[AIRRUNNER85]

Hi guys i purchased a dreamcast from a friend a few days back and when i connect it to the tv it just won;t display a picture. It is connected to the tv using a rf cable and i have tried both option on the switch of the rf cable but still my tv won't find a picture. The dreamcast sounds like its reading the disc and seems in good condition. Do you think it's a problem with the dreamcast, or do i need a new av cable?

Many thanks in advanced guys!

[fallenangle]

When you say the TV can't find the output from the DC do you mean you're using the TV to rescan through all the (ANALOGUE) TV channels and still can't find it? I'll just repeat this for others benefit as I think you understand this already: just plugging the DC in the RF aeriel socket won't give you anything. You have to treat it as if you're tuning in a new TV channel, Assign an empty channel slot (I always used channel 0) and whilst the DC is on, running a game or not, press channel search. The TV should eventually lock on to it.

If the TV can't find the DC's output the cable or, perhaps, the DC may be faulty, I can't think of any likely reason why it isn't working otherwise. I suppose the DC (even if it appears to be UK/EU) could have been modded to change the region but I simply don't know what result that would have when using a RF cable with your TV.

The question is why on earth are using an RF lead in the first place? The picture/sound quality will be poor on any TV and I dread to think what it will look like on a typical large screen HD LCD TV.

RF < Composite cable < S-Video < RGB SCART < VGA.

The PQ improvement just upgrading from RF to even just bog standard Composite is probably more significant than you'll see upgrading between any other cable type ie. Composite to S-Video, S-Video to RGB SCART or RGB SCART to VGA. So I urge you to spend a little bit more buying a better cable whether you get the RF one to work or not.

If you're in the UK/EU and your TV supports RGB SCART that's what I'd always recommend. VGA cables are much more expensive and not all DC games support VGA either.