Sync Strike + Scaler + SG3000 was great, until I tried my PAL MD1 and PS2.. HELP!!

[youtoo]

Hi everyone,

I've been using my Sync Strike + Scaler + SG3000 with great success with a Saturn and a Mega Drive 2, both Japanese...

Then I bought a PAL MD1 a few weeks ago (High-Definition Graphics version) and it didn't work properly. The ad for the console said it wasn't tested, so I blamed the console and bought a 2nd one. I tried again with the second PAL MD1 and yep, it wasn't the console's fault!

Yesterday I got home a PAL PS2 and I got the exact same symptoms as with my PAL MD1. My PAL-50Hz consoles don't seem to work properly with the setup:

1- Audio is fine, you can hear perfectly the game.

2- Screen is mostly black, with some artifacts.
IMG_2265.JPG

3- Top 5% of screen shows the game in motion as it should (at least with PS2):
IMG_2267.JPG

4- When I try to change the scaler mode (RGBH, YCBCR...) or its resolution, the screen refreshes for a second and leaves a ghost of what the console was outputting when I made the change:
IMG_2263.JPG
IMG_2269.JPG
(you can actually see the top 5% still moving, but the rest of the screen is still)

My setup (I live in Canada, so TV is NTSC -which shouldn't matter anyway, as I'm using the VGA input)
- Toshiba 32'"
- Scart cables for all consoles
- Sync Strike + Scaler + SG3000
- Japanese consoles work fine
- Pal consoles don't work properly

I'm afraid I just have basic knowledge about image syncs (raws? pures? no idea...) but it seems the problem has to do with the sync, or the 50Hz output of my PAL consoles, but they should work, as many people in the Internet using the Sync Strike have them working just fine!

Thank you very much for your help, I'm dying to be able to play with my PAL consoles again after so much time!!!

[Lum]

50hz was not specified as a format under the VGA standard.

If a monitor happens to accept 50hz from VGA input, that's an informal nice bonus.

[Segata Sanshiro]

Why do you even have PAL stuff? Inferior.

[youtoo]

Why do you even have PAL stuff? Inferior.

Because of some MD games that never were released outside Europe, i.e. Micro Machines 96 and Military...
Because old PAL Mega Drive games have such characteristic artwork... (some are so ugly they are beautiful.)
Because nostalgia, when I was a kid I'd spend ours looking at the reviews and boxart of MD games that I couldn't afford... and now I can :)

50hz was not specified as a format under the VGA standard.

If a monitor happens to accept 50hz from VGA input, that's an informal nice bonus.

I didn't know that :(

Does anybody know a workaround for my specific setup?

[ssj4jaxmazon]

I have the same scaler for my rgb systems and I can say that I had nothing but issues like white dots and a shaking image things like that, I fixed most of the issues but I sometimes get random issues with different consoles. (could be my monitor)

So now I am saving for a framemeister or XRGB mini, it might be expensive but its a great scaler that outputs hdmi at 1080p and comes with a remote

sorry if thats not the answer that you wanted to hear but I'm in the same boat as you. :(

ps are you feeding the power from the scaler to the sync striker? if not I would do that since it could be that the scart cable isn't feeding the sync striker enough power (most scart cables do but some don't)

[youtoo]

Well, I started researching on the Mini yesterday, and now, thanks to a very recent update, has proper support for PAL systems... so I'm also considering it (I'll have to sell my Sync Strike and SLG3000)

[APE]

50/60hz switches are a cheap fix.

[Lum]

He bought PAL systems to play games needing 50hz. Why he's got a PAL and Japanese megadrive.