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[IrishNinja]

The port of Donkey Kong is far more faithful to the arcade version than the NES version. Fantastic. It's off-topic, but worth mentioning.

damn, wish idve played this! ive a feeling that one day when i get another 400 back (gotta assume mine's gone, though im gonna check mom's attic sometime just to be sure!), it can't be an expensive system to collect for

Goodbye dream PVM, I barely knew ye :'(

aw, no! died on ye already, peagles?!

 

[Peagles]

damn, wish idve played this! ive a feeling that one day when i get another 400 back (gotta assume mine's gone, though im gonna check mom's attic sometime just to be sure!), it can't be an expensive system to collect for



aw, no! died on ye already, peagles?!

Naw I was gonna bid on it, but it went for a stupid crazy price.

 

[IrishNinja]

Naw I was gonna bid on it, but it went for a stupid crazy price.

aww, wasn't even a loved & lost situation, that's harsh! haha i usually get turned off by shipping prices on stuff like that...still, what model's your dream one? maybe i can keep an eye out!

 

[speedlolita]

I saw a few weeks back the a 20M4E sold for £120 on eBay... Tempted to flip mine, lol.

 

[socksfelloff]

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.

There is an alternative to GDemu. I don't know anything about it though but I believe it uses USB instead of an SD card.

For saturn I believe he's the only guy in town.

Theres really no need to sell them pre installed...you unplug the optical drive and plug the gdemu/rhea into the connector port. Done.

 

[geniusbits]

Never heard of the Saturn GDemu guy, looks awesome. Hopefully soon there will be good options for all of the optical systems that will fail much sooner than cartridge ones. Still haven't found satisfaction for the DC though, seems like each solution has a drawback.

 

[socksfelloff]

Never heard of the Saturn GDemu guy, looks awesome. Hopefully soon there will be good options for all of the optical systems that will fail much sooner than cartridge ones. Still haven't found satisfaction for the DC though, seems like each solution has a drawback.

There isn't a single negative to using GDemu.

Every major console with an optical drive has a solution at this point.

Gen5
Saturn - Rhea/Phoebe
ps1 - psio

Gen6
Dreamcast - GDemu
PS2 - softmod
Xbox - softmod
Gamecube - Wiikey sd reader or Wii softmod

 

[Mega]

There is an alternative to GDemu. I don't know anything about it though but I believe it uses USB instead of an SD card.

For saturn I believe he's the only guy in town.

Theres really no need to sell them pre installed...you unplug the optical drive and plug the gdemu/rhea into the connector port. Done.

Oh, had no idea it was that simple. I'll keep an eye out for the next batch.

I have the USB option. It works okay but is primarily limited by the slowness of the port so that large games like SFIII require patched ISOs that remove extra files and with the music stripped or the game will run choppy.

 

[geniusbits]

There isn't a single negative to using GDemu.

Every major console with an optical drive has a solution at this point.

Maybe I'm behind the times but there is a list I had from an ISO website showing compatibility for DC games on external drives and it is not 100%. Also afaik most of those solutions, like DC, don't have a nice menu to choose from but are simply switched through a numbered menu, sometimes with physical switches on the console. Or has that all been fixed? I would love to get something going for my DC because I want to be able to play English language Shenmue 2 and carry over stuff from Shenmue 1.

 

[sixteen-bit]

There isn't a single negative to using GDemu.

Every major console with an optical drive has a solution at this point.

Gen5
Saturn - Rhea/Phoebe
ps1 - psio

Gen6
Dreamcast - GDemu
PS2 - softmod
Xbox - softmod
Gamecube - Wiikey sd reader or Wii softmod

There's a 3DO one too, right?

 

[Peagles]

aww, wasn't even a loved & lost situation, that's harsh! haha i usually get turned off by shipping prices on stuff like that...still, what model's your dream one? maybe i can keep an eye out!

Yeh, it's the first time I've seen one go for a ridiculous price. I'm too far away to ship one to all the way down here but appreciate the thought! It was a 20-L5, I just wanted it for the 480p stuff really!

 

[socksfelloff]

Oh, had no idea it was that simple. I'll keep an eye out for the next batch.

I have the USB option. It works okay but is primarily limited by the slowness of the port so that large games like SFIII require patched ISOs that remove extra files and with the music stripped or the game will run choppy.

I think you're using the Serial-USB converter. Thats junk. I'm talking about this
http://3do-renovation.ru/USB-GDROM_Controller.htm

Maybe I'm behind the times but there is a list I had from an ISO website showing compatibility for DC games on external drives and it is not 100%. Also afaik most of those solutions, like DC, don't have a nice menu to choose from but are simply switched through a numbered menu, sometimes with physical switches on the console. Or has that all been fixed? I would love to get something going for my DC because I want to be able to play English language Shenmue 2 and carry over stuff from Shenmue 1.

The USB device I'm refering to is this:
http://3do-renovation.ru/USB-GDROM_Controller.htm
The serial-USB converter is a different beast ( and junk)

GDemu has a GUI called GDmenu. Works great. You can still use the physical switch if you choose( you need to for switching discs in multi disk games)

There's a 3DO one too, right?

Could be. I'm not too sure about alot of the smaller, more niche, consoles.
Jaguar??
NeoGeoCD??
TurboGrafx??
CDI??
I know there isn't anything for SegaCD but the developer of GDemu/Rhea/Phoebe has mentioned he may tackle that next.

 

[NormalFish]

Tim finally posted his new N64RGB revision. Looks cool:

New firmware will include the deblur option, as well, though I'm not sure how it's activated or if it's automatically applied at all times.
**
Lol it says it's togglable right in the first line of his post I'm a doofus.

 

[Beer Monkey]

I badly want flash-based game storage for my Saturn and Dreamcast but I'm going to wait until competition makes the market better. At some point units will be plentiful, compatibility will be even better, and prices more affordable.

 

[IrishNinja]

I badly want flash-based game storage for my Saturn and Dreamcast but I'm going to wait until competition makes the market better. At some point units will be plentiful, compatibility will be even better, and prices more affordable.

i like this idea - and im waiting too - but i don't know that a niche thing like this will necessarily bring a lotta options down the road, when you gotta assume most peopel that care about Saturn will just emulate anyway.

i was super hyped when the NES RGB board finally came about (without having to gut a PPU) but i don't know that i expect many more to come

 

[Beer Monkey]

i like this idea - and im waiting too - but i don't know that a niche thing like this will necessarily bring a lotta options down the road, when you gotta assume most peopel that care about Saturn will just emulate anyway.

i was super hyped when the NES RGB board finally came about (without having to gut a PPU) but i don't know that i expect many more to come

Think about how well Everdrives sell for much easier to emulate systems like Genesis and PC Engine.

I'm not saying flash solutions for 32 bit systems will sell huge, at all, but I still think there's a lot more demand than the current scene can provide for at a fair price, since it's all pretty much hobbyists that are producing the devices so far.

 

[Khaz]

Dammit Tim, I'm still waiting for the RGB mod for my 2600 Jr

 

[socksfelloff]

I badly want flash-based game storage for my Saturn and Dreamcast but I'm going to wait until competition makes the market better. At some point units will be plentiful, compatibility will be even better, and prices more affordable.

Compatibility is 100%. What better compatibility are you waiting for?

 

[Beer Monkey]

Compatibility is 100%. What better compatibility are you waiting for?

I'm not paying $230 so the question is moot but I'm seeing people report various issues with certain designs of thumb drives, for example. Maybe it is overstated but either way, if somebody like Krikzz gets on this the prices would be way lower and support would be better.

 

[IrishNinja]

cross-system compatibility

CMON LAZY DEVS

 

[Mega]

I think you're using the Serial-USB converter. Thats junk. I'm talking about this
http://3do-renovation.ru/USB-GDROM_Controller.htm

The USB device I'm refering to is this:
http://3do-renovation.ru/USB-GDROM_Controller.htm
The serial-USB converter is a different beast ( and junk)

Appears to also be sold out, but good to know about it. Thanks.

 

[socksfelloff]

I'm not paying $230 so the question is moot but I'm seeing people report various issues with certain designs of thumb drives, for example. Maybe it is overstated but either way, if somebody like Krikzz gets on this the prices would be way lower and support would be better.

What thumb drives are they using? GDemu and Rhea/Phoebe take SD cards, not USB. You have your devices mixed up and you're spreading false information.

Appears to also be sold out, but good to know about it. Thanks.

I've owned the GDemu for 2 years now ( I got in on the first wave) and I've had the Rhea for at least a year. Both work Great with no problems. I can't speak for the others but these 2 products are solid.

 

[geniusbits]

I've owned the GDemu for 2 years now ( I got in on the first wave) and I've had the Rhea for at least a year. Both work Great with no problems. I can't speak for the others but these 2 products are solid.

My question is if ISOs of all games work properly, cause from what I've read they don't, some have glitches in certain parts.

 

[socksfelloff]

My question is if ISOs of all games work properly, cause from what I've read they don't, some have glitches in certain parts.

You'll find people having issues with backups are the ones downloading them.

 

[geniusbits]

You'll find people having issues with backups are the ones downloading them.

Fair enough I guess, but I want to replay Shenmue with the UK version and am not going to pay $200 for Shenmue 1 & 2 UK.

 

[Vespa]

Trying out some Mega style photography, second one came out a little more blurry than I'd have liked. Wii via PC crt is hands down then best image I've seen from the machine, it has an image that is above acceptable! (high praise for the Wii)

I've pre-ordered the GARO as the cable I'm using lacks what I think is a 75ohm resistor so it desynhcs at peak voltage levels but other than that the colour transcoding is excellent. I'll post my impressions when I get it.

 

[socksfelloff]

I'm cross posting this from the Genesis thread. I've started capturing 240p footage and I'm looking for some advice/input on how to get the best possible capture. I figure retro GAF is the best place to ask

GAF I'm looking for some help and opinions. I recently got a USB3HDCAP( X-capture-1 clone) and I'm learning how to use it. The problem is I'm not sure I've got my settings right.

I'm recording from a Genesis via RGBs through AmarecTV at the recommended 720x240/60 w/ line doubling. I'm using the Lagarith Lossless Codec. When viewing the raw capture footage in VLC it is clear that the capture is not as sharp as what I'm seeing in the preview window in Amarectv. Is this normal?

For scaling and uploading to YouTube I'm up scaling it to 1440x960/60 with a high bitrate. The exported video has the same clarity as the Losses recording. From what I can tell.

Encoding the losses capture and maintaining the original resolution causes YouTube to treat it as a 360/30 video and it looks like booty butt cheeks.

Keeping on Topic I've recorded and uploaded my first attempt at Alien Storm. If you guys could do me a huge favor and check it out and let me know what you think of the video quality. I want to start uploading HQ game play of older games and I wan't to get it right before I start.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGaK...ature=youtu.be

 

[Timu]

I'm cross posting this from the Genesis thread. I've started capturing 240p footage and I'm looking for some advice/input on how to get the best possible capture. I figure retro GAF is the best place to ask

See my response in the Genesis thread.=O

 

[Beer Monkey]

Speaking of captures, what's a good way to add a "scanline" effect to captured/upscaled 240p video?

 

[Timu]

Speaking of captures, what's a good way to add a "scanline" effect to captured/upscaled 240p video?

A scanline generator is the only thing I can think of.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

Speaking of captures, what's a good way to add a "scanline" effect to captured/upscaled 240p video?

I don't really think this is advisable in general unless you're encoding with very high bitrates. A scanline filter would effectively darken every other line in the video and make it a lot more complicated for the codec to compress it effectively.

 

[NormalFish]

Yeah. I don't think it comes out very well. If you're going to do it you'll be looking at massive video files due to the higher quality you'll require to reduce artifacts. Better off saving scanlines for stills.

 

[Mega]

Odd. Stumbled upon another rebrand of the JVC DT-V1710CG and Panasonic BT-H1700 17" HD CRT monitor:

Ikegami HTM1700R

http://www.ikegami.com/br/products/hdtv/htm1700r.html
http://www.ikegami.com/br/products/hdtv/pdf/htm1700r.pdf

A number sold online recently for almost nothing, likely due to their obscurity:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...00&LH_Complete=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2045573.m1684

 

[Beer Monkey]

A number sold online recently for almost nothing, likely due to their obscurity:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...00&LH_Complete=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2045573.m1684

Holy shit, deal of the year.

EDIT: they need component/rgb cards, but still.

 

[Shadow Hog]

They all only have composite and S-Video inputs, though, which probably plays a significant part of it. You'd need the component-in board to get much RGB use out of that, and even then, would probably need an RGB->component transcoder.

Though it'd support 480p, which is nice.

 

[Mega]

^720p and 1080i too.

CPN-1700 input card has both RGB and Component, although the webpage listing only says "Component." It's the same as the JVC and Panasonic cards.

Even without the cards, $40~ is an amazing value for this late-era HD CRT. I'd sit on it and wait for the above input card from one of the three to pop up online. They occasionally do.

 

[Beer Monkey]

I'd have bought THEM ALL, even without the Component/RGB cards.

I have two of these monitors and they are soooo good, people.

 

[NormalFish]

Hard to say no to 800 lines

 

[Beer Monkey]

Hard to say no to 800 lines

As much as I love them, at the same time they are not authentic looking at all, nobody gamed on monitors like this back in the day. For classic gaming authenticity that I'd go shadow mask, 400 or so TVL. At 800 TVL on a 17" you can't even see the lines, the phosphor looks continuous!

 

[NormalFish]

As much as I love them, at the same time they are not authentic looking at all, nobody gamed on monitors like this back in the day. For classic gaming authenticity that I'd go shadow mask, 400 or so TVL. At 800 TVL on a 17" you can't even see the lines, the phosphor looks continuous!

I'm firmly in the image quality > 'authenticity' camp. 400TVL is fine but I don't think I'd prefer it to a fixed pixel display for anything but maybe super fast paced rhythm/shmups/etc.

 

[Superblatt]

My BVM 20F1U has taken a VERY long time (20 minutes plus) to warm up since I got it a few years ago. However, it now won't even fully warm up...and I get a shaky wavy screen.

I can gather the capacitors need to be replaced based on everything I've read. And, I'm willing to foot the bill to have it done professionally since you just don't find these monitors floating around.

I'm in Chicago. Anyone have any ideas or recommendations? I love the monitor dearly and really don't want to see it go. Please help me GAF!!

 

[Mega]

^Contact TV repair companies? Might be a few still around that do cap replacements. Dunno, it will probably be more hassle and money than buying a replacement monitor. This is why I'm happy to own some late 00s CRTs that will likely outlast my 20F1U despite its low hour count... the parts inside aren't as old. Just curious -- what's the year on yours and how many hours does it have?

I'm firmly in the image quality > 'authenticity' camp. 400TVL is fine but I don't think I'd prefer it to a fixed pixel display for anything but maybe super fast paced rhythm/shmups/etc.

Well, the comparison was 400 vs 800 TVL CRTs... not vs fixed pixel displays. But anyway, higher TVL does not mean better in respect to retro games. It gives more resolving power, good for a trained person needing to scrutinize fine detail while working with professional footage. Barely applies to retro games which need few lines for a clear image with all detail intact. A monitor with 800-1000 lines will not reveal extra details in an old game any more than a 4K television would.

The main benefit then is for games with pretty high horizontal resolutions on Gen 6 and 7 consoles, the latter of which were made for and best played on fixed pixel HD displays. The other thing, which is personal preference and not a true benefit, is the thick dark lines the monitor may produce. I've seen enough examples where very distinct scanlines are an actual detriment to a game's visual appeal. I don't even regard that as a matter of opinion, but actual, observable loss of clarity and coherent graphics.

A 300-400 TVL shadowmask monitor is factually more authentic as far as how the majority of us experienced 80s, 90s and early 2000s games on consoles and in arcades. The high TVL monitors came around the mid-late 90s and were exclusively used in editing rigs and broadcast studios. Basically none of us had them and only recently got to see how games look on them. I like my sharp BVM and JVC. I think their picture is distinctly different from gaming on a flat panel with artificial scanlines, but I also don't think they're accurate to how our games looked in the past.

 

[NormalFish]

Well, the comparison was 400 vs 800 TVL CRTs... not vs fixed pixel displays. But anyway, higher TVL does not mean better in respect to retro games. It gives more resolving power, good for a trained person needing to scrutinize fine detail while working with professional footage. Barely applies to retro games which need few lines for a clear image with all detail intact. A monitor with 800-1000 lines will not reveal extra details in an old game any more than a 4K television would.

The main benefit then is for games with pretty high horizontal resolutions on Gen 6 and 7 consoles, the latter of which were made for and best played on fixed pixel HD displays. The other thing, which is personal preference and not a true benefit, is the thick dark lines the monitor may produce. I've seen enough examples where very distinct scanlines are an actual detriment to a game's visual appeal. I don't even regard that as a matter of opinion, but actual, observable loss of clarity and coherent graphics.

A 300-400 TVL shadowmask monitor is factually more authentic as far as how the majority of us experienced 80s, 90s and early 2000s games on consoles and in arcades. The high TVL monitors came around the mid-late 90s and were exclusively used in editing rigs and broadcast studios. Basically none of us had them and only recently got to see how games look on them. I like my sharp BVM and JVC. I think their picture is distinctly different from gaming on a flat panel with artificial scanlines, but I also don't think they're accurate to how our games looked in the past.

A 400-600 tvl monitor can definitely produce the 'correct' image, but the 800 line monitor is going to look cleaner to me every time. And excluding fixed pixel displays from a discussion on what I'd like to play my games on is nonsense. 800 TVL > LCD > 400 TVL in my mind.

And the TV i used to play my old games as a kid was garbage and I hated how they looked, so that doesn't help lol.

 

[Beer Monkey]

Well, the comparison was 400 vs 800 TVL CRTs... not vs fixed pixel displays. But anyway, higher TVL does not mean better in respect to retro games. It gives more resolving power, good for a trained person needing to scrutinize fine detail while working with professional footage. Barely applies to retro games which need few lines for a clear image with all detail intact. A monitor with 800-1000 lines will not reveal extra details in an old game any more than a 4K television would.

The main benefit then is for games with pretty high horizontal resolutions on Gen 6 and 7 consoles, the latter of which were made for and best played on fixed pixel HD displays. The other thing, which is personal preference and not a true benefit, is the thick dark lines the monitor may produce.

If anything, high-res fixed-pixel displays can approximate the look (through shaders) of a high-TVL PVM remarkably well and yet will fail absolutely miserably at approximating the look of a real vintage, shadow-mask, low-TVL picture tube!

I've seen enough examples where very distinct scanlines are an actual detriment to a game's visual appeal. I don't even regard that as a matter of opinion, but actual, observable loss of clarity and coherent graphics.

Absolutely!

 

[cyborgnumberblue]

Yeah, the authenticity argument would mean that the majority of us would be playing our SNESes or Genesises(Genesi???) over composite RCA to a consumer grade CRT with mono sound. We aren't, we're playing these systems using AV output that was virtually impossible to obtain easily back then, at least in the US.

 

[NormalFish]

Yeah, the authenticity argument would mean that the majority of us would be playing our SNESes or Genesises(Genesi???) over composite RCA to a consumer grade CRT with mono sound. We aren't, we're playing these systems using AV output that was virtually impossible to obtain easily back then, at least in the US.

Damn straight. some euro bros might have a legit claim to authenticity as a good thing, and missile is definitely in to that, but most of these consoles were played with shit quality video on shit quality TVs etc. etc. and that's not appealing.

If you're looking for the best way to play games, I don't think historical accuracy should be a focus

 

[cyborgnumberblue]

Were people modding Famicoms and NESes even back then?

Also, were arcade monitors using RGB signals back in the day, too?

 

[Mega]

Not asking you to exclude LCDs in your personal assessments... it just came off as random tangent in response to someone (beer) giving his thoughts on one CRT vs another CRT. Like if a couple of people are talking about which capture card is best at something, I don't chime in with "I prefer my BVM, it kicks the crap out of both." It's like, who am I even talking to?

As to your other point, it's not about being "correct" ... no need for the quotes marks for that and "authentic" by the way. A 300-400 line shadowmask with non-SMPTE-C phosphors (found in most high-TVL monitors) is more accurate to an ideal 90s CRT look. I don't see the correlation between 800 lines and cleaner image. I already mentioned how 400-600 is plenty for resolving in full detail all non-480p console games.

Yeah, the authenticity argument would mean that the majority of us would be playing our SNESes or Genesises(Genesi???) over composite RCA to a consumer grade CRT with mono sound. We aren't, we're playing these systems using AV output that was virtually impossible to obtain easily back then, at least in the US.

Ha! Knew it. I was waiting for this. I typed out a few sentences in my initial response to fish deleted it to not come off as preemptively snarky! Basically this:

I hope no one chimes in that if we want authentic, "go back to playing on composite." This is a discussion about the physical makeup of the CRT screen itself, not the video signal being output from the console. And regardless, S-video, RGB and VGA were a thing in the 90s. A childhood buddy of mine had a Saturn connected to a mysterious white monitor, no idea what kind, but the image was crazy good. I didn't see games look that good for a long time and suspect he had it on an S-video connection or something.

 

[Conezays]

Well my Scart to BNC cables arrived and got a chance to play my Saturn with them on my PVM1354Q; looks fantastic. Thanks for the cable recommendation, cyborgnumberblue. Not in Tate mode (yet) but here's a picture of Layer Section:

 

[NormalFish]

Not asking you to exclude LCDs in your personal assessments... it just came off as random tangent in response to someone (beer) giving his thoughts on one CRT vs another CRT. Like if a couple of people are talking about which capture card is best at something, I don't chime in with "I prefer my BVM, it kicks the crap out of both." It's like, who am I even talking to?

As to your other point, it's not about being "correct" ... no need for the quotes marks for that and "authentic" by the way. A 300-400 line shadowmask with non-SMPTE-C phosphors (found in most high-TVL monitors) is more accurate to an ideal 90s CRT look. I don't see the correlation between 800 lines and cleaner image. I already mentioned how 400-600 is plenty for resolving in full detail all non-480p console games.



Ha! Knew it. I was waiting for this. I typed out a few sentences in my initial response to fish deleted it to not come off as preemptively snarky! Basically this:

I hope no one chimes in that if we want authentic, "go back to playing on composite." This is a discussion about the physical makeup of the CRT screen itself, not the video signal being output from the console. And regardless, S-video, RGB and VGA were a thing in the 90s. A childhood buddy of mine had a Saturn connected to a mysterious white monitor, no idea what kind, but the image was crazy good. I didn't see games look that good for a long time and suspect he had it on an S-video connection or something.

Beer was replying to my post:

Hard to say no to 800 lines

Which was not specifically CRT focused in intent.

"correct" and "authentic" are written as such because they're subjective terms. What is "authentic" varies with where an individual is located, what systems they were playing, when they were playing them, etc. Someone who's 35 is going to have a different view of "authentic" than someone who's 50, or someone who's 20. Hence quotes. Because they're loaded terms that I don't think anyone should view objectively. You'll run yourself ragged trying to define authenticity in a way that everyone is happy with.

I was referring to "correct" as being able to display all the data within the signal, regardless. I didn't have a proper term for it, so I used that to offer inflection to indicate that. Perhaps without success.

As to the "go back to composite" thing, that's just another facet of this whole "what is authentic" nonsense. It's not meaningful in a way that translates from individual to individual. You might have been talking about the specific structure of the CRTs most commonly used at that time, but we didn't really have a way to know that. Authenticity, generally, represents a full recreation. In which case something like an RGB/HDMI NES throws it out the window.