Fuzzy picture on CD32. Bad signal?

[Frimann]

Hi fellow EAB's. I recently acquired a CD32 and aside from some minor issues it's a lot of fun and a breeze to use if you just want to play some of the oldies in a hurry =)

I have a question for you A/V experts out there though. My Samsung flatscreen TV only sports SCART and HDMI input, so I bought this cheap composite -> SCART adapter. The picture is not THAT bad but it is a little fuzzy and seems to vibrate a lot. I originally thought that it had something to do with the Amiga generation being more attuned to old CRT screens as opposed to a Full HD LCD thingy, but when I connect my A600 with a standard SCART cable from AmigaKit (RGB Video + left/right sound -> SCART) the picture is crystal crisp. This annoys me a little xD

My question is, would I get better results if I spent like 20 quid on a high grade composite -> SCART cable as opposed to my 4£ adapter, or does the CD32 generally just produce a bad picture? I'm looking at this particular baby.

[roy bates]

nope it wouldent make any difference if you got a high grade cable or not,composite is rubbish anyway.
but 10 times better than rf lead.

[Frimann]

Ok. Ruled out then. I see there is a S-VHS output on the CD32 though. Would it yield a better result if I tried some kind of S-VHS -> SCART adapter? I haven't tried coaxial as I deduced the same as you, namely that it would be ten times worse than composite.

Any suggestions involving the best setup for a CD32 in terms of picture output is welcome btw =)

[roy bates]

yes ,s-vhs is better it looks like rgb very nice and sharp.

[Frimann]

I realise that there are several relevant threads on this topic already so I have consulted those.

For others with a similar question it seems like S-VHS is the way to go unless you feel rich and opt for a flickerfixer like the Indivision AGA 4000D/CD32 which would probably be the optimal solution.

EDIT: Thanks for your time Roy, you saved me 20£ I think xD

[roy bates]

its strange really,in this day and age that anyone would need a flicker fixer or scandoubler,altough im told that on some lcd's it wont work(native screenmodes),yet i have all my amiga's working through rgb-scart on 5 lcds.and there crystal clear.

and thats interlaced as well with no flickering,oh well.

[Frimann]

Beats me. Anyway, I've just tried S-VHS and although it conveys a much crisper picture it causes some flicker and a lot of vibration. I'm using a cheap adapter identical to this.

EDIT: Any chance a high grade cable like this will make any difference?

[Djay]

i use a SVideo to scart cable (with audio) on my 42" Plasma... although i have to use AVI2 as AV1 its black and white)
The picture is pretty good with that!

[Photon]

Originally Posted by roy bates

nope it wouldent make any difference if you got a high grade cable or not,composite is rubbish anyway.
but 10 times better than rf lead.

CD32 has the composite fix though, which makes it look absolutely FAB on my TV. Frimann, have you tried other consoles with composite?

Swapping cables for the same standard doesn't change anything, unless the cable you had was faulty. Your TV might handle S-Video and (not so common) RGB Scart, if you use that sharpness should increase. (Saw your post about S-Video but have no idea about the vibration. Only way to test if it's the TV or console is using another console with the same standard and cable. If your CD32 is not faulty, it should output great composite.)

[Frimann]

Ok Djay... you have to explain AVI2 and AVI1 to me as I eventually went for a cable like yours, which provides a gorgeous picture by the way, but renders everything in black and white. What to do, what to do? I got the PAL version btw.

[Djay]

Originally Posted by Frimann

Ok Djay... you have to explain AVI2 and AVI1 to me as I eventually went for a cable like yours, which provides a gorgeous picture by the way, but renders everything in black and white. What to do, what to do? I got the PAL version btw.

on my socket selection is says (when you switch inputs)
AV1
AV2/S
HDMI1
HDMI2
etc
etc

so i have to use AV2/S

make sure you plug it into AVx/S (an SVideo compatible socket) also you might need to enable /S in your tv's options menu

this works on my 42" Panasonic Plasma, but not on my 22" Samsung which comes out black and white like yours but there isnt a way to make it SVideo compatible

[Frimann]

Oh. I'm out of luck then. Stuck with a Samsung Syncmaster with no such apparent option =/
It's just weird as I have a scart-to-SVHS adapter which provides color no problem. The picture is very fuzzy though.

[Mozzerfan]

Originally Posted by Frimann

It's just weird as I have a scart-to-SVHS adapter which provides color no problem. The picture is very fuzzy though.

Some time ago I bought a very cheap scart-SVideo adapter which gave me a B/W picture on my Samsung LCD TV. I had to apply the following fix for it to give me a color picture.
http://camp0s.altervista.org/sVideo/how_to.htm

The picture quality is sh*t though (edit: probably because it's a very cheap adapter).

Edit2: picture quality is actually not shit after all. Turned out I hadn't soldered it very well.

edit3: Just to be clear: the fix gives a composite signal, but the picture quality is MUCH MUCH better than standard CD32 composite. See pictures.
Picture 1 is standard CD32 composite. Picture2 is Svideo-scart with color fix.


I now have ordered something like this:
http://www.ebay.nl/itm/220873264375?...84.m1497.l2649

I'm hoping it will give me a better picture.

Edit4: the svideo-vga-adapter works great with my NTSC CD32, but the picture quality looks like shit with my PAL CD32.
So to sum it up: for me the best and cheapest solution is the svideo-scart adapter with color fix.