Shinybow 6x2 SCART Switcher Brightness/Sharpness Loss?

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erik343
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Shinybow 6x2 SCART Switcher Brightness/Sharpness Loss?

Post by erik343 »

Does the Shinybow 6x2 SCART Matrix Routing Switcher have any brightness or sharpness loss instead of a direct connection to the Framemeister XRGB-mini upscaler?
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opt2not
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Re: Shinybow 6x2 SCART Switcher Brightness/Sharpness Loss?

Post by opt2not »

Nope.
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erik343
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Re: Shinybow 6x2 SCART Switcher Brightness/Sharpness Loss?

Post by erik343 »

I was asking, because I am comparing the Shinybow (SB-5525) with the Hydra 16, and I only want the best! I am going to use either one of these two switchers eventually...

I heard in RGB308 for My Life in Gaming, that the Hydra 16 has a slight brightness loss...

I also found that the Hydra 16 now has two outputs!, but can each output be assigned from a different input? This is possible for the Shinybow 6x2 SCART Matrix Router Switcher, but what about the Hydra 16?

I am researching the Hydra 16, so I am curious what you think about the Hydra 16?
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TooBeaucoup
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Re: Shinybow 6x2 SCART Switcher Brightness/Sharpness Loss?

Post by TooBeaucoup »

I have the Shinybow 4x2 and the image quality is perfect, no difference to my eyes between using the switcher and a direct connection to my Framemeister or OSSC.
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Guspaz
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Re: Shinybow 6x2 SCART Switcher Brightness/Sharpness Loss?

Post by Guspaz »

If you wanted the best, you'd be buying the gscartsw rather than the hydra. The hydra 16 is basically just two separate switches daisy chained together. The same thing (albeit with 15 total inputs) can be achieved by plugging one gscartsw into another.

The gscartsw does not suffer from the image quality issues of the hydra and supports sync-on-green conversion on all ports.

I think you mentioned in another thread that you wanted a manual switch? I'd argue in favour of automatic switches (when would you have a scenario where you are playing multiple consoles simultaneously?), but as far as I can tell, you should be able to enable manual input on the gscartsw simply by soldering a rotary encoder (a knob with fixed positions when you turn it) to the EXT header.

I think manual control of the two switches from a single encoder is possible too. I think you could do that by wiring a 16-position (4-bit) encoder where the first three bits are connected to the input pins on both switches, and the fourth bit is connected to all three input pins only on the primary switch. Encoder positions 1-8 would actually change the input on both switches, but the secondary switch's input doesn't matter because its output is only connected to input 8 on the primary switch. Encoder positions 9-16 select the input on the secondary switch, but since the fourth bit is always set, and is wired to all primary switch input pins, the primary switch gets locked to input 8.

Enabling manual input just requires bridging the +5V and override pins, or you could add a separate toggle switch to switch between manual/automatic. Alternatively, I think some rotary encoders have an on/off switch where you push down on the knob to toggle, which could also be used for that.
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