Following on from the poor results I had with the Hydra-W 16 port scart switch I decided to try the GSCARTW.

The gscartw has 8 inputs and 2 simultaneous outputs. As I need at least 16 ports, I'll have to get two of them… though my previous (costly) experience with the Hydra has made me wary and I'll get a single unit for now, test it with everything and then buy another unit.

A reminder of what I observed with the Hydra-W:

Will sync and display an image

• Amiga 500
• Atari STe
• Gamecube

Will not sync or display an image

• Amiga 1200
• Atari Jaguar
• BBC
• Master System
• Megadrive
• MSX2+
• Saturn
• SNES
• ZX Spectrum +3

Untested

• Amstrad CPC
• Neo Geo AES
• PC-Engine
• PC-Engine Turbo Duo
• ZX Spectrum +2 (recent acquisition since buying the gscartw)

The results listed below are with the exact same systems and the same cables as with the Hydra-W.

Result: Working via gscartw to OSSC

Kickstart 1.3 starts up and the screen is perfect. This also worked on the Hydra.

Result: Working via gscartw to OSSC

Works perfectly, as it did with via the Hydra-W. Again, there is a slight amount of ghosting (though its very faint), but this is widely accepted to be an internal issue with the ST/STe. This also worked on the Hydra.

Result: Working via gscartw to OSSC

Jaguar boot logo appears fine and the the test cartridge (Cybermorph) loads up and displays the title screen correctly. Great stuff. This did not work on the Hydra.

Result: Working via gscartw to OSSC

Displays correctly on the monitor. OSSC reports 625i signal. This also worked correctly on the Hydra

Result: Working via gscartw to OSSC

Looks stunning. Syncs to the gscartw perfectly and displays beautifully via the OSSC; I've never seen a SNES look this good. This did not sync to the Hydra.

Result: Working via gscartw to OSSC

As a reminder, this wouldn't sync to the Hydra-W, with the gscartw it works perfectly. Excellent quality image.

Result: Working via gscartw to OSSC

The SMS syncs to the gscartw and displays correctly through the OSSC. This would not sync with the Hydra. Note: I do have an issue with this particular SMS though; you can see in the second image areas of interference that scroll up the screen. I also had the same issue when connected directly to the OSSC, so it's not the gscartw that is causing it.

Result: Working via gscartw to OSSC

The Mega Drive syncs to the gscartw and displays correctly through the OSSC, excellent! This would not sync with the Hydra.

Result: Working via gscartw to OSSC

Saturn works over RGB SCART cable through the gscartw to the OSSC. This wouldn't work with the Hydra.

Unfortunately this test also showed that my Rhea optical drive emulator addon has stopped working since it was installed, which is very odd :( - Update: June 2020 now fixed, it was a faulty internal PSU!

The Saturn exhibits ghosting on the screen - something I'm trying to resolve

Result: Working via gscartw to OSSC

Works great - really clear image (probably the best I've ever seen from a Spectrum). Both the 128K ROM and the DivIDE+ firmware load and display perfectly. As a reminder my 128K +3 wouldn't display on the Hydra-W.

Result: Working via gscartw to OSSC

Works great; syncs and displays fine. The Playstation, however, is a tricky one as it has so many display modes and resolutions. On boot or within the PSIO screen it is displaying a 625i interlaced signal; something the OSSC doesn't really do well with (even in bob-blend mode); I'm fortunate enough that my screen (Dell U2410) supports 480/576i, so it's easier to set pass-through for interlaced modes. In progressive mode (the OSSC lists 262-264p for the couple of games I've tried) the OSSC works great, as expected.

As I test each system I will update the totals below.

• Number of systems working to gscartw: 11
• Amiga 500
• Atari STe,
• Atari Jaguar
• Nintendo Gamecube
• Nintendo SNES
• SEGA Master System
• SEGA Mega Drive
• SEGA Saturn
• Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128K +2
• Sony HB-FX1DJ MSX2+
• Sony Playstation 1

• Number of systems not working to gscartw: 0
• -