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

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Mega

Banned
Oh you're one of those?! I sold one of my PVMs to a couple who do something art related(?) with CRTs... no idea what. Something about manipulating the RGB levels and flat panels can't cut it. So what is it artsy folks do with CRTs?
 
Oh you're one of those?! I sold one of my PVMs to a couple who do something art related(?) with CRTs... no idea what. Something about manipulating the RGB levels and flat panels can't cut it. So what is it artsy folks do with CRTs?

I'll post something when I have something. Right now I just have some ideas. Nothing too radical, I just like the aesthetic in general.

I actually have a cool Twilight Zone book where all the stills were shot from black and white CRTs. Most episodes still have the original film elements available but there's something about the way TZ looks on a CRT that gives it a certain authenticity, at least to those with memories of watching the show on an old-school TV.
 

IrishNinja

Member
so, i love my big ol' trinotron, but the greens are washed out and the colors are a bit off now...there's no easy way to fix that, yeah?
 

goldenpp72

Member
So I got my Scart switches (2 of them) from assembler and set them up finally, I guess this is my final setup. Kinda hard to see but I buried them on top/to the side of the Cdi console on the bottom in the middle cabinet :p



Feels good to be done.
 
So I got my Scart switches (2 of them) from assembler and set them up finally, I guess this is my final setup. Kinda hard to see but I buried them on top/to the side of the Cdi console on the bottom in the middle cabinet :p

Feels good to be done.
Looks great. I got one too, it's so nice to switch on the fly, only have to dig out controller to switch up systems.
 

goldenpp72

Member
Looks great. I got one too, it's so nice to switch on the fly, only have to dig out controller to switch up systems.

Yeah it works great, one of my systems doesn't work right through it but, I so rarely use it that I guess it's fine. 12 out of 13 isn't bad for the scart family anyways :p
 

IrishNinja

Member
In the service menu you should be able to adjust the rgb values and cut offs. Hopefully!

damn, that's a good idea - anyone know how to access service menus? i forget exactly what model my trinitron is, it's the later model flat screen one with component inputs in the back...
 

televator

Member
So I got my Scart switches (2 of them) from assembler and set them up finally, I guess this is my final setup. Kinda hard to see but I buried them on top/to the side of the Cdi console on the bottom in the middle cabinet :p



Feels good to be done.

giphy.gif
 

goldenpp72

Member
Which one isn't working?

The intellivision model 2. It was modded on Atariage and it works just fine plugged in directly, but when placed into the switch the sound becomes so dim that you'd need to max out the volume just to get low volume. I asked about it on the forum and he said it's likely the mod and that the switch doesn't support mods officially, which makes sense. Still a tiny bit of a shame.


I appreciate the reference, my favorite scene in that movie :p
 

Tiktaalik

Member
So I got my Scart switches (2 of them) from assembler and set them up finally, I guess this is my final setup. Kinda hard to see but I buried them on top/to the side of the Cdi console on the bottom in the middle cabinet :p

Feels good to be done.

What is that white system on the left with the cart sticking out? I don't think I've ever seen that before.
 

IrishNinja

Member
What is that white system on the left with the cart sticking out? I don't think I've ever seen that before.

oh man, if we're talking about the same one, that's an Atari...fuck i forget the model, no one i knew had it but it was in all the catalogs and i always thought it looked kinda cool back then
 

goldenpp72

Member
It's an Atari Xegs, it was I believe the last console Atari made until the jaguar and was just a console shell for their home computers of the time. It had some XE specific game boxes and such, but I only bought it to complete the console set for that company.

If you meant the one on the bottom, that's a model 2 intellivision. I purchased it due to the controllers not being hard wired but it has it's own limitations.
 

IrishNinja

Member
^that's pretty cool. i totally miss my Atari 400, had some near perfect arcade ports in the day! i think it was some of those later catalogs i might've seen that system in
 

Khaz

Member
The intellivision model 2. It was modded on Atariage and it works just fine plugged in directly, but when placed into the switch the sound becomes so dim that you'd need to max out the volume just to get low volume. I asked about it on the forum and he said it's likely the mod and that the switch doesn't support mods officially, which makes sense. Still a tiny bit of a shame.

Hm that's a a weird one. My guess is an incorrectly wired audio in your Intellivision Scart cable, but that's a long shot.
 

goldenpp72

Member
Hm that's a a weird one. My guess is an incorrectly wired audio in your Intellivision Scart cable, but that's a long shot.

Well, the cable I use for it is identical to the one for the Colecovision, and both of them work perfect on the Coleco so it's definitely something with the mod itself that doesn't gel with the switch.


It might have been a subliminal inspiration as I recall seeing that setup a long time ago, though I didn't model it after anything specific at the time. I actually have.. 3 setups for retro stuff, but that's the biggest one.
 

Mega

Banned
^That setup is awesome. I'm jealous! Wish I had the space to set up my systems like that. My consoles are shoulder to shoulder in my metal shelves unit.

Washed out greens could mean the green electron gun was overused and is weak or failing. In any case, upping the RGB levels helps unless G value is already maxed. In general, adjusting Gain and Cutoff won't do what you need. Those adjust hue strength in the lights and darks respectively. I say "in general" because the function of Gain and Cutoff is dependent on the manufacturer's implementation.

Anybody using one of these video cards in conjuction with MAME or an equivalent to run games from their PC to their RGB monitor?

Something I am very interested in pursuing if the results are good enough.

Look back a couple of pages! Best solution: CRT, budget PC, old Radeon HD card, CRT Emudriver, GroovyMame.
 

Maxpacker

Member
damn, that's a good idea - anyone know how to access service menus? i forget exactly what model my trinitron is, it's the later model flat screen one with component inputs in the back...

on mine you press DISPLAY, 5, VOL+, and then power on the remote while the tv is off.
you then use 1 & 4 to scroll through different settings, and 3 & 6 change them.
mine is a 2004 trinitron 27"

make sure you write down the values first before messing around in the service menu.
i found a service manual for mine online that tell what the different codes do.

After i figured it out it's pretty cool being able to tweak geometry and color. My geometry is as good as it gets i think but impossible to get perfect.
 

Timu

Member
I think it's easier to use an Everdrive. Stuff below was in MLiG's last video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDiHgKil8AQ

http://retrorgb.com/n64.html
- If you have an Everdrive 64 (or other ROM cart), it'll be easier to patch the roms [than to] type Gameshark codes. Poregon has created some great patches that can either be applied with LunerIPS, or by using the auto-patch feature of the Everdrive 64 (just make sure the patch has the exact same file name as the rom): http://n64.poregon.com/shared/

It makes a nice improvement btw. Highly recommended. Killing AA blur combined with the Ultra HDMI secondary blur removal and Sharp Pixels/integer scaling, you get a PS1-like picture.

On a related note, I contacted the Ultra HDMI creator and he is releasing a firmware update that will allow the use of the scanline filter with integer scaling. For those unaware, the default scaling option is blurry. The solution is to enable Sharp Pixels (integer scaling) but that grays out a bunch of stuff on the menu, including scanline filter options which are really needed to complete the look. Without scanlines it looks like a sharp, crawling pixelated mess (MLiG example below). He didn't think the two would visually work well together but became aware it was an issue after phonedork's last video that touched on the problem. The patch is 1-2 months away and because of a risk of bricking the console, it will only be given to mod installers. I was told I could eventually get it myself from the guy who sold me the Ultra HDMI N64 with an understanding of the risk involved. I get why he's doing it this way since it ties into how he primarily distributes the Ultra HDMI only to people who offer modding services.

movies-2016-6e24c.png
I am seriously considering getting an everdrive for my N64 to do direct feeds of this.
 
everdrive in general is amazing

I own just about all of them at this point.

I also own a RHEA and a GDEMU
I modded a Wiikey sd reader into my gamecube.
no optical drive failure to worry about for me.

Being able to play homebrews and rom hacks/translations makes them a no brainer. Gameshark codes are just icing on the cake.
 
so are the gameshark codes more consistent yet? Or is it still basically trial and error in finding codes, and no promise that codes disable the actual AA filter?
The Wii's component output isn't half as bad as people say, IMO, at least not on my launch Wii. Even the MLIG guys admitted it wasn't worth the price of Gamecube component over the Wii if it weren't for the Gameboy Player which is exclusive to the actual Gamecube.

Don't forget that if your Wii looks slightly washed out compared to a real Gamecube, you can calibrate your display for saturation and contrast to compensate. Many comparisons from people like phonedork and even RetroRGB make a point of NOT calibrating and saying "hey, look at this inferior output over here". Always calibrate.

From our very own 645:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=51789
 

Conezays

Member
so are the gameshark codes more consistent yet? Or is it still basically trial and error in finding codes, and no promise that codes disable the actual AA filter?

I have an N64 and Everdrive and can confirm I used the codes with minimal fuss by simply adding the files to your SD card and then toggling "apply on/off" in the Everdrive menu. The only slight irritance is ensuring you make all of your roms the same name as the patched AA files.

This is what I used:

http://n64.poregon.com/shared/
 

Mega

Banned
so are the gameshark codes more consistent yet? Or is it still basically trial and error in finding codes, and no promise that codes disable the actual AA filter?

I think there's no way around testing on an individual basis, one game at a time, but check Poregon's pack. It contains a large number of patch files. Not the entire N64 library yet, but paired with the Everdrive it's a great setup for now.
 
Direct link: http://www.micomsoft.co.jp/xrgb-mini_download.htm

(frames? in 2016? sure looks like a website designed by hardware engineers...)

Seems like more settings geared at composite/s-video, some sync fixes for HDMI, some other tweaks for the minor differences between NTSC-U/J. The added A/D and sharpness options for Luma vs Chroma should be interesting given how much less resolution there is in Chroma for s-video -- probably best to turn the sharpness way the hell down for chroma but we'll see.

I'm curious if the sync fixes will help with the lag on resolution switch. As it is now my TV seems to lose all signal for a couple seconds if the resolution changes at the console output end, which doesn't make a lot of sense other than HDMI just being full of gremlins, so if it fixes that it would be great.

So I got around to installing this last night. The HDMI changes seem to lead to fewer HDMI-related signal loss but there's still a large delay in the change from 240 to 480i.

I played around with the "Video" settings for composite/s-video. I can't tell if the chroma settings are doing anything. The Luma signal sharpness has a noticable effect of making everything look very blurry if you turn it down, other than that it might be good for minor tweaks but not much else.
 
I have an N64 and Everdrive and can confirm I used the codes with minimal fuss by simply adding the files to your SD card and then toggling "apply on/off" in the Everdrive menu. The only slight irritance is ensuring you make all of your roms the same name as the patched AA files.

This is what I used:

http://n64.poregon.com/shared/

I think there's no way around testing on an individual basis, one game at a time, but check Poregon's pack. It contains a large number of patch files. Not the entire N64 library yet, but paired with the Everdrive it's a great setup for now.
Seems like that dude's search has paid off, at least. I don't yet have a way to run the codes anyway, but it's definitely an interesting project.

Tim has an upcoming N64 RGB update that will include deblur. I'm curious to see how they all compare.
 

Mega

Banned
Again, saturation, brightness, and contrast can easily be compensated for on a real CRT. Analog circuitry can make those two checkerboards scope almost identically. It really isn't that big of a deal on a CRT.

I said as much about the Component output of the two systems a few months ago when someone posted retrorgb's OUT OF FOCUS Wii screenshot as a comparison of how "bad" it is next to GameCube. I don't play zoomed in static images on my LCD. In practice, on decent CRTs and with each console properly calibrated, I don't believe there's any detectable difference.
 

Timu

Member
Seems like that dude's search has paid off, at least. I don't yet have a way to run the codes anyway, but it's definitely an interesting project.

Tim has an upcoming N64 RGB update that will include deblur. I'm curious to see how they all compare.
I wonder if there would be a way to have this exist in RGB N64s that are already out.
 

Hawk269

Member
So I got my Scart switches (2 of them) from assembler and set them up finally, I guess this is my final setup. Kinda hard to see but I buried them on top/to the side of the Cdi console on the bottom in the middle cabinet :p



Feels good to be done.

Very nice set up. I am still working on mine, I don't have as many systems as you do, but still working on increasing my collection. Love all the Atari systems you have. I still wish I had hung onto my Atari 7800 from back in the day.
 
I wonder if there would be a way to have this exist in RGB N64s that are already out.
You'd need a way to patch the new firmware. not sure what hardware that requires.
I wonder if the de-blur would also apply to the modded N64's Composite and S-Video.
This is an interesting question. I would expect so, but I'm not sure exactly how his board deals with composite/svideo.
 
Do we know if the Framemeister processes the D-link and RGB mini DIN inputs differently?

Bump from a bit earlier... Reason I ask is bc right now I have the Xbox, ps2, Wii, PSP and GameCube hooked up via a component switch run through the d-terminal input on the Framemeister. Would there be any advantage to using the GARO for these consoles over the D-terminal in?
 

Mega

Banned
I own just about all of them at this point.

I also own a RHEA and a GDEMU

Where did you get these? Do you know anyone who sells them pre-made? I can't find anywhere to obtain them. There was a RHEA on eBay not long ago and I stupidly didn't get in on that. The final bid wasn't even that high. :|
 

Madao

Member
do you still need to redo all your settings when updating the FM?

i really hate that since each input has to be reconfigured.
 

Bar81

Member
Where did you get these? Do you know anyone who sells them premise? I can't find anywhere to obtain them. There was a RHEA on eBay not long ago and I stupidly didn't get in on that. The final bid wasn't even that high. :|

There's always stalking the homepage for when orders open up again:
https://gdemu.wordpress.com

Seems to be pretty backed up atm though.
 

Timu

Member
Next month I might get the N64 Everdrive and test out games with the No AA patch, direct feeds of course, no off screen shots.
 
Where did you get these? Do you know anyone who sells them pre-made? I can't find anywhere to obtain them. There was a RHEA on eBay not long ago and I stupidly didn't get in on that. The final bid wasn't even that high. :|


I got them both directly from GDEMU.wordpress.com

I can confirm both are real and they're fantastic.
 

Mega

Banned
I know the site, they're usually sold out (I know they had stock a fee weeks ago that quickly sold out). I was just wondering if anyone is selling the mods installed in consoles. :p
 
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