XRGB-mini Framemeister

[Aatos]

It seems many of my consoles (at least PS2 and SNES recently tested) lose sync with Framemeister when the screen flashes bright white colors (so basically the tv loses the picture completely for a moment, sometimes it doesn't regain the picture especially if the white image persists for long). I've googled it over and over and it seems this was common problem with X-RGB 3 but virtually no mention of this happening with Framemeister which is odd. I am using firmware version being 1.07 as I don't have a Micro SD card at hand right now - would someone happen to know if this is something that was fixed by the new firmware or is it a cable related thing?

If that doesn't do the trick, with regards to the X-RGB3, many sources recommended using a cable that employes Luma for sync. I'm mainly interested in getting the PS2 working now as I currently have no space for other consoles in my setup. I can't make the cables myself so I'm wondering I should just employ retro gaming cables and get either a) PS2 RGB cable with Luma sync or b b) PS2 RGB cable with csync (is this the same as raw sync?) built in the cable? I have rather feeble understanding of what the sync method actually means so I'm not sure if either of these would be preferred / if they'd solve my issue?

The third option I assume would be to get a "sync stripper" between the SCART Switch and Framemeister, but what that exactly does I understand even less, would you recommend it? If sync stripper basically converts all sync coming through the SCART switch into c-sync, does it matter whether it is already composite video sync, luma sync or csync to begin with? Is there a sync stripper cable you'd recommend and where could I get one?

Finally, it seems with PS2 the framemeister sure loses the image a lot, often when switching between different boot modes (e.g. PS1, PS2).. does this get better with the firmware update and/or cable?

Kind regards to anyone who could offer any help!

[jujukun]

Hello,

I recently picked up a Denjin Makai 1 board and tried to adjust scanlines on my XRGB Mini. It seems impossible to get good scanlines until I put the V_WIDTH to 56 (!!). It cuts the superior part of the screen of course... So I checked the full status option and I noticed that the board outputs a weird 264p resolution. It's the first time I see such resolution and normally it should be 256p according to Progettoemma (http://www.progettoemma.net/gioco.php?game=denjinmk). Even the frequency is weird: 55.48Hz. Shouldn't be 59.95Hz or something like that?
Please check the pic in the link below to see by yourselves:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/i71ad4krdjbop ... 3.JPG?dl=0

Do you have an idea of why it outputs 264p resolution and such frequency? Is my board faulty?

[rtw]

I recently picked up a Denjin Makai 1 board and tried to adjust scanlines on my XRGB Mini. It seems impossible to get good scanlines until I put the V_WIDTH to 56 (!!). It cuts the superior part of the screen of course... So I checked the full status option and I noticed that the board outputs a weird 264p resolution. It's the first time I see such resolution and normally it should be 256p according to Progettoemma (http://www.progettoemma.net/gioco.php?game=denjinmk). Even the frequency is weird: 55.48Hz. Shouldn't be 59.95Hz or something like that?

Could you share a picture of your PCB with us ? According to MAME,output should be: 320x256 at 61.0 Hz.

[jujukun]

Rtw,
Here is pic of the board:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hkcso88590cet ... 7.JPG?dl=0

[Elite Evil]

The third option I assume would be to get a "sync stripper" between the SCART Switch and Framemeister, but what that exactly does I understand even less, would you recommend it? If sync stripper basically converts all sync coming through the SCART switch into c-sync, does it matter whether it is already composite video sync, luma sync or csync to begin with? Is there a sync stripper cable you'd recommend and where could I get one?

Finally, it seems with PS2 the framemeister sure loses the image a lot, often when switching between different boot modes (e.g. PS1, PS2).. does this get better with the firmware update and/or cable?

Kind regards to anyone who could offer any help!

Probably easier to get a component cable for the PS2.

[rtw]

Rtw,
Here is pic of the board:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hkcso88590cet ... 7.JPG?dl=0

Thanks, do you have any knowledge about electronics ?

[Wariolicious]

Those don't look bad. Still a bit thin for my liking though. Is there a good setting if I use FBX's profiles in 720p?

My profiles cannot be properly used for 720p as they involve scaling factors that were designed for 1080p output.

To my eye they look fine with zoom turned off though?

[Aatos]

The third option I assume would be to get a "sync stripper" between the SCART Switch and Framemeister, but what that exactly does I understand even less, would you recommend it? If sync stripper basically converts all sync coming through the SCART switch into c-sync, does it matter whether it is already composite video sync, luma sync or csync to begin with? Is there a sync stripper cable you'd recommend and where could I get one?

Finally, it seems with PS2 the framemeister sure loses the image a lot, often when switching between different boot modes (e.g. PS1, PS2).. does this get better with the firmware update and/or cable?

Kind regards to anyone who could offer any help!

Probably easier to get a component cable for the PS2.

Probably for PS2, but I'd like to still better understand this issue and possible solutions with RGB for future needs, so if anyone knows about this e.g. from XRGB3 times, let me know.. got a MicroSD card now so we'll see how updating the firmware works. I also went with the csync cables as that seems to be the purest form of sync and Framemeister understands it so it should be least issue-prone.

EDIT: Nope, latest firmware (2.02) didn't do anything, I still lose signal/sync extremely easy when the image turns white. Good example of this was Katamari Damacy that has almost entirely white first screens, resulting in Framemeister losing sync and popping out all the time rendering the game unplayable. I'm still amazed that I seem to be the only one with this issue, would anyone have any clue why this occurs or have in mind any settings that might alleviate this or should I just wait the new cable to arrive? I'm using PS2 -> some generic RGB cable with presumably composite video sync -> Keene Scart commander -> scart to JP21 adapter -> Framemeister setup.

[TheShadowRunner]

I'm still amazed that I seem to be the only one with this issue, would anyone have any clue why this occurs or have in mind any settings that might alleviate this or should I just wait the new cable to arrive? I'm using PS2 -> some generic RGB cable with presumably composite video sync -> Keene Scart commander -> scart to JP21 adapter -> Framemeister setup.

Try to remove the Keene scart commander from the chain, it may amplify the RGB signal too much and the Mini doesn't like it?
I had this problem of too much white on screen syncing out on my BVM when the lines weren't properly 75ohm terminated..

[Aatos]

I'm still amazed that I seem to be the only one with this issue, would anyone have any clue why this occurs or have in mind any settings that might alleviate this or should I just wait the new cable to arrive? I'm using PS2 -> some generic RGB cable with presumably composite video sync -> Keene Scart commander -> scart to JP21 adapter -> Framemeister setup.

Try to remove the Keene scart commander from the chain, it may amplify the RGB signal too much and the Mini doesn't like it?
I had this problem of too much white on screen syncing out on my BVM when the lines weren't properly 75ohm terminated..

Thanks a lot for the tip, I'll try this soon when I get a chance.. however, that's hardly a long term solution as I will be wanting to connect more than 1 device. If this turns out to be the issue, I would need to replace the cord between scart commander and framemeister? Any preliminary ideas where to look?

[TheShadowRunner]

Try it first, we'll improvise later ^^;

[austin532]

Those don't look bad. Still a bit thin for my liking though. Is there a good setting if I use FBX's profiles in 720p?

My profiles cannot be properly used for 720p as they involve scaling factors that were designed for 1080p output.

To my eye they look fine with zoom turned off though?

Yes, the scanlines are perfectly even if you turn off Zoom in 720p mode but obviously the picture quality won't be as good.

[Aatos]

Try it first, we'll improvise later ^^;

Alright, I tried it and.. now I'm wondering why I didn't think of trying it before . No sync issues whatsoever when I connected PS2 directly to the Framemeister. Well, I also noticed both of my regular RGB cables with PS2 display a checkerboard/jailbar effect so that new csync cable is probbaly not going to go to waste.. but now I gotta do something about that scart commander - again big big thanks for the suggestion in the first place, this has been nagging me for a long time!

Anyway, I pulled the old order form for the thing and it seems I bought something called "LOW CROSSTALK SCART TO SCART UNIDIRECTIONAL 1.5M Ref : SG52LC" to be used with it. I think the Keene shop recommended it at the time. Where should I start looking for a replacement to that, something that is "properly 75ohm terminated" ? I understand maybe 20% of what that means - the signal is too strong and the cable should have resistors or something to dial the signal strenght down.. but where could I get this kind of cable? Unfortunately I don't have any skills when it comes to soldering, so any advice is greatly appreciated!

[Tomdominer]

You wouldn't by chance be using a Mac?

Yes I would? I can't even see the files even if I show hidden files using a terminal command. How do I get rid of them? The are annoying...

[Bobster]

Hi guys! I'm looking to upgrade my current TV (40" LCD) to somewhere around 55" or 60". I've already decided I don't need a 4k TV at this point, but I want to ensure that I pick a TV that works good with the XRGB Mini. So here's what I already know, I'm looking for a TV with local dimming and a higher refresh rate (120 or 240) and that straight 1080p TVs are becoming harder and harder to find in good quality.

Unfortunately the Junkerhq XRGB mini wiki isn't full of suggestions so I figured I'd ask all the experts here. Any recommendations? Thanks!

[Wariolicious]

My profiles cannot be properly used for 720p as they involve scaling factors that were designed for 1080p output.

To my eye they look fine with zoom turned off though?

Yes, the scanlines are perfectly even if you turn off Zoom in 720p mode but obviously the picture quality won't be as good.

In that way they are full screen though, as 4x looks nice but does leave quite some space on top and bottom.

[Gered]

You wouldn't by chance be using a Mac?

Yes I would? I can't even see the files even if I show hidden files using a terminal command. How do I get rid of them? The are annoying...

The OS X Finder won't show you these files... in fact the Finder is the one creating them in the first place. They just contain some metadata it uses. Simplest way to remove them is using the terminal. Note that after you remove them if you re-open that folder using the Finder another time it will likely recreate all those hidden files again.

If you get a Finder mod/plugin such as XtraFinder (which is free), there's a "Show Hidden Files" under the View menu which will show you these files. However, you might have trouble deleting them this way, since again... the Finder will recreate them.

Anyway, using the terminal you should be able to see them using ls -a and you can remove them using rm.

[gundamalpha]

What would be the recommended output resolution setting for connecting the Mini to a 1600x1200 monitor through DVI? I don't mind losing some sharpness as long as it can fill the screen with good scanline. Thanks

[Fudoh]

anything except the 1200p output, since the Mini will just output letterboxed 1080p in this mode. If your monitor supports 1920x1080p input, use that. This way you can use FBX's profiles. You just have to adjust the horizontal size of the image (basically you want the mini to output in 16:9 fullscreen, so your monitor can squeeze it back to 4:3 (1600x1200).

[Xyga]

Hi guys! I'm looking to upgrade my current TV (40" LCD) to somewhere around 55" or 60". I've already decided I don't need a 4k TV at this point, but I want to ensure that I pick a TV that works good with the XRGB Mini. So here's what I already know, I'm looking for a TV with local dimming and a higher refresh rate (120 or 240) and that straight 1080p TVs are becoming harder and harder to find in good quality.

Unfortunately the Junkerhq XRGB mini wiki isn't full of suggestions so I figured I'd ask all the experts here. Any recommendations? Thanks!

For good upscaling you definitely want a Sony.

But as far as I know their W series 1080p sets are no longer as good as they used to be, indeed. Significantly more lag starting with 2015 models is what excluded those from being the unquestioned best gaming sets on Earth.

I have no idea what the new WD75 and WD60/WD65 series are worth though, there aren't any reviews around because dedicated websites only look at 4K sets today.

Also note that traditionally Sony don't distribute the same series worldwide, different countries are supplied differently, so you would have to look at options/models available where you live first.

If you go Samsung you may or may not end up with a set that upscales properly, reviewers only make worthless scaling tests that won't give you the information you need. Also their sets don't use flicker-free backlighting, which is another bad point.
Some of their most expensive models though, feature quite low lag (~20ms) that's about the only good thing those have in the area of pure technical gaming requirements.

[Aatos]

Try it first, we'll improvise later ^^;

Alright, I tried it and.. now I'm wondering why I didn't think of trying it before . No sync issues whatsoever when I connected PS2 directly to the Framemeister. Well, I also noticed both of my regular RGB cables with PS2 display a checkerboard/jailbar effect so that new csync cable is probbaly not going to go to waste.. but now I gotta do something about that scart commander - again big big thanks for the suggestion in the first place, this has been nagging me for a long time!

Anyway, I pulled the old order form for the thing and it seems I bought something called "LOW CROSSTALK SCART TO SCART UNIDIRECTIONAL 1.5M Ref : SG52LC" to be used with it. I think the Keene shop recommended it at the time. Where should I start looking for a replacement to that, something that is "properly 75ohm terminated" ? I understand maybe 20% of what that means - the signal is too strong and the cable should have resistors or something to dial the signal strenght down.. but where could I get this kind of cable? Unfortunately I don't have any skills when it comes to soldering, so any advice is greatly appreciated!

Still looking ro answers / solution to this pickle. What I've found so far is:

- RGB with composite video sync from PS2 via scart commander and LOW CROSSTALK SCART TO SCART UNIDIRECTIONAL scart cable to Framemeister makes it lose sync and picture whenever there's excessive white stuff on screen
- RGB with composite video sync from PS2 directly to Framemeister works fine
- RGB with luma/possibly csync from N64 via scart commander and LOW CROSSTALK SCART TO SCART UNIDIRECTIONAL scart cable to Framemeister works fine (!)
- this discussion has quote from Keene saying "The Commander looks for the composite sync.
If it isn't composite sync then the Commander won't recognize it."

Questions:
- what are you guys using to connect Scart commander to Framemeister?
- what are you guys feeding scart commander, only csync?

Based on this evidence it seems clear that the issue is spesifically feeding wrong type of sync to scart commander, not in the connecting cable.. on the other hand sync other than csync clearly at least works as there's picture (until it gets really white). Of course I could now wait for the csync ps2 cable to arrive before doing anything else but I'd really like to understand what actually happens here.. TheShadowRunner also mentioned something about scart commander amplifying the signal and suggested the issue being "the lines not being properly 75ohm terminated", still would like to understand what this means and how to remedy it. (Anything I should read etc. ?)

[brentsg]

Hey folks.. Considering digging out the Dreamcast for some fun soon.

I am under the assumption that the Toro to my Framemeister is still the way to go. Is there a good USA based source for the EU SCART to Framemeister adapter/cable?

Thanks

B

[Bobster]

Hi guys! I'm looking to upgrade my current TV (40" LCD) to somewhere around 55" or 60". I've already decided I don't need a 4k TV at this point, but I want to ensure that I pick a TV that works good with the XRGB Mini. So here's what I already know, I'm looking for a TV with local dimming and a higher refresh rate (120 or 240) and that straight 1080p TVs are becoming harder and harder to find in good quality.

Unfortunately the Junkerhq XRGB mini wiki isn't full of suggestions so I figured I'd ask all the experts here. Any recommendations? Thanks!

For good upscaling you definitely want a Sony.

But as far as I know their W series 1080p sets are no longer as good as they used to be, indeed. Significantly more lag starting with 2015 models is what excluded those from being the unquestioned best gaming sets on Earth.

I have no idea what the new WD75 and WD60/WD65 series are worth though, there aren't any reviews around because dedicated websites only look at 4K sets today.

Also note that traditionally Sony don't distribute the same series worldwide, different countries are supplied differently, so you would have to look at options/models available where you live first.

If you go Samsung you may or may not end up with a set that upscales properly, reviewers only make worthless scaling tests that won't give you the information you need. Also their sets don't use flicker-free backlighting, which is another bad point.
Some of their most expensive models though, feature quite low lag (~20ms) that's about the only good thing those have in the area of pure technical gaming requirements.

Thanks for the recommendations! I'm actually looking at the W800B from last year (specs here: http://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/sony/w800b). It actually turns out my buddy who works at Sears has one in the back that got put on layaway then never picked up. Seems like a good set to me. Any thoughts on it?

[Fudoh]

Seems like a good set to me. Any thoughts on it?

get it!

[noonan2678]

I'm still amazed that I seem to be the only one with this issue, would anyone have any clue why this occurs or have in mind any settings that might alleviate this or should I just wait the new cable to arrive? I'm using PS2 -> some generic RGB cable with presumably composite video sync -> Keene Scart commander -> scart to JP21 adapter -> Framemeister setup.

Try to remove the Keene scart commander from the chain, it may amplify the RGB signal too much and the Mini doesn't like it?
I had this problem of too much white on screen syncing out on my BVM when the lines weren't properly 75ohm terminated..

Thanks a lot for the tip, I'll try this soon when I get a chance.. however, that's hardly a long term solution as I will be wanting to connect more than 1 device. If this turns out to be the issue, I would need to replace the cord between scart commander and framemeister? Any preliminary ideas where to look?

Just to add to this, I had all sorts of issues with the Keene switches. Even did some modifications to try and alleviate, but to no avail. My setup runs to both a PVM and a Frame, so that complicates it, but swear that the Keene's were introducing something to the signal.

[TheShadowRunner]

Questions:
- what are you guys using to connect Scart commander to Framemeister?
- what are you guys feeding scart commander, only csync?

I don't use a Keene Scart commander so have no clue about either of these questions sorry.
I use a Hama 42957 fully wired mechanical switch from Germany.

TheShadowRunner also mentioned something about scart commander amplifying the signal and suggested the issue being "the lines not being properly 75ohm terminated", still would like to understand what this means and how to remedy it. (Anything I should read etc. ?)

Not exactly, I was refering to my issue on the BVM (overly bright screen syncing out when missing the 75 ohm terminations on the BVM) to make a distant analogy because I think your issue with the Keene Scart commander has to do with the signal levels too.
The Scart commander afaik is a powered unit that amplifies the signal, with bright screen + amplification the signal must go slightly out of specs or at least out of the range of what the Mini likes.
Sorry I don't have any solution but at least you know the culprit.

[Bobster]

Seems like a good set to me. Any thoughts on it?

get it!

Picking it up tomorrow

[austin532]

Seems like a good set to me. Any thoughts on it?

get it!

Picking it up tomorrow

Both the W600B and W800B are excellent TV's. Excellent picture, deep blacks, and fairly low lag.

I have the W600B myself and I'm pretty happy with it. My only complaint is that the motion blur is just enough to where it can be annoying for picky people like myself. I would gotten the W800B but the smallest it comes in is 50"

[Ed Oscuro]

http://www.rtings.com/tv/learn/panel-lottery-samsung

sheesh

[Xyga]

The W600B series lacked the extra low lag though, being rather around 2 frames, but yeah it managed to destroy most of the same-level competition and still dpes today, I can't believe how shitty the full-hd segment has become.
The W7 was the perfect compromise, although I remember it wasn't available everywhere unfortunately.

@Bobster: W800B? f* yeah! The best middle-range TV Sony ever made, and one of the best for gaming too, it's a treasure.
Just one tip regarding the W8 series: avoid the 42" models which are somewhat dumbed-down versions with a few flaws and lacking some features vs. the 50" & 55".