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Upscalers, CRTs, PVMs & RGB: Retro gaming done right!
- Thread starter IrishNinja
- Start date
- Status
I don't have that haloing around sharp contrast images. I guess that's because I use a CRT.
Your reply along with another post in the "how should I start retro" thread seems to indicate that the last line of CRT TVs have odd digital stuff going on. I still have no clue on what is happening to the image, just making a guess here. The user in that thread mentioned to stay away from CRT TVs that output HD, which is what my CRT TV can do.
Regarding s-video, I have another set on their way that only has the s-video input, stereo, and mono. Should be similar, if not identical to the official s-video cable.
Gaaahhh.
Over the last few days in my spare time i modded my PAL snes for component out and put a 50/60hz switch in.
I'm not very good at these things but i got it to work... Then i accidentally knocked the shielding over and blew the damn thing up....
So disappointed. Ive decided ill just buy one now.... Too bad i cant find anyone selling...
component just works better than RGB in my setup
Over the last few days in my spare time i modded my PAL snes for component out and put a 50/60hz switch in.
I'm not very good at these things but i got it to work... Then i accidentally knocked the shielding over and blew the damn thing up....
So disappointed. Ive decided ill just buy one now.... Too bad i cant find anyone selling...
component just works better than RGB in my setup
CidHighwind89
Member
So I decided to check ebay to see what prices are like on the xRGB mini today.
Found this deal!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Framemeister-DP3913515-XRGB-Mini-Upscaler-Unit-Japan-Model-/151225941198?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2335c4bcce
Amazing price and $20.00 shipping to US as well! Thought I would give fellow gaffers a heads up. I just bought one and it looks like there is one left as well! Just awesome.
Found this deal!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Framemeister-DP3913515-XRGB-Mini-Upscaler-Unit-Japan-Model-/151225941198?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2335c4bcce
Amazing price and $20.00 shipping to US as well! Thought I would give fellow gaffers a heads up. I just bought one and it looks like there is one left as well! Just awesome.
That's a great score! I wonder why they want to charge me $40 to ship to New Zealand though, we're closer and usually cheaper than shipping to the US, lol.
CidHighwind89
Member
May not have shipped there before so they are guessing. Still weird though.
Too rich for my soon-to-be-unemployed blood anyway, lol. I think I'll be sticking with my PVM for the next wee while.
On a related note, would buying a 480 native res LCD look good with GameCube etc? Found a cute little 15inch with RGB SCART.
CidHighwind89
Member
Not really sure. What is the max resolution of the LCD?
This has some good info that may help you.
http://retrorgb.com/gamecubecompare.html
Heavy's Sandvich
Member
Man, I'm itching to get one of these.
Ban Puncher
Member
Does upgrading from V1.08 to V1.10 firmware on the Framemeister offer any real improvements or is it just for the HDMI pass-through?
Cos if it ain't broke....
Cos if it ain't broke....
CidHighwind89
Member
I am trying to figure out how best to connect my Dreamcast to my HD flatscreen. If I got a Hanzo VGA box, what would be the best way to go from VGA to my TV. I don't have a VGA input on my TV unfortunately. Just component or Hdmi.
VGA to component. It's what I use for my Dreamcast. Got it from monoprice.
Afraid it will break like your Neo Geo X Gold? Haha.
Ban Puncher
Member
baphomet
Member
Not having a good time with this xrgb.
N64 displays fine. Wii displays fine via RGB in PAL.
Mega drive and playstation? Nope. I get sound, but no image. Both of them have properly wired RGB scart cables. Both work fine on the TV otherwise and display in RGB on my CRT.
Getting annoyed now.
N64 displays fine. Wii displays fine via RGB in PAL.
Mega drive and playstation? Nope. I get sound, but no image. Both of them have properly wired RGB scart cables. Both work fine on the TV otherwise and display in RGB on my CRT.
Getting annoyed now.
Sigh. Still can't find an answer. N64 looks brilliant on this, but I really wanted to be able to play through Sonic 3 tonight. I have no idea why it isn't working. Doh.
Edit...is it because my Mega Drive and PS1 are PAL? They're still outputting a 60hz signal (both modded) and my Wii (which works) is PAL....I don't know.
Edit...is it because my Mega Drive and PS1 are PAL? They're still outputting a 60hz signal (both modded) and my Wii (which works) is PAL....I don't know.
baphomet
Member
It's all going to come down to the exact stuff you're using. Is it a raw sync cable? Does the cable going into the xrgb have a sync stripper circuit built in? Unfortunately I can't be anymore help because I don't have one yet, but as far as I understand a mini requires composite sync.
That's the thing. It's all correct, or should be. My Mega Drive RGB cable is a composite sync cable same as the Wii and N64 ones. I have it routed to the XRGB via a sync stripper adapter (assumed that is what I needed). Either way, the N64 and Wii work so the other two should too. I guess? But they don't!
Aaaaaaaaghhh
Edit: it's not an issue with PAL. Checked via s video. Works fine. It's the bloody cables.
edit edit: this is the adapter I have: http://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk/...ni-adapter--euroscart-with-sync-stripper.html
edit edit edit: SNES works fine. This is a PAL snes with a 50/60hz switch, using the same cable as I'm using on the N64. Proves that it must be the cables at fault with the MD and PS1.
ah well. off to buy more, I guess
Heh thanks yeah I've ordered a MD cable that's advertised as working with the xrgb, so that should work fine. Struggling to find a suitable PlayStation one though...
Either way, n64 looks amazing:
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
That's pretty cool. I've been held back from getting one because I'd have to import it, and who knows if the quality is there?
Mind sharing the model?
It's a Joytech JS965. I'm sure they cost a lot more new but I lucked out on a second hand one.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Jealous! Post pics... I've seen a million NESRGB pix but I still want more
You know it! I just wish I had a capture device with HDMI to take good ones.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Sometimes I like seeing how it looks on a TV anyway.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Don't expect miracles upscaling 480p material.... because your HDTV probably already does a good job upscaling 480p.
Actually the XRGB mini made the image more accurately pixelated compared to my TV's scaler which smoothed out the image a bit more. It looks fine and I do keep it hooked up through the XRGB, but it's not really a big improvement or anything.
But, if you set your Wii to 480i and play a VC game, it outputs 240p, and looks great through the mini! Also the component connection through XRGB will really improve your PS2's content which is nearly all 480i. 480i definitely looks amazing through the mini.
Can't exactly play RE4 and REmake at 240p though...I also doubt that the Mini will do a worse job upscaling than my TV as I remember playing RE4 on Wii was a horribly pixelated blurry mess.
I bought a RGB Scart for the Wii precisely for those older VC games but I am still waiting for an Euro Adapter for it.
I bought a RGB Scart for the Wii precisely for those older VC games but I am still waiting for an Euro Adapter for it.
Superblatt
Member
I'm still looking at Sony pvms. My wife will kill me if I buy another tv...
What do you guys think about the pvm-1954Q? I'm not super familiar with all the models and options...
What do you guys think about the pvm-1954Q? I'm not super familiar with all the models and options...
Looking at
https://docs.sony.com/release/PVM1954Q.PDF
From what I can gather it's more or less identical to my 20M2U but from an older generation. Should be fine.
bodeiseifer
Member
Gaaahhh.
Over the last few days in my spare time i modded my PAL snes for component out and put a 50/60hz switch in.
I'm not very good at these things but i got it to work... Then i accidentally knocked the shielding over and blew the damn thing up....
So disappointed. Ive decided ill just buy one now.... Too bad i cant find anyone selling...
component just works better than RGB in my setup
If your starting fresh, an NTSC snes is better than a PAL one, PAL units have a weird mesh pattern that shows in certain instances, like in super mario world, and noticeable humming, I have sought out an official PAL RGB scart cable which costed me about £30 as they were only ever released in France, it alleviates the issues somewhat but if I was you I would seek out an NTSC snes, maybe a jap one and mod it for multiregion, doubt they would output PAL, though very few snes games were ever adjusted for the PAL market, the only ones I can think of is Mortal Kombat which had its speed adjusted to match the NTSC version,
There are modded pal snes's on ebay if you really want one though, not sure if posting links to ebay is allowed, so I will just say search
bodeiseifer
Member
I'm pretty sure a VGA to HDMI transcoder is what you want, I'm not too technically up on this but I believe vga has to be converted to a completely different format for it to work in component, whilst it only has to be transcoded to work in hdmi, at least that is what I hear from people in the know.
bodeiseifer
Member
I hear allot about the xRGB and framemeister on this thread, but for people in the EU, isn't the SLG in a box a better solution?
It's not so much an upscaler but a box that adds scanlines to pretty much every rgb source, pal or ntsc.
It's what I intend to get in a few weeks anyway.
It's not so much an upscaler but a box that adds scanlines to pretty much every rgb source, pal or ntsc.
It's what I intend to get in a few weeks anyway.
bodeiseifer
Member
You're so lucky! Normally they add a standard £20 handling charge on top of any vat charge, I ordered a couple of limited edition wiimotes from playasia, figured paying £56 for them was cheaper than paying £80 through amazon, however in the time they were in transit the same ones on amazon had come down to £30 each, and when my package arrived I had to pay £25 in fees, sooo annoyed!
Haha indeed it does. Know why? It's the letterboxed GameCube ratio stretched vertically to get rid of the black bars.
Can't wait for the ultimate PC version.
baphomet
Member
So, because of boredom my game gear will soon have rgb/svideo out, as well as a controller port for a modified master system controller. Everything is wired up already, I'm just waiting on the board to arrive to get it going. I'll take some pics of the rgb once everything is finished up.
I should also have an xrgb mini in the next week. Can't wait to run the game gear in rgb into it just to see how it looks, lol.
I should also have an xrgb mini in the next week. Can't wait to run the game gear in rgb into it just to see how it looks, lol.
milkham
Member
i've got an old 20" mitsubishi crt monitor for PC in my basement, it has two vga inputs, is it feasible to try to get it working for retro gaming systems? how would i go about hooking up something like a super nintendo? i've read that super nintendos can output RGB if you have the right cable, do i need like an RGB or scart to vga cable? is a cable enough? do I need some kind of converter?
IrishNinja
Member
haha that sounds incredible bapho, please put up some footage of that when you've got it going!
Sixfortyfive
He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
First thing you'd need is an RGB cable for the game console. The rest depends on the monitor.
If the monitor can actually accept 15khz video signals (doubtful), then all you'd need is a simple device to convert it to a VGA port (such as the SyncStrike if you have a SCART RGB cable or the XSYNC-1 if you have a Japanese RGB cable).
If the monitor only accepts 31khz and up, then you need a linedoubler or full-fledged upscaler (such as the XRGB series).
Superblatt
Member
any idea what a fair price on it would be?
sixteen-bit
Member
Super neat. I was always interested in consolizing my Game Gear too. I'd love to see the finished product.
Superblatt
Member
I've got a guy who will sell me a pvm-1954Q for $200. Is that ridiculous or reasonsonable?
baphomet
Member
That's a bit much. It's worth whatever you feel like though. I wouldn't pay more than $125 or so for it.
Superblatt
Member
I thought $200 seemed steep, too.
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