RetroTINK 5x-Pro

The place for all discussion on gaming hardware
psxswiss
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2016 9:29 pm

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by psxswiss »

Hi Guys,

I can't make the retrotink firmware tool work! Actually, after several tests on several computers can't get 'FT232R USB UART' to appear in the box of the app.
Just impossible. I've installed the driver's TDI D2XX, then nothing...

I connect the RetroTink X5 to my computer (with the menu button pushed), red light is on.
For you to know, my retrotink works, running currently version 1.999

Any idea?
Thanks much,
psxswiss
User avatar
Tempest_2084
Posts: 593
Joined: Tue Feb 04, 2014 3:05 pm

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Tempest_2084 »

Guspaz wrote:When using the Game Boy Player with an OSSC or RT5X, you should be using GBI at 360p, which the RT5X will automatically detect and scale to full-screen using optimal sampling.

The presets for doing this are listed here: https://www.gc-forever.com/wiki/index.p ... _Interface
I tried the 360p version and it didn't look right. Maybe it's my TV or maybe I need to change another setting? I thought the aspect ratio looked off and it was kind of blurry.
strayan
Posts: 671
Joined: Sun Mar 19, 2017 8:33 pm

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by strayan »

What is the native resolution of your TV?
neorichieb1971
Posts: 7666
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:28 am
Location: Bedford, UK
Contact:

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by neorichieb1971 »

Using this device do you always get a centralized picture?

One feature that I liked on my Amiga monitor and Arcade cabinets is the ability to stretch and move the image at will.
This industry has become 2 dimensional as it transcended into a 3D world.
User avatar
Tempest_2084
Posts: 593
Joined: Tue Feb 04, 2014 3:05 pm

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Tempest_2084 »

strayan wrote:What is the native resolution of your TV?
1080p I think. It's an older 34" Vizio. I'd have to get the model # and look it up.
thchardcore
Posts: 480
Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2005 9:20 am
Location: Liberal cesspool

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by thchardcore »

neorichieb1971 wrote:Using this device do you always get a centralized picture?

One feature that I liked on my Amiga monitor and Arcade cabinets is the ability to stretch and move the image at will.
Yes, because you can re-center it in the menu and save it to a profile.
A camel is a horse designed by a committee
User avatar
kitty666cats
Posts: 1266
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2019 2:03 am
Location: Massachusetts, USA

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by kitty666cats »

kitty666cats wrote:My friend is still doing some testing, but has confirmed 345MHz from my Tripp-Lite HDMI to VGA I lent to him -
https://www.tripplite.com/2-port-hdmi-t ... 13106n2vau
...However, he seems to be having some image smearing and image quality issues, at all bandwidths... maybe there's a workaround. I'm gonna ask him to try something like a nicer PSU with a higher amperage. If anyone has some other suggestions (like some sorta internal modification) that would be awesome.

Anyhoo, this is relevant for anyone who would want to try the RT5X's experimental 2560x1440p 60Hz mode on a high-spec PC CRT! That resolution is ~320-330MHz, from what I remember.
ldeveraux
Posts: 1100
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2018 10:20 pm

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by ldeveraux »

SHould I be turning this RT5x off when not in use, or can it stay on 24/7 like my OSSC?
thchardcore
Posts: 480
Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2005 9:20 am
Location: Liberal cesspool

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by thchardcore »

I would. No reason to let the FPGA sit idle and stay warm.
A camel is a horse designed by a committee
ldeveraux
Posts: 1100
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2018 10:20 pm

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by ldeveraux »

thchardcore wrote:I would. No reason to let the FPGA sit idle and stay warm.
I don't disagree, wondering if there was an official recommendation from Mike?
User avatar
Larrs888
Posts: 76
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2016 10:08 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Larrs888 »

Does anyone know of the model of the remote control, I wouldn't mind finding a silicone case to protect much as I have with my other remotes, any ideas? I've had a look online but can't seem to find one that would fit?

Related to power, has anyone tried an inline power switch with their Tink5X as mine always powers up when my USB plugs are active and I have to power it down manually each time.

Thanks
User avatar
TooBeaucoup
Posts: 395
Joined: Fri Jun 09, 2017 1:31 am

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by TooBeaucoup »

ldeveraux wrote:
thchardcore wrote:I would. No reason to let the FPGA sit idle and stay warm.
I don't disagree, wondering if there was an official recommendation from Mike?
I believe I saw him say, that you may as well shut it off if you're not using it, because why keep it on for no reason? But, he did say that even with running his experimental higher resolutions like 1440p that the chips never even get hot, so I doubt just leaving it on at idle is going to hurt anything.
ldeveraux
Posts: 1100
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2018 10:20 pm

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by ldeveraux »

Thanks everyone, I now power down my RT5x when not in use. I only ask because superg suggested leaving the OSSC on regardless of use.
lerp
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Jul 22, 2022 2:12 pm

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by lerp »

Hi Everyone,

This forum is great, and glad I just registered.

I recently got the Retrotink5x, and I'm playing shmups, one problem I have is rotating the screen.
My monitor rotates one way and I can usually set the game to rotate but this usually ends up being the wrong direction, making the game upside down.

Any ideas how to rotate the screen, for shmups, it would be so good if the Retrotink 5x could rotate in 90degree increments.

Cheers
Lerp
User avatar
Guspaz
Posts: 3130
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2015 7:37 pm
Location: Montréal, Canada

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Guspaz »

New experimental firmware for the RT5X is out on Discord, 2.74. Tricks HDR TVs like LG OLEDs into switching to HDR mode, cranking up the brightness way up to compensate for brightness loss from scanlines and CRT masks. May need to play with gamma and colour settings on the RT5X and TV to get the image looking right. Should also help with the brightness loss from black frame insertion, multiple people report that RT5X image with scanlines and black frame insertion has similar brightness on their OLED to a CRT.
fernan1234
Posts: 2167
Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2017 8:34 pm

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by fernan1234 »

Pretty awesome step forward indeed. I was always thinking how flagging the output of one of these retro scalers as HDR would have these beneficial effects, but clearly color output is not a straightforward matter. On the other hand, I wonder if the colors being off are due to the TV switching to DCI-P3/partial Rec2020 color gamut, whereas it should be Rec.709 to match more closely with the original colors (or the RT5X's normal output). Someone with one of these TVs should give Rec.709 a try along with regular color and gamma settings on the Tink.
EnragedWhale
Posts: 166
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2014 10:26 am
Location: UK

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by EnragedWhale »

On my C1 using the secret colour menu to set Rec.709 and ETOF to HLG seems to correct the colours in forced HDR mode.

Makes BFI plenty bright enough even with scanlines. Feel the lag penalty though, probably because I’m switching back and forth. Been spoiled by boost mode!

Edit to add: forcing HLG overrides the HDR flag anyway i guess but still seems to achieve the same thing? Colour to Rec709 on its own doesn’t go far enough t9 correct the colours.
User avatar
bobrocks95
Posts: 3450
Joined: Mon Apr 30, 2012 2:27 am
Location: Kentucky

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by bobrocks95 »

What does boost mode truly do? Reddit said forcing 120Hz refresh or something along those lines, but I don't trust the average Redditor's claims on anything even remotely technical. If that is the case do you get a double strobing effect on 60Hz content?
PS1 Disc-Based Game ID BIOS patch for MemCard Pro and SD2PSX automatic VMC switching.
EnragedWhale
Posts: 166
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2014 10:26 am
Location: UK

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by EnragedWhale »

I’m unsure how it works. But it makes zero difference to image quality to my eyes. But I also can’t tell a difference when outputting 60fps games at 120hz on a Xbox series X and John Linneman of DF fame claims this produces a slight double image. I’ve looked and looked and can’t see it. Surely the panel is refreshing at 120hz (outside of VVR) anyway so I’m unsure why the source doing the frame doubling would look different to the TV doing the same thing? Maybe I just have crap eyes! Also maybe boost mode works in a fundamentally different way so the comparison maybe nonsense.

Vincent at HDTV test did confirm boost mode raises near black gamma a touch, but he claims that’s it’s actually more accurate than standard when uncalibrated as the C1 crushes blacks somewhat out of the box. True blacks are unaffected. I do know it’s very responsive though and the extra lag is easily detectable switching to and from BFI. Probably could get used to it without the direct comparison.
fernan1234
Posts: 2167
Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2017 8:34 pm

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by fernan1234 »

BFI has always added lag on LG OLED TVs/panels. If boost mode disables BFI, then that would account for the difference in lag.
User avatar
bobrocks95
Posts: 3450
Joined: Mon Apr 30, 2012 2:27 am
Location: Kentucky

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by bobrocks95 »

fernan1234 wrote:BFI has always added lag on LG OLED TVs/panels. If boost mode disables BFI, then that would account for the difference in lag.
It's not like BFI is always on though, it's a separate setting. With BFI disabled you can turn boost mode on or off and there will be a latency difference.
PS1 Disc-Based Game ID BIOS patch for MemCard Pro and SD2PSX automatic VMC switching.
User avatar
Guspaz
Posts: 3130
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2015 7:37 pm
Location: Montréal, Canada

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Guspaz »

Boost mode only reduces the latency for 60Hz signals by 3ms. It is not a significant difference, or even one that humans should be able to notice.
User avatar
bobrocks95
Posts: 3450
Joined: Mon Apr 30, 2012 2:27 am
Location: Kentucky

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by bobrocks95 »

No, but I'm still curious what they're doing under the hood to squeeze that out, and what features or settings it disables in the process ;)
PS1 Disc-Based Game ID BIOS patch for MemCard Pro and SD2PSX automatic VMC switching.
EnragedWhale
Posts: 166
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2014 10:26 am
Location: UK

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by EnragedWhale »

Guspaz wrote:Boost mode only reduces the latency for 60Hz signals by 3ms. It is not a significant difference, or even one that humans should be able to notice.
MLIG measured a 7ms improvement at 1080p and 4K and a 15ms improvement at 1440p.

https://youtu.be/7K2tSrnxqVk

Appreciate these are still small differences on their own but it adds up to a 32ms penalty to add BFI which was noticeable to me switching back and forth.

@bobrocks95

The only setting I can see disabled with boost mode activated is all of the motion pro settings inc BFI of course.

After discovering the forced HLG mode I’m no longer using the force HDR option on the RT5X as my C1 is plenty bright enough with CRT effects enabled. In fact I’m dialling some brightness out by lowering the OLED light setting to make it more comfortable in a dark room.
User avatar
orange808
Posts: 3185
Joined: Sat Aug 20, 2016 5:43 am

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by orange808 »

I can't praise LG enough for boost mode and it needs to be a part of consumer displays from here to eternity. It's so great, it doesn't even seem real or possible. After all, display manufacturers have been shitting on gamers for decades. They never cared what we needed.

For me, the dream is to eventually have a high refresh display and buy a single external machine to perform all my video game image processing. I want just one frame buffer and one source of all latency. I don't need a display wasting valuable time doing superfluous bullshit.

LG essentially lets their display "check out" and become a "dumb" display terminal. That's exactly what we will want and need. Perfect.

Given that the LG refreshes the screen instantly and a CRT scans out in about 17ms, a full frame buffer is essentially free. We could get high quality deinterlacing or tate mode essentially free. At one frame, you see the entire frame at basically the same moment as a CRT (at 60Hz), because the OLED response is instant. We could also use that time to externally perform a rolling scan effect when feeding a bright high refresh display with a progressive and nonrotated signal (that doesn't require any frame buffer or complex video processing).

I love that LG gives us the option to bring our own video processing. I hope it never goes away. Brighter OLEDs, 240Hz refresh, and slightly more powerful FPGAs will make all of it technically possible at 1080p in a decade. We're close if LG leaves boost mode in. The tate mode and deinterlacing will probably be a reality with current LG displays and the OSSC Pro; that's very close.

As long as the total cumulative latency of the game host machine and display is 20ms or under (versus real hardware connected to a CRT), we're golden. It's going to feel snappy and authentic.

Anyhow, LG offering boost mode might have been the most exciting development ever in modern displays. Pardon my gushing.
We apologise for the inconvenience
User avatar
Galdelico
Posts: 257
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2016 12:58 pm
Location: Italy

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Galdelico »

Hi everyone,
as I wish to upgrade from my original OSSC to this device, I'd love to get a major doubt out of my mind before purchasing.

My plan is to keep the PC monitor I'm currently using for my retro setup, at the moment - which is a 1080p one - so the question is: would I be able to get all the PVM/BVM/aperture grille fancy shaders coming with the Retrotink 5x (which I would very much love to use) displayed evenly with anything other than the cropped 1080p video mode?
I'm asking because my monitor - while versatile and well performing in many areas - proved to score pretty poorly with scaling, basically rendering decent looking scanlines in the OSSC 2x optimized modes only (of course they looked even at 1080p cropped too, but I didn't like the effect and never used them).

Thank you in advance! ^_-
User avatar
Fudoh
Posts: 13015
Joined: Mon Mar 06, 2006 3:29 am
Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Fudoh »

The 5X can give you native 1080p out, doesn't matter if you decide for a 4x, 5x or fullscreen 1080p scale. And it delivers nice shading in all situations.
User avatar
Galdelico
Posts: 257
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2016 12:58 pm
Location: Italy

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Galdelico »

Fudoh wrote:The 5X can give you native 1080p out, doesn't matter if you decide for a 4x, 5x or fullscreen 1080p scale. And it delivers nice shading in all situations.
That sounds great, thank you. My concern was that those shaders would've turned into uneven patterns/artifacts at 1080p fill for example (which sounds to be my preferred way to go, as I don't like the idea of cropping bits, even if they are supposed to rest on the overscan areas of the screen).

Last question for EU buyers (if this brakes any rule, mods please edit and ignore). Should I give up and pay the late+scalper tax and buy the device directly from Europe, or is is safe to order it from the US? I'm worried about uncontrolled customs fees and for the package to get opened up/damaged.

Thank you once again.
User avatar
Fudoh
Posts: 13015
Joined: Mon Mar 06, 2006 3:29 am
Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Fudoh »

Should I give up and pay the late+scalper tax and buy the device directly from Europe, or is is safe to order it from the US? I'm worried about uncontrolled customs fees and for the package to get opened up/damaged.
is it available anywhere in the EU right now? VGperfection are out of stock without a restock date, aren't they? EUR and US$ are pretty much at parity right now, which means that the 330 EUR including VAT from VGperfection was a pretty good price and any restock will likely be more expensive in the future. If you're ordering from Mike directly you're looking at 400+ EUR (but at least it seems to be available without hefty waiting times).
User avatar
Galdelico
Posts: 257
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2016 12:58 pm
Location: Italy

Re: RetroTINK 5x-Pro

Post by Galdelico »

Fudoh wrote:
Should I give up and pay the late+scalper tax and buy the device directly from Europe, or is is safe to order it from the US? I'm worried about uncontrolled customs fees and for the package to get opened up/damaged.
is it available anywhere in the EU right now? VGperfection are out of stock without a restock date, aren't they? EUR and US$ are pretty much at parity right now, which means that the 330 EUR including VAT from VGperfection was a pretty good price and any restock will likely be more expensive in the future. If you're ordering from Mike directly you're looking at 400+ EUR (but at least it seems to be available without hefty waiting times).
No it's not available on there, and I'm looking at a private sale. Seller is asking for a good 100 Euros extra, on top of the final price from the US. Very tempted because, of course, conveniency and shorter delivery times, but that price is holding me back still.
Post Reply