RetroTINK 5x-Pro

[Gunstar]

Nice to see downscaling being added (720p too!)

[strayan]

Nice to see downscaling being added (720p too!)

I’d prefer a stand alone device with an HDMI input and ideally a DE-15 plug for 15khz output which you could use to breakout to whatever you needed. DE15 is never going to happen though because it would confuse the masses so I’ll settle for a SCART or RCA plugs for RGBs/component output. If the SCART plug could output RGBs, Component and S-Video that would even better (again: never going to happen).

HDMI input essential because I really don’t want to have to have to split my HDMI signal, add a DAC in front of the Retrotink then another DAC right afterwards.

Which leads me to conclude that Mike is working on a standalone downscaler because that ^^^ would be a tech support nightmare.

[maxtherabbit]

I will make DE-15 15kHz happen by force

[Gunstar]

Nice to see downscaling being added (720p too!)

I’d prefer a stand alone device with an HDMI input and ideally a DE-15 plug for 15khz output which you could use to breakout to whatever you needed. DE15 is never going to happen though because it would confuse the masses so I’ll settle for a SCART or RCA plugs for RGBs/component output. If the SCART plug could output RGBs, Component and S-Video that would even better (again: never going to happen).

HDMI input essential because I really don’t want to have to have to split my HDMI signal, add a DAC in front of the Retrotink then another DAC right afterwards.

Which leads me to conclude that Mike is working on a standalone downscaler because that ^^^ would be a tech support nightmare.

That's a good point, I saw that he had liked someone's comment about the 5x supporting it so not really a confirmation. I assume you'd need a DAC and appropriate cable after but a separate, standalone box would be ideal as you described.

[strayan]

I will make DE-15 15kHz happen by force

I will join your militia.

[fernan1234]

I will make DE-15 15kHz happen by force

I will join your militia.

We have to keep proselytizing. Some day we will change the standard in this hobby for the best!

[strygo]

By the looks of it, HDMI is going to be the real winner with all of these planned HDMI mods coming down the pike.

[bobrocks95]

By the looks of it, HDMI is going to be the real winner with all of these planned HDMI mods coming down the pike.

There's no HDMI input though, right? Would rather upgrade my upscaler than my GCVideo.

[maxtherabbit]

I will make DE-15 15kHz happen by force

I will join your militia.

We have to keep proselytizing. Some day we will change the standard in this hobby for the best!

I just designed a little dongle to shove in the back of SCART devices to allow them to accept RGBS over DE-15. The 3 pin header is for an optional buck boost converter to get 12V for aspect ratio control on SCART TVs

[fernan1234]

^That's brilliant! Let me buy one of your built prototypes. Should be great insurance against devices that insist on using SCART only for RGBS but are otherwise must-have.

I do have a cable stored for this, but a dongle would be neater and more reliable.

[maxtherabbit]

Sure thing. I don't have the pcbs ordered yet though

[vol.2]

Coool. Thanks MTR!!

[Gunstar]

[fernan1234]

If the RT5X has finely adjustable scanline settings like those on the OSSC, it would really be enough to not need the OSSC Pro for most retro gaming purposes (though I'd still want one of the latter for stuff like rotation and HDMI sources).

[whatamansion]

He just tweeted the 5X is in mass production now

Mike Chi
@retrotink2
Woke up and got official confirmation that the 5X is in mass production!

Already started working on the next thing

No word on when you can order yet

Mike Chi
@retrotink2
Replying to
@mttmcc
Argh, still not sure yet -- depends a lot on how long it takes to finish production and ship the units. Once we get them, we have to load the final firmware and QC. But once we get them, there'll be plenty of stock for everyone, I think.

[bobrocks95]

Have any more details about the auto phase capability been released? Is it making an educated guess that may need to be manually overridden, or is there some deterministic way to find the "best" phase on a signal? If so, could this be added to the OSSC/Pro?

[mikechi2]

There's no manual override. I don't think it will be possible to implement it on the OSSC (classic?) due to the hardware limitations. Otherwise, I don't see why the Pro couldn't. After all, the FPGA is significantly more powerful (Cyclone V vs IV).

[Josh128]

There's no manual override. I don't think it will be possible to implement it on the OSSC (classic?) due to the hardware limitations. Otherwise, I don't see why the Pro couldn't. After all, the FPGA is significantly more powerful (Cyclone V vs IV).

Mike, when will you provide at least a preliminary list of its full functionality possibly comparing to the RT 2X and OSSC? After following this thread, I honestly still have no clue about what this box is supposed to do that a 2X or OSSC dont.

Throw us a small bone brother!

[kitty666cats]

Guess the rumor-mill stuff I heard about HD Retrovision also having a hand in the 5X (RE: getting involved and this being sorta spawned from their ‘HDMIzer’ which may never come to fruition) wasn’t the case - gonna be real cool to see this and the SEVERAL other things Mike is hammering away at! Should be another super cool year in regards to ~ precious GEAR! ~

Dunno even HOW I had heard that rumor originally, heh. Hope to see more and more cool stuff from e v e r y o n e

[mikechi2]

I honestly don't have an official feature list because the firmware keeps evolving due to constant delays in production. Parts have been extremely hard to come by and we've spent months hunting down pieces to finally get the assembly line going. Got nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs and write firmware. So I guess that's good news in a sense, haha.

At this point, I can confirm a motion adaptive deinterlacer, fully compliant CEA-861 style timings (both 60 Hz buffered or frame locked to the console), no loss on resolution change in buffered mode (and sometimes in frame lock too) and a polyphase scaler that can do sharp, non-integer scaling. 1440p is supported via VESA CVT-rb timings but not all TVs take this. 1440p also requires the system to run at 185 MHz, which is beyond the spec of the HDMI chip, although the Cyclone IV achieves timing closure. Hence, the official moniker '5X' and not '6X', since 1440p is not guaranteed. There's also an experimental downscaler that can produce 240p from 480i, 480p and 720p.

Auto-phase selection is available for SNES/TG16 256, PS1 320, NEOGEO 320, N64 320, Saturn 320, Saturn 352 and PS1 384. All you need to do is select the base mode and the FPGA calculates the optimal phase.

Inputs are SHART RGB, SCART Composite video (Pin 21), YPbPr, S-video and composite. SHART RGB and YPbPr supports 480p. YPbPr also supports 720p and 1080i (although those two modes are limited to 422 subsampling, but this device isn't targeted for those use cases). The SHART port might also support 720p and 1080i, but this has not been tested.

No smoothing filter. I could make excuses on how I hated the effect, but implementing that in a custom FPGA design is beyond me atm.

[kitty666cats]

It just keeps exceeding expectations, whew! I forget if this was covered: is this badboi gonna have a remote?

[vol.2]

Got nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs and write firmware. So I guess that's good news in a sense, haha.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and update everyone here.

I know there is a lot of people on this forum that really appreciate the work you are putting into the hobby we all love and the contributions you've made to it.

Looking forward to see more of the 5X!

[strayan]

I would love love love CVT timings because my TV applies overscan to all CEA compliant ones.

That is one thing I really love about the Xbox360: VESA 640x480, 848x480 and 1360x768 output in addition to CEA ones. No other console has support for this to my knowledge. 1366x768 reduced blanking would be super handy for older (non-1080p compatible) plasma TVs.

[TooBeaucoup]

It just keeps exceeding expectations, whew! I forget if this was covered: is this badboi gonna have a remote?

As far as I know, it will. They Tweeted out a pile of remotes they said they liked.

[Gara]

The features are really looking great. I'm not sure if this was covered or not. Will it be able to take YPbPr over Scart? Any doubling options planned for 480p?

[RocketBelt]

Thanks for the update Mike. Looking forward to seeing price and reviews of this.

[Gunstar]

Appreciate the info, Mike, it sounds really good. Btw do you know if 480p > 480i could be done? It's probably not something a lot of people would want but I wouldn't mind messing with such a setting on a 15khz set.

[neorichieb1971]

720p for 240p consoles with scanlines. Simple request. For everything else an HDMI solution exists.

[Josh128]

Thanks for that Mike!

BTW, wtf is a SHART connector? It sounds kind of nasty.

[fernan1234]

Appreciate the info, Mike, it sounds really good. Btw do you know if 480p > 480i could be done? It's probably not something a lot of people would want but I wouldn't mind messing with such a setting on a 15khz set.

Seconding this! Such a feature can open up a lot of possibilities for 15khz-only TVs and monitors. All video processors I've used that do this usually introduce ringing artifacts, the RT5X may be able to do better on this regard.

BTW, wtf is a SHART connector? It sounds kind of nasty.

That's the correct, technical term for what consumers know as "SCART"