4:3 ratio, or stretch to 16:9?

What I like about the VGA upscaler is that you can select between 16:9 mode and 16:10 mode. I select 16:10 for my 16:9 HDTV, and what this ends up doing is that it will output an image that is in-between 4:3 and 16:9, a happy medium of not being too stretched but also not too small either. The natural Genesis borders also shrink the image down quite a bit too.

[roadkill]

A small update, I just found out by tinkering with it, that you can actually toggle between 16:9, 16:10 and 4:3 with the VGA upscaler I posted a link to. Pretty nifty considering cheap S-Video to HDMI upscalers don't have an aspect ratio option at all, they're always stuck on 16:9.

[MCJeffsy]

Thanks man! Much appreciated.

It's great that it can do all 3 of those aspect ratios. I might end up using a box like this to connect to a projector screen.

In the middle of moving house at the moment, but I will order one of those S-video to VGA boxes soon.

[roadkill]

Thanks man! Much appreciated.

It's great that it can do all 3 of those aspect ratios. I might end up using a box like this to connect to a projector screen.

In the middle of moving house at the moment, but I will order one of those S-video to VGA boxes soon.

You're welcome. I've noticed that different branded S-Video to VGA converter boxes seem to have differently marked buttons and also less buttons, so they might not have all the features that the one I have offers. Here's a link to one on sale which is the exact same one that I have, https://www.ebay.com/itm/AMALINK-VID...wAAOSweNta2NiR, it's made by a company called AMALINK. Resolution options and support vary between 800x600 all the way up to 1920x1080, and even 1920x1200 max.

VGA is the best of all the cheap options available for playing retro consoles on HDTVs/monitors/projectors IMO because VGA most of the time doesn't have any of the HDTV features turned on that would otherwise introduce input lag, it's always in a "game mode" state when you select VGA. The converter box will still suffer from being stuck on 480i upscaled though, meaning flickering sprites won't flicker.

[CrossBow]

Unless you have much newer TV like I do that doesn't have VGA or DVI inputs for a PC on it. I actually have to use a VGA to HDMI adapter to play PC games or my Dreamcast in VGA on my TV. Luckily it doesn't seem to introduce any lag that I can tell and it looks great! But I would be afraid that getting an s-video to VGA and then also using the VGA to hdmi would then start to cause some possible issues.

[roadkill]

Unless you have much newer TV like I do that doesn't have VGA or DVI inputs for a PC on it. I actually have to use a VGA to HDMI adapter to play PC games or my Dreamcast in VGA on my TV. Luckily it doesn't seem to introduce any lag that I can tell and it looks great! But I would be afraid that getting an s-video to VGA and then also using the VGA to hdmi would then start to cause some possible issues.

As long as it's not a VGA to HDMI upscaler, then it's fine, an HDMI converter box won't introduce any lag. I also have one of those for my Samsung HDTV from 2008 that doesn't have a VGA port but has a DVI port, so I can connect VGA to HDMI (using an HDMI to DVI cord) without upscaling.