RetroTINK 5x-Pro

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Shelcoof
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Shelcoof »

I'm not sure if its me or if the downscaling is broke after the most recent update
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Odolwa
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Odolwa »

I love the profile feature, it’s so great to see something like that on this device. However, I wish instead of it loading the default profile every time I turned it on, it would instead load the previous profile that I used before turning it off. I don’t like having to see that blue screen, and the small sized menu window. I like setting it to black and to the normal sized menu window, for readability, and it’s easier on the eyes. It’s also great that there exists a default profile, so in case we mess something up, we don’t have to reset the entire device to factory settings.
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Josh128
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Josh128 »

TooBeaucoup wrote:
Nightzero wrote:Just wanted let people know about the PSP. As of now the PSP has screen tearing with the RT5X. If you stretch the image along the Y Axis past a certain point the issue occurs (basically trying to fill the TV). Sorry don't have exact numbers on hand. Also don't use Frame Lock as the top portion of the screen will have constant tearing while Triple Buffer does not (it comes and goes). Outside of that, the PSP looks great at least with the right scanline combos but not with the Smoothing filter.
I spent a lot of time with different games and noticed that the screen tearing is very game dependent. I played quite a few games and didn't see any tearing and then saw it on others.
When you stretch to too great an extent you will get the random top screen tearing. I first noticed it by stretching Gamecube to 1440p in my attempts to get good 480p scanlines. You can fix it by adjusting the horizontal sample rate option (defaults to 1950). As you adjust it, you can watch the width of the portion of the screen that tears shrink. Sometimes if you eliminate the tearing but re-sync the device due to ( res switch or input switch etc) the tearing will return. Mike may have to chime in as to why this happens and if anything can be done about it.
mikechi2
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by mikechi2 »

I haven't been here in a while, but I just popped in and really glad you guys like the update! To answer the two main questions:

1. PSP screen tearing is a bug in the buffer calculation. For the time being, keep the VSHIFT to less than -75. This should still let you blow up the PSP screen, just with a very thin border on each side.

2. Optimal profiles have not been rebuilt for S-video/composite yet. I'm a bit surprised people were using them. The quality of S-video and composite was never really suitable for optimal timings, imo, aside from maybe N64, which is just inherently a blurry mess. In the previous posters example with the blurry 2-chip SNES over S-video, I would definitely use generic over trying to squeeze optimal sampling out of that.
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Josh128
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Josh128 »

Mike, small bug to report, sometimes when loading a saved profile the "RGB Full" or "RGB Limited" options in the HDMI menu dont take effect unless you switch between them. To clarify, I saved a profile with "RGB Limited" and when I loaded the profile, the "RGB Limited" option was selected, but my screen was overly bright as if "RGB Full" was selected. Switching to "Full", then back to "Limited" brought my brightness to the proper level. This has happened a couple times, I'll watch closely next time to get you the exact details.
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Odolwa
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Odolwa »

I'm having an issue with the scanlines, and it might just be my tv. After I set the scanlines, when moving a character around in any game, if the screen is moving, the scanlines become lighter, once the character and the screen stop moving, the scanlines go back to normal.
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orange808
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by orange808 »

Josh128 wrote:Mike, small bug to report, sometimes when loading a saved profile the "RGB Full" or "RGB Limited" options in the HDMI menu dont take effect unless you switch between them. To clarify, I saved a profile with "RGB Limited" and when I loaded the profile, the "RGB Limited" option was selected, but my screen was overly bright as if "RGB Full" was selected. Switching to "Full", then back to "Limited" brought my brightness to the proper level. This has happened a couple times, I'll watch closely next time to get you the exact details.
Might test using another source to verify it isn't an issue with your display. I have a beamer that struggles to properly detect RGB Full and often defaults to RGB Limited.
We apologise for the inconvenience
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Josh128
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Josh128 »

Yeah I'll have to keep an eye on it. It hasnt happened again and I'll know exactly what to look for next time it happens. It happened using a Sega Genesis 2, was showing the 5X to my brother and mid game I loaded the profile used in the GNG photo I posted above and everything got really light and washed out looking. Toggling the Full/Limited option brought it back to normal.

On a side note, as I was explaining to my brother what scaler/processors like the 5X do, I whipped out the original Genesis 2 composhite cable to show him how terrible a direct connection from the console to the TV was. Its been a while since I connected the Genesis directly to one of my plasmas but boy oh boy does it look horrible!! For giggles I then fed the composite to the 5X to see how much it could clean it up and was impressed by how much better it was than feeding straight to the set. Still looked crappy, to be sure, but I'd say it brought a picture quality of 1 to about a 4 or so (vs 10 for RGB and my preferred 5X settings). It does an even better job with the NES composite IMO.
fernan1234
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by fernan1234 »

Genesis composite is absolute garbage, even on a CRT the jump from it to RGB is basically as dramatic.

NES composite on the other hand is actually pretty good, very sharp and colorful, with the compromise of having a lot of dot crawl. PC Engine has one of the best composite outputs, and many later systems also had excellent composite. Really it's only the Genesis that is awful, too bad a lot of color blending depends on it (dither is easier to handle with modern solutions).
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Josh128
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Josh128 »

^^

Yes but my point was that the 5X automatically makes the Genesis composite a lot better vs direct to TV, just as it does the NES. Its pretty neat. That said, shame on Sega for having put such an absolute dogshit implementation of composite on the Genesis while secretly also including a beautiful RGB output that nobody had the means to utilize during the life of the system.
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Konsolkongen
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Konsolkongen »

Neo Geo AES and CD have just as shitty composhite as the Mega Drive. They too use the Sony CXA1145 RGB encoder.

I remember reading that some people in the US used to play Mega Drive through 32X since it had a better composite image, which I found quite funny :D
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Tempest_2084
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Tempest_2084 »

Konsolkongen wrote: I remember reading that some people in the US used to play Mega Drive through 32X since it had a better composite image, which I found quite funny :D
Indeed I did. It wasn't of much use otherwise after playing the three decent 32X games. :)
fernan1234
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by fernan1234 »

Oh yeah the Neo Geo consoles with the same RGB encoder are gonna be as crappy, I guess it just comes down to that. Funny to think that the 32X was being used for the Genesis specifically as a way to bypass it lol

As for the 5X, the SD encoder settings should make a difference for different composite sources. I haven't tried with the 5X, but the older 2X units had a notch/2D comb filter toggle that made a difference, one making NES composite look better and Genesis worse, while the other did the opposite, IIRC.
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Triple Lei
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Triple Lei »

Thought I'd try the new Scaling/Cropping mode with my PSPgo (in 1080p OVER & Generic 4:3) using the title screen in echoshift and I think I got it centered and pretty close to the PSTV output...

https://imgur.com/a/1dEcJqf

...but as you can see, I get a solid line of color on the left. Is this just what happens when you zoom in too much, or did I forget to do something else?

I'll have to play more to really notice screen tearing, but in my experience, some PSP games just have screen tearing to begin with, like WipEout Pure.

-

EDIT: Okay, so I noticed screen tearing with my settings at the top of the screen too
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TooBeaucoup
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by TooBeaucoup »

Triple Lei wrote:Thought I'd try the new Scaling/Cropping mode with my PSPgo (in 1080p OVER & Generic 4:3) using the title screen in echoshift and I think I got it centered and pretty close to the PSTV output...

https://imgur.com/a/1dEcJqf

...but as you can see, I get a solid line of color on the left. Is this just what happens when you zoom in too much, or did I forget to do something else?

I'll have to play more to really notice screen tearing, but in my experience, some PSP games just have screen tearing to begin with, like WipEout Pure.

-

EDIT: Okay, so I noticed screen tearing with my settings at the top of the screen too
I had the green line on the left in some of my games. I was able to use the horizontal crop to cover that with black masking which was unnoticeable once I did it.

Make sure you're using triple buffer mode. That should help with tearing. Otherwise, Mike mentioned above - If it's the same tearing you're experiencing.
mikechi2 wrote:1. PSP screen tearing is a bug in the buffer calculation. For the time being, keep the VSHIFT to less than -75. This should still let you blow up the PSP screen, just with a very thin border on each side.
jamisonia
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by jamisonia »

Has anyone created a SCART coupler like the OSSC one from RetroRGB with one SCART head reversed for the Tink 5x? Seems to me like the board would need some updating as well.

https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/13NvQe1D
garbagehead4
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by garbagehead4 »

Josh128 wrote: So last night I was playing around with the new settings and first I nailed down some 4:3 settings for 240p that make my 60" 1080p set look EXACTLY like a gigantic Trinitron. It was way better than what I could achieve on the previous FW. So once I nailed that down I moved to 480p Gamecube and Wii stuff. I was able to do the token 960p and even the super zoomed in 1440p settings with perfect scanlines but neither sat very well with me. After some more playing around, I discovered a setting that basically allows for integer vertical scanlines to be used on 480p sources. Although it doesnt seem logical, it looks almost exactly like an HD CRT 480p image! Best part is, you can use 1080p fill to achieve this look and thus not deal with black bars at all in 16:9 mode or only side bars in 4:3 mode.

Colors might look a bit off in these images, the use of the masks in the 5X pro will throw off your color/brightness settings a bit and I only did a rough adjustment while messing around. The results to me are astounding though! Im very satisfied with the results here. Pics below.

Original Size: https://i.imgur.com/BzlRgJ8.jpg << Please click here for the full size as the visible thumbnail shown below does NOT do it justice!!

As for 240p, its pure perfection. Theres basically no way to tell this is not a top of the line Trinitron. Amazing.

Original Size: https://i.imgur.com/ECZciko.jpg
Image
Those 240p scanlines do look fantastic. What were your settings for those?
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Josh128
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Josh128 »

garbagehead4 wrote:
Those 240p scanlines do look fantastic. What were your settings for those?
I'll take some snapshots of the settings I used and post them here. Just remember this is for a 1080p plasma so if your set is anything other than 1080p you'll have to tweak.
SavagePencil
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by SavagePencil »

Are profiles saved in plaintext (e.g., JSON)? Is it worth collecting them for optimal settings?
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Josh128
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Josh128 »

Dont know about how they are saved, but I didnt make many changes at all to get these results. It just boils down to the time I spent finding what combination created what I was looking for. I wouldnt think its worth the trouble to try to import/export config files on this device, unlike the FM or even the OSSC which are far more complex as far as settings go.
SavagePencil
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by SavagePencil »

You clearly spent time to find those settings and the fact that you already have a request to share them proves my point. Much easier for someone to go to the junkerhq wiki than dig through 50+ pages of this thread.
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Josh128
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Josh128 »

I think Mike probably has this locked up, he would have to speak on whether or not its possible. If you figure out an easy way it can be done, I'd be more than happy to. Im just saying these really are simple minimal changes from the default, thats all. Ive messed with an XRGB-mini before and this is so ridiculously simple and intuitive in comparison, its amazing.
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Josh128
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Josh128 »

My current 240p settings:

https://i.imgur.com/a2iI1nN.png

More RT5X porn:

Full Size: https://i.imgur.com/pH1Gnth.png
Man, those inky blacks with zero halo/corona. Im still amazed by a good plasma. :mrgreen:
Image
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Strider77
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Strider77 »

For a 240p game that a console is putting out in 480p (like SSF2X on dreamcast) is there a way to add scanlines that are appropriate for 240p?
Last edited by Strider77 on Thu Dec 30, 2021 6:20 am, edited 2 times in total.
Damn Tim, you know there are quite a few Americans out there who still lives in tents due to this shitty economy, and you're dropping loads on a single game which only last 20 min. Do you think it's fair? How much did you spend this time?
Balleratt
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Balleratt »

Josh128 wrote:My current 240p settings:

https://i.imgur.com/a2iI1nN.png

More RT5X porn:
This does indeed look pretty great! Thanks for sharing!
Salamence64
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Questions about purchasing the Retrotink 5x

Post by Salamence64 »

Hi, I looking to purchase the RetroTink 5x and I have a couple of questions before purchasing. I would like to know is this compatible with unmodded NTSC video game systems? Also, do I need to purchased the SCART add on to play with my unmodded NES? After I setup the product to my TV, will it work right away or do I need to setup/update it on a computer first? If so, does it support Windows XP or MacBook Mojave? Lastly can I use a MicroUSB wall charger power adapter on the RetroTink 5x, instead of plugging it into the TV? If I could, how many volts and amps will it need? Hope someone can help, Thanks.

-42’ Sony Bravia HDTV

-Unmodded NTSC Video Game Systems
• NES
• Super Nes
• N64
• GameCube
• Wii
• Sega Genesis-model 2
• Original Xbox
• Xbox 360
• PSOne
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Shelcoof
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Re: Questions about purchasing the Retrotink 5x

Post by Shelcoof »

Salamence64 wrote:Hi, I looking to purchase the RetroTink 5x and I have a couple of questions before purchasing. I would like to know is this compatible with unmodded NTSC video game systems? Also, do I need to purchased the SCART add on to play with my unmodded NES? After I setup the product to my TV, will it work right away or do I need to setup/update it on a computer first? If so, does it support Windows XP or MacBook Mojave? Lastly can I use a MicroUSB wall charger power adapter on the RetroTink 5x, instead of plugging it into the TV? If I could, how many volts and amps will it need? Hope someone can help, Thanks.

-42’ Sony Bravia HDTV

-Unmodded NTSC Video Game Systems
• NES
• Super Nes
• N64
• GameCube
• Wii
• Sega Genesis-model 2
• Original Xbox
• Xbox 360
• PSOne
You can use it right out of the box
They will work with everything so long as the input you have is supported

Check out retrorgb or my life in gaming for videos
PearlJammzz
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Re: Questions about purchasing the Retrotink 5x

Post by PearlJammzz »

Salamence64 wrote:Hi, I looking to purchase the RetroTink 5x and I have a couple of questions before purchasing. I would like to know is this compatible with unmodded NTSC video game systems? Also, do I need to purchased the SCART add on to play with my unmodded NES? After I setup the product to my TV, will it work right away or do I need to setup/update it on a computer first? If so, does it support Windows XP or MacBook Mojave? Lastly can I use a MicroUSB wall charger power adapter on the RetroTink 5x, instead of plugging it into the TV? If I could, how many volts and amps will it need? Hope someone can help, Thanks.

-42’ Sony Bravia HDTV

-Unmodded NTSC Video Game Systems
• NES
• Super Nes
• N64
• GameCube
• Wii
• Sega Genesis-model 2
• Original Xbox
• Xbox 360
• PSOne
- Yes, unmodded consoles will work just fine. The RT5x supports composite, s-video, component, and RGB. Resolutions up to 720p/1080i although 720p/1080i I believe are chroma limited. Not a huge deal but I wouldn't but this specifically for say the Xbox 360.
- It'll work out of the box but you really should update it to the latest to get all of the awesome features added recently. It's a really easy process and there are videos on the RetroTink website. I believe Bob from RetroRGB put that one together.
- I believe it's Windows-only but I am not sure. You'll want to check out the RetroTink website for more information there. This page may have some good information: https://www.retrotink.com/post/retrotin ... re-updates
- Yes, it's preferable to use the wall power adapter. Most TV USB ports are undocumented and they vary wildly. Without measuring each one on every television set it's a complete crapshoot if it'll work well or cause issues. Just use the included power supply and you'll be fine.
mikechi2
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by mikechi2 »

It would be possible to build an export/import program as well as USB remote control for automation, but this would be a rather big (and long-term) project by itself.
SavagePencil
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Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by SavagePencil »

Are there portions of the software you could open source to make this a distributed effort? Like maybe the UI?
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