RetroDuo problem

[Manhattan Sports Club]

I have the RetroDuo which I bought brand new from a seller on eBay for $50.

However, when I first plugged in the RCA cables and turned it on with a SNES game inside, the screen came up with a noise line scrolling across the screen and the colors were green-purple. I was thinking that maybe the SNES mode only works with S-Video, however I do not have proper S-Video connections to test it out. But I've seen videos of it on Youtube running SNES with RCA without any problems, so I assume I recieved a defect console, unless there is a solution. Does anyone know what the problem is?

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Do you have the RCA AND the S-Video cables plugged in to the RetroDuo at the same time?

Since the system seems to auto-select/auto-power its video output, I'd suggest only plugging the RCA cables into the back of the unit.

[Manhattan Sports Club]

Yes, I only have the RCA cables inserted when I turn it on.

[TectonicMan]

If you have the RCA cables plugged in, the SNES should work perfectly, I don't even use the S-video connection since my TV doesn't have one. I have had no problems with the SNES side of the RetroDuo and am impressed enough to use it as a replacement for my SNES. It sounds like your unit is defective, the only thing I'm EXTREMELY disappointed with is the NES audio quality; it should play SNES perfectly on par with the real hardware.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

As awesome as these things are ... based on the threads here on DP - it seems that they do have a relatively high defect rate ... and not just a "no power" kind of thing ... it's usually issues like this, minor audio/video defects like the one you described.

[NayusDante]

Try playing it for a while. Mine had screwed up colors, lots of greens, purples, grays. After about a half hour of testing games, I noticed that colors were right. I think you have to break it in.

[Manhattan Sports Club]

You know I never did get this fixed. It always worked fine with the NES games but the display for the SNES ones were always green and purple, and I never got a refund because the shipping to return it would've been expensive. *sigh*

[NayusDante]

Mine got better when I played Star Fox for a while. Not really sure what else to do.

[JohnnyBlaze]

If you have the RCA cables plugged in, the SNES should work perfectly, I don't even use the S-video connection since my TV doesn't have one. I have had no problems with the SNES side of the RetroDuo and am impressed enough to use it as a replacement for my SNES. It sounds like your unit is defective, the only thing I'm EXTREMELY disappointed with is the NES audio quality; it should play SNES perfectly on par with the real hardware.

I can vouch for that. I used to have an FC Twin and this system is based on the same hardware as the RetroDUO.

I went through 3 units before I found one that worked. The best test I can think of is booting up a game like Donkey Kong Country or F-Zero. Both defective units wouldn't play these. F-Zero went to black when the race started and DKC wouldn't boot at all.

To TectonicMan: The reason the NES sound is such shit on that thing is that the NES and SNES on that unit share the same sound chip instead of being separate like it should.