Analogue Interactive's Analog NT - $500 NES/Famicom Console

[Fudoh]

my only complaint about it: at this price they should have built the BT receiver into the system.

[C64c]

Is the Nt mini/AVS comparison PDF linked anywhere on Analogue's site? There's a Nt mini Tech Specs.pdf on this page, which appears to be what the comparison was based off of.

The Comparison PDF came from there own Twitter account and the Dropbox account it's linked in is Analogue's.

[Elrinth]

they forgot to compare the price in the pdf

[mvsfan]

I think the aluminum is part of the point of the analog Nt.

Its a premium system for someone who wants a premium console. the case will never break unlike most every other system.

and i think it looks great.

HDMI AND RGB? also great.

[Arasoi]

.

[mvsfan]

Btw, did they ever take the power switch off of the back of the console? thats the only part of the design of the console i dont like.

[Guspaz]

This is unconfirmed, but.. I have read that the aluminum cart door flaps on the original NT scratch the plastic on carts. I wonder if there has been any attempt to remedy this if so?

It was a problem with early run units. They solved it by redesigning the cartridge slot and flaps: they beveled the edges. I don't know if they had a replacement program, but they produced a clear plastic insert that can be placed in the cartridge slot to prevent contact with the metal, so perhaps that was their solution. They also offered a free composite video upgrade for the original production run.

The FAQ for the Mini has this to say: "The cartridge slots and dust flaps have been redesigned to be as "collector friendly" as possible. See more details here."

The "see more details here" text is not a link, so the "more details" are unknown.

[pegboy]

Gotta love that, a $700 system that destroys your games in the process.

[Guspaz]

The fact that it was a $500+ system is also the reason why they were sending people free hardware upgrades and accessories. It's a premium luxury product, why are people so hung up on the price? Is the Mercedes S-Class stupid because it costs a lot more than the Toyota Yaris? I'm not planning to buy one either, but I understand the purpose of it, and the company does have several very good affordable products like the retro receivers for $20-25.

[Blair]

for being such an expensive product though, it's kind of nuts that the output resolution maxes out at 720p (similar to Kevs HD nes, right?)

[Guspaz]

for being such an expensive product though, it's kind of nuts that the output resolution maxes out at 720p (similar to Kevs HD nes, right?)

Both Kevtris' Hi-Def NES and both variants of the Analogue NT support 1080p output. It's the RetroUSB AVS that only supports 720p, because it allowed a cheaper FPGA to be used.

[Blair]

oh that's interesting, I've only ever seen people talk about 720p output. does the analog NT have proper scanlines at 720p and 1080p?

[RGB32E]

Yes and yes, but your question is about the Hi-Def NES, as it's not specific to the Nt "classic"!

[mvsfan]

Hmm. something just occured to me. Now that this is completely Fpga based, I wonder if Kevtris could UP the overclocking limit any.

[RGB32E]

Hmm. something just occured to me. Now that this is completely Fpga based, I wonder if Kevtris could UP the overclocking limit any.

Post your question over here:
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/242970 ... em/page-32

The Nt mini is working out to being effectively the Zimba NES. Also, I'm sure guspaz would be more than happy to reiterate this, and follow you there.

[Guspaz]

The Nt mini is working out to being effectively the Zimba NES. Also, I'm sure guspaz would be more than happy to reiterate this... Wait a minute...

[yxkalle]

The comparison pdf also says the mini will raise the sprite limit. Interesting.

[ZellSF]

My complaint about the comparison was suggesting that there's 720p upscaling lag (I've never seen this) and EDID compatibility problems (never seen this either) on the RetroUSB AVS.

Not only have I never seen it personally, I've never seen a single verified report of either of those problems being real. It just feels very dishonest to put it that way in a comparison sheet.

[thebeautifulones]

I assume it means the lag caused by your TV scaling the 720 output of the AVS to 1080.

[ZellSF]

I assume it means the lag caused by your TV scaling the 720 output of the AVS to 1080.

Upscaling 720p to 1080p does not introduce any additional lag on any TV I've seen. People assume it does though and they assume it makes a huge difference, which is a pretty powerful lie to use in marketing materials.

[thebeautifulones]

Do you mean any TV you've measured, seen measurements of, or have just seen?

[Guspaz]

Nobody has ever demonstrated any lag that I can recall. Somebody on the RetroRGB podcast (Artemio, it might have been? Can't remember) said that they'd tested and found no lag.

It makes sense, it's not the scaling that adds the lag, it's having a framebuffer in the first place, which they probably do regardless of what resolution they're fed. The only one that seems to make a difference is 240p/480i, because in those scenarios they try to deinterlace, which does add lag.

[masqdgamer]

Gotta love that, a $700 system that destroys your games in the process.

LOL, good God. $700 for an HDMI NES?
The Retro USB one is gonna be $185, though it only does 720p iirc.

I'll stick with my modded Top Loader and the Retro Freak combo (if I have to have an HDMI solution)

[Guspaz]

It costs $449 and comes bundled with a $25 wireless receiver and a $35 wireless controller. So the console itself is worth $389.

An HDMI modded toploader will cost you $320 if you assume $130 purchase, $120 for the HDMI mod, $50 for the install, and $20 for the round-trip shipping of your console to the modder. So $320 vs $389 is not a huge difference, especially considering that the $389 unit also has built-in RGB/component/s-video output.

If you want an HDMI NES on the cheap, the AVS is a great option. But with the Analogue NT cost being similar to an HDMI-modded toploader (and actually cheaper than the cost of a toploader with both the HDMI mod and the NESRGB, even though they can't co-exist), it's actually a reasonable price.

[pegboy]

I have a HD NES already, it's called a laptop with an emulator. It cost me $0 and I have every single game in the library.

[Guspaz]

For some people, that's great. For many other people, an emulator on a PC is not what they're looking for.

[masqdgamer]

It costs $449 and comes bundled with a $25 wireless receiver and a $35 wireless controller. So the console itself is worth $389.

An HDMI modded toploader will cost you $320 if you assume $130 purchase, $120 for the HDMI mod, $50 for the install, and $20 for the round-trip shipping of your console to the modder. So $320 vs $389 is not a huge difference, especially considering that the $389 unit also has built-in RGB/component/s-video output.

If you want an HDMI NES on the cheap, the AVS is a great option. But with the Analogue NT cost being similar to an HDMI-modded toploader (and actually cheaper than the cost of a toploader with both the HDMI mod and the NESRGB, even though they can't co-exist), it's actually a reasonable price.

I got my Top Loader component modded years ago for $175 shipped($100 for the unit, $75 for the mod).
Looks beautiful on a CRT SDTV, the way NES was meant to be played. I can appreciate the NT though. Way too much for me to pay for NES games.
But like you said, some people want the Rolls Royce of NES choices.

Retro Freak is perfect for me since the 720p playback looks good, supports ROMs and save states.

Now, if there was an Analogue NT Saturn or PC Engine....

[ZellSF]

Do you mean any TV you've measured, seen measurements of, or have just seen?

TVs and monitors I've tested is 3. That I've tried and felt no difference in input lag is 7.

Nobody has ever demonstrated any lag that I can recall. Somebody on the RetroRGB podcast (Artemio, it might have been? Can't remember) said that they'd tested and found no lag.

Plus, you know, Leo Bodnar has said he's found no difference. It's a myth Analogue decided to take at face value because it benefited them in marketing materials.

Based on that I wouldn't be surprised if the EDID compatibility problems were just a flat out lie the marketing team made up.

The Analogue NT mini seems like a great niche product for people who want the best, but it's obvious they see RetroUSB AVS as a huge threat to their market. Which makes sense, there's probably a decent amount of people who want to replay their NES games without dealing with old hardware and video connectors their TVs don't have any longer. But those same people are not the kind of people who would pay 200$ more for the features of the Analogue NT mini.

[Blair]

For some people, that's great. For many other people, an emulator on a PC is not what they're looking for.

for NES and famicom that's probably what I'm going to do, cycle accuracy has been achieved so there's very little difference between the electrical signals coming out of the emulator versus real hardware. and I'm pretty happy with the way shader techniques have advanced to create the pvm/bvm look I enjoy.

as much is something like the analog NT intrigues me, it's just too far out of my budget. what I really want is a red Famicom twin (first gen) with RGB and HDMI output, and an NES everdrive, but getting all that set up would probably cost about as much as the analog NT or even more.

and even after spending all that money, I would not be getting a better experience than what I can achieve with nestopia+retroarch.

[bobrocks95]

It costs $449 and comes bundled with a $25 wireless receiver and a $35 wireless controller. So the console itself is worth $389.

An HDMI modded toploader will cost you $320 if you assume $130 purchase, $120 for the HDMI mod, $50 for the install, and $20 for the round-trip shipping of your console to the modder. So $320 vs $389 is not a huge difference, especially considering that the $389 unit also has built-in RGB/component/s-video output.

If you want an HDMI NES on the cheap, the AVS is a great option. But with the Analogue NT cost being similar to an HDMI-modded toploader (and actually cheaper than the cost of a toploader with both the HDMI mod and the NESRGB, even though they can't co-exist), it's actually a reasonable price.

That might be a more valid argument if the console was available for $389. But it isn't. They can play up the included value all they want, the price at the end of the day that you pay to get your hands on one is $449.