I have a japanese grey Sega Saturn (first model) since a few months. I use it with a PAL Sega Saturn RGB cable. It works fine but I noticed that the image is not RGB on my television - it is only composite. I don't know why because on my LCD-Projector I get an RGB image. How can this be? It's the same cable and both devices are capable to display NTSC RGB signals. TV: Philips 21PT1967 LCD-Projector: Sanyo PLV-Z4 I should mention that the Sanyo PLV-Z4 has no SCART connector. But it's possible to connect any RGB capable device to the VGA port with a simple adaptor cable. In the main menu you can choose between SCART RGB or Analog RGB.
Scart can send a variety of signals at the same time, including RGB, composite, and s-video. I'd guess the TV chooses to display the composite signal for some reason. Look in the tv's manual and see if it has an option for selection scart preferance.
Japan SCART and Euro SCART are different, I believe. The pin layout is altered across the regions, so while composite may be in the same place, RGB is somewhere else... I guess. I don't know much about SCART, but that's all I can give you from my time here at this forum. Someone else will come along and settle this if I'm mistaken.
Jap. RGB and EU SCART have indeed different pinouts (look here). But then again this is just on the SCART side of the cable and the Saturn side plug should be the same for all regions. ???... Sorry, can't help.
For what it's worth (which may not be much) I understand the Japanese 21-pin RGB Cable for the Saturn (the commercial one) has some "noise" which is less than desirable. It was enough for the RGB Hospice (which is now down, damn it) to produce their own.
Could someone please explain. If you have a Japanese Saturn and a PAL RGB cable and a RGB capable TV why doesn't the TV display RGB? (Well that's what the thread starter asked in the first place.) The only explanation would be that the consoles themselves would have different AV pinouts depending on their region but I really doubt that. From what I understand it must be the TV then. Of course, you'd need the Japanese RGB cable if you wanted to connect the Saturn to a Japanese TV but the European one should be just fine for PAL TVs.
@Cez; The saturn does not have a scart connector. Instead, it uses a different type of connecter(din 9?) - so you have to buy special composite/svid/scart cables for it. I think thats whats confusing you
No, people were referring to the different pinouts and I just wanted to point out that most likely it's not the cable (at least not per se) that's causing the problem.
Lots of reasons, the most likely is the fact that the Saturn has a poor voltage line which isn't strong enough for the TV to switch the TV to RGB. Open up the SCART lead and remove the resistor that is likely to be on Pin 16 and that may solve your problem. Pin 8 is the Widescreen switch, this should have some voltage on it and should be connected to Pin 16.
Yes, the Japanese Saturn RGB cable is a bit shitty. When it's plugged in normally, there is a faint-to-loud buzzing sound through audio. Try to adjust that, and the buzzing stops but the picture distorts and goes dim. I always have to play with the RGB connector to find the sweet spot that gives me both a clear picture and sound.
If it works on the LCD-Projector, the setup is working. Just figure out if your SCART connection on the Philips TV supports RGB. Otherwise use another SCART socket. Most of the time, TV's come with 2 SCART sockets, but only one is RGB compatible. Check the other socket if you have one.
Pin 8 and Pin 16 are already connected together with a small resistor. The resistor should be removed and pin 8 and 16 connected without it, am I right?
Try to leave pin 8 disconnected, but keep the small resistor connected to pin 16. Then try to measure the voltage beetween on pin 16 and GND in the SCART connector. It should be beetween 1V and 3V to get RGB. The circuit is: (+5V)----(Rx ohm)-----(SCART pin 16)-----(75 ohm)---GND The Sega Saturn AV-output provides +5V. Rx is the resistor in the SCART cable. 75 ohm is the input resistanse for pin 16 in SCART connector in the TV. Rx=100 ohm should give you: I=U/R=5V/(100+75)ohm=28.6mA U at pin 16 = 28.6mA * 75ohm = 2.14V To get 1.5V on pin 16 use a 175 ohm resistor (180 ohm) etc. etc. If you try without the resistor you will get 5V at pin 16 which is out of spec, but might work anyway Hope this helps troubleshooting..... CF
unfortunately I don't have a 175 Ohm resistor, so I tried it without and it worked fine :thumbsup: Is it dangerous for my TV or Projector if the voltage is out of spec? Btw, the TV does not switch automatically to AV-Mode when I power on the Saturn. How can I solve this?
Probably not Congrats getting it working! Did you leave pin 8 disconnected? The empirical results does not always match theory... If you leave pin 8 disconnected, what voltage do you measure at pin 16? Measure the value both without the resistor and with the 170 ohm resistor.
Glad that removing the resister worked, heard this problem so many times that I knew exactly what the problem was, it won't damage the TV as the voltage the saturn gives is too weedy. The Saturn isn't giving enough voltage to switch to AV properly, although is it really that hard to press the AV button a few times? I know this means you might have to get up, it's good exercise. :lol:
