Troubleshooting
Please attempt to find and resolve your issue using the information below. If you are still having issues, please contact us.
Compatibility Issues
"I plugged your component cables in and all I get is a black screen!"If you have composite (yellow-white-red) cables for your console, please verify that your TV or display device works properly using those first. Very few TVs have compatibility issues with composite, so this is a very reliable test to see if your console equipment is working properly.
"Nope! Doesn't work with composite."Try cleaning your game cartridge and cartridge slot first. Also, try a different AC power adapter if you have one or can borrow one from a friend. If you still have issues, try bringing your console and games to a videogame repair shop. Most local game shops will help you verify that your console and/or cartridges are functioning properly and if they require repair.
"Works fine on composite. What's the deal?"Verify that your console is compatible with our component cables by checking out the lists on our various product pages.
"I already checked and my console model is definitely on the verified compatibility list."Your TV or display device might not be compatible with retro game signals over its YPbPr component inputs. Please read more on our 240p page and also try running the compatibility test at the bottom of the page. Also check the troubleshooting items specfic to each console below to make sure it's not another possible issue.
Connectivity and Setup Issues
"The picture is all blue and the right speaker on my TV (or sound system) is buzzing really bad!"The cables are not connected properly. There are two red RCA connectors at the end of our cables. One is for video (Pr) and one is for audio (right channel). You can differentiate between the two by finding the small black clip that is pairing the white and red audio cables together. The remaining red connector not bound to this clip is the video one. Make sure these are connected to the correct spots on your TV and/or other equipment.
Video Issues
"The picture is too bright (or too dark)."There is a contrast switch on one side of the fat part of the cable, located next to a small icon that looks like a sun. Try moving the switch to the other setting, and also take a look at our recommended switch settings found here. If that doesn't work, then try adjusting the brightness and/or contrast in your TV's menu.
"What switch? I don't see any switch there."We began shipping our YPbPr cables with a small cap which fits over the switch to protect from damage during shipping. The cap pops right off with minimal effort. You may choose to discard this cap, or keep it around in case you need to ship the cables again.
"I get a picture but it's a little shaky and can't really describe it."Some HDTVs don't process standard-definition synchronization signals correctly, and are therefore more sensitive to "sync jitter". Please see this technical article written on the subject. In some cases, like with the Neo Geo CD, it can be resolved easily.
Noise Issues
"I get wavy lines and sparkles on the screen when hooking up your cables!"Poorly built 3rd party AC adapters provide noisy and unsafe power for your console which greatly affect the video quality. Specifically stay away from the multi-console 3-in-1 adapters such as this, that, and the other. Try using an official SEGA or Nintendo adapter instead.
"I don't have an official SEGA or Nintendo adapter. The ones on eBay are too expensive!"We recommend a decent, affordable alternative on our Third Party Products page.
"I don't believe you! My 3-in-1 power supply works fine when using composite."The video signals used for YPbPr component video occupy different and more frequencies than composite does. A lot of the inherent filtering used in processing composite video (which also reduces the image quality) has the side effect of hiding certain types of noise occupying those frequencies.
"I have a good power supply, but it's still noisy."Certain revisions of consoles are just inherently noisy and there's nothing we can do about that. We guarantee that our cables don't add any noise that isn't already there. In fact, we included power filtering in our cable circuitry to do our best to reduce the effect of noisy power. For SNES in particular, we have discovered the following internal revisions to be noisy: SNS-CPU-RGB-01, SNS-CPU-RGB-02, and SNS-CPU-APU-01 (confirmed on Assembler Games forum). Certain Genesis consoles can also have noise problems, but are less apparent and harder to notice. They usually manifest themselves as a faint vertical scrolling pattern in dark areas of the screen.
"The picture is very clear, but I see faint thin vertical lines in solid color areas."This has been dubbed by the gaming community as "jailbars". It's more technically called color subcarrier noise. It's caused by the color part of composite video bleeding over into the RGB video signals we use to make the YPbPr signals. This crossover happens internally in the console and can only be removed (without sacrificing video quality) by modifying the console. We tried to implement an optional removal filter for this externally within the cables, but it wasn't feasible and didn't give good results on all games. We hope to be able to tackle this problem digitally within one of our HDMI® products at some point in the future.
PlayStation Specific Issues
"Help! I'm using your PlayStation adapter with my PlayStation 2/3, and the picture is all green!"Your PlayStation 2/3 is likely set to "Y Cb/Pb Cr/Pr" mode. Since our Genesis cable is expecting RGB, you'll need to change this setting on your console. On the PlayStation 2, boot the console without a disc, select "System Configuration", and change the "Component Video Out" option to "RGB". On the PlayStation 3, you need to change the video output setting to "AV MULTI / SCART" as described in Sony's online PS3 manual. One additional thing to note is that RGB output is restricted during DVD/Blu-ray video playback on these consoles, due to a copy protection mechanism implemented by Sony. Therefore, you cannot use the PlayStation adapter in this scenario and should use our direct PlayStation 2/3 YPbPr cables instead.
"Help! I'm using your PlayStation 2/3 cable with my PlayStation 1, and there is no picture!"Direct YPbPr video is not supported by the PlayStation 1, and only by the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3. If you would like to get YPbPr output out of your PlayStation 1, then you need to pair our Genesis YPbPr Cable with our PlayStation adapter.
"Help! I'm using your PlayStation 2/3 cable with my PlayStation 2, and there is no picture!"Your PlayStation 2 is likely set to "RGB" mode instead of "Y Cb/Pb Cr/Pr" mode. The most straightforward way to fix this is to plug in a composite video cable to properly navigate the menu. Then boot the console without a disc, select "System Configuration", and change the "Component Video Out" option to "Y Cb/Pb Cr/Pr". If you don't have a composite video cable (or are too lazy to hook it up) you can try navigating the menu blindly by following these directions. Boot the console without a disc and wait at least 10 seconds [NOTE: If you have a HDD (hard disk drive) installed then wait at least 30 seconds]. Then on Controller 1, press the buttons in this sequence: DOWN, CROSS, (Wait 3 seconds), DOWN, DOWN, DOWN, CROSS, LEFT, CROSS.
"Help! I'm using your PlayStation 2/3 cable with my PlayStation 3, and there is no picture!"Your PlayStation 3 is likely set to a video mode which doesn't support YPbPr, or the resolution is set to something your TV/display is not happy with. To reset the PlayStation 3 to the default standard definition YPbPr-capable video mode, follow these directions. While the PlayStation 3 is off, hold down the power button until two beeps are heard. The console will then begin booting with the default mode. Once booted, you should see video on the screen and may proceed to adjust display settings as per Sony's online PS3 manual.
"When switching from a generic 3rd party PlayStation 2/3 YPbPr cable to the HD Retrovision PlayStation 2/3 YPbPr cable, I get an annoying flickering type of noise on my screen that didn't exist before (or was not as severe before)."Some models of the PlayStation 2 are very noisy and this noise can leak into the video lines. TVs and other input devices, if designed properly, are supposed to filter out this high-frequency noise but some fail to do this correctly. Because our cables are rated up to 1080p60, they passes all the high frequencies required for this high-speed operation. The reason cheap 3rd party YPbPr cables don't exhibit this problem as much is because their poor construction and wiring blur out both the desired detail and unwanted noise at the same time. If you are experiencing this issue with your TV or input device, try an alternate input device like a switchbox, A/V receiver, or video processor which would properly filter out the noise based on the detected video resolution. Alternatively, you can try a different PlayStation 2 console which doesn't generate this noise in the first place.
Genesis Specific Issues
"I get video but no audio when connecting your YPbPr cables to my Genesis 1 or Master System when using a Model 2 to Model 1 Genesis adapter."That would only happen if you do not use the Model 2 to Model 1 adapter we manufacture and sell through our distributors. If you instead use the adapter included (and intended to only be used) with the 32X, then the audio will not function properly. Only our adapter is specifically designed to provide audio in this configuration.
"I plugged my headphones into the port on the side of the cable and get no sound!"That port is not a sound output, but rather an input. The purpose of that port is for Genesis 1 and Neo Geo AES consoles to be connected to it via a 3.5mm stereo audio cable from the front of the console. It upgrades the cable's audio output to stereo. This is completely optional, as the cables will output mono sound to both speakers on those consoles by default.
"The Genesis cable works great on my Genesis 2, but not on my Master System using the adapter."Make sure the Genesis 2 cable is fully inserted into the female port of the adapter. For fresh adapters, this might require a little additional force.
"My display is 100% compatible. A composite A/V cable works fine on my Genesis, but I get no picture using your YPbPr cable."The A/V ports on Genesis consoles can wear out from overuse and/or stress, causing bad connections on certain critical pins. For example, composite cables for Genesis 1 only use 3 pins of the connector while our YPbPr cable/adapter would require 7 of those pins to be fully functional. It might seem unlikely that the extra pins would be the exact ones to cause no picture on the screen, but this has already happened to a few customers. This can usually be remedied by re-flowing the solder for the connector on the underside of the console's motherboard. Try contacting a local video game shop or other electronics store to help you with this repair.
"Some games don't work at all, but other games work perfectly fine. There are also a couple games that only work during certain parts of the game."The Genesis has two horizontal video modes which allow a different amount of graphics elements (tiles) to fit across the width of the screen: 32 tiles and 40 tiles. Normally, something like this in itself wouldn't cause any issues, but the Genesis graphics processor has a strange side effect where it changes the pulse width of the video sync signal based on which graphics mode it is in. It is very rare, but there are TVs out there that will reject any video signal containing a sync pulse width that is too long (40 tile mode). For games that switch between the two modes, a fully compatible TV might briefly lose signal due to the pulse width changing. This usually doesn't last for more than half a second, and since it only happens during significant graphical changes (transition screens) it doesn't affect fluid gameplay.
SNES Specific Issues
"I see a faint, wide vertical line of extra brightness down the middle of my screen."This is a well-known issue with SNES consoles and isn't caused by our cable. The easiest way to diminish this problem is to use an older internal revision of the SNES: SHVC-CPU-01, SNS-CPU-GPM-01, or SNS-CPU-GPM-02. These older revisions use a video output topology which is more resistant to the internal causes of the vertical line. Please see this Twitter post, this page by RetroRGB, and this thread on Assembler Games for more information.
"My TV works fine with the Genesis cables, but doesn't work with the SNES cables."This is an inherent issue with the video timing signals of the SNES. A certain property of the synchronization signal is out of spec and enough to throw off video processing circuits in certain TVs: particularly all Vizio TVs, several Sony TVs, and some Panasonic TVs. This is why we stress that you test your TV or equipment with every console you intend to use.
Neo Geo Specific Issues
"I sometimes get the sync jitter shakiness with the Neo Geo CD and sometimes I don't."All versions of the Neo Geo CD output a funky video signal during bootup which can confuse some HDTVs. Forcing your TV to re-sync to the signal while the console is already on is usually enough to resolve this issue. Changing TV inputs off of YPbPr and going back or plugging/replugging the Y (green) connection are simple ways to do this.
"I get stereo when using the 3.5mm stereo upgrade jack, but the audio channels are backwards."Unfortunately, this is a problem inherent to the AES itself. On the most common mainboard revision (NEO-AES3-6), SNK incorrectly swapped the audio connections for the headphone jack on the front of the console. The easiest way to correct this is to swap the white/red audio RCA connectors which go into your TV or end device.
Saturn Specific Issues
"I don't have a good connection between my cable and the console, and the video seems to go in and out."Try cleaning the connector on the console with a clean toothbrush and 90% (or higher) isopropyl alcohol. Make an effort to get the bristles in all the holes. Wait at least an hour until it dries, or use some compressed air to speed up the process, and then try it again. If the issue persists, please contact us.
"My composite cable works, and the 240p test was successful, but I'm not getting any picture when I use your cable."Composite video doesn't make use of all of the pins that are required by our cable. We have seen several consoles where the resistor/fuse for the +5V pin on the Saturn was blown, likely from poorly designed RGB cables that were previously used. If possible, test the cable with another Saturn console. If you're familiar with electronics, you can pop open the console and inspect this resistor to verify whether it needs to be replaced. Unfortunately, this resistor's location can change based on the Saturn motherboard revision, but at least the recommended replacement is always the same.
Other Issues or Non-Issues
"After switching from composite cables to YPbPr cables, the clarity is fantastic but there are blocky graphics and/or vertical stripes within some games and only in specific areas."The extra clarity offered by YPbPr exposes a computer graphics technique used by game developers. This trick, called "dithering", is a method to generate extra colors not natively generated by the graphics processor by blending two alternating colors together. The limited bandwidth of composite video is what was used to do the blending, so replacing it with higher bandwidth YPbPr eliminates this effect and you are left with the raw sharp pixels. We are implementing an optional filter within our future HDMI® products to perform the blending on YPbPr input signals without the side effect of introducing rainbowing artifacts caused by composite video.
"Help! My modded XYZ console doesn't work (or work properly) with your cables."Sorry, but we don't guarantee our YPbPr component cables to work with user-modded equipment. You'll need to troubleshoot this yourself.