Lately, any time I try to play an SMS game on my Genesis (Model 2, USA), the screen flickers black, while still apparently running. It used to play games fine, but doesn't so much anymore. Will I need to format my SD card?
Yes. And it was like this before I updated the OS (currently the most recent one). I'm not sure when it started doing this.
I guess that the update has different options activated by default, so checking (and deactivating) one by one the options may solve the problem. Good luck with the tests. My apologies if the post reveals useless.
I still don't have a real answer, but I do have a solution. Anyway, the TV that gave me the problem has RCA and Svideo as part of "Video 1", and the problem occurs when connected directly to the TV. When I use the console w/ EDMD on a portable DVD player with a "video in" feature, it worked. And it was connected to a switch device (a MadCatz one, no Svideo support), which in turn was connected to the DVD player via an audio cable (RCA audio MALE to line in) and video cable (RCA video MALE to line in). Sorry if I don't use any of the technical terms and it sounds confusing. Basically, I think the problem could be solved by connecting to the TV indirectly. Or switching to an Svideo connection for my Genesis. But then again, if I find my GameGear and I have the money, I'll just get the GG Everdrive.
Finding a way to install Svideo in that Genesis sounds like the right idea. It offers potential of cleaner sharper games reducing fuzziness. Genesis is infamous for poor basic RCA quality. But remember if you were considering to get 32X... 32X can't play SMS games at all, and would need its own independent Svideo upgrade (due to receiving RGB from the Genesis).
S-Video looks absolutely gorgeous on the Genesis, much better than composite by a long shot. Recently installed a circuit for it in a JVC X'EYE and it was beautiful. Planning on installing them in several and making them available if anyone is interested.
why mod your console for s-video when you can just convert its rgb signal into component 480i. all you need is a scart cable and a converter, this works for master system, genesis 1 2, xeye, 32x, saturn ect. its a superior signal and is extremely simple with no modification involved . if you do a youtube search for "sega genesis component" you should find a handful of videos from a youtube user named phonedork, hes a boss. i highly recommend investing in a couple of scart cables and a converter, almost all the classic systems support this. im going to run this buy stoneage, i think he could possibly sell some rgb componet kits on his website, make him some money and make it simple for people to get everything they need for the rgb/component pwnage, plus i think his web sites crowd would probably be interested.
Because it goes RF->Composite->S-Video->Component->RGB with RGB at the top due to being a pure signal and component not. I'd sooner get an XRGB-3 for $300 and use it to upscale to nice HD resolutions - I'm beyond anal retentive when it comes to video quality and component looks pretty good but 480i being upscaled by TV scaler hardware usually looks terrible. The biggest reason to skip upscalers/transcoders? Cost. S-Video is <$10 in parts (much less if you buy your jacks in bulk or buy garbage jacks). JROK and similar boards that can handle component are easily $70+ and don't do upscaling (nor HDMI); which is fine if you don't have an HD display but your CRT won't be around forever. Personally I find S-Video to be 'damn good' until I finish my EE degree and have FPGAs under my belt. If Stoneage Gamer hasn't considered stocking these parts I'd be surprised. It costs a lot of money to buy parts in large enough bulk to bring costs down to managable levels. In order for me to get BIOS chips for the Dreamcast down to $3 per chip I had to order 100. Ordering 50 made them cost over $5 each; ordering several thousand would probably bring that number down to $2 or less. Stoneage Gamer doesn't strike me as the type of place that has massive sums of money behind it or huge amounts of turn over for stock on an hourly basis. I imagine they do quite well but to buy several hundred encoder boards for the clientele they do cater to very well might be economic suicide.
APE everything you said sounds pretty spot on. personally, if the console supports s-video with a simple cable purchase, I definitely say go for that value wise over any sort of conversion. that said, since the gen/sms/32x doesnt support s-video without modification, I think it makes more sense to buy an rgb scart converter and matching cables for each system, rather than modifying each. when i was interested in boosting my sega systems visuals a few years ago, my options were limited to making my own s-video circuit board or paying some cool peeps in canada 100 bucks to do it, neither of this options sounded good to me. I was releaved when i found those phonedork youtube videos because not only could i have higher quality than composite, but each system thereafter could have higher quality visuals with a simple cable purchase. i have never had any resolution scaling issues with converting the genesis/master system/32x/saturn image to component, it all looks pretty pixel perfect spot on to me (im not an expert by any means). of course everyone's tv isn't the same and sometimes tvs have trouble displaying weird resolutions, my first hdtv used to have these problems. also besides the genesis model 1, each system will need to draw the sound from the scart cable, sometimes the cable will have it built in, sometimes you need a scart splitter or audio switch. my converter was around 65 bucks, with scart cables running around 10-15. i highly recommend this if you want better visuals for your older systems without having to mod anything. APE's s-video circut boards sound pretty awesome too. if anyone is interested in buying the converter keep in mind what APE says about your tvs scaling, sometimes your tv wont like what you feed it!!!!1111
Exactly tv makers are inconsistent. Some tvs refuse to accept weird resolutions using component. Even though they are indeed OK with it from s-video, and will display fine!