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Upscalers, CRTs, PVMs & RGB: Retro gaming done right!

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IrishNinja

IrishNinja

Member
Shin Johnpv said:
I think if she jacked up her prices she's leaving the door open for someone like retrogamingcables.uk to take a lot of business. Or for someone domestic to decided to compete with her. It could bite her in the ass.
Click to expand...

true, but the examples being pointed at weren't even her jacking them up - just leaving them up to bidding, and watching the fuckery begin. she literally had a buy it now SNES cable soon before & after that, like it was an experiment or something.
 
B

Borman

Member
The original Xbox doesnt support 240p. People have looked into hacking it in, but no one has finished that as far as I know.
 
P

Peltz

Member
Timu said:
I hate interlacing, in fact the PS2 is the main console I have to deinterlace to even get 60 FPS out of it and better image quality as well. That's why I tend to go for Gamecube and Xbox multiplats over it.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure I understand... Do you mean getting 60 fps for capture equipment?
 
T

Timu

Member
Peltz said:
I'm not sure I understand... Do you mean getting 60 fps for capture equipment?
Click to expand...
Yep, my capture cards don't do 60 fps at 480i unless I use a upscaler/deinterlacer like the one I have now. I can finally capture 480i at 60fps with it.
 
T

televator

Member
NormalFish said:
are you sure there isn't?

I might be wrong, but doesn't the OG xbox have quite a bit of homebrew? seems odd no one's come up with that.
Click to expand...

The Conexant video encoder is capable of going down to 320x200, but I don't think the other ones are. I don't think it's really occurred to most developers to go through the trouble of creating an app that only works on 2 Xbox revisions.
 
B

Barrel Cannon

Member
televator said:
Yes, though there are ways to minimize it by soft modding the box. If you are interested in doing so feel free to come over to the Xbox appreciation thread. I just recently soft moded my Xbox and I can provide help with exploitable memory hacks.
Click to expand...
I have 1 of my 3 boxes soft modded and I will softmodding another as well. I just don't know how to turn off this auto flicker filter you are referring too. I don't seem to see any guides using Google about it. Is there a specific dash as such that you are using that has it. I use unleashx because I love using the easy to use ftp feature(which was godsend for me when moving mods and saves I'm patching between pc/Xbox)
 
M

Mega

Banned
Barrel Cannon said:
SNES: I just feel like S-Video is so beautiful over composite that anything else would just be way to minor to truly justify for myself. But down the line if I have the excess cash I will plop down for one.
PS2: You are right on this, I should just go out on kijiji and find one on the cheap
Click to expand...

Understandable if you're saving up for a later date, but it's not a minor upgrade at all (N64 perhaps being the exception to this).
7Tbiw0s.jpg
Click to expand...
Original: http://i.imgur.com/7Tbiw0s.jpg
 
B

Beer Monkey

Member
I agree that the colors on SNES are so beautiful that RGB is essential.

On the other hand, if your main use of the Gamecube is playing Gameboy games (like me), stick with s-vid until the affordable cables come (and they are coming).
 
T

televator

Member
Barrel Cannon said:
I have 1 of my 3 boxes soft modded and I will softmodding another as well. I just don't know how to turn off this auto flicker filter you are referring too. I don't seem to see any guides using Google about it. Is there a specific dash as such that you are using that has it. I use unleashx because I love using the easy to use ftp feature(which was godsend for me when moving mods and saves I'm patching between pc/Xbox)
Click to expand...

There's a user in the Xbox thread that I just had a conversation with. He said he uses xbmc to control the ff and there's some sort of application called flickerfucker. I have yet to look into it as the ff isn't an immediate concern, though it warrants my curiosity about the inner workings of the Xbox.
 
B

Barrel Cannon

Member
Mega said:
Understandable if you're saving up for a later date, but it's not a minor upgrade at all (N64 perhaps being the exception to this).

Original: http://i.imgur.com/7Tbiw0s.jpg
Click to expand...
As a huge Yoshi's island fan (YI and dkc2 were the only snes games I owned for a long time) seeing rgb pictures of that game always send a glee into my veins. Curse you Mega for encouraging me lol. I guess I'll have to start saving up for the cable lol. Just gotta figure out which one I'll end up getting now.
 
B

Barrel Cannon

Member
televator said:
There's a user in the Xbox thread that I just had a conversation with. He said he uses xbmc to control the ff and there's some sort of application called flickerfucker. I have yet to look into it as the ff isn't an immediate concern, though it warrants my curiosity about the inner workings of the Xbox.
Click to expand...
I have xbmc as an app. I'll take a look and different around to see if I can figure it out. The original Xbox has always been pretty fascinating to me in terms of the modding/homebrew scene. It's sad the scene died down quite a bit compared to what it once was.
 
T

TGMIII

Member
So I haven't got to see it myself yet but there's a PVM-20L4 near me listed as faulty/for spare parts for £50. I'm going to take a look just in case it turns out to be working correctly but in the scenario that it isn't would it still be worth picking up to maybe try and see if it's repairable? It's currently listed as intermittently powering on and not getting a video signal when it does.

Professional screens aren't too common where I am and the few that are get sold at ridiculous prices such as one person trying to sell a 20" BVM for £1000.
 
B

Beer Monkey

Member
FYI the Bandridge SCART switches include a power supply that works on mains power in NTSC land aka it's 50/60 100-240. Just need a plug adapter.
 
P

Peltz

Member
awwyeahgurrl said:
So I haven't got to see it myself yet but there's a PVM-20L4 near me listed as faulty/for spare parts for £50. I'm going to take a look just in case it turns out to be working correctly but in the scenario that it isn't would it still be worth picking up to maybe try and see if it's repairable? It's currently listed as intermittently powering on and not getting a video signal when it does.

Professional screens aren't too common where I am and the few that are get sold at ridiculous prices such as one person trying to sell a 20" BVM for £1000.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't try to repair it. Especially not for 50 bones. Not even for free really.

It'll likely cost more than the value of the tv to get it fixed. No one really repairs CRTs anymore.
 
R

Rich!

Member
Awwww fuuuck.

I threw away my old scart multi adapter. I was going to swing by Argos later to buy a new one but the price has gone up to £15. Luckily some guy has them on ebay for £5 each. For reference it's this:

$_57.JPG
Click to expand...
 
T

theSlacker

Member
IrishNinja said:
yeah, was said but she left at least one pair to open bidding rather than buy it now, and shit got ridiculous.
might step on some toes here, but i'm gonna be honest; part of me thinks she should jack up her prices a bit. it's plainly obvious there's tons of demand, her feedback/quality of work is high, and she has what looks like a near-monopoly in this region. if every other reseller & shmuck is gonna inflate the bubble, part of me thinks someone who's actually providing an in-demand service should feel free to take suckers for a ride from time to time, too.

yes, i am comfortably saying this as someone who currently has all the cables he needs, haha
Click to expand...

Pls go.

This is also coming from someone who has all the cables they need. Just go. Pls.
>:C
 
M

Mega

Banned
Rich! said:
Awwww fuuuck.

I threw away my old scart multi adapter. I was going to swing by Argos later to buy a new one but the price has gone up to £15. Luckily some guy has them on ebay for £5 each. For reference it's this:
Click to expand...

Those are total crap by all accounts around the web.
http://www.videogameperfection.com/2011/11/23/scart-switch-roundup/

You want Shinybow, Bandridge or Hama Scart switches. They can get expensive but look back a few pages for links to a few decent priced ones on eBay.
 
R

Rich!

Member
Mega said:
Those are total crap by all accounts around the web.
http://www.videogameperfection.com/2011/11/23/scart-switch-roundup/

You want Shinybow, Bandridge or Hama Scart switches. They can get expensive but look back a few pages for links to a few decent priced ones on eBay.
Click to expand...

ahhh righty

so this (hama one, rebranded) is good enough?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000LMQ312/

edit: this looks like the same one but even cheaper. £10! Worth buying?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0007XQA8G/
 
L

Laser Wolf

Neo Member
I have a question I haven't seen addressed very well after some Googling.

I don't have a Framemeister yet, but I'm getting my ducks in a row for when I do (RGB modding my NES, getting RGB SCART cables, et cetera). Way back when I got my Wii U, I did a system transfer from my Wii and then got rid of it. I'm wondering now if that was a mistake.

My understanding is that although the Framemeister isn't that great with 480p content, it actually does a decent job with the Wii. Is this the case for the vWii mode on the Wii U as well? I know vWii mode can't output 240p like the Wii, but I'm not really concerned about VC titles. I'm thinking more about disc-based Wii games and WiiWare titles where that won't be relevant.

From what I can tell, these are my options...

1) Leave the Wii U at 1080p, forego hooking up to the Framemeister, and enter vWii mode.

2) Set the Wii U to 480p, hook up to the Framemeister, and enter vWii mode.

3) Set the Wii U to 480i, hook up to the Framemeister, and enter vWii mode.

4) Get a Wii and hook it up to the Framemeister.

I guess I could even change the Wii U to 480p/480i and forego the Framemeister, but I don't know what the benefit of that would be. Any thoughts on to what would give the best picture? If it's a small or negligible difference, then I'd prefer to use the Wii U. I wouldn't be using the Wii for anything else due to the Game Boy Player being essential.
 
M

Madao

Member
Laser Wolf said:
I have a question I haven't seen addressed very well after some Googling.

I don't have a Framemeister yet, but I'm getting my ducks in a row for when I do (RGB modding my NES, getting RGB SCART cables, et cetera). Way back when I got my Wii U, I did a system transfer from my Wii and then got rid of it. I'm wondering now if that was a mistake.

My understanding is that although the Framemeister isn't that great with 480p content, it actually does a decent job with the Wii. Is this the case for the vWii mode on the Wii U as well? I know vWii mode can't output 240p like the Wii, but I'm not really concerned about VC titles. I'm thinking more about disc-based Wii games and WiiWare titles where that won't be relevant.

From what I can tell, these are my options...

1) Leave the Wii U at 1080p, forego hooking up to the Framemeister, and enter vWii mode.

2) Set the Wii U to 480p, hook up to the Framemeister, and enter vWii mode.

3) Set the Wii U to 480i, hook up to the Framemeister, and enter vWii mode.

4) Get a Wii and hook it up to the Framemeister.

I guess I could even change the Wii U to 480p/480i and forego the Framemeister, but I don't know what the benefit of that would be. Any thoughts on to what would give the best picture? If it's a small or negligible difference, then I'd prefer to use the Wii U. I wouldn't be using the Wii for anything else due to the Game Boy Player being essential.
Click to expand...

it'd be worth testing. there were comparisons between vWii with Wii U at 1080p output vs FM + Wii a while ago but no Wii U at 480i/p into FM.

it's also a lengthy comparison since you'd have to consider the component and HDMI outputs for Wii U. when you look at the possibilities, the combinations add up. looking back, i don't think there's many comparisons between Wii U's analog and digital outputs in vWii.
 
V

Vespa

Member
@Rich, seems like it could introduce some noise with the snes from one of those amazon reviews:

Introduces a little bit of interference on my SNES (very minor) and no interference to my PS1.
Click to expand...

Also the videogameperfection HAMA review page says that the lookalikes possibly aren't the same:

Q: Are the hama 100s, the vivanco sbx84, and philips swv2052w the same product?
all three products seem to be the same
A: No, unfortunately they look the same but can perform quite differently.
Click to expand...
 
M

Madao

Member
always go original if you want good quality. never do knockoffs. you'll regret it eventually and end up spending on the real thing anyway.
 
B

Borman

Member
Yeah, the problem on the original Xbox isn't the hardware. The hardware supports all sorts of video modes. It's just getting it to actually output that has proven to be the issue. The entire source tree to the Xbox is out there, so that isn't an issue, but it isn't exactly the easiest thing to work with :)
 
R

Rich!

Member
Vespa said:
@Rich, seems like it could introduce some noise with the snes from one of those amazon reviews:



Also the videogameperfection HAMA review page says that the lookalikes possibly aren't the same:
Click to expand...

Ah goddamnit. I'll cancel the order and spend the extra tenner then.

Thanks
 
S

Shin Johnpv

Member
IrishNinja said:
true, but the examples being pointed at weren't even her jacking them up - just leaving them up to bidding, and watching the fuckery begin. she literally had a buy it now SNES cable soon before & after that, like it was an experiment or something.
Click to expand...

To be fair though Ebay is ripe with idiots who will bid shit up for no reason. When I was looking to get a used copy of the PSP Ys Memories of Celceta, people kept being up used copies so that with shipping they cost more than a new one from amazon (where I eventually just bought it from).
 
M

Morfeo

The Chuck Norris of Peace
Khaz said:
No love for fancy automatic switches?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Bandr...497238?hash=item35ff0fe056:g:XZIAAOSwzgRW1fAC

Ok then a manual one
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bandridge...062378?hash=item3ac13c5f2a:g:~egAAOSwAvJXCV8n
Click to expand...

Love the picture with the Virtual Boy in the background, this seller knows his retro-stuff!

Anyways, finally got the ebay-lady to get back to me, and she posted my order which i bought. 200$ on cables seems ridiculous, but I guess that is the price of this rabbit hole. So that means the cables for finally using this framemeister should be on its way!
 
M

Mega

Banned
Rich! said:
ahhh righty

so this (hama one, rebranded) is good enough?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000LMQ312/

edit: this looks like the same one but even cheaper. £10! Worth buying?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0007XQA8G/
Click to expand...

No, they're not rebranded Hama switches. The guy who runs the site I linked before said they look the same but are different on the inside and can therefore be hit/miss (edit: what vespa said -- and I've read as much elsewhere that they're not the same). There are other good ones but the Hama is the most recommended of that kind because it's the one most known to work well.

Shin Johnpv said:
To be fair though Ebay is ripe with idiots who will bid shit up for no reason. When I was looking to get a used copy of the PSP Ys Memories of Celceta, people kept being up used copies so that with shipping they cost more than a new one from amazon (where I eventually just bought it from).
Click to expand...

I've been buying up Wii and GC games left and right recently and noticed the bidding idiocy. I enter auctions when they're low but back out of most of them because bidding continues to the point where I can easily find BIN listings for less (and in better condition)... with hours remaining on the auction. It's ridiculous.
 
G

Galdelico

Member
Not sure this is the right place to ask...
Any tips on a decent 2.0 speaker set to use with a PVM, possibly within the 50 euros price range?
A friend of mine suggested these, from Philips, which look nice and seem to have good reviews. Only problem is, the audio cable - the one that comes out of one speaker and goes to the computer through its jack terminal - is built-in, so I'd need this other cable to connect the set to the audio plugs on my Hama scart switch-box. Am I going to considerably degrade the audio signal, by doing that?
I ask because the most common 2.0 set with separate jack/jack cable that I'm aware of, is the Creative GigaWorks T20, which seems to be floating in the 70/100 euros waters.
 
B

Beer Monkey

Member
Galdelico said:
Only problem is, the audio cable - the one that comes out of one speaker and goes to the computer through its jack terminal - is built-in, so I'd need this other cable to connect the set to the audio plugs on my Hama scart switch-box. Am I going to considerably degrade the audio signal, by doing that?
Click to expand...

Splitters like that (and I have a variety of them) aren't going to hurt game audio quality, you are fine.

Any decent stereo speakers with even cheap cabling will sound 100x better than the PVM speaker.
 
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