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

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Just got home with my Sony PVM-20M4A, looks great. It was apparently only used in an OB truck, so hasn't been run constantly for years and years.

Only thing is I want to centre the image slightly, it seems that it is pushed slightly to the right. There might be other adjustments I should do, but it seems good already.

Also, should the Degauss button light up and activate when powering it on all the time?

Well it'll degauss every time its powered on. Don't know if mine stays on or not though.
 
Welp. Analogue Interactive is starting pre-orders today for the Analogue Nt. Anyone interested? I could convince myself to spend $500 on Neo Geo hardware but this seems like a hard sell.
 
Welp. Analogue Interactive is starting pre-orders today for the Analogue Nt. Anyone interested? I could convince myself to spend $500 on Neo Geo hardware but this seems like a hard sell.
I'd rather mod a top loader.

That thing seems like a decent buy if you're interested in every function it provides. I presently have no need for Famicom game support and the related audio and peripheral extensions, and I find NES "stereo" mods to be extremely unappealing, so it seems excessive.
 
Welp. Analogue Interactive is starting pre-orders today for the Analogue Nt. Anyone interested? I could convince myself to spend $500 on Neo Geo hardware but this seems like a hard sell.

I'm not preordering until details are hammered out as far as the RGB mod they're using and what the colors will look like, but... Yeah, I'm strongly considering it.

If nothing else, it'd be a sweet conversation piece. If I had friends, that is...
 
I'm not preordering until details are hammered out as far as the RGB mod they're using and what the colors will look like, but... Yeah, I'm strongly considering it.

If nothing else, it'd be a sweet conversation piece. If I had friends, that is...

I would guess that it uses a similar solution to the NESRGB board mod. It says on the tech specs that you can switch between different color palettes. That is what I would think anyway.
 
I'm not preordering until details are hammered out as far as the RGB mod they're using and what the colors will look like, but... Yeah, I'm strongly considering it.

If nothing else, it'd be a sweet conversation piece. If I had friends, that is...

i'll be ur friend
if you get one
 
So I'm looking to treat myself a bit. I want to buy a Sony PVM and a Genesis with RGB output.

I'm quite taken by that 8inch monitor I linked. However it looks like it only has component input?

And then I was reading retroRGB and it says to get an RGB to scart cable that has a dedicated 3.5in headphone jack to get full stereo audio out of the genesis.

So I'm wondering.. if I wanted to use this 8in CRT and a Genesis with RGB and stereo would I need to then plug THAT cable into THIS cable? This whole business is very confusing.

I want a sega genesis hooked up by rgb to a Sony PVM with stereo out that I can plug into any speaker system. I like that tiny monitor because it'd look cute on my desk.
 
That monitor supports rgb, but 8'' is very small. Personally 14'' would be as low as I would go.

You only need the cable with the stereo jack if you have a model 1 genesis. Model 2's can output stereo through the av jack.

That's the type of cable you would want, but you want a female scart end instead of male.
 
Hmm, yeah I was trying to judge by the size of my iPad that is 8inches. I feel like I will probably end up with something in the 14 range. I want to get one of the original model1 segas that says "high definition graphics" on the back of it. Those are supposed to be the best ones.

So then, THIS would be the cable I'd want?

Something about all this just seems crazy to me.

So I'd hook the RGB/3.5mm cable into the genesis ports respectively, and then hook the SCART end of that cable into a Female SCART to component/red white audio.. and it would just work?
 
Hmm, yeah I was trying to judge by the size of my iPad that is 8inches. I feel like I will probably end up with something in the 14 range. I want to get one of the original model1 segas that says "high definition graphics" on the back of it. Those are supposed to be the best ones.

So then, THIS would be the cable I'd want?

Something about all this just seems crazy to me.

So I'd hook the RGB/3.5mm cable into the genesis ports respectively, and then hook the SCART end of that cable into a Female SCART to component/red white audio.. and it would just work?

Yea, trust me on the size. Check craigslist for them as well. I've picked up numerous PVMs for cheap.

Well, the high definition graphics genesis that also has the ext port on the back is how I understand to pick out the "good" genesis consoles.

Stereo cable would go in headphone jack, cable would plug in the av out, that would run into your female scart to BNC cable, BNC connections would go to the PVM (R/G/B/Ext Sync) and the audio would go to whatever you wanted the audio from.

That's it
 
So why do you route the audio through all that instead of just hooking speakers up to the headphone jack directly?
 
So why do you route the audio through all that instead of just hooking speakers up to the headphone jack directly?

If you had multiple systems and you were using a SCART switch, I'd imagine It'd be easier to maintain the setup if you had all the audio going through the SCART switch and then split the sound on the way out of the switch. Keep everything unified?

Not sure if that applies to Jtwo's situation, though.

Well, the high definition graphics genesis that also has the ext port on the back is how I understand to pick out the "good" genesis consoles.

Every HD Graphics Genesis 1 has the ext port so if you have an HD Graphics model you're guaranteed to have the superior sound. Non-HD Graphics models are hit or miss. Some have the ext port but others do not.
 
If you had multiple systems and you were using a SCART switch, I'd imagine It'd be easier to maintain the setup if you had all the audio going through the SCART switch and then split the sound on the way out of the switch. Keep everything unified?

Not sure if that applies to Jtwo's situation, though.

Ahh! That makes perfect sense. I was worried somehow that was the only way you could get stereo.. because the one on the back of the Genesis1 is mono.

I'm not exactly married to the idea of getting a Model1 genesis. I had just read that they had the best sound. And apparently some really early models have no copy protection so you can play all games.
 
Ahh! That makes perfect sense. I was worried somehow that was the only way you could get stereo.. because the one on the back of the Genesis1 is mono.

I'm not exactly married to the idea of getting a Model1 genesis. I had just read that they had the best sound. And apparently some really early models have no copy protection so you can play all games.

Just realized I referred to you in the third person even though I was responding directly to you. Ha!

Anyway, yes. You want to get a Model 1 Genesis for the best sound. Here's some good comparisons on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiu8wDLV_9g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn2-K8TkXCs

Also, I imagine that a good chunk of people in the US are only grabbing RGB from their Genesis because they're hooking it into an upscaler like the XRGB. If you want the sound to be routed into the HDMI, then the sound is best served by going through the RGB cable as well. So keeping the sound split from the very beginning because you're using a PVM would be the exception, not the rule.
 
Teknoman had a good post on the Genesis thread about Good/Bad Genesis Model 1s:

http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showth...-good-Genesis-1s-and-Genesis-2s-from-bad-ones

Quick guide:

shapeimage_4.png

jN2sDJRMhQTrL.JPG


If the back of your Model 1 looks exactly like this with or without the EXT port (a large blank space where the EXT should be)?

jbiNEmPDQAlhQY.png





If it doesnt look like it would have any room for the EXT port at all, and the ports on the back are all moved over to the left?

ScreenHunter_318-Feb.-13-14.37.jpg


On another note, I was feeling curious and tried to see if my LCD TV (Panasonic TC-32LZ800) and my roommate's HDCRT (Sony KV-34HS420N) would accept 240p over Component. Using the Wii and it's Virtual Console, both of them did, much to my surprise regarding the LCD. No scanlines of course, but the games I tested (Mega Man 2, PCE Gradius II, Dracula X) looked absolutely clean. Pretty cool having a TV that supports 240p-1080p out the box, should I need it.
 
Finally got my EURO Scart cable so I could try my doujindance PCE Duo. Hooked it withe Lenkeng LKV362A Scart-to-HDMI upscaler I bought, and have to say I was pleasantly surprised with the results for such a relatively cheap China-made upscaler (cost me USD37). Colors really look vibrant and sharp. Of course I have no doubts an XRGB will look better and have scanline options but this is not too shabby if I may say so.

2014-05-05184313_zpse56278b4.jpg

2014-05-05185205_zps7d82d474.jpg

2014-05-05191636_zps7b305b8f.jpg

2014-05-06153928_zpsd854fda1.jpg
 
Finally got my EURO Scart cable so I could try my doujindance PCE Duo. Hooked it withe Lenkeng LKV362A Scart-to-HDMI upscaler I bought, and have to say I was pleasantly surprised with the results for such a relatively cheap China-made upscaler (cost me USD37). Colors really look vibrant and sharp. Of course I have no doubts an XRGB will look better and have scanline options but this is not too shabby if I may say so.

2014-05-05184313_zpse56278b4.jpg

2014-05-05185205_zps7d82d474.jpg

2014-05-05191636_zps7b305b8f.jpg

2014-05-06153928_zpsd854fda1.jpg

Looks pretty good! How does it hold up in motion?
 
Wow that looks great! I think I'll pick one up for capturing purposes!

And it looks like it is even cheaper than the scart to component adapter I wasted money on.

Great find!
 
Oh my gosh. The seller is 2 hours away from me, I wonder if I could pick it up. :x

Shipping a PVM through mail is a bad idea anyway.

If you're looking for a PVM you should look into local classifieds instead of eBay. You'll probably get a better price too ($100 for a 14 inch is a pretty bad deal).
 
Well I checked craigslist and nothing was there. Which is weird because I'm in the Bay Area.
 
Also it appears to have a pretty bad case of the RGB horizontal lines at the top of the screen, which is a common aliment of the *M2U series, due to a faulty capacitor. My 20M2U actually has this issue, there's a workaround to make them disappear without changing the capacitor, but you should still be aware that for $100 you should really want a problem-free monitor.
 
Hmm, I do see that now with the white line across the screen.
So, other than the fact that its incredibly tiny how does this one look quality wise? I'm actually kind of attracted to the idea of having a tiny 8inch monitor. I'm planning to just put this on the same desk as my PC and the smaller the better. I keep telling myself thats the size of the original mac screen and the size of my iPad so I don't think I'll be turned off by how small it is. I could it seeing it being a problem for 2 player.. but I'm never going to do that anyway. That guy even has a video of it running a Saturn game and it looks really really nice.

I could put a cute little stand under the front so its tilted upwards. :3
 
Hmm, I do see that now with the white line across the screen.
So, other than the fact that its incredibly tiny how does this one look quality wise? I'm actually kind of attracted to the idea of having a tiny 8inch monitor. I'm planning to just put this on the same desk as my PC and the smaller the better. I keep telling myself thats the size of the original mac screen and the size of my iPad so I don't think I'll be turned off by how small it is. I could it seeing it being a problem for 2 player.. but I'm never going to do that anyway. That guy even has a video of it running a Saturn game and it looks really really nice.

I could put a cute little stand under the front so its tilted upwards. :3

An 8" TV is a worthless piece of garbage, and you know it. If you're already trying to convince yourself that it's nit that bad, and that it'll be just like your ipad, then I suspect you already know in the back of your head that it's a bad idea. Please don't do this.
 
Well I checked craigslist and nothing was there. Which is weird because I'm in the Bay Area.

Not that weird. You just have to look regularly. Don't give up immediately because there aren't any right now.

My personal favorite for local ads is Kijiji. I have a saved search set up that notifies me by email. I got my 20 inch that way, and currently looking for a 14 inch, one just popped up this week, I may look into it if I have the time.

EDIT: Apparently Kijiji is called "eBay Classifieds" in the US. Weird, but it looks the same.
 
An 8" TV is a worthless piece of garbage, and you know it. If you're already trying to convince yourself that it's nit that bad, and that it'll be just like your ipad, then I suspect you already know in the back of your head that it's a bad idea. Please don't do this.

This is something I'm going to use for like an hour once a month. I'm not trying to convince myself its a good idea, I'm just curious about the quality of that size display. I could easily see the smaller ones not being as nice. But thanks for the feedback because you've actually made me realize that size is exactly what I want. Its exactly the same size as one of the displays I look at the most.

^mm, good tip. I did search kijiji but I had never heard of it before so I thought it was like a scam site or something.


UPDATE:
I've taken a photo to demonstrate the amount of space I'm working with here. Instead of an iPad it would be that CRT and instead of a dreamcast it would be a genesis. I think that would be awesome.
 
Blam, got a super good deal on 2 20'' PVMs off craigslist. Both are in immaculate condition and both were manufactured in 03 with very few hours of use. $120 for both of them. They were being using in what I believe was an architecture firm. I'll take some pictures when I get home.
 
Blam, got a super good deal on 2 20'' PVMs off craigslisy. Both are in immaculate condition and both were manufactured in 03 with very few hours of use. $120 for both of them. They were being using in what I believe was an architecture firm. I'll take some pictures when I get home.

How many PVMs do own now?
 
Blam, got a super good deal on 2 20'' PVMs off craigslist. Both are in immaculate condition and both were manufactured in 03 with very few hours of use. $120 for both of them. They were being using in what I believe was an architecture firm. I'll take some pictures when I get home.

Nice score! I really gotta find a spot for my 20", I keep walking into it and my knees are covered in bruises. /clumsy

My 14" is an '03 and I love it, great interface and design.
 
Blam, got a super good deal on 2 20'' PVMs off craigslist. Both are in immaculate condition and both were manufactured in 03 with very few hours of use. $120 for both of them. They were being using in what I believe was an architecture firm. I'll take some pictures when I get home.

My jelly is overflowing. Paid almost as much for the PVM I have that is from earlier those them and was heavily used.
 
Ended up being a 20L2 and a 20M4U. Both have perfect geometry and look amazing. I think I'm going to swap to M4U with the one in my spare bedroom. Then I'll have one set horizontal and one Tate in my garage with my work bench.

Very happy with them.
 
Ended up being a 20L2 and a 20M4U. Both have perfect geometry and look amazing. I think I'm going to swap to M4U with the one in my spare bedroom. Then I'll have one set horizontal and one Tate in my garage with my work bench.

Very happy with them.

Amazing! What's the difference between the two? I'd be interested to hear how the picture quality compares to older models if you have them, since I much prefer my 03 model to my larger older one.
 
Just got home and I'm getting ready to test them out.

Awesome. I'm pretty happy with my M4A at the moment.

It needs a little tweaking of the screen position though, not 100% sure what to change. Whats a good video pattern generator for these screens? Any helpful tips on how to adjust things properly?
 
Awesome. I'm pretty happy with my M4A at the moment.

It needs a little tweaking of the screen position though, not 100% sure what to change. Whats a good video pattern generator for these screens? Any helpful tips on how to adjust things properly?

If you have a Mega Drive or Dreamcast there's a good 240p test suite for them, including a grid pattern which helps when adjusting geometry.

https://code.google.com/p/240p-test-suite/
 
Awesome. I'm pretty happy with my M4A at the moment.

It needs a little tweaking of the screen position though, not 100% sure what to change. Whats a good video pattern generator for these screens? Any helpful tips on how to adjust things properly?

What peagles mentioned is a good tool. I generally use my MVS hardware test to generate the test pattern and colors.
 
Question, maybe one for you bapho since you're Mr PVM at the moment...

My 20" PVM is okay I guess, and I know I can adjust the pots to fix the geometry and that's fine, but the thing I'm worried about is this kind of red shadow coming off everything. It's like there's too much red in the picture, and I can't really take a good photo of it, but for example when there's white text, there's almost a double image of it to the left in red.

It's not all that noticeable when there are other colours on screen, but it's enough to look... not quite right. Is that kind of thing fixable by adjusting pots or has it just been used too much?

Edit: Got it! So strange...

That's not my boobs in the reflection by the way, it's my knees, lol.
 
This is a problem with convergence. As seen in all next-gen games as a post processing effect. :)
Monitors have convergence rings you can adjust to fix this. See this video. I'm not sure if PVMs do or not.
Of course it is incredibly dangerous to mess around inside a monitor. Especially if it has not been safely discharged. And I would not attempt it if I were you. It can kill you, seriously. You can get a tv repair shop to do it. Or find someone local who works on arcade monitors.
Also generally, recapping the monitor can fix this. Which you should have done, if you can afford it. The same tv/arcade guy can probably do this. :)




Question, maybe one for you bapho since you're Mr PVM at the moment...

My 20" PVM is okay I guess, and I know I can adjust the pots to fix the geometry and that's fine, but the thing I'm worried about is this kind of red shadow coming off everything. It's like there's too much red in the picture, and I can't really take a good photo of it, but for example when there's white text, there's almost a double image of it to the left in red.

It's not all that noticeable when there are other colours on screen, but it's enough to look... not quite right. Is that kind of thing fixable by adjusting pots or has it just been used too much?

Edit: Got it! So strange...


That's not my boobs in the reflection by the way, it's my knees, lol.
 
This is a problem with convergence. As seen in all next-gen games as a post processing effect. :)
Monitors have convergence rings you can adjust to fix this. See this video. I'm not sure if PVMs do or not.
Of course it is incredibly dangerous to mess around inside a monitor. Especially if it has not been safely discharged. And I would not attempt it if I were you. It can kill you, seriously. You can get a tv repair shop to do it. Or find someone local who works on arcade monitors.
Also generally, recapping the monitor can fix this. Which you should have done, if you can afford it. The same tv/arcade guy can probably do this. :)

Cheers, thought it might be convergence (but was hoping it wasn't)...

One of my Dad's mates is a TV guy so I was thinking of buying him a box of beers to sit down with me one day and open it up to tweak it. I know it can kill you because I used to work in his shop as a kid and he was always telling me not to even walk too close to all the opened up TVs in the work area, heh...

Recapping... Is it expensive? Two boxes of beer? :P
 
So, I have a lot of retro machines, and the Framemeister doesn't have many inputs. Is it completely self-defeating to use a 6-way switcher with it, or can it still work its wonders?

Just that it'd be a hassle to switch the hookups everytime.
 
What peagles mentioned is a good tool. I generally use my MVS hardware test to generate the test pattern and colors.

Thanks guys.

I have a Dreamcast, does it matter if I hook it up through composite? I have a VGA adapter, should I try and get that plugged in somehow?
 
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