New scart cable causing dark screen

SudoShinji

Zero's Tailor
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Posts
554
I recently replaced my cheap $5 scart cable that has loose teeth with a nice $30 gold plated cable thinking it would improve some small problems I was seeing. This is all on a pvm 20mdu, the new cable is causing a really dark image on the screen that I can't seem to fix by adjusting the brightness. The image looks clear so I don't think it's the cable itself although the bnc breakout cable sometime takes some adjusting. Am I missing something here?
 

wyo

King of Spammers
10 Year Member
Joined
May 22, 2013
Posts
10,108
I recently replaced my cheap $5 scart cable that has loose teeth with a nice $30 gold plated cable thinking it would improve some small problems I was seeing. This is all on a pvm 20mdu, the new cable is causing a really dark image on the screen that I can't seem to fix by adjusting the brightness. The image looks clear so I don't think it's the cable itself although the bnc breakout cable sometime takes some adjusting. Am I missing something here?

First of all, gold plated cables make no noticeable difference. Proper shielding and grounding are much more important. Pics and more specifics would help. What console are you connecting? What are the small problems? What do you mean when you say the BNC cable takes some adjusting? Based on what you're saying it's most likely a shitty cable or cables, but it also could be a settings issue, a console issue, a monitor issue... just about anything ;)

If you bought any cables from Retro Gaming Cables in the UK or pretty much any other foreign seller, do yourself a favor: Throw them directly in the trash and replace with the "multicore" SCARTs from Retro Console Accessories on eBay. I build and sell SCART to BNC cables as a hobby - see the link in my sig. There are cheaper ones available from the UK but again the build quality is absolute shit.
 

SudoShinji

Zero's Tailor
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Posts
554
First of all, gold plated cables make no noticeable difference. Proper shielding and grounding are much more important. Pics and more specifics would help. What console are you connecting? What are the small problems? What do you mean when you say the BNC cable takes some adjusting? Based on what you're saying it's most likely a shitty cable or cables, but it also could be a settings issue, a console issue, a monitor issue... just about anything ;)

If you bought any cables from Retro Gaming Cables in the UK or pretty much any other foreign seller, do yourself a favor: Throw them directly in the trash and replace with the "multicore" SCARTs from Retro Console Accessories on eBay. I build and sell SCART to BNC cables as a hobby - see the link in my sig. There are cheaper ones available from the UK but again the build quality is absolute shit.

I'm using an mv1f and a Vogatek, what I meant about the bnc breakout is sometimes when I plug the scart lead in the colors are all wrong or the picture is completely garbled. I did buy them from the UK a while back, I will be buying some from you immediately to see if that rectifies the situation.
 

GohanX

Horrible Goose
20 Year Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2001
Posts
12,490
They didn't accidentally send you a Genesis 1 RGB cable did they?

*derp*

You're using a supergun, not a consolized unit with a Neo pinout. Reading is fundamental.
 
Last edited:

DNSDies

I LOVE HILLARY CLINTON!
Joined
Mar 15, 2015
Posts
1,983
Does the new cable have/not resistors or capacitors on it? Is it properly grounded? Are you using a switch?

I had a similar problem with my RGB modded PC Engine, turned out there was too much resistance on the RGB lines, making the image darker.
 

SudoShinji

Zero's Tailor
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Posts
554
They didn't accidentally send you a Genesis 1 RGB cable did they?

*derp*

You're using a supergun, not a consolized unit with a Neo pinout. Reading is fundamental.

Not sure what you mean, its just a scart lead. I've had the bnc breakout cable for a while and its always worked for all my other systems (although I have only had my neo hooked up since the move). No its not consolized its just a Vogatek and mv1f setup.
 

SudoShinji

Zero's Tailor
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Posts
554
Does the new cable have/not resistors or capacitors on it? Is it properly grounded? Are you using a switch?

I had a similar problem with my RGB modded PC Engine, turned out there was too much resistance on the RGB lines, making the image darker.

Im not using a switch and i would assume its properly grounded but i cant say for sure. Its interesting because when i was fixing the scart cable that im replacing the ground broke off but the cable still works it just has some ghosting or banding in the background when i have brightness up. This is the cable http://www.amazon.com/Atlona-Technologies-19-010-10-Scart-Cable/dp/B000H1VRLI.
 
Last edited:

GohanX

Horrible Goose
20 Year Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2001
Posts
12,490
Not sure what you mean, its just a scart lead. I've had the bnc breakout cable for a while and its always worked for all my other systems (although I have only had my neo hooked up since the move). No its not consolized its just a Vogatek and mv1f setup.

Yeah, that's why I put the derp edit in, my post was useless! If it were a home or CD system, it has been common to accidentally get a Genesis lead, which will work on those systems but will not look right due to caps or resistors or something in the Genesis cable. Obviously this isn't your problem in.

I do wonder though, that's a 23 foot scart lead, I've never seen anyone use one that long. I wonder if the length of the cable is dropping the resistance?
 

SudoShinji

Zero's Tailor
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Posts
554
Yeah, that's why I put the derp edit in, my post was useless! If it were a home or CD system, it has been common to accidentally get a Genesis lead, which will work on those systems but will not look right due to caps or resistors or something in the Genesis cable. Obviously this isn't your problem in.

I do wonder though, that's a 23 foot scart lead, I've never seen anyone use one that long. I wonder if the length of the cable is dropping the resistance?

I was wondering the same, maybe I went a bit long but the cable seems like its really well made.

* and actually they sent me a 33 ft cable since they were out of 23.
 
Last edited:

Xian Xi

JammaNationX,
15 Year Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2005
Posts
27,748
I was wondering the same, maybe I went a bit long but the cable seems like its really well made.

* and actually they sent me a 33 ft cable since they were out of 23.

Why would you need a 23ft cable let alone a 32ft one? You might need an RGB amp.
 

DNSDies

I LOVE HILLARY CLINTON!
Joined
Mar 15, 2015
Posts
1,983
32 feet is pretty far. Depending on the thickness of the internal cables, it may be losing signal due to the length.
Try a shorter cable maybe, or shorten this one yourself. If you're technically inclined, you can also do what Xian suggested and build a small RGB amp that will fit inside the scart hood or attach it to your supergun.

Here's something I used:
http://retrorgb.com/ths7314.html

Adjust the value of the resistors (1k trim pots work great) and find what looks best.
 

SudoShinji

Zero's Tailor
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Posts
554
Why would you need a 23ft cable let alone a 32ft one? You might need an RGB amp.

It looked like a nice heavy cable and I wanted to run it behind a bookcase so that my setup could sit on my console shelf that isn't right beside the pvm. Like I said they sent me a longer one than I ordered, I wouldn't have gone that long and was already worried about this one but didn't think signal degradation would happen that quickly.
 
Top