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Dreamcast video issue

Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 10:26 am
by techromancer
Hey guys,

I'm having problems with my burned back up cdi's of Sonic Adventure 2, Skies of Arcadia and Techromancer. (see pics)

Immediately after being turned on, the game's graphics look horrible: black and white, with vertical purple lines running through the screen.

Is this a 50 - 60 hz issue, because I live in Western Europe?

Or are my cdi's just flawed?

I plugged my DC into a Samsung LED tv, maybe I need to invest in an older tv?

Does anyone have a fix for this problem?


http://dreamcast-talk.com/forum/downloa ... ew&id=3144

http://dreamcast-talk.com/forum/downloa ... ew&id=3143

Re: Dreamcast video issue

Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 12:52 pm
by Jako
Looks like this, that the TV dont manage well the 60hz, rare because that Samsung is good. Look in the setup of the tv if you find some option that talks about the ntsc mode.
Other games have HZ selector, for example MSR or virtua tennis, the pal versions of course. Try with them ;-)

If you boot without disc inside, you see fine the bios and the dreamcast logo?

Re: Dreamcast video issue

Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 1:07 pm
by techromancer
Thanks!

Think I've found the problem, I have a LED Samsumg tv UE40J5200 with 50Hz.

I can see the Bios and the Dreamcast-intro-screen just fine.

Most games work perfectly. But some burned cdi-games don't have a hz-selection menu. And those games just require a 60hz capable tv :)

So I'm kind of stuck here.

Re: Dreamcast video issue

Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 1:11 pm
by Xiden
are you using the pal versions of these games?

Re: Dreamcast video issue

Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 1:22 pm
by techromancer
Yup, I burned several cdi's, filenames either contained the word PAL of EUR.

Re: Dreamcast video issue

Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 2:29 pm
by rjay63
What cables are you using to connect the Dreamcast to your TV?

Re: Dreamcast video issue

Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 3:39 pm
by techromancer
I use one of these, a composite cable, because nowadays tv's don't have a scart input anymore...

http://dreamcast-talk.com/forum/downloa ... ew&id=3147

Re: Dreamcast video issue

Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 4:15 pm
by rjay63
Thanks for the reply. I see you are using the composite cables in the component sockets; I assume your TV does not have a dedicated composite socket?

Is there a "display info" button that brings up information about the input signal? Can you see what it says on the boot screen and then what it says when you run one of those games?

Is the picture stable apart from the black and white image and the purple lines? You may have an option to change the "colouring" system on the TV. See if you can set it to "auto" so it will switch to NTSC/PAL colouring depending on the signal.

Re: Dreamcast video issue

Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 7:18 pm
by techromancer
Thanks for the tips, but...

Nope, no dedicated composite socket, doubt that would've made any difference.
Seems my Samsung led tv just isn't capable of 60hz.

Also, tampering with tv settings didn't work.

No worries though, plenty of DC games DO work at the moment. Just a pity that I can't find any PAL versions of Sonic Adventure 2 and Skies of Arcadia.

Re: Dreamcast video issue

Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 8:23 pm
by Bob Dobbs
Although your TV does NOT have a Scart connection, if you have a Dreamcast Scart cable, you could buy a Scart to HDMI scaler/converter like the one I linked here on ebay. It's under $13.00 Euro total cost. It's the only option I can think of. What I am not aware of is how many games support Scart being I am in North America.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/1523498554 ... noapp=true