Japanese Saturn - SCART Switching Issue

[duddyroar]

I've just purchased my third Japanese Saturn having foolishly sold the previous two, and have discovered that my new telly doesn't seem to like it much.

When I plug the RGB SCART lead in, the TV flicks between 'RGB' (lovely and clear) to 'Video' (not quite as clear). It does this every few seconds, as if it can't decide which input to use.

I've asked other Saturn owners about this and apparently it's something to do with the amount of power needed to activate the switch on the telly that selects an RGB signal.

The TV in question is a cheapo Bush CRT, which gladly displays RGB signals on all my other consoles (Wii, PS2, Megadrive, SNES).

The SCART lead was purchased from Play-Asia, and I assumed this was at fault to start with but I've since sent it off to someone who creates these leads and he's checked it over and says it's fine.

I've tried the console on the only other TV in the house - a Bush 14" portable - and it works fine.

Anyone else experienced this? Any workarounds you can suggest? Save me from playing my games in composite, I beg you!

[Deleted]

I have been wrestling with a similar problem - I was getting a black and white picture.

The problem is that there are certain pins in the SCART socket that require specific voltages to make the TV switch to RGB mode. There seems to be a problem with JPN Saturns and these voltages with some TVs.

There is a workaround that I got from the NTSC-UK forum. I plug my Saturn and another RGB source that works with the TV (in my case my digital TV box) into a good SCART switchable block which is wired in such a way that the switching pins from all the sources are connected. This means that when I select the Saturn source and keep the digital TV box powered up. I get the Saturn image sent to the TV, but the switching signal from the digital TV box forces the TV to switch to RGB mode.

It works really well and the picture quality is excellent.

Where to get such a SCART switch box? In the UK, Argos have one for £10. It accepts 3 inputs and you have to buy a separate SCART cable to connect the switcher to the TV. It also has an RGB/composite signal selector switch.

I have a Japanese RGB SCART lead on order from Raven on-line and that should provide a more "elegant" solution.

[duddyroar]

Davy - I know of the NTSC-UK thread - I'm the one who started it

[gamesmasterlive]

Try an get hold of an official Sega one, I've used cheapys in the past and there never as good as the real one, on some 3rd party scart leads there is a resistor that can conflict with the switching when your using a jap machine, remove this and re-join the wire.