How to hook up your SEGA Dreamcast
This page will show you the various ways to get your SEGA Dreamcast up and running!
SEGA Dreamcast
Ports and Connections
SEGA A/V OUT:
This port is used for the SEGA Dreamcast Composite RCA AV Cable (red, white & Yellow). And can be used with an RF Box.
AC ADAPTOR:
This is the power supply port for the SEGA 2-Prong Power Cord.
The SEGA Dreamcast has several different ways to connect to your television or monitor.
RF: Yes, even the SEGA Dreamcast can be hooked up with an RF cable, but please don’t! It provides the worst picture quality. You should only use this method if your television does not have RCA ports available.
COMPOSITE RCA: this provides a good picture quality from the SEGA Dreamcast and is much better than RF.
S-VIDEO: this provides the better picture quality than the RCA connection. Best on most old CRT or Tube TV’s.
VGA: This is a fantastic method of hooking up your Dreamcast. This requires a computer monitor or TV with a VGA Port.
HDMI: this has only recently become available and is the best option for new flat-screen TV’s
RF Switch/Box
Standard Quality
RCA Composite Cable
Good Quality
S-Video Cable
Best Quality – CRT
VGA Cable
Best Quality – Monitor
HDMI Cable
Best Quality – Flat Screen
METHOD #1 – RF Connection
What you will need:
SEGA Dreamcast
(any model)
SEGA RF Box
(HKT-8860)
SEGA 2-Prong Power Cord
This is the method that most of you will remember if you were born before the 80’s. It was the staple method of hooking game systems up to a TV starting with PONG and still used for the XBOX and Playstation 2 (never do this). It is by far the worst way to go for picture quality. The reason being is that all the video and audio signals are compressed into one coaxial cable and jammed in to the TV, letting the television split it apart on its end. This causes a fuzzy picture, often accompanied by rolling lines! But if you only have a Coaxial input on your TV, what else can you do. Let’s begin.
STEP #1 
Plug the SEGA RF Box cable into your SEGA Dreamcast. You use the cable with the end that just plugs in, not the end with the screw on it.
STEP #2
Attach the other end of the SEGA HKT-8860 RF Box to your television cable port. (see diagram) If you are currently using this port for you Antenna, Cable or Satellite TV, and you only have one port (unlike the diagram). Unscrew the cord, screw in the RF box, and then screw the TV Cord to the port supplied on the RF box (shown on bottom of illustration). This way your TV source will continue to work.
STEP #3
Change the CH3-CH4 switch (Which is located on the HKT-8860 RF box) to desired channel. The channel shouldn’t matter. This channel would be yout TV’s tuner channels or local channel. Not a cable or satalite providers channel. On your TV’s INPUTS this is normally refered to as AIR.
STEP #4 
Plug the SEGA Dreamcast 2-Prong Power Cable into the back of the SEGA Dreamcast.
STEP #5
Plug the SEGA Dreamcast 2-Prong Power Cable into the wall.
STEP #6
Insert a game and turn on the SEGA Dreamcast, even if you don’t see it on the TV yet. You should see the power light on the SEGA Dreamcast light up (a good sign) and you should hear the disc spin-up. Doing this first will help in finding the right TV settings, when you’re searching for the right channel or input and you see the game, you got it right!
STEP #7
Turn the TV to the channel you picked on the back of the game system. If you have a newer model TV, you probably have several INPUTS SOURCES available from COMPONENT, VIDEO 1 2 & 3 and so on. If this is the case you will most likely need to change it to AIR, which you may also have more than one option (AIR 1 or 2 or A and B, as shown on the above diagram). To change to these different video signal options, you usually have a INPUT or SOURCE button on your remote or television. If everything went right (and your game works…) you should be in business!
STEP #8
Enjoy some Resident Evil: Code Veronica!
The Trog Store has many cables and power supplies available.
METHOD #2 – RCA Connection
What you will need:
SEGA Dreamcast
(any model)
SEGA Dreamcast
RCA AV cable
SEGA 2-Prong Power Cord
This method will give you good picture quality out of your SEGA Dreamcast. It is the method you should use over RF whenever possible as the improved image quality is very noticeable. So let’s get started!
STEP #1
Plug the SEGA Dreamcast RCA AV cable into your SEGA Dreamcast.
STEP #2
Attach the other end of the RCA cable to your TV. You could have multiple options available like on the diagram. You can place it in any one that is not in use. YELLOW is always the VIDEO and should be plugged into the YELLOW port. RED and WHITE (right and left respectively) are the sound and should be plugged into the proper color for the cable.
STEP #3
Plug the SEGA Dreamcast 2-Prong Power Cable into the SEGA Dreamcast.
STEP #4
Plug the SEGA Dreamcast 2-Prong Power Cable into the wall.
STEP #5
Insert a game and turn on the SEGA Dreamcast, even if you don’t see it on the TV yet. You should see the power light on the SEGA Dreamcast light up (a good sign) and you should hear the disc spin-up. Doing this first will help in finding the right TV settings, when you’re searching for the right channel or input and you see the game, you got it right!
STEP #6
Turn your TV to the appropriate VIDEO SOURCE. You probably have several INPUTS available from COMPONENT, VIDEO 1 2 & 3 and so on. In the diagram above you would need to change your TV to VIDEO 1. To change to these different video signal options, you usually have an INPUT or SOURCE button on your remote or television.
STEP #7
Save the city in Sonic Adventure!
METHOD #3 – S-Video Connection
What you will need:
SEGA Dreamcast
(any model)
SEGA Dreamcast
S-Video AV cable
SEGA 2-Prong Power Cord
This method will give you an even better picture quality out of your SEGA Dreamcast on older CRT or Tube television. It is the method you should use whenever possible as the improved image quality of RF and RCA connections is very noticeable. So let’s get started!
STEP #1
Plug the SEGA Dreamcast S-Video cable into your SEGA Dreamcast.
STEP #2
Attach the other end of the SEGA Dreamcast S-Video cable to your TV. Many times, if your television has a S-Video connection it will be in-line with the RCA ports (red, white & yellow) as shown on the diagram. So in this case you would still use the red & white audio cables, but not the yellow video port. You will plug the s-video cable into the same AV option as the audio cables.
STEP #3
Plug the SEGA Dreamcast 2-Prong Power Cable into the SEGA Dreamcast.
STEP #4
Plug the SEGA Dreamcast 2-Prong Power Cable into the wall.
STEP #5
Insert a game and turn on the SEGA Dreacmast, even if you don’t see it on the TV yet. You should see the power light on the SEGA Dreacmast light up (a good sign) and you should hear the disc spin-up. Doing this first will help in finding the right TV settings, when you’re searching for the right channel or input and you see the game, you got it right!
STEP #6
Turn your TV to the appropriate VIDEO SOURCE. You probably have several INPUTS available from COMPONENT, VIDEO 1 2 & 3 and so on. In the diagram above you would need to change your TV to VIDEO 1. To change to these different video signal options, you usually have an INPUT or SOURCE button on your remote or television.
STEP #7
Beat some people up in Power Stone!
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