OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

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Xyga
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by Xyga »

NewYears1978 wrote:I wish someone would create some kind of device that could add overlay bezels when using modes with black bars..lol =D

I don't mind 4x - full screen..but 5x 1920x1080 with some tweaks for pixel perfect...yikes it's stunning. Just have to get used to those stupid black bars (my OCD hates it)
Your post likely lacks context because it sounds wrong, with most sources there are almost no 'black bars' left in that mode if you're using a fully compatible 1920x1080 display.
The two purposes of that mode are to get rid of the letterboxing (black bars on top and bottom) and display a 1:1 picture by default which turns off the display's scaling.
If it doesn't work on your monitor I see little interest in going after pixel perfect settings since the display is scaling and therefore interpolating/smoothing the picture anyway.
I've compared x3 and x4 modes to non-properly-displaying x5 1920x1080 using several different Full-HD displays (6 to date that I've tried couldn't support this mode correctly), and in every case x3 and x4 looked better with more consistent scaling and little scanlines issues, while x5 remained indeed letterboxed and artifacts-heavy, ugly and useless for scanlines.
I can imagine the battle with settings to try and correct that for every source, IMHO a meaningless struggle when x3 and x4 can look so good by default or with very little tweaking in comparison.

EDIT; totally forgot that you own a ViewSonic, sorry. Anyway I don't know what you're playing but on that monitor x5 1920x1080 mode is not supposed to show black bars at the top and bottom, most low-res sources being integer-scaled 5 times rather get a portion of the picture cut out on top and bottom, which is usually the advantage and the point. So I don't know what's going on, this is supposed to be THE unique mode without black bars and no need for tweaking, when you have a compatible monitor (which is your case unless something wrong is going on)
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Galdelico
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by Galdelico »

Xyga wrote:Your post likely lacks context because it sounds wrong, with most sources there are almost no 'black bars' left in that mode if you're using a fully compatible 1920x1080 display.
The two purposes of that mode are to get rid of the letterboxing (black bars on top and bottom) and display a 1:1 picture by default which turns off the display's scaling.
If it doesn't work on your monitor I see little interest in going after pixel perfect settings since the display is scaling and therefore interpolating/smoothing the picture anyway.
I've compared x3 and x4 modes to non-properly-displaying x5 1920x1080 using several different Full-HD displays (6 to date that I've tried couldn't support this mode correctly), and in every case x3 and x4 looked better with more consistent scaling and little scanlines issues, while x5 remained indeed letterboxed and artifacts-heavy, ugly and useless for scanlines.
I can imagine the battle with settings to try and correct that for every source, IMHO a meaningless struggle when x3 and x4 can look so good by default or with very little tweaking in comparison.

EDIT; totally forgot that you own a ViewSonic, sorry. Anyway I don't know what you're playing but on that monitor x5 1920x1080 mode is not supposed to show black bars at the top and bottom, most low-res sources being integer-scaled 5 times rather get a portion of the picture cut out on top and bottom, which is usually the advantage and the point. So I don't know what's going on, this is supposed to be THE unique mode without black bars and no need for tweaking, when you have a compatible monitor (which is your case unless something wrong is going on)
I may be wrong, but I was under the impression he was talking about the black columns left and right, and possibly those tiny bars at the top and the bottom in other (than x5 1920x1080) video modes. Basically, the blank space all around the actual 4:3 picture on a 16:9 display, which is possible to cover with bezels and dedicated backgrounds in most retro-compilations (I'm thinking about M2 collections), and probably with emulators as well.
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orange808
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by orange808 »

Corio3/Coriomaster can do it with decent image quality. You could make and add bezels.

But, is it worth it?
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Xyga
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by Xyga »

Galdelico wrote:I may be wrong, but I was under the impression he was talking about black columns left and right, and possibly those tiny bars at the top and the bottom in other video modes. Basically, the blank space all around the actual 4:3 picture on a 16:9 display, which is possible to cover with bezels and dedicated backgrounds in most retro-compilations (I'm thinking about M2 collections), and probably with emulators as well.
Well that's not what I got from his post, anyway maybe he'll confirm later. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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NewYears1978
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by NewYears1978 »

Xyga wrote:
Galdelico wrote:I may be wrong, but I was under the impression he was talking about black columns left and right, and possibly those tiny bars at the top and the bottom in other video modes. Basically, the blank space all around the actual 4:3 picture on a 16:9 display, which is possible to cover with bezels and dedicated backgrounds in most retro-compilations (I'm thinking about M2 collections), and probably with emulators as well.
Well that's not what I got from his post, anyway maybe he'll confirm later. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yeah that is what I meant, the bars on the left and right (which are of course understandable)

With emulation such as Front ends like HyperSpin you could use bezel images just to make it look better. It's a minor thing, I was just thinking out loud :)

All I meant was a bezel image that replaces (covers) the black bar:
https://hyperspin-fe.com/siteuploads/do ... 722971.png

I know the OSSC can't do it (other than just making it white) but was saying would be cool to have a device that could do it ;) It will never happen - but I was just speaking out loud.

I will get used to the black bars eventually I am just OCD and it feels super weird to me.
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orange808
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by orange808 »

For fucks sake, I fucking just told you a machine that can do it.

VNC has machines that will do it as well.

Edit: VNS
Last edited by orange808 on Sat Jan 19, 2019 9:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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headlesshobbs
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by headlesshobbs »

NewYears1978 wrote:
Xyga wrote:
Galdelico wrote:
I will get used to the black bars eventually I am just OCD and it feels super weird to me.
I always felt when we were getting widescreen films on vhs, the letterboxing was horribly bad due to the "small" screen space and lack of detail that you would otherwise see at the theater. It's nowhere as bad today since the games in 4:3 aren't exactly losing out in contrast to the way crt's had it.

But yea just let yourself adjust to this. I'm at the point where the bars don't even register to me and I still see everything as originally intended.
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by ldeveraux »

orange808 wrote:For fucks sake, I fucking just told you a machine that can do it.

VNC has machines that will do it as well.
Maybe if you'd quoted his post, he would have been notified of your reply?
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orange808
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by orange808 »

ldeveraux wrote: Maybe if you'd quoted his post, he would have been notified of your reply?
Fair enough.
NewYears1978 wrote:
I know the OSSC can't do it (other than just making it white) but was saying would be cool to have a device that could do it ;) It will never happen - but I was just speaking out loud.

I will get used to the black bars eventually I am just OCD and it feels super weird to me.
Literally any video processor with picture in picture and custom logos will do it.
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NewYears1978
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by NewYears1978 »

orange808 wrote:
ldeveraux wrote: Maybe if you'd quoted his post, he would have been notified of your reply?
Fair enough.
NewYears1978 wrote:
I know the OSSC can't do it (other than just making it white) but was saying would be cool to have a device that could do it ;) It will never happen - but I was just speaking out loud.

I will get used to the black bars eventually I am just OCD and it feels super weird to me.
Literally any video processor with picture in picture and custom logos will do it.
Sheesh no reason to be harsh lol. I saw your post and I looked at the devices but didn't really understand how it works, without changing to other displays. Looked expensive too :) I had planned to look into it more when I had some more free time.

I have no experience with video processors so that stumps me a bit, is something I would have to learn about. If I am understanding you would feed some "image" (which I can easily make in Photoshop) and then the HDMI feed from the OSSC into the Video Processor, then it sends those combined to the display?

Sorta like this thing:
http://www.ambery.com/prviovpr.html
copy
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by copy »

Has anyone tried using an OSSC with something like this Monoprice unit for consoles that output SPDIF optical audio? You could combine e.g. the PS2 or Xbox's SPDIF with the OSSC's HDMI output (via an HDMI-to-DVI adapter or cable).

This would be nice for the convenience of only running an HDMI cable to my AVR instead of both HDMI and optical. Any thoughts?
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by nmalinoski »

copy wrote:Has anyone tried using an OSSC with something like this Monoprice unit for consoles that output SPDIF optical audio? You could combine e.g. the PS2 or Xbox's SPDIF with the OSSC's HDMI output (via an HDMI-to-DVI adapter or cable).

This would be nice for the convenience of only running an HDMI cable to my AVR instead of both HDMI and optical. Any thoughts?
I think that device really only makes sense if all of your consoles are using TOSLINK, and you've got them all hooked up through one TOSLINK-capable switcher, and you're going to an HDMI-only source, which is a very specific use case.

I could be wrong, but it doesn't look like it can take audio through the DVI port, nor can it take analogue audio from RCA or 3.5mm TRS jacks, which tells me that it won't be able to accommodate mixed audio sources, just TOSLINK/coax.

It also doesn't make sense if you have a home theater receiver with a TOSLINK input. You have to route TOSLINK around the OSSC anyway, so there's no point in using this device to do it if your receiver supports TOSLINK already.
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by TrashbagTony »

Does anyone have any profiles yet for PS1/PS2? I swear on my life I cannot get anything good. Everytime I change my advance timings, it always seems to revert back to where the right side of the screen is farther right than the left.
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hugo19941994
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by hugo19941994 »

I can't seem to get any sync on the OSSC when using a consolized MVS-1FZ. Any tips?

Tried to reset the settings, increasing the Hsync tolerance to 8.30us-10us and changing the H-PLL Pre/Post-coast lines. The sync line is attenuated using a resistor and the console works fine on a couple of TVs.

Would a sync striker help? I also pre-ordered the newer GScartsw with sync regeneration, but I'm not sure if it would help.
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Konsolkongen
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by Konsolkongen »

Is there any possible downside to using the non-audio version of the firmware on an OSSC 1.6 with HDMI output? Besides obviously not getting sound (which I don't want) :D
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by nmalinoski »

Konsolkongen wrote:Is there any possible downside to using the non-audio version of the firmware on an OSSC 1.6 with HDMI output? Besides obviously not getting sound (which I don't want) :D
Shouldn't hurt, but I don't think you're going to gain anything by ditching audio support.
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Konsolkongen
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by Konsolkongen »

I'm running the HDMI signal through my Yamaha AVR, as well as Analog and Optical separately. Setting the Audio Select to Auto on the AVR will choose HDMI sound by default with 0.82-aud, and with the regular 0.82 the AVR correctly chooses Optical or Analog in that order. Exactly what I want :)

The Analog to Digital converter in the OSSC is a nice feature, but it doesn't sound very good. So I'd like not to use it if at all possible.
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Harrumph
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by Harrumph »

Konsolkongen wrote:Setting the Audio Select to Auto on the AVR will choose HDMI sound by default with 0.82-aud, and with the regular 0.82 the AVR correctly chooses Optical or Analog in that order.
What if you use the -aud firmware but set TX mode to DVI instead of HDMI?

Not that it really matters in the end, no other features are missing from the non-audio fw afaik.
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Konsolkongen
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by Konsolkongen »

I was looking for an option like that, but I must have missed it :D

I'll give that a try when the next firmware is released :)
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by nmalinoski »

Konsolkongen wrote:Setting the Audio Select to Auto on the AVR will choose HDMI sound by default with 0.82-aud, and with the regular 0.82 the AVR correctly chooses Optical or Analog in that order.
That sounds like precisely what I've been dealing with with trying to use TOSLINK with my OSSC. The problem is that the OSSC bundles audio with the HDMI signals, even if you have no audio connected. My receiver will detect that audio signal and use it, which prevents it from falling back to TOSLINK like I'd like it to. I could certainly reconfigure my AVR to favor the TOSLINK input, but that setting is buried in slow-to-navigate menus, so it's a PITA to change every time I want to switch consoles.

When you use the non-audio firmware, no audio is bundled with the HDMI signals, so the AVR doesn't detect any, and will thus appropriately fall back to TOSLINK or analogue as desired.
Harrumph wrote:What if you use the -aud firmware but set TX mode to DVI instead of HDMI?
Doing that will have the same effect as installing the non-audio firmware, but it has the benefit of being toggled with a profile change. This is what I do now; I use mostly stock settings (minor tweaks to the defaults), which I save to profile 0, then I change TX mode to DVI and save that as profile 1. Profile 0 is for when I'm using anything that uses analogue audio, which is routed into the OSSC; and profile 1 is for anything that uses digital audio via TOSLINK, which is routed around my OSSC to my AVR.

This is, unfortunately, as good as it gets for me. If I had all of my consoles running into one of the inputs on the OSSC, such as if everything I had were component-enabled and running through my component+TOSLINK switcher, I would just route both TOSLINK and analogue output from that switcher into my AVR, and the fallback would work perfectly.

So, being that I'm using both the component and SCART inputs, I need the OSSC to do audio switching, which means that the OSSC is always going to output audio, even if I don't want it to, so I have to switch profiles every time I want to switch between any of my currently-connected consoles that outputs analogue audio only (Dreamcast (although I have a DCHDMI on order), PS1) and the ones that output digital audio over TOSLINK (PS2, Xbox, first-gen Xbox 360).

I've been considering picking up a second OSSC to handle the video for my TOSLINK consoles (so, could be 1.5 or earlier), but that's an additional expense (VGP doesn't have any discount refurbs anymore, and all the eBay units are being scalped) and it means I could only connect one type of TOSLINK-capable switcher, my component one.

If I wanted to switch my PS2 to RGB, or add a PC or TOSLINK-modded SNES/GC/PS1, then I'd additionally need a gscartsw with that TOSLINK modboard and requisite cables (Probably $400+ USD) and a third OSSC. And then the TOSLINK inputs on my AVR are maxed out. :P

It would be so much easier if I could trade my 1.6 OSSC for one that additionally supported TOSLINK on all inputs and was laid out a bit better--wider footprint, with all AV I/O on the back, and 3.5mm TRS and TOSLINK inputs for each video input.

Of course, I'd also want an HDMI input and a framebuffer for the option of proper deinterlacing, framerate conversion, and seamless video mode transitions, which I imagine are all quite a ways off.
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Konsolkongen
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by Konsolkongen »

Why don’t you run everything analog directly to your AVR and skip the ADC in the OSSC? Will probably sound better.

I have every console hooked up with RGB and analog sound to Extron switches which doesn’t impact the sound noticeably. Then I just run an audio cable from that to the same input as my OSSC is connected to in the AVR.

I still need to find some kind of automatic optical switcher for PS2, Xbox and Saturn.
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by headlesshobbs »

Does FBX have any color profiles for the NES VC games? They look like **** composite without having to do some major adjustments and I'm trying to dial in the best one.
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nmalinoski
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by nmalinoski »

Konsolkongen wrote:Why don’t you run everything analog directly to your AVR and skip the ADC in the OSSC? Will probably sound better.

I have every console hooked up with RGB and analog sound to Extron switches which doesn’t impact the sound noticeably. Then I just run an audio cable from that to the same input as my OSSC is connected to in the AVR.
The main reason I don't do that is because I'm not using only RGB or YPbPr--I have consoles that output both, so I have audio and video coming in to both AV1 and AV2. Since the video switching occurs on the OSSC, it makes sense to me to have it also switch the analogue audio. If I bypassed the OSSC, that would take up an additional input on my AVR, and I'd need to do additional manual switching on my AVR instead of simply turning it on.

In your case, you're only using RGB, and all of your switching occurs upstream on your Extron switchers, so you can just have your OSSC default to AV1 RGBS and route audio around it to your AVR. If I were only using YPbPr component with my OSSC, like you and your RGB-only setup, I absolutely would just route analogue and digital audio from my component switch to my AVR.
Konsolkongen wrote:I still need to find some kind of automatic optical switcher for PS2, Xbox and Saturn.
I think automatic TOSLINK switchers are difficult but not impossible to find. Might be easier to simply pick up an Audio Authority 1154A and just use it for TOSLINK. Personally, I don't like the idea of decoupling audio from video when switching automatically; keeping them bundled reduces complexity and allows me to have multiple consoles on without them interfering with each other (for example, video from one console and audio from another, and needing to manually mess with multiple devices to get things working).
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Konsolkongen
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by Konsolkongen »

No, I'm not only using RGB in my setup. Not sure what gave you that idea :)

I've got RGB and Component going to the same Extron switches. And everything analog audio is passed through a single cable to the AVR :)
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by TrashbagTony »

So I know the TCL S4 4k series of TVs work amazingly with all the OSSC modes, but can anyone attest to how the S3 1080p series work? I don't want to spend $200 on a TV and not have it compatible. Does anyone also know how well it works with PS2 games? My current TV has over-scan a lot with PS2 games, how does it do with that? Thanks for any help in advanced.
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by maxtherabbit »

how feasible would it be to implement an option for auto switching of YPbPr color space based on resolution in the next version update?
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by ASDR »

maxtherabbit wrote:how feasible would it be to implement an option for auto switching of YPbPr color space based on resolution in the next version update?
I'm still confused by this. So I get that generally SDTV YPbPr uses the Rec. 601 conversion matrix and HDTV uses Rec. 709. But what exactly is SD/HD? So a GC over component is SD in 480i and HD in 480p? Or is the GC just always SD? Would a 360 switch to Rec. 601 when set to output 480p over component? What about an OG Xbox, does it depend on if a game is 480p or outputs 720p/1080i? How about a PS2 in a game like GT4 that switches between 480i and 480p/1080i, will that also switch color space based on the resolution?

If it's really 100% mechanical I'd love to have an auto option so I can finally forget about this :D
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by maxtherabbit »

ASDR wrote:
maxtherabbit wrote:how feasible would it be to implement an option for auto switching of YPbPr color space based on resolution in the next version update?
I'm still confused by this. So I get that generally SDTV YPbPr uses the Rec. 601 conversion matrix and HDTV uses Rec. 709. But what exactly is SD/HD? So a GC over component is SD in 480i and HD in 480p? Or is the GC just always SD? Would a 360 switch to Rec. 601 when set to output 480p over component? What about an OG Xbox, does it depend on if a game is 480p or outputs 720p/1080i? How about a PS2 in a game like GT4 that switches between 480i and 480p/1080i, will that also switch color space based on the resolution?

If it's really 100% mechanical I'd love to have an auto option so I can finally forget about this :D
480p is always supposed to be 601, just like 480i and 240p

Only 720p and up use 709
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by nmalinoski »

maxtherabbit wrote:
ASDR wrote:
maxtherabbit wrote:how feasible would it be to implement an option for auto switching of YPbPr color space based on resolution in the next version update?
I'm still confused by this. So I get that generally SDTV YPbPr uses the Rec. 601 conversion matrix and HDTV uses Rec. 709. But what exactly is SD/HD? So a GC over component is SD in 480i and HD in 480p? Or is the GC just always SD? Would a 360 switch to Rec. 601 when set to output 480p over component? What about an OG Xbox, does it depend on if a game is 480p or outputs 720p/1080i? How about a PS2 in a game like GT4 that switches between 480i and 480p/1080i, will that also switch color space based on the resolution?

If it's really 100% mechanical I'd love to have an auto option so I can finally forget about this :D
480p is always supposed to be 601, just like 480i and 240p

Only 720p and up use 709
In addition, 240p/288p/480i/576i is standard definition (SD), 480p/576p is enhanced definition (ED), and 720p/1080i/1080p is high definition (HD), with 1080p typically referred to as Full HD.
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Re: OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

Post by ASDR »

Where doesn’t this hold true? The fact that this is even an option makes me think marqs found at least one case where this rule was violated.

(Also why isn’t component just RGsB in the first place. I guess you could then still get things like the gamma and color space wrong anyway)
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