Sega Genesis HDMI Master System Dreamcast Saturn converter cable

Sega Genesis, Master System and Saturn HDMI cables

Coming soon. RAD2X cables for retro Sega console. Sign up to our newsletter for updates.

Background

A few years ago a straight HDMI cable for Sega consoles didn't exist and only way to connect your console to a HDTV and to get a decent picture was to use of some kind of up scaling unit like the XRGB mini Framemesiter or OSSC. But 2019 will see the release of HDMI cables for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis from a number of manufactures who have previously released HDMI cables for the Super Nintendo, Original XBOX, Dreamcast and Playstation, but unfortunately their new Sega Mega Drive HDMI cables will fail in three key areas, just like their previous cables, namely;

Incorrect Aspect Ratio
High latency/lag
Incorrectly Interpreting progressive video as interlaced video

So these HDMI link cables from other manufactures intentionally stretch the image to a 16:9 aspect ratio rather than the intended 4:3, and 4:3 is how retro games are supposed to be played. They also introduce lots of input latency also referred to as "lag" which is a consequence of how the video signal is processed and this can effect game play, especially when playing platform games like Super Mario Bros or Sonic the Hedgehog. And finally they interpret a 240p signal as 480i, which can cause all kinds of image Gremlins.

There are HDMI converter boxes out there which can be used in conjunction with RGB SCART cables, but be aware of cheap converters available from Ebay and Amazon which may not support RGB video, only composite video (CVBS). We have written an article on which converters to avoid here after receiving a lot of bad feedback from gamers who had purchased one of these cheap units. So in reality to play your Sega Genesis on a HDMI TV you will need an RGB SCART cable in-conjunction with a decent HDMI converter, like the Framemeister XRGB-mini or Open Source Scan Converter (OSSC). Or coming soon, our RAD2X cable. For our personal recommendations on converters please see our How to hook up retro consoles to High-Definition TVs article.

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