Flickering scanlines do a fantastic job of making low resolution textures and heavily aliased models look more naturalistic in 3D games, emulating the look of 480i content on a CRT monitor. The approach detailed here combines the naturalistic look of interlaced scanline emulation with **TWICE** the detail of VGA.
For comparison, the XRGB-3 only offers interlaced scanlines on field doubled 480i content.
The most obvious use is with fast action games for PS2, although I prefer the look of this trick over native VGA or regular 240p style scanlines with Marvel vs. Capcom 2 on DC.
Required:
1) VGA source
2) Scanline generator - confirmed working; SLG3000, Mini SLG -
3) Extron RGB interface with a 6 BNC output - I used a RGB 210 Rxi
Code: Select all
Signal Chain: VGA > RGB Interface > SLG > Monitor / ScalerWorking systems:
1) PS2 - forced VGA resolution via GSMode Selector
2) Native Dreamcast VGA.
Working displays / scalers:
1) Gefen VGA to DVI Scaler Plus
2) Acer computer monitor
Not working:
1) Samsung Plasma via VGA input
2) Optoma HD3000
Enabling SOG changes the color temperature from warm to cool.
As an extra bonus, enabling DDSP or SERR reverts the scanlines to 240p style! This means you can switch between clear VGA, progressive and interlaced style scanlines with ease.
Issues:
1) Occasional Rolling distortion wave / screen tearing (from the bottom up) using the PS2 / Gefen Scaler Plus.
2) "Mode not supported" prompt on the Plasma at times (system boot, some game screen / mode changes, changing Extron DIP switches) which required me to power cycle the Scaler Plus.
3) This trick might not work directly with many TV sets, and may require a computer monitor, Gefen or DVDO scaler.
EDIT: Issues one and two may have been related to a loose connection as they disappeared (for now, anyway) after reseating the connectors.
