Questions that do not deserve a thread

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Ikaruga11
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by Ikaruga11 »

maxtherabbit wrote:the only current productions ones I don't consider safe personally would be the game gear and master system
That's perfectly fine. I don't have a Game Gear or Master System anyway, yet.
maxtherabbit wrote:as for updates, we can only speculate, but the SD2SNES is supposedly "final" and the mega everdrive x3/x5 will probably not be updated - I'd imagine the game boy variants are also final
Good to know. The GBA EverDrive could really use savestates though. Would that just be a firmware update or would it require new hardware altogether?
maxtherabbit wrote:EDIT krikzz just tweeted out a minute ago the super ever drive was just updated - and I can see level translators on the cart :mrgreen:
Yeah, I saw that. Apparently he's using new higher quality plastic mold casings on everything now. The SD2SNES now uses a Super Famicom shell instead of an SNES shell.
Lawfer wrote:But we don't know when or if he will ever release Everdrives for the N64, PC Engine, Game Gear and Famicom/NES using the technology from the X series.
You mean all those EverDrives use flash instead of PSRAM?
Lawfer wrote:Alot actually, many Everdrives got upgraded from Flash to PSRAM Technology (the X line), the issue with the 3.3v and 5v was fixed on newer models, quite a few Everdrives had hardware revisions etc
Nice. I wonder if we're starting to reach a territory of diminishing returns at this point.
Lawfer wrote:Not likely to get an update? Nobody knows that, there might always have newer models or newer revisions in the future.
True. Even if I were to wait until next Black Friday, there's always the possibility of an upgrade the year after that. At some point you just gotta hop on the train, or else you'll never get anywhere in life.
Lawfer wrote:You should be good getting the following now:

SD2SNES
GBA X5
Master Everdrive X7
Mega Everdrive X3 and X5
GB X3, X5 and X7

That's it.
I'm still wary of getting the GBA X5. It's obviously going to get an X7 in the future, otherwise Krikzz would've called it an X7 from the start.
Everdrives for the Nintendo 64, Game Gear, PC Engine, Famicom/NES are older designs who haven't gotten a new model in a while, these COULD get a newer model later as krikzz expressed that he would like to upgrade all Everdrive to the current technology, however nobody knows when or if though.
I don't see how the EverDrive 64 can be improved any further. Same with the Famicom EverDrive.
Lawfer wrote:Master Everdrive X7 got released recently.
I might pick one of these up next Black Friday when I get a Master System next year. I can still play MS games on the genesis in the meantime.
fernan1234
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by fernan1234 »

I'm really crossing my fingers for a revised Famicom/NES Everdrive. The N8 is IMO by far the most limited/flawed of all the Everdrives.
Ikaruga11
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by Ikaruga11 »

fernan1234 wrote:I'm really crossing my fingers for a revised Famicom/NES Everdrive. The N8 is IMO by far the most limited/flawed of all the Everdrives.
What's wrong with it?
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Lawfer
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by Lawfer »

GeneraLight wrote:What's wrong with it?
What it can do is quite limited, it also has low compatibility, it uses an older design and technology etc.

GeneraLight wrote:I don't see how the EverDrive 64 can be improved any further. Same with the Famicom EverDrive.
The Nintendo 64 Everdrive doesn't have a great performance for one, probably because it uses flash technology instead of PSRAM, though krikzz mentioned that it's performance can be improved if you use a high performance SD Card.
AaronSR
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by AaronSR »

Have there been any recent devices that can do instantaneous 240p-480i switching? I've been using one of those generic Scart to HDMI boxes for these certain games however noticed there's been a few updates to the OSSC recently and perhaps there's an option that allows this now? The way the Scart to HDMI boxes work is they see everything as 480i, so perhaps something like that as a mode in the OSSC would work (with of course better upscaling results, less noise etc.)

In addition I've read that the Retrotink 2X can also switch instantaneously from a number of people yet on the MLiG episode they showed that it didn't work. It seems like a decent device but only allowing YPBPR instead of Scart would mean I need to buy HD Retrovision cables or one of those Scart to YUV adapters. and of course only 480p as its maximum resolution, if it works however it would still be an upgrade over the generic scaler I'm currently using.
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orange808
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by orange808 »

AaronSR wrote:Have there been any recent devices that can do instantaneous 240p-480i switching? I've been using one of those generic Scart to HDMI boxes for these certain games however noticed there's been a few updates to the OSSC recently and perhaps there's an option that allows this now? The way the Scart to HDMI boxes work is they see everything as 480i, so perhaps something like that as a mode in the OSSC would work (with of course better upscaling results, less noise etc.)

In addition I've read that the Retrotink 2X can also switch instantaneously from a number of people yet on the MLiG episode they showed that it didn't work. It seems like a decent device but only allowing YPBPR instead of Scart would mean I need to buy HD Retrovision cables or one of those Scart to YUV adapters. and of course only 480p as its maximum resolution, if it works however it would still be an upgrade over the generic scaler I'm currently using.
You need a seamless switcher, but there are opportunity costs. There's no perfect instant way to make these transitions in existence.

Of course, a CRT does it, but that's beyond obvious.

The new HDMI standards are supposed to address this, but (so far) the new HDMI features are vaporware.
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Ikaruga11
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by Ikaruga11 »

Lawfer wrote:
GeneraLight wrote:What's wrong with it?
What it can do is quite limited, it also has low compatibility, it uses an older design and technology etc.

GeneraLight wrote:I don't see how the EverDrive 64 can be improved any further. Same with the Famicom EverDrive.
The Nintendo 64 Everdrive doesn't have a great performance for one, probably because it uses flash technology instead of PSRAM, though krikzz mentioned that it's performance can be improved if you use a high performance SD Card.
Alright. I think I'll just get the SD2SNES and EverDrive-GB X7. I need to save up for an RGB Monitor anyway. Thanks!
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Lawfer
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by Lawfer »

GeneraLight wrote:Alright. I think I'll just get the SD2SNES and EverDrive-GB X7. I need to save up for an RGB Monitor anyway. Thanks!
That's already a thousand of games at your disposal, there's also all the fan-translated games, here:

https://www.romhacking.net/?page=transl ... order=Date

https://www.romhacking.net/?page=transl ... order=Date
Ikaruga11
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by Ikaruga11 »

So I checked out on the official website, only to realize that Krikzz doesn't accept PayPal. Only Visa/Master Card credits cards. Will debit cards or pre-paid gift cards work? I didn't pay, but now I can't find any way to pay for the items to complete the transaction. Everything is done through eServices. Any help? :/
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maxtherabbit
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by maxtherabbit »

GeneraLight wrote:So I checked out on the official website, only to realize that Krikzz doesn't accept PayPal. Only Visa/Master Card credits cards. Will debit cards or pre-paid gift cards work? I didn't pay, but now I can't find any way to pay for the items to complete the transaction. Everything is done through eServices. Any help? :/
Stone age gamer takes PayPal and they have the same pricing right now
nmalinoski
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by nmalinoski »

orange808 wrote:
AaronSR wrote:Have there been any recent devices that can do instantaneous 240p-480i switching? I've been using one of those generic Scart to HDMI boxes for these certain games however noticed there's been a few updates to the OSSC recently and perhaps there's an option that allows this now? The way the Scart to HDMI boxes work is they see everything as 480i, so perhaps something like that as a mode in the OSSC would work (with of course better upscaling results, less noise etc.)

In addition I've read that the Retrotink 2X can also switch instantaneously from a number of people yet on the MLiG episode they showed that it didn't work. It seems like a decent device but only allowing YPBPR instead of Scart would mean I need to buy HD Retrovision cables or one of those Scart to YUV adapters. and of course only 480p as its maximum resolution, if it works however it would still be an upgrade over the generic scaler I'm currently using.
You need a seamless switcher, but there are opportunity costs. There's no perfect instant way to make these transitions in existence.

Of course, a CRT does it, but that's beyond obvious.

The new HDMI standards are supposed to address this, but (so far) the new HDMI features are vaporware.
Other terms to look for are presentation switcher and presentation scaler; they perform the same seamless transitions, but, due to the way they work (full-time framerate conversion and scaling to a preset resolution and framerate), you'll always incur some amount of added display lag.

Regarding the RetroTINK 2X, as well as the OSSC, they switch resolutions pretty immediately, but the rest of the HDMI chain needs to sync back up to a different resolution and framerate. Tricking the downstream devices into thinking 240p is 480i won't work, because the framerate is different, and it will need to resync anyway; not to mention that this may also cause a downstream display or video processor to attempt to deinterlace 240p when it shouldn't. Same goes for line-doubled 240p and 480i from the OSSC; the framerates between the two are different, and switching causes resync delays.

I believe the only device out there right now, at least in terms of videogaming-specific hardware, that can handle these transitions seamlessly is the UltraHDMI, which is specific to the N64, works very much the same was as a presentation/seamless switcher/scaler, and its scaler adds about 1 frame of lag--frankly, I don't notice any lag at all in practice. Luckily, there's some hope that a similar HDMI mod coming that will be PS/PS2-compatible, and potentially Xbox-compatible (or at least adaptable), but I think all that is still a ways away.
Ikaruga11
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by Ikaruga11 »

If I buy from Krikzz, will I always get the light gray cartridge color, or could it be something else? His new design for the SD2SNES uses a higher quality multi-region shell that fits both USA, PAL and JPN consoles. Stone Age Gamer still uses the standard North American and Japan/Europe shells, but those are customizeable. SAG in based in Ohio, where I live. But Krikzz is definitely cheaper

Krikkz
$403.48 (3 EverDrives) or $501.52 (4 EverDrives)
Not Customizeable

Stone Age Gamer
$426.27 (3 EverDrives) or $531.40 (4 EverDrives)
Customizeable (for more than listed above)

:?
nmalinoski
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by nmalinoski »

I'm pretty sure Krikzz ships the typical cartridge shell colors without any customization. If you want a different color, buy from Stone Age Gamer. If you want a region-free cartridge in a different color, and SAG doesn't have any, send them a message and ask about availability of what you want.
fernan1234
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by fernan1234 »

Get the cartridges straight from Kirkzz IMO. You support the developer directly, your carts will look nicer and without ugly SAG logos on the labels, and you save a bit of money. Only downside is your wait time is longer.
nmalinoski
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by nmalinoski »

fernan1234 wrote:Get the cartridges straight from Kirkzz IMO. You support the developer directly, your carts will look nicer and without ugly SAG logos on the labels, and you save a bit of money. Only downside is your wait time is longer.
This; however, if you're in the US, you can also get selection of his productions from his Amazon storefront for a minor upcharge.
AaronSR
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by AaronSR »

nmalinoski wrote:I believe the only device out there right now, at least in terms of videogaming-specific hardware, that can handle these transitions seamlessly is the UltraHDMI, which is specific to the N64, works very much the same was as a presentation/seamless switcher/scaler, and its scaler adds about 1 frame of lag--frankly, I don't notice any lag at all in practice. Luckily, there's some hope that a similar HDMI mod coming that will be PS/PS2-compatible, and potentially Xbox-compatible (or at least adaptable), but I think all that is still a ways away.
The cheap scart to HDMI devices work perfectly with the transitions, albeit with some lag (2-3 frames?). My main issue is the color accuracy and the incorrect aspect ratio, the former is a bit nitpicky, mainly the greens and blues are a little strong and adjusting your display/capture card settings can only do so much, overall color I'd say is about 97% accurate, without putting captures side by side, you can't really notice it: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DcjNBR8XkAAVWu1.jpg (left is direct, right is scart to HDMI)

The aspect ratio again can be fixed on a TV by forcing 4:3, but for devices that don't allow this its pretty horrible playing stuff stretched to 16:9.

Considering the prices of these scalers however they're not too bad, but I'd be willing to spend more on something that has better color accuracy at least, the lag I can live with.

Personally I'm not a fan of external mods, cutting holes in my systems etc.
nmalinoski
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by nmalinoski »

AaronSR wrote:
nmalinoski wrote:I believe the only device out there right now, at least in terms of videogaming-specific hardware, that can handle these transitions seamlessly is the UltraHDMI, which is specific to the N64, works very much the same was as a presentation/seamless switcher/scaler, and its scaler adds about 1 frame of lag--frankly, I don't notice any lag at all in practice. Luckily, there's some hope that a similar HDMI mod coming that will be PS/PS2-compatible, and potentially Xbox-compatible (or at least adaptable), but I think all that is still a ways away.
The cheap scart to HDMI devices work perfectly with the transitions, albeit with some lag (2-3 frames?). My main issue is the color accuracy and the incorrect aspect ratio, the former is a bit nitpicky, mainly the greens and blues are a little strong and adjusting your display/capture card settings can only do so much, overall color I'd say is about 97% accurate, without putting captures side by side, you can't really notice it: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DcjNBR8XkAAVWu1.jpg (left is direct, right is scart to HDMI)

The aspect ratio again can be fixed on a TV by forcing 4:3, but for devices that don't allow this its pretty horrible playing stuff stretched to 16:9.

Considering the prices of these scalers however they're not too bad, but I'd be willing to spend more on something that has better color accuracy at least, the lag I can live with.

Personally I'm not a fan of external mods, cutting holes in my systems etc.
For the longest time, I also haven't been a fan of cutting holes in my systems' cases either. Hell, I still haven't even opened my childhood PS2. For me, the sum of what the UltraHDMI does--lossless digital audio and video, baked-in scaling and framerate normalization giving me compatibility with just about every contemporary TV and letting me play PAL games on NTSC-only displays, in-game reset, and a direct mode if I want it--was absolutely worth shaving a permanent slot in the rear of my childhood N64.

I've also opened up to other mods, like those that add a Nintendo AV Multi-out to the frontloader NES, and I intend to get HDMI mods for my Dreamcast, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and Xbox when they become available.

That said, I would prefer a no-cut mod over one that involves cutting (including those that involve cutting traces; I'm looking at you, PSIO), so I would really like to see a version of the UltraHDMI that instead replaces the Multi-AV port with a full-size HDMI port. Frankly, I've not had an analogue AV cable connected to my N64 since equipping it with HDMI, and I imagine few people would actually need or use simultaneous analogue and digital output (Plus, y'know, full-size HDMI cables are way more common than Mini HDMI).

For those that would actually need dual output, there's the existing design, or, for an HDMI-only model, you always have the option to use an HDMI splitter/distribution amp, along with an HDMI to VGA (Tendak or Portta) or HDMI to YPbPr component converter (Found this neat combo HDMI to VGA/YPbPr converter while getting links for this post) and optionally enable direct mode.
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FinalBaton
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by FinalBaton »

I just found an older(1988) PVM locally (PVM-1344Q) and it was very affordable ($50 CAD) so I snagged it. The picture looks very good but there's some ghosting of the reds (something I didn't notice when testing it out before buying). It leaves a very faint red trail towards the right, but it's a long trail. There are also some diagonal red lines, spaced 1 inch apart, that appear on black background. They are very visible when powering on the monitor, but fade a lot after a minute but are still there.(I have no idea what's up with that, that's the first time I ever see something like this)

Anyone have an idea of what's causing this and what are the repairs needed?

I tried a great variety of cables everywhere in the chain, many different sources and even tried it in different rooms(in case magnetic fields were the culprit). In the end, that trail is still there. So I think it's safe to say that the problem is really with the monitor. What could it be, is it what's refered to as "chroma-delay" or "Y delay"? or is it proper "ghosting"? Could a degaussing wand help here(I don't think I hear a click when I power on the monitor, the degaussing coil might not be working...). or am I looking at a recap job? and if so, which board needs said recap? (I hope it's not all of them cause that's a herculean task :lol: )

I can't say it's very noticeable though, in fact it barely is. pretty much just on red areas that have a contrasting solid background next to them, and even then I really gotta squint to notice it (except on black blackgrounds, there it's more noticeable). But it's still in the back of my mind, you know? If it's not to hard to fix, I might give it a go. But yeah, not the end of the world either

Will try to snap a pic with my shitty phone camera

Thanks!


EDIT : here are some pics

so the picture looks pretty good, right
https://u.cubeupload.com/FinalBaton/e16IMAG0308.jpg

but you can see that faint ghosting here on pink and yellow text against black background
https://u.cubeupload.com/FinalBaton/IMAG0299.jpg

and you can see it on white text too
https://u.cubeupload.com/FinalBaton/IMAG0313.jpg

and here are the red diagonal lignes I mentionned earlier
http://u.cubeupload.com/FinalBaton/IMAG0302.jpg
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headlesshobbs
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by headlesshobbs »

I'm wondering does anyone make an adapter for fighting sticks that can detect or function with any kind of controller and be updated via firmware to work on current gen systems?

Getting into fighting games again and right now migrating onto PS4. Already heard issues on DBZ and SF 30th Anniversary not allowing legacy support and I'm starting to think rather then keep the controller manufacturers happy (this BS is at the OS level), I'd like to see the gaming community deliver a swift punch back at their practice of forcing $150+ every console generation.

Something like the ossc, but for fighting sticks.
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Fudoh
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by Fudoh »

plenty of solutions available for that. CronusMax, Brook USB adapter and a dozen of others. Some are "Sony to Sony", others are cross platform (360 or XBO to PS4).
headlesshobbs
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by headlesshobbs »

I see a lot of phrase for the Brook brand, but some people have reported compatibility issues with their hardware. I'm already running a PS2 to USB adapter (lol), so it will be very hit or miss should I go that route.

The main issue I'm bringing this up is something I've been growing tired of between hardware that isn't working or the way consoles are trying to force priority controllers as their choice. I look at the Brook and it wouldn't be a surprise if it were the same board in each of those, but coded in a way to only work on the hardware they advertise compatibility for so they can keep selling them individually. If we had one that could be fully programmable and allow trouble shooting thu a pc for even off brand controllers, I would be more then happy to support it.
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Fudoh
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by Fudoh »

The CronusMax is programmable and supports a ton-load of cross versions between various systems. Also supports legagy wheels (Logi 25 or 27 on modern systems) and I'm sure using the right converter PS2 isn't a problem either. You basically use a hardwired PS2 to Directinput USB converter and then the Cronus in PC Directinput to PS4 (or whatever your target system is) mode.
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by headlesshobbs »

That sounds very good.

So with the CronusMax I'll be able to maintain compatibility despite the few games that lack any kind of legacy support?
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Fudoh
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by Fudoh »

So with the CronusMax I'll be able to maintain compatibility despite the few games that lack any kind of legacy support?
I don't see any requirements on the games' side. E.g. if a PS4 fighting game supports a modern PS4 arcade stick, then it will support ANY other system's arcade stick running through the dongle just as well.
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FinalBaton
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by FinalBaton »

Can someone recommend a very good, and cheap, HDMI-to-component transcoder? I know there's a thread here for HDMI-to-VGA ones where many were tested(and only one or two had great performance), but I can't seem to remember ever seeing a thread for HDMI-to-component ones? Unless I missed it somehow?

I've made up my mind for my setup on which I watch anime DVD and BD on my PVM, and I'll be going with a component converter chained to my Sony blu ray player (BDP-S5500). I mean it has a stunning picture and it's already here, so I might as well use it.


(on a related note, I tried something recently that I had never thought would work : connecting that BD player on the PVM via... RGB! the DVDs themselves are encoded in YPbPr so I thought this could never work. But after playing in the BD player menu, I saw an option to force RGB colorspace via HDMI. So I checked that and pumped the 480i signal in a cheap HDMI to VGA transcoder I had lying around here, and then in an Extron interface to combine syncs, and into the PVM. It worked just fine! unfortunately the blacks were very crushed and there was some noise in the picture. I think it might be because that HDMI-to-VGA transcoder is subpar... or maybe there's just too many conversions going on? or the player's YPbPr-to-RGB conversion was subpar? either way, it's a pretty bulky/messy setup :lol: )
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fernan1234
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by fernan1234 »

FinalBaton wrote:Can someone recommend a very good, and cheap, HDMI-to-component transcoder? I know there's a thread here for HDMI-to-VGA ones where many were tested(and only one or two had great performance), but I can't seem to remember ever seeing a thread for HDMI-to-component ones? Unless I missed it somehow?

I've made up my mind for my setup on which I watch anime DVD and BD on my PVM, and I'll be going with a component converter chained to my Sony blu ray player (BDP-S5500). I mean it has a stunning picture and it's already here, so I might as well use it.


(on a related note, I tried something recently that I had never thought would work : connecting that BD player on the PVM via... RGB! the DVDs themselves are encoded in YPbPr so I thought this could never work. But after playing in the BD player menu, I saw an option to force RGB colorspace via HDMI. So I checked that and pumped the 480i signal in a cheap HDMI to VGA transcoder I had lying around here, and then in an Extron interface to combine syncs, and into the PVM. It worked just fine! unfortunately the blacks were very crushed and there was some noise in the picture. I think it might be because that HDMI-to-VGA transcoder is subpar... or maybe there's just too many conversions going on? or the player's YPbPr-to-RGB conversion was subpar? either way, it's a pretty bulky/messy setup :lol: )

If you want to best quality at the end I'd recommend keeping it RGB all the way, though the setup involves a chain of converters as you know. Crushed blacks could be because of your blu ray player. Perhaps it has a black level setting that you need to switch, or perhaps it's the conversion it does. It could also be the VGA converter, but usually even the cheap ones do a good job. There's fancy ones like the HDFury 3 which does color upscaling (a pretty neat future IMO) as well as HDMI to YPbPr (bad results IMO).

Component converters will keep your setup much simpler though, straight from HDMI to your PVM. I was never really satisfied with the colors after converting RGB on HDMI to YPbPr, but if it's YPbPr all the way perhaps it's not that much of a problem. The best ones I tried are these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BB ... UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JV ... UTF8&psc=1
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orange808
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by orange808 »

fernan1234 wrote:
FinalBaton wrote:Can someone recommend a very good, and cheap, HDMI-to-component transcoder? I know there's a thread here for HDMI-to-VGA ones where many were tested(and only one or two had great performance), but I can't seem to remember ever seeing a thread for HDMI-to-component ones? Unless I missed it somehow?

I've made up my mind for my setup on which I watch anime DVD and BD on my PVM, and I'll be going with a component converter chained to my Sony blu ray player (BDP-S5500). I mean it has a stunning picture and it's already here, so I might as well use it.


(on a related note, I tried something recently that I had never thought would work : connecting that BD player on the PVM via... RGB! the DVDs themselves are encoded in YPbPr so I thought this could never work. But after playing in the BD player menu, I saw an option to force RGB colorspace via HDMI. So I checked that and pumped the 480i signal in a cheap HDMI to VGA transcoder I had lying around here, and then in an Extron interface to combine syncs, and into the PVM. It worked just fine! unfortunately the blacks were very crushed and there was some noise in the picture. I think it might be because that HDMI-to-VGA transcoder is subpar... or maybe there's just too many conversions going on? or the player's YPbPr-to-RGB conversion was subpar? either way, it's a pretty bulky/messy setup :lol: )

If you want to best quality at the end I'd recommend keeping it RGB all the way, though the setup involves a chain of converters as you know. Crushed blacks could be because of your blu ray player. Perhaps it has a black level setting that you need to switch, or perhaps it's the conversion it does. It could also be the VGA converter, but usually even the cheap ones do a good job. There's fancy ones like the HDFury 3 which does color upscaling (a pretty neat future IMO) as well as HDMI to YPbPr (bad results IMO).

Component converters will keep your setup much simpler though, straight from HDMI to your PVM. I was never really satisfied with the colors after converting RGB on HDMI to YPbPr, but if it's YPbPr all the way perhaps it's not that much of a problem. The best ones I tried are these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BB ... UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JV ... UTF8&psc=1
Can someone share some pics of the scaling quality from these units? Do they perform frame rate conversion?

They are some kind of unbranded Chinese scalers.

Without screenshots to tell me otherwise, I'd tell my friends to avoid those kind of video scalers.
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by FinalBaton »

fernan1234 wrote:If you want to best quality at the end I'd recommend keeping it RGB all the way, though the setup involves a chain of converters as you know. Crushed blacks could be because of your blu ray player. Perhaps it has a black level setting that you need to switch, or perhaps it's the conversion it does. It could also be the VGA converter, but usually even the cheap ones do a good job. There's fancy ones like the HDFury 3 which does color upscaling (a pretty neat future IMO) as well as HDMI to YPbPr (bad results IMO).

Component converters will keep your setup much simpler though, straight from HDMI to your PVM. I was never really satisfied with the colors after converting RGB on HDMI to YPbPr, but if it's YPbPr all the way perhaps it's not that much of a problem. The best ones I tried are these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BB ... UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JV ... UTF8&psc=1
Thanks for the tips fernan :) it is really appreciated

Hmmm... do these 2 machines you linked have a mode where they don't upscale? and just spit out the same res they are fed? that is very important for my project!
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fernan1234
Posts: 2167
Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2017 8:34 pm

Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by fernan1234 »

FinalBaton wrote:
fernan1234 wrote:If you want to best quality at the end I'd recommend keeping it RGB all the way, though the setup involves a chain of converters as you know. Crushed blacks could be because of your blu ray player. Perhaps it has a black level setting that you need to switch, or perhaps it's the conversion it does. It could also be the VGA converter, but usually even the cheap ones do a good job. There's fancy ones like the HDFury 3 which does color upscaling (a pretty neat future IMO) as well as HDMI to YPbPr (bad results IMO).

Component converters will keep your setup much simpler though, straight from HDMI to your PVM. I was never really satisfied with the colors after converting RGB on HDMI to YPbPr, but if it's YPbPr all the way perhaps it's not that much of a problem. The best ones I tried are these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BB ... UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JV ... UTF8&psc=1
Thanks for the tips fernan :) it is really appreciated

Hmmm... do these 2 machines you linked have a mode where they don't upscale? and just spit out the same res they are fed? that is very important for my project!

I don't have these units anymore since I decided to stick with an HDMI to VGA to Extron RGB interface setup, so I can't test anymore or post pictures, but it seemed to me that if you set the output resolution equal to the input res there should be no scaling. I tried these specifically because I did want to have the option to downscale from 1080p to 1080i on a BVM when needed. When I tried 1080i in 1080i out I didn't see any signs of scaling. I'm pretty sure Amazon has simple converters without scaling options of similar quality.

I recommend them because 1) I could have lived with the picture quality if no other options were available, it was pretty close to the quality I get from the Extron RGB output, but I wanted that extra ~5% better picture and colors, and 2) because as long as you buy from from an Amazon-processed seller, you can easily return these for free if they don't meet your expectations.
headlesshobbs
Posts: 386
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 11:14 pm

Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by headlesshobbs »

Ok after taking the time to check things out, I'm finding the Cronusmax to be something of a toss up due to some issue on the controller re-sync on PS4 every 10 minutes. I'm not sure if they fixed that, but it does go beyond worrying for me. Brooks on the other hand I found something of an arcade pcb that can be wired in JAMMA style and will function on current and previous gen consoles as long as they support usb. Brooks doesn't look like they're as open to community firmware as Cronus is and I don't like the fact that they lock in their products to only support a certain range of system. Rather I'd like them to have a true universal solution and Cronus to not cause match interruptions during SFV.

The Cronusmax is banned at tournaments due to macros, but that's not something I'll ever think of dealing with. Of course there are complaints the adapter does cause lag (mainly by COD players)
"Don't HD my SD!!"
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