Vertical lines when moving horizontally?

[Madmorda]

I have a 4.3" tft screen hooked up to a gamecube that is doing something odd. When there is horizontal movement in a game (for example running to the right in smash bros, or rotating the camera in super Mario sunshine) there are vertical lines on the screen. It is more noticeable in background areas, such as the sky, but is across the whole screen. There is perhaps one line per millimeter. When standing still or moving away from or towards the camera, you can't see it. Any horizontal movement however triggers this. The screen is receiving composite input.

Has anyone else experienced this? I've read that there is a similar effect in wind waker, but I haven't played it myself so I can't confirm it's the same.

It's a gamecube portable with a disc drive, not a wasp. There is a xenogc modchip installed, but I doubt that's the issue.

 

[JacksonS]

Have you tried connecting the video output to a different screen or TV? It sounds like an issue that could be originating from the AV encoder on the motherboard.

 

[Madmorda]

No, I'm testing out different things first since I don't want to open it up unless I have to. I've tried playing it in the dark in case light was making the laser read funny. I have found that different games do it in different levels. Metroid prime you can't even see it, animal crossing it's barely noticeable, and both games are fairly dark. Harvest moon is the worst that I've seen. It seems to be more with greens and blues than anything else. I'll keep testing and update if I find anything out.

 

[JacksonS]

Can you take a picture of it? It's not clear what the bars look like.

 

[Madmorda]

This is by no means a good picture, and I think the lines in it were caused by my phone, but they resemble the lines in describing, so here it is.

You can see them best in the middle on the grass in front of the dog. It shows up the most in grass, sky, or water, but is not as noticeable on objects like mario, fruit, buildings, etc.

I did try plugging in a different GameCube into an identical monitor and there were no such lines. Could heat have caused it to develop this issue? The console is fairly well ventilated, with two fans and two heatsinks, but the motherboard is below the screen.

 

[JacksonS]

If you can't see it on another screen, then your screen must be the issue. There might be some passive component on the board where the video input is (a capacitor or resistor) that has gone bad or gotten disconnected. It may help if you take a picture of the components on the screen's circuit board, particularly where the composite video input is.

I doubt heat would cause any changes like that. I think the issue is only in the circuit board and not the actual LCD. You said you have another identical screen, so if it's possible, you could swap out the circuit boards and see if that helps.

 

[Madmorda]

The lines aren't there when I plug a different GameCube into a different (but identical) screen. I went to modretro since they have more documentation on gamecube issues, and I found some things about gamecube having vertical lines on lcds. It says that some screens have an auto adjust button that fixes it, but mine doesn't. Idk what's causing it, but if it gets to the point it really bothers me I'll open it up and check it out. Maybe shortening the wires that go to the screen will help.

 

[fibbef]

Are you able to switch the screen to 4:3 aspect ratio? The lines could be from stretching the image to fill the screen.

 

[Madmorda]

Huh. I really think that might be what it is. That explains why it only does it when moving sideways. Thanks fibbef