XRGB2+(3) and SNES Question

[jdawg131]

I was thinking of picking up a XRGB2+ or 3 for my SNES (possibly my Genesis/CD if I have my family mail it here to Germany), but am not sure how to hook it up correctly. Here is my setup:

TV - Sony 46" XBR4 LCD
SNES w/ S-Video cables

I imagine that I connect the S-Video cable into the XRGB and then run a VGA cable into my TV, correct? How much better will my SNES look? Right now it looks a little blurry and lacks that "pop."

[TonyTheTiger]

The general rule is that the quality of the worst connection in the chain is where you'll peak. So if you plug S-Video in to the converter the output won't be much better than you'd get from S-Video. You'd have to plug in RGB to see a significant improvement.

[Blanka789]

Tony is correct, you will need the SNES RGB cable (21-pin Japanese RGB, not Scart). After that, you can run the connection out of the XRGB-2+ in either VGA (best) or component (I can't tell any difference here) to get an amazing signal.

Oh, and if you go the VGA route you'll want to pick up a 3.5mm headphone jack to L/R white and red audio cable to get sound from the unit.

[mario2butts]

Everything you ever wanted to know about the XRGB-3 can be found here. (http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=6987)

I agree with the above that if you're going to shell out the bucks for an XRGB, there's really no reason not to use the best connection available, which for the SNES is RGB. However, S-Video through the XRGB should still look better than S-Video going directly into the TV.

Keep in mind that all the XRGB really does (albeit very, very well) is line- double the resolution of your older consoles to 480p. While there is a very good chance that using it will give you an improved image, as you're bypassing the de-interlacing in your TV, the TV still needs to scale this 480p signal to its native resolution (most likely 720p or 1080p). Some TV's handle this well, some don't.

To get a good idea of what an XRGB-ified SNES image will look like on your TV, try playing a 480p capable game for Dreamcast via VGA, or a 480p PS2, Xbox, GameCube, or Wii game via component cables. If a 480p image from these systems looks good, the XRGB should work well.

[jdawg131]

Everything you ever wanted to know about the XRGB-3 can be found here. (http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=6987)

I agree with the above that if you're going to shell out the bucks for an XRGB, there's really no reason not to use the best connection available, which for the SNES is RGB. However, S-Video through the XRGB should still look better than S-Video going directly into the TV.

Keep in mind that all the XRGB really does (albeit very, very well) is line- double the resolution of your older consoles to 480p. While there is a very good chance that using it will give you an improved image, as you're bypassing the de-interlacing in your TV, the TV still needs to scale this 480p signal to its native resolution (most likely 720p or 1080p). Some TV's handle this well, some don't.

To get a good idea of what an XRGB-ified SNES image will look like on your TV, try playing a 480p capable game for Dreamcast via VGA, or a 480p PS2, Xbox, GameCube, or Wii game via component cables. If a 480p image from these systems looks good, the XRGB should work well.

Thanks for the quick responses and advice guys. Greatly appreciated. I have a PS2 upstairs connected to a 40" XBR4 via component cables. I'll see if I have a 480p game to test; I generally use the PS2 for PES games and they look like garbage. Hopefully a 480p game will look better and give me an estimated guess of what the SNES can look like on my main setup w/ RGB cables and the XRGB.

EDIT - Didn't notice the Wii portion in your response. The Wii hooked up via component cables in 480p looks pretty damn good on my TV (1080p). I may need to pony up the money for the converter and cables...

[Icarus Moonsight]

I notice a decent boost out of composite and s-vid through a normal VGA box... It upconverts to 640x480 and does it well. My VGA box isn't even as sweet of kit as the XRGB boxes and is at least 6 years old. You will notice an improvement, even with an s-vid signal.