Gameboy Advance RGB NTSC

[Smashbro29]

How do you force GBI to 240p in Swiss? I finally got to Swiss and I don't see the option.

[Guspaz]

The ULL version will output 240p by default when using S-Video (I'm not using Swiss, I boot the GBI disc directly), although that doesn't help you much for component or RGB. That said, the original gameboy doesn't look so good in 240p: games were designed for an LCD, and scanlines that line up with the LCD lines are kind of hard to look at in original GB games. The GBA looks fine at 240p, though. Just the GB/GBC looks off on a PVM at 240p, IMO.

[BazookaBen]

The ULL version will output 240p by default when using S-Video (I'm not using Swiss, I boot the GBI disc directly), although that doesn't help you much for component or RGB.

Wrong. The ULL and LL GBI's play in 240p on every connection type, including component and RGB. Actually, S-video is only viable with LL, because you only get a black and white picture with the ULL on s-video.

[Guspaz]

That's incorrect, seeing as how I've got the ULL version working just fine on S-Video, and the author has stated that the ULL version does support 480p.

[BazookaBen]

That's incorrect, seeing as how I've got the ULL version working just fine on S-Video, and the author has stated that the ULL version does support 480p.

Oh, well then it must have been updated since I last used it, because s-video used to only be in black and white. But your original post is still wrong saying ULL is 240p only on s-video. It definitely works on component too.

[Guspaz]

When forced, yes, but I believe it defaults to 480p on component. The author implied it, anyhow, when somebody complained about not being able to get ULL doing 240p on component.

I'm using the build from October 14th, 2015: I've not tried anything newer.

[BazookaBen]

When forced, yes, but I believe it defaults to 480p on component. The author implied it, anyhow, when somebody complained about not being able to get ULL doing 240p on component.

I'm using the build from October 14th, 2015: I've not tried anything newer.

Man I hope it doesn't default to 480p now, I played through Metroid Fusion in 240p on my PVM a few months ago on one of the earliest versions of ULL.

[Smashbro29]

So Extrems told me that if you boot into Melee in 480i GBI will load in 240p by default.

I'd love to test this but for some reason via the mini I now all of a sudden get stuff like this: http://i.imgur.com/qitT0f6.png for whatever reason.

I think it would just be easier to hold a button on boot for specific video modes or something. Getting what you want out of it seems a bit cryptic.

[atheistgod1999]

Why can't you just play the games on the actual GBA? That's how they were meant to be played.

[BazookaBen]

Why can't you just play the games on the actual GBA? That's how they were meant to be played.

Less motion blur than the AGS-101, more vivid colors than the AGB/S-001, I get to choose the controller

[Guspaz]

The only GBA that I have is the NES version of the GBA SP. It's a frontlight model, and while I enjoyed playing games on it back in the day, the image on it is total garbage.

GBA games looked great on my DS Lite (it was backwards compatible), but after I got a 3DS, I gave the DS Lite away to somebody who couldn't afford any handheld consoles. So now the only handheld I have that plays GBA games is the frontlit GBA SP.

Of course, I've got some GBA games on my 3DS XL (ambassador), but Nintendo, in their infinite wisdom, runs the games with super low brightness to simulate an original GBA.

Playing with GBI (the GBP has a complete set of GBA hardware inside it) is an accurate and authentic experience, but can be played on a modern display, or a PVM.

Unfortunately, I find that GB/GBC games look rather poor in 240p on a PVM connected by S-Video, but GBA games look fine.

[Smashbro29]

Why can't you just play the games on the actual GBA? That's how they were meant to be played.

Video capture.

Also the appeal of playing on a 47 inch TV.

[Einzelherz]

The only GBA that I have is the NES version of the GBA SP. It's a frontlight model, and while I enjoyed playing games on it back in the day, the image on it is total garbage.

GBA games looked great on my DS Lite (it was backwards compatible), but after I got a 3DS, I gave the DS Lite away to somebody who couldn't afford any handheld consoles. So now the only handheld I have that plays GBA games is the frontlit GBA SP.

Of course, I've got some GBA games on my 3DS XL (ambassador), but Nintendo, in their infinite wisdom, runs the games with super low brightness to simulate an original GBA.

Playing with GBI (the GBP has a complete set of GBA hardware inside it) is an accurate and authentic experience, but can be played on a modern display, or a PVM.

Unfortunately, I find that GB/GBC games look rather poor in 240p on a PVM connected by S-Video, but GBA games look fine.

I didn't notice any degradation of GB/GBC on mine, but that was a while ago and I didn't use it very extensively. Zelda oracles looked perty.

[Guspaz]

All I tried it with was Super Mario Land, and the scanlines that big on what is essentially a black and white image with lots of 1-pixel-wide lines was unpleasant... And anywhere that wasn't using black or white (like red) had really bad bleed. I suppose that some games look just fine on it, I've not tried any others (I lost my copy of Zelda DX, and don't have a working controller at the moment to get into any other game that does't do a demo loop like SML).

[cfx]

.

[Chocograph]

I modded my original silver GBA with a 5 level brightness backlight. It's a 32 pin model for anyone who cares and the brightness is almost as bright as the SP. Tweaked the pot and removed all those weird lines you get when you shake the GBA. I used my original SP screen. I tried the GBI once and that was two days ago. Conclusion after a minute with Mario Kart: I enjoy the much higher pixel density, comfort of the original console and great screen and will probably not use GBI much at all. Then again I don't play much GBA.

[Guspaz]

That sounds more like a frontlight mod, unless you had an AGS-101 and not an original SP.

[Chocograph]

That sounds more like a frontlight mod, unless you had an AGS-101 and not an original SP.

It's the 101 screen. Without the 5 level brightness mod the screen is very dim. Much more dim than on the SP hardware. The brightness mod turn the level up to something like the psp go on the highest setting and shitty youtube videos does not do it justice. I'm picky and I put a few layers of tape under the D-pad to make it much better as well. It's pretty much the original GBA console with a 101 super bright screen. It's amazing.

[Fudoh]

possibly old news, but I just noticed that CodeJunkies UK has the SD Media Launcher cards back in stock. I believe these were unavailable for quite some time last year (?)

[Shuco13]

Thanks but as of now there is a cheaper AND easier way to get homebrew on the cube:
Just use SD-Gecko + Home Bros. (Smashbros Melee Exploit). A modchip is not required anymore. More on that on gc-forever.com.

[Fudoh]

I don't see the SD Gecko adapter to be any easier available than the Datel adapter or do I miss something here ?

[Guspaz]

Umm, that's really not cheaper or easier than a XenoGC. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Let us compare:

Loading GBI on XenoGC from scratch:

1) Download GBI ISO

2) Burn GBI ISO

3) Insert GBI disc into GameCube

4) Press power button, GBI starts.

Total cost: $10 (plus shipping) for XenoGC, $1 for Mini-DVD. Total: $11 USD


Loading GBI with Home Bros:

1) Download GBI GCI

2) Download HomeBros exploit

3) Download GCMM software

4) Load GCMM software and write HomeBros exploit and GBI GCI to SD card

5) Insert Smash Bros Melee Japanese into GameCube

6) Insert SD card into SD-Gecko

7) Insert SD-Gecko into GameCube

8 ) Press power button, Smash Bros starts in Japanese

9) Navigate to "vs mode" (I presume this is all in Japanese?)

10) Navigate to "name entry". As I understand it, GBI starts.

Total cost: $43 USD (plus shipping) for Smash Bros Melee Japanese, $10 USD for SD Gecko, $7 USD for 2GB SD card. Total: $60 USD

Yeah, I think I like the XenoGC approach. Because even after you've prepared everything, the steps for XenoGC is "press power button" while the steps for Home Bros is to load up Smash and navigate around to trigger the exploit, every single time you want to load GBI, reset the game, change the game, etc.

[Fudoh]

Isn't it nice to have options?

$10 USD for SD Gecko

available where?

[Guspaz]

I looked on eBay and searched for "sd gecko gamecube", there is one seller with many of them for $13 CAD (~$9.30 USD?) with free shipping from HK to anywhere in the world. I don't know if it's any good, but I don't have much interest in that method since it's so inconvenient.

[bobrocks95]

The SD Media Launcher is a great in-between option for those who don't mind spending a bit more but don't want to install a modchip. You can set it to autoboot right into your preferred GBI using its boot disc, so it's functionally equivalent. Nice to see they're in stock again.

[Fudoh]

@Guspaz: would you mind posting a link ? I can't find the offer. Some auctions and offers on ebay are geo blocked in the search engine - so this might be the reason.

[Guspaz]

Sure.

These are both from the same seller, and both have free worldwide shipping, but appear to be in different currencies ($10 USD and $13 CAD, with the $13 CAD one appearing cheaper to me in Canada):

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/SD-Flash-Memory- ... SwbdpWXX3q
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/SD-Flash-Memory- ... Swf-VWXbql

[tacoguy64]

Ok I don't have a GBA player yet but what would be the best option for GBA rgb here in the states? My thoughts would be a HDMI modded GC/GBA player with an SD media launcher. Should be better than GC with component cables.

[Guspaz]

A GC/GBP running GBI is the best option at the moment, but the best display for that is going to depend on how much lag you're willing to tolerate. The GBA runs at a non-standard refresh rate of 59.7275Hz. If you run the ULL version of GBI on a CRT monitor, it's going to run the GameCube at 59.7276 Hz, giving you the smoothest motion (almost exactly matching the GBA refresh rate) and virtually no lag (under one frame of latency). CRT monitors are generally able to play things a bit loose with refresh rates. The problem is that an HDMI device is probably not going to sync to that. I don't know exactly how the HDMI mod handles non-standard refresh rates. If it just passes it through directly, your display probably won't work at all. If it buffers things out to 60Hz, then you'll get less smooth motion as duplicate frames are added to make up.

Probably on HDMI you need to run the regular version of GBI, which at 60Hz has 2-3 frames of latency, on top of whatever latency your HDMI display and the HDMI mod add, if any. It will also suffer the same problem of slightly jittery motion as duplicate frames will be added to hit 60Hz.

So, will you get a better image quality on HDMI? Yes. At the expense of extra lag and less smooth motion. I've not tried any of this, so maybe you've got a low-latency HDMI display, and maybe the HDMI mod will output at 59.7276Hz, and maybe your HDMI display will accept that non-standard refresh rate just fine.

[Unseen]

I don't know exactly how the HDMI mod handles non-standard refresh rates.

It has no framebuffer, so it outputs whatever the Gamecube uses.

on top of whatever latency your HDMI display and the HDMI mod add

GCVideo-DVI adds less than two lines (not frames) of lag in the worst case and about two dozen pixels in the best case.