Dreamcast has no sound

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DCGX
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Dreamcast has no sound

Post#1 » Mon Oct 29, 2018 10:05 pm

Ok I'm freaking out a little bit. My Dreamcast, purchased in 2001, suddenly has no sound.

My setup is: VGA box (earlier model that looks like the retrobit version, but isn't) to a VGA/HDMI converter/upscaler to my Yamaha receiver, hooked up to my 4K TV.

This is a new TV bought two weeks ago, a Sony X900F, and I played a little 'Crazy Taxi' as I was connecting devices, and I could hear the sweet, sweet sound of The Offspring with no problem. I haven't played my Dreamcast since.

Today, I got a Total Control Plus in the mail and went to test it. I plugged it in before turning on the DC and without a Playstation controller (don't have one yet) but with a VMU and immediately there was no sound. Also, and I don't know if this is a factor or not, but the electric company was trimming trees next to my house while I was at work, and when I came home half my house was without electricity. No fuses were blown or anything like that, and about a half hour after I got home everything went back to normal, but the fuse that my TV and game systems are on WAS NOT out, so I suspect it isn't a factor. That whole situation was weird though.

Anyway, now, this TV, like most, has one single yellow AV input and nothing else AV. I tried plugging in a different R/W/Y AV cable from the VGA box to the TV, which the TV recognized, but no picture. I tried switching my receiver to the AV input my Dreamcast is on, which did pass through the sound before, but not now. I tried a different sound cable from the VGA box to the HDMI converter box, but that didn't do anything. I don't have another VGA cable to try, but the picture is perfect on my current one. I also don't have the Dreamcast's original AV cables anymore, so I can't try a direct connection right now. Not that I have an older monitor to use anyway.

So I'm at a loss. I really don't know what happened. Used Dreamcasts are easy enough to come by, but mine has a region free BIOS, so beyond nostalgia, I don't want to outright replace it if I don't have too.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

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DCGX
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Re: Dreamcast has no sound

Post#2 » Fri Nov 02, 2018 10:59 am

In case anyone is reading this, I bought some cheap A/V cables, hooked it up to my parents' TV (my old TV actually) and The Offspring sang!

So it isn't the Dreamcast that's the issue. I'm going to double check the HDMI input on my receiver, but if that is fine, it's either the VGA cable, VGA box or the converter. I'm honestly leaning toward the converter being the issue.

Now, I have to get a converter for my Xbox to hook it up to my TV anyway, and since it'll be trial and error buying another VGA box or converter or cables, I'm thinking of getting an OSSC instead. I need to do a little more research on it, but does anyone here have one and any thoughts?

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DCGX
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Re: Dreamcast has no sound

Post#3 » Mon Nov 12, 2018 11:23 am

I ended up finding this at Monoprice: https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=30918

It's exactly what I need to hook up both AV and VGA for the Dreamcast, but also component for my original Xbox. It came Saturday (also order another audio cable just in case), and I was able to confirm that the upscaler is the issue, as I was getting sound both from the AV and VGA sides of the VGA box.

The bad news is it seems I got a defective and possibly used box. There are scratches all over the front of the unit and only the 4K output works, not the 720p or 1080p options. They just show a full screen dark green or a small red box, sometimes with sound. The box didn't even show the menus when I first plugged it in. The DC looks really good, but with the 4K output I can't change my TVs aspect ratio (I can in the other options despite there being no picture). The Xbox on the other hand looks incredibly jaggy. There are options to mess with the picture, but I'm going to try and get it replaced first.

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