sixteen-bit
Member
dat shipping doe
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Upscalers, CRTs, PVMs & RGB: Retro gaming done right!
- Thread starter IrishNinja
- Start date
- Status
dat shipping doe
Shadow Hog
Member
I'd be more interested if I wasn't scheduled to get the RetroRGB switch sometime tomorrow.
I talked to the seller and he has combined shipping rates through his site. I got three switches and it came out to about $112 (instead of $152 through ebay). I used PayPal so if this is some fraud BS, I should be covered.
khaz, I don't mind the lack of auto switching for half the price. I'm already used to dialing in everything on my Extron. I'm mainly getting these as a backup anyway.
Does the automatic switching work well? I will be on vacation in the Netherlands (where both sellers reside) next month, so I may be able to avoid the high cost of shipping.
This is what I've been using for the past few years and it hasn't failed me. The Scart input 5 can also act as an output to record stuff, and some people have noticed that as such it can send Vcc to the console, making any LED permanently ON. it doesn't damage the console though, and can easily be modded if that bothers you. I just have a non-LED console on it.
Beer Monkey
Member
$76 shipped to the States for a 5-port auto switch that works well is a great deal as far as I'm concerned.
Shin Johnpv
Member
If you do have to go with a newer set, check out rtings.com they do lag tests on all the models they test.
Personally I went with a Samsung set that hits only about 25/26 ms of lag.
Is choosing the best TV for a FM somehow distinct from choosing a good 1080p TV in general for gaming? If it is, then yeah that'd be good discussion to have.
Personally we just picked the best TV we could get for 1080p for gaming and I'm happy using that with my FM, but I might be missing something.
D.Lo
Member
I don't think they would be distinct, you want the exact same things from both (good blacks, low lag etc).
One exception - UHD is 3840x2160 and can integer multiply 720p vertically. 720p sources should in scale more evenly on a UHD screen. So using the FM in 720p for the nicest scanline effects, or running 720p Wii U games, should (all else equal) look best on a 4K.
NormalFish
Banned
Setting up my SFC on my Mini. My unit isn't super sharp, so I've been trying out sharpness settings, and it's actually amazing how well sharpness works on the mini. Once you go over 2 it gets dumb, but at 1 or 2 it's pretty amazing what it can clear up.
NormalFish
Banned
Generally, TVL is directly proportional to the 'clarity' of the picture. Thus, higher TVL is generally better in terms of getting a very crisp image (usually with strong scanlines at 240p). However, many people don't prefer this look and like a slightly softer picture due to nostalgia or preference.
PumpkinSpice
Banned
Anything after 0 looks bad to me. Take a close look and you can see greys turning white, super narrow/wide pixels (especially with non-square PAR sources), and other problems.
I'd rather it just be a little soft.
NormalFish
Banned
On every other 240p source I've tried, I agree with you.
On this SFC, it is the perfect level of sharpness. And with scanlines, some of the artifacts are far less obvious.
Also depends on wich TV you use, on my Samsung sharpness needed to be 0, on my new Sony Bravia sharpness at 1 is way better for my SFC.
Thanks, I guess I'll pick the set with higher TVL if i see similar priced products.
NormalFish
Banned
Generally, I think everyone hear can agree that anything at 600 TVL and higher is very good. Higher than that is luxury and might not be worth a premium unless you're all about getting the best fucking CRT the world has ever known, and don't care about the price.
that's pretty much why my next planned upgrade is a 4K TV or monitor but they're very expensive so i'm waiting for price drops and saving up money.
also, i want the TVs to hit sub 1 frame of lag (under 17 ms).
600 lines is more than enough in my opinion.
RoninChaos
Member
Beer Monkey
Member
Actually, TVL affects the amount of detail in the scan line as the electronic beam traces from left to right. It doesn't affect the clarity of the spacing between the lines from top to bottom. Especially not with an aperture grille design as found in PVMs.
NormalFish
Banned
I'm not sure where you're disagreeing with me lol. Maybe the scanline comment? Every high TVL monitor I've seen has really massive, very distinct scanlines.
Beer Monkey
Member
High TVL on a PVM means more vertical slots in the aperture grille. That doesn't make (horizontal) scanlines more distinct.
I suppose your regular EU-to-US power converter would work just fine. Or you could buy a separate adapter: It's a 12V, 0.5A, centre +ve, the jack is of the same size as a Master System and Megadrive1 adapter.
NormalFish
Banned
Yes, I agree with you.
It's also true that every high TVL monitor I've ever seen has big, fat, scanlines.
I'm not saying this is necessarily because of the TVL, I'm saying that these two things are correlated.
Do you have an instance of a high TVL monitor without thick scanlines?
storafötter
Member
I have had my framemeister uopened for over a month and missing a few cables.
This is probably a stupid questions but when buying a component cable for ps2-ps3 does price matter? I have bought flimsy cables that break apart easily from dealextreme (in the past) so not sure. Also looking into buying a scart cable for the SNES.
Does anyone know any other alternative places to buy the CSYNC EuroSCART to XRGB mini adapter (since it is sold out at the uk retro store)
This is probably a stupid questions but when buying a component cable for ps2-ps3 does price matter? I have bought flimsy cables that break apart easily from dealextreme (in the past) so not sure. Also looking into buying a scart cable for the SNES.
Does anyone know any other alternative places to buy the CSYNC EuroSCART to XRGB mini adapter (since it is sold out at the uk retro store)
storafötter;201796001 said:
It matters. There are very poor quality PS2 component cables that make the picture look horrible. I'd try to find a used first party cable if you can. I managed to snag one for $20 about a year or two ago.
They're out there, but very rare. It took me a few weeks to find one, but it's worth it.
It's so good that I would have paid $40 for it (used).
storafötter
Member
Yeah I was thinking how ebay is flooded with generic non-first party ones. Thanks for the clarification. Dont wanna make any bad mistakes on my first try.
storafötter;201796001 said:
A little pricey, but new Sony brand quality, it plugs directly into a Framemeister, and easy to order.
What abut these, not official, but should be decent right? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0017NVQ84/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Ok Extron friends. So I got a bunch of cheap audio cables as well as the phoenix block connectors. What is the best way to wire it. It seems to be really finicky for me. I have the color (red/white) going into power for its respective side and then ground going into ground. I can get it to work but it takes forever to position the cable just right. Is there any trick to using these?
storafötter
Member
I forgot to say I am in Europe so amazon shipping prices from the US will be ridiculous, but it says monster brand cables so I will have a look for those thanks!
The Play-Asia ones seem pretty tempting (despite orderning a D-terminal adapter for the Wii component). I appreciate these recommendations.
Hey I remember we talked about making Extron audio adapter cables. Are you using the link I gave you? If you do it right, they should work. They may look a little ramshackle and fall apart if you mishandle them or plug/unplug them a lot.
all this D-Terminal cable talk made me remember i got one for Wii but only used it for like a month since i ended up using the Wii2HDMI adapter more often.
and it's even more funny now since i went back to the old component cable plugged directly to the TV. man, i wish i knew that progressive wouldn't cause lag like interlaced on HDTVs earlier. i could have saved some money.
and it's even more funny now since i went back to the old component cable plugged directly to the TV. man, i wish i knew that progressive wouldn't cause lag like interlaced on HDTVs earlier. i could have saved some money.
NormalFish
Banned
I've asked this before without much luck, but anyone got suggestions for audio? I'm ignorant as hell with this sort of thing, so let me try to lay this out.
I would like to route my PC audio, as well as typical red/white audio cables from my SFC and digital/optical (whatever it's called) from my ps2, all to a unit which I can output to my headphones and desk speakers.
Is there a box I can get for a reasonable price that can do all this without much fuckery?
I would like to route my PC audio, as well as typical red/white audio cables from my SFC and digital/optical (whatever it's called) from my ps2, all to a unit which I can output to my headphones and desk speakers.
Is there a box I can get for a reasonable price that can do all this without much fuckery?
I've been using this http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-X-100Watt...ooth-Remote-Control-24V-Adapter-/111693150045
The remote is a bit cheap but I suppose you can change it for whatever universal remote you prefer.
NormalFish
Banned
Like usual 3.5 or whatever the standard is out of the little green plug in my mobo.
can't see what all this takes in those photos.
geniusbits
Member
This. High TVL does not directly CAUSE thicker scan lines, but I believe there is something tighter about the lines (less spread from phosphors?) that ends up making the black spaces more distinct. It's obviously true that the highest TVL monitors ALWAYS have the thickest scan lines, and vice versa for lower TVL monitors.
geniusbits
Member
Yeah that is basically where I'm at, since I have a PS4 and also use my TV for Apple TV. My thing is that I don't want to pay a lot for a new TV, I want to find some rich person who hardly ever uses their TV and wants to upgrade just because they can to sell me their top of the line, little used ~5 year old plasma. It's not worth it to me to upgrade if I'm going to spend more than $500. My gaming is evenly split atm between PS4 and retro systems (mostly Dreamcast) through the FM.
speedlolita
Member
Well, I mean, in terms of pure resolution you're going to have more pronounced scanlines of course. Half of the image is black and when the image is finer, those lines will appear more pronounced. Combine a 800TVL display (like my 20M4E) with something like a 1CHIP SNES and the effect will be all the more apparent. My SHVC-CPU-01 is extremely sharp even so mind.
Can't find much info on it but it should be okay for all old consoles. My guess is 450 to 600 lines. I wouldn't worry about it nor use that as a reason not to buy it.
Audio as L/R RCA and Digital on the back, 3.5mm on the front, Bluetooth in the air.
Of course you can use 3.5mm-RCA adapters to plug everything on the back.
http://sure-electronics.net/AA-AS32182/intro2.jpg
NormalFish
Banned
Can I swap between them? I'd like to be able to go between consoles and pc without hassle, mostly. Right now that's a dick.
NormalFish
Banned
Honestly there seem to be a lot of ways to go about what I'm looking for, I just find audio stuff even more clusterfucky than video stuff.
IrishNinja
Member
keep thinking i wish i had room in my setup for this trinotron my friend donated a while back, it'd get more use than the PVM right now honestly
it supports component, so when the time's right i wanna be sure: ya'll say this converter will be good for me? ive got all the SCART cables/etc already
it supports component, so when the time's right i wanna be sure: ya'll say this converter will be good for me? ive got all the SCART cables/etc already
Beer Monkey
Member
Of course not. High TVL monitors are over-engineered, so of course they have super thin scanlines (the black space in between is just space); they have super tight focus, and it's the focus, not the TVL, that makes the scanlines so apparent.
You said it's the TVL that causes the scanlines to be so apparent, it's actually the focus that does that.
I'm not trying to be a dick, just clarifying for those who would want to understand.
You can actually adjust pots to defocus a PVM to the point that the scanlines blur together, but the TVL is a physical aspect (number of slots in the aperture grille).
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