RGB Mod for a PcEngine Duo-r

[Joe Redifer]

I agree that the Genesis/Sega CD could not touch the Neo Geo, but at the same exact time, the Neo Geo can't touch the Sega CD.  The Neo could never do Batman Returns or Soul Star even if its life depended on it.  It's funny how different systems can do different things, but none of them can do everything!

[Michael Helgeson]

Yea pretty much. The Sega Cds main issue was they gave it the ability to do some nice things sprite wise,and gave it barely enough memory to do what it was designed to do. With more ram onboard games on it could have been much better,with more going on and way more details. Still,the Sega Cd was a nice add on. It does have a nice selection of keepers,and if you have a import cart to boot Mega Cd games,there is a ton of Mega-CD games that are just awesome.

[Joe Redifer]

Although I agree that the Sega CD definitely could have used more memory, I think the biggest debilitating factor was the bandwidth between the CD unit and the Genesis itself. 

[Duo_R]

Sega CD had a decent Samurai Showdown for the non Neo Geo systems (for the time). And the duo never got a port even tough there was an Arcade Card.....

[SNKNostalgia]

Although I agree that the Sega CD definitely could have used more memory, I think the biggest debilitating factor was the bandwidth between the CD unit and the Genesis itself. 

For performance reasons that would have definitely helped with some issues on games with a lot going on screen. The main thing, (at least to me) would have been 256 color support. Just imagine if the system could go all out with colors like a TG-16 or SNES. Popful Mail is one game that gives you a glimpse of what great color usage can do for the Sega CD.

[TH0R]

what exactly does rgb and scart to component mean when talking about modding a duo...i think these are the best way(s) to go when doing upgrade mods right?

[Michael Helgeson]

what exactly does rgb and scart to component mean when talking about modding a duo...i think these are the best way(s) to go when doing upgrade mods right?

The best way to go is doing whatever suits you best, not necessarily what everyone else seems to be doing. If your fine with S-vid, do that mod, if you desire tapping RGB out to use on a RGB monitor, or to convert to component for your component video capable tv, do that. If none of that really means anything to you, and you are fine with composite out, stick to that. To each their own.

[TH0R]

tv does rgb and s vid, just want to know what the mods do...are they mainly for output to be brighter or do graphics and sound get improved also? thanks.

[Duo_R]

Thor,

 a little reading for you on video and RGB primer:

Video Primer:
http://nfggames.com/atarilabs/meat/2000/1201_videoprimer.shtml

RGB Primer:
http://nfggames.com/atarilabs/meat/2000/1201_rgbprimer.shtml

Scart doesn't pertain to people that live in US, that is for monitors found in the UK and JP (keep me honest here guys).

Component video is the highest analog video signal available US TV's (HDMI is highest right now on digital signals). Our systems have RGB capability, and RGB is the mother of all analog video signal. Now US TV's don't accept RGB input, so converting from RGB to Component will give you the best possible TV signal next to using a monitor that accepts RGB.

Does that help? Read up a little and I think u will understand more.

Composite Video < S-Video < Component Video / RGB (direct signal)

[ooPo]

Component video and RGB (scart) are very very close in terms of quality. They're basically the same signal (resolution) with different ways of sending color information. You can buy a transcoder to convert it for you. There should be very little loss in quality, if any. See more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YCbCr

Some US TVs can take a RGB signal on their component inputs, or you can usually feed an RGB signal into a VGA input if your TV has one.

The problem then is that you'll probably need a HDTV to get these inputs, and they tend to do very ugly things to 240p video from older game consoles.

[Duo_R]

Thor as ooPo said some HDTV's can accept RGB via the VGA input, but a very limited amount of them do that (and you won't see that advertised). That is the reason the component boards are ideal because most of the better TV's have that input. RGB/Component are very close, but US TV's are normally built to properly receive pure RGB.

[TH0R]

hey thanks guys, ... i'm very new to all of this so sorry for stupid questions, i'll upload a picture of korky from life goes on for my profile. i read those links , understood some stuff... i have a digital t.v w/ s video input and i think rgb also... i have a big fat red,green,blue cable from the dvd to the tv, i'm pretty sure its just red blue and green cuz its not an hdtv. so i guess ol boy that did rgb and scart to component wasn't in the u.s. however he said jrok encoders reds are off and don't work well with duos, do rgb and buy scart to component converter cuz its cheaper and it looks better...   is this true?

[TH0R]

i saw a composite/ s-vidoe to component video out converter on s-video.com.... this alone probably won't work though huh?

[Duo_R]

that wouldn't do anything for picture quality improvement. In some cases it would look worse.