240p test suite for DC,PCE,Wii,SNES,GC,MD and SCD

[Artemio]

Hey Artemio. The new version for the WIi fixes the RGB problem. Thanks a lot

Yes, Yamato helped a lot fixing those issues. I am really close to finally making that 1.5 release, the release candidate you have is very close to what will be in it. Working a lot on the in system help, and still ahev to document a lot. Thanks!

The Wii has super clean RGB in 240p mode. This actually goes for component as well, but most of the time we use that for 480p which is a blurry mess on the Wii.

Indeed, I am impressed by its output in all modes but 480p. I checked it with teh scope, and it needs some amplification it seems. I must have a couple of pictures somewhere of teh sync at 480p on GC and Wii, and although the GC has a cleaner signal in 480p it still pales when compared to the DSUB on the Dreamcast.

Is there a reason for the huge amount of IRE patterns? It would be very tedious having to go through all of those if you were calibrating with by 10% increments

Great job!

There is (was). The issue is that the wii used 0-255 encoding for the colors, where the Dreamcast uses 0.0 to 1.0, a whole analog range (which is of course a lie since it cannot possible represent all values because it has 565 colro encoding, but at least works pretty well with percentages). Since dividing that range in 10 gives me 25.5 intervales to get each IRE value, I didn't want to lie to the user when saying I am displaying a 90 IRE pattern and I know I am really displaying a 90.2 IRE pattern. That's why I added the smaller steps.

I must admit that it bothers me, and I will pre calculate teh closest values for the 10 IRE steps and just use those to display the best approximate the Wii can give, which is always 0.2% of error in all odd 10 increments. Will rpobably leave the "70.2 IRE" message though. Let me know if you find any other issuesm, and thanks.

[Konsolkongen]

Indeed, I am impressed by its output in all modes but 480p. I checked it with teh scope, and it needs some amplification it seems. I must have a couple of pictures somewhere of teh sync at 480p on GC and Wii, and although the GC has a cleaner signal in 480p it still pales when compared to the DSUB on the Dreamcast.

I agree. If you manage to find a fix for the 480p please let us know

I must admit that it bothers me, and I will pre calculate teh closest values for the 10 IRE steps and just use those to display the best approximate the Wii can give, which is always 0.2% of error in all odd 10 increments. Will rpobably leave the "70.2 IRE" message though. Let me know if you find any other issuesm, and thanks.

I know what you mean. But I don't think a normal colorimeter cares about the 0.2% error

[bobrocks95]

For exemple, when switching a NTSC-U Wii to PAL, RGB setting becomes available (and SVideo is disabled).

Whoa, so when you change the region of your Wii to PAL, you can then use RGB output? I thought the different region systems were actually wired differently, is that not the case? It's just software-dependent?

If that's right, do you know if it's possible with the Gamecube? That would stop me from having to import a PAL Gamecube just to get RGB output...

Sorry for the OT btw...

[TheShadowRunner]

Whoa, so when you change the region of your Wii to PAL, you can then use RGB output? I thought the different region systems were actually wired differently, is that not the case? It's just software-dependent?

Yes, exactly. Take any Wii, soft-region-change it to PAL and you get RGB. The hardware is exactly the same accross regions.

If that's right, do you know if it's possible with the Gamecube? That would stop me from having to import a PAL Gamecube just to get RGB output...

As far as I know the GC isn't the same at all, sorry, the hardware itself is different.

[Artemio]

Finally here are the release versions for GameCube and Wii. The Gamecube zip includes both, the dol and the ISO.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/testsuite240p/files/

Release 1.6 changes include:
- Added support for PAL modes (288p/576i)
- Includes special Grid, linearity (with PAL pixel aspect ratio, 59:54) and EBU color bars to match PAL specifications
- Added Overscan test: helps count how many pixels are lost to overscan in each border and mode.
- Added Sharpness test
- Reduced dol (executable) size, by compressing data and patterns with zlib. This improves loading in Gamecube, and reduces memory requirements.
- Confirmed IRE values with the oscilloscope
- Confirmed and updated active video starting lines in the video signal, to values for PAL and NTSC modes; they now start at the lines they should.
- Heavily updated the Help inside the suite, to reflect all changes and extending the text where needed. It now has colors as well.
- GameCube version has been tested in real hardware now.
- Fixes Component and SCART RGB cable color encoding in all modes.
- Updated IRE test to 10 IRE increments when possible (some are 10.2 due to color encoding, should be negligible)
- Adds SMPTE color bars at 100%, to the previous 75% ones. Fixes small geometry issue with SMPTE pattern in 240p. Uses EBU when in PAL.
- Added assist mode for PLUGE pattern.
- Added PLUGE pattern for full RGB color (ignoring 7.5 IRE setup) and PAL.
- Added custom color setup to White and RGB full screen modes, for colorimeter adjustments.
- Wiimote has a higher timeout

The wiki has yet to be updated, but I aimed for the included help to be much more complete now. There is even help in the options and video mode screens. I will complement that in the wiki soon, as well as update the Dreamcast version to match these features. The DC PAL modes are only capable of 480 active lines though.

Regarding the Wii/GC PAL modes, the hardware is only capable of displaying 264 from the 288 active video lines, or 528 from the 576 lines in interlaced mode, while doing 1:1 pixel mapping. In order to help overcome this limitation, the 240p suite adds several options for evaluation of
PAL modes.

The first and recommended one, is using the "PAL starting line" option. It allows the PAL active video to start at either line 23 1/2, 24, centered in the signal, or at the bottom of the signal. This allows using the 264/528 patterns to verify overscan, alignment, geometry, etc.

The other option - "Stretch to full 288/576" - must only be used to visually check how the whole video signal is filled. It works by using the same 264/528 patterns stretched by the hardware to fill the active video, resulting in distorted patterns that are not 1:1 pixel mapped.

Please leave any feedback regarding these new features, and any other that you would find useful.

[bobrocks95]

As far as I know the GC isn't the same at all, sorry, the hardware itself is different.

Ugh, of course, it's like Nintendo didn't want the Gamecube to look good.

[Xan]

Great work on the Wii version! As a minor suggestion, have you thought about including an option to use the flicker filter? AFAIK it's available for both interlaced and progressive (for fake anti-aliasing I guess) output on the Wii. I could imagine that option being useful when tuning a device for either earlier or later 480i games.

[Artemio]

Great work on the Wii version! As a minor suggestion, have you thought about including an option to use the flicker filter? AFAIK it's available for both interlaced and progressive (for fake anti-aliasing I guess) output on the Wii. I could imagine that option being useful when tuning a device for either earlier or later 480i games.

Thanks! I see references to that flicker filter in several places doing a quick search, but nothing solid (the mentions I've found so far refer to video modes, not calls to change that within video modes). I will look deeply into this and see if I can give an option for it. Thanks a lot for letting me know about it.

I also wanted to give a big thank you to Yamato for being so patient testing the current release, there'd be no support for PAL if it not were for his work testing it.

[Xan]

Here are some references that might help:

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=39024
http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php? ... ostcount=4

I think the homebrew channel menu uses the filter, so it should be possible to implement it in homebrew applications. Maybe the commonly perceived "bad" 480p quality on Wii games is somehow related to this, too. It's only speculation, but at least I could see how some developers would have taken the chance at free image smoothing.

[Artemio]

Yes, those are the quick references I did find as well, but they seem to be wrong. Here is the direct answer from the homebrew sdk devs regarding the issue: http://sourceforge.net/p/devkitpro/feature-requests/20/

However, the author of the Genesis emulator does point in the right direction, there are these filters are available. Right now they are disabled in the 240p suite for Wii and GC:

- GX Bilinear Filter: Bilinear filter for texture rendering
- GX Deflicker Filter: This is the one we are looking for. (it is enabled by GX_SetCopyFilter). As mentioned above, the suite is disabling it right now.
- VI Trap Filter (only available in Wii) for composite filtered output: "A Trap filter is generally used to improve Luma/Chroma separation in the composite video signal. When disabled, the video signal is unfiltered, which sometimes produces visual artefacts such as color bleeding. This register does not seem to affect RGB, S-Video or YUV output." (It only affects composite wince it was designed to separate Y and C, some sources mention it brings more artifacts of specific types http://www.intersil.com/content/dam/Int ... an9644.pdf)

I'll probably implement them all just for fun, and so that anyone can verify what they do with their patterns and chain. I don't expect any positive results from either though.

Thanks for pointing these out.

[Yamato]

I also wanted to give a big thank you to Yamato for being so patient testing the current release, there'd be no support for PAL if it not were for his work testing it.

Thanks again for giving me credit, Artemio

But in the end you were the one being so incredibly persistent in solving all those complicate PAL issues.

So thank you very, very much again for making the PAL support possible with the newest release of your 240p Test Suite! I'm loving it.

[Artemio]

an option to use the flicker filter?

Just added the option for testing. I'll leave the Trap filter and the deflicker filter in future releases for those interested. The deflicker filter does work to eliminate flicker in interlaced modes, but it looks very blurry.

Also tried the Trap filter, and it works in both ways as expected: enhancing and destroying the signal. I added all the relevant text to the help for that as well. This only works in composite of course.

I implemented all the wii/gc supported bilinear options, with any of the available ones that do bilinear it looks terrible as expected. So I commented them out of the suite since they serve no purpose as far as I can tell.

So this is an updated version that adds these features for testing, while correcting minor documentation bugs pointed out by Yamato.

Wii version 1.6b https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/140 ... i-1.6b.zip
GC version 1.6b https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/140 ... e-1.6b.zip

Thanks again for giving me credit, Artemio

Nothing to thank for, it is the right thing to do. You did a lot of testing, and since I didn't have a PVM to check a real PAL display, I would have blindly worked on it otherwise.

[Xan]

Thanks a lot for the very swift implementation, and for the excellent work on the suite in general. As expected, fonts get blurry in comparison and repeating patterns like checkerboard or stripes get quite a bit darker with the filter enabled. I really think there should have been a system wide option to toggle this, not just two games (SSBM/SSBB) which gave the option, even though it probably is overall beneficial for CRTs.

Few things that I noticed with the suite when testing:

- in the 1:1 SD modes the horizontal stripes screen gives a quite seizure incuding result, which is fixed by the new flicker filter interestingly enough.

- I've had four hard freezes so far, and they all happened with PAL modes being active. I think they often happen after changing video mode.

[Artemio]

Thanks a lot for the very swift implementation, and for the excellent work on the suite in general. As expected, fonts get blurry in comparison and repeating patterns like checkerboard or stripes get quite a bit darker with the filter enabled. I really think there should have been a system wide option to toggle this, not just two games (SSBM/SSBB) which gave the option, even though it probably is overall beneficial for CRTs.

Thanks for the suggestion, I always like to include stuff that helps evaluate different situations and that might be beneficial to the community.

Few things that I noticed with the suite when testing:

- in the 1:1 SD modes the horizontal stripes screen gives a quite seizure incuding result, which is fixed by the new flicker filter interestingly enough.

Yes, that is the expected result and an indicator of a working setup. If you press the A button in that pattern without the deflicker filter, you'll get either a fully black or fully white screen, since the interlacing is synched with the alternating pattern.

- I've had four hard freezes so far, and they all happened with PAL modes being active. I think they often happen after changing video mode.

Mhhh, I don't like that of course. I've not had any in my setup, but that is what any developer would say. If you have any particular condition where I could replicate this, please let me know. I'll give it a bash testing to figure if I can make it happen. Does the regular release hang on you as well?

[Xan]

I've had it on both 1.6 and 1.6b. I know my report is very vague, but the freezes just came after randomly fooling around with different screens and changing video modes. Couldn't observe any real pattern here. The screens where it happened were manual lag test, striped sprite test, horizontal stripes and the main menu.

I use a PAL Wii, so maybe someone else with a PAL console should test it to verify.

[Artemio]

I've had it on both 1.6 and 1.6b. I know my report is very vague, but the freezes just came after randomly fooling around with different screens and changing video modes. Couldn't observe any real pattern here. The screens where it happened were manual lag test, striped sprite test, horizontal sprites and the main menu.

I use a PAL Wii, so maybe someone else with a PAL console should test it to verify.

if you get a crash screen with a black background and numbers in it, a screenshot of it might help me a lot figuring out the issue.

Sorry about that, I try to test everything as thoroughly as possible before releasing.

[Xan]

Wasn't the case for me, each time it would just freeze on whatever screen it was, which required a Wii shutdown via power button.

Don't worry too much about it if you can't figure it out, the suite is still very much usable as-is.

[Artemio]

Found the bug that made the Suite crash. It showed easier in the GameCube version, since it has less memory.

Here is release 1.7 for GC and Wii:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/testsuite240p/files/

Changes are:
- Fixed transparency in PAL linearity pattern
- Added Trap Filter for composite
- Added Deflicker filter for interlaced modes
- Updated help for new composite and interlaced filters
- Fixed overscan help
- Added reset default options mode (press + and - in the Options window to restore defaults)
- Added emergency exit from the suite (press + and - and down anywhere to exit the suite, useful if you set an unsupported resolution by your display)
- Fixes crash caused by trusting GX_GetTexBufferSize, which returned 0. Computing texture size manually now.

Yes, it was an SDK bug... which made it way harder to find. I am sorry for the trouble caused to anyone who had crashes.

[Xan]

Glad I could be of help, and thanks

[Yamato]

Perfectly calibrated my BVM 20F1E for PAL sources with the newest Wii version last weekend

Especially the grid and overscan patterns made this very easy. Also the function to align the picture at the top (23 1/2 line) or bottom were very useful to set the picture size/position correctly on the BVM. You could use the 576i stretch mode to get a full picture instead, but then the last bottom line isn't displayed due to the scaling. But it's good for checking the overall result

Next I will fine tune the BVM for NTSC sources. Should be easy now that I finally got PAL right with Artemio's great work (thanks again!).

BTW It's so nice that you have different Alignment slots for PAL and NTSC on the BVM

[Artemio]

New Sega Genesis/MegaDrive and Sega/Mega CD version relesed:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/testsu ... CD_MegaCD/

This version catches up with the Wii and Dreamcast versions.

New in version 1.14:
- Added Help for all patterns, tests and screens
- PAL support, it now recognized when ran in a PAL VDP, and allows changing between 320x224 and 320x240 when in that mode.
- Frame counts are done in PAL
- Patterns are shown for PAL, such as grids, linearity in proper pixel aspect ratio and EBU color bars
- VDP type is detected on the fly, and the suite adjusts for all those modded systems out there.
- Adds SMPTE/EBU color bars, they can be used with blue filters and work surprisingly well with the HW palette
- Adds overscan pattern in all modes
- Adds sharpness pattern
- Adds 6 button controller support. No big changes, Z is used for help anywhere. The 3 button layout is preserved for maximum compatibility. This is autodetected at any time.
- Now shows the HW region and TMSS if used.
- Added option to fill the whole video signal with gray in the grid pattern. Yes, the video border shown by some games.
- Cleaner transitions with fade out
- Corrected the ROM and CD headers.
- Uses the latest SGDK ( 0.96d), so now the source can be compiled again from scratch

Also checked the video levels with the scope, for those interested.
- Signal ranges from 64mV (higher color above black) to 632mV (white)
- In NTSC active video is in lines: [31-254] If the border is shown [20-262]
- In PAL active video is in lines: [55-278]

There was only one thing I wanted to add to this release that I didn't, 480i support. It is in there but not enabled, since I don't have graphics to show in it yet.

As always, the source code is available.

The Dreamcast version will follow shortly, it just needs some cosmetic touches.

Perfectly calibrated my BVM 20F1E for PAL sources with the newest Wii version last weekend

Great to hear Yamato, I am really glad it served you as intended. Thanks for your help and comments!

[Artemio]

And here is the Dreamcast release, version 1.20

https://sourceforge.net/projects/testsu ... Dreamcast/

- Added PAL support, itneeds a Dreamcast with European FlashROM. It is disabled in any other case, since the Dreamcast outputs a corrupt PAL signal otherwise. The PAL output has 264 lines in 288p mode - as usual it seems - and only 480 when in 576i mode. It simply can't draw more than those. However, the Top, centered bottom option is available so that it is usable.
- Includes special Grid, linearity (with PAL pixel aspect ratio, 59:54) and EBU color bars to match PAL specifications
- Added Overscan test: helps count how many pixels are lost to overscan in each border and mode.
- Added Sharpness test
- Heavily updated the Help inside the suite, to reflect all changes and extending the text where needed. It now has colors as well.
- Fixes an SDK issue that didn't allow full 320x240 output in RGB and SCART modes.
- Adds SMPTE color bars at 100%, to the previous 75% ones. Fixes small geometry issue with SMPTE pattern in 240p. Uses EBU when in PAL.
- Added assist mode for PLUGE pattern.
- Added PLUGE pattern for full RGB color (ignoring 7.5 IRE setup) and PAL.
- Added custom color setup to White and RGB full screen modes, for colorimeter adjustments.
- Updated toolchain to latest KOS release, also updated the FFTW codebase. The code is faster now.
- Added linearity 1:1 pattern for VGA modes.
- Can now save and auto load options to and from the VMU if available.

[darcagn]

You might want to update the first main post to reflect that you're on SourceForge and no longer on Google Code (it's a broken link now).

[Artemio]

Thanks for the reminder, fixed

[bobrocks95]

I may just be dense, but how do I calibrate the color on my consumer Trinitron using the SMPTE color bars? I turned off the red and green cathodes in the service menu, and I see the colors are slightly off from each other, but fiddling with the R/G/B drives and cutoffs (or whatever CUT stands for) didn't seem to change them at all. Are they adjusted with some other setting (maybe something in the component input tweaking section of the service menu?) or can you just not tune for the SMPTE bars on a consumer set?

EDIT: Never mind, found this great resource, I wasn't changing the right settings: http://spareroommedia.com/video/monitor_setup.html

[Unseen]

- Added support for PAL modes (288p/576i)

I think the VSyncs in 288p mode on a Gamecube are slightly off - they always start in the middle of the line instead of the beginning:



Other than that: Veeeery useful tool =)

Edit: After grabbing a PAL copy of Animal Crossing it seems that this is normal for 288p on the Gamecube, so just ignore this report - I've updated my code to handle this situation.

[brownvim]

Thanks for the test suite, been a great help.

Is there a way of getting it on a PS2 for sorting out a 480p image? Maybe through launch elf?

[Artemio]

I think the VSyncs in 288p mode on a Gamecube are slightly off - they always start in the middle of the line instead of the beginning:



Other than that: Veeeery useful tool =)

Edit: After grabbing a PAL copy of Animal Crossing it seems that this is normal for 288p on the Gamecube, so just ignore this report - I've updated my code to handle this situation.

Yes, that si how it usually works, thanks! Sorry I took so long to reply, I wanted to show you scope screenshots of just that.

Thanks for the test suite, been a great help.

Is there a way of getting it on a PS2 for sorting out a 480p image? Maybe through launch elf?

Thanks for your kind comment.

Right now I don't have anything to develop on PS2 aside from the official Linux kit, sorry about that. Haven't looked into open source sdks for it yet. I don't think producing something for Official's PS2 Linux would help, but I could be wrong. Don't have a chipped console either.

I've been working on a different port though, on a Nintendo console.

[Artemio]

New release, the 240p Suite is now available for the Super Nintendo/Super Famicom.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/testsu ... /SNES_SFC/

It supports 256x224 and 256x239 modes, at the moment it has only been developed and tested in NTSC systems since I don't have an eurpoean console. Patterns and tests that can take advantage of it are in 256 colors (Mode 3), it includes all patterns and tests from the other versions, and linearity and aspect ratios are matched to the console output as expected.

Please let me know what you think and if anything is missing.

[Sixfortyfive]

Time to get an Everdrive.