Questions that do not deserve a thread

[Kez]

I believe the resync issues can be resolved by connecting an unsynced PS4 controller to the Cronus via a USB hub. It sends the controller's id to prevent the PS4 disconnecting it.

[maxtherabbit]

Which of the generation 6 or 7 home consoles has the best DVD output?

(PS2/3, Xbox Original/360)

[FinalBaton]

Well, I thougjt I'd give the BDP(current I own) > HDMI-to-VGA > Extron Interface > PVM chain another try.

What pushed me to do this is : my HDMI-to-VGA transcoder gave me good results in another scenario. And also, fernan a couple posts up in response to my queries, mentionned that the "cheap HDMI-to-RGB transcoder into Extron interface" chain worked well for his crt setup.

So yep, I must have had a bad VGA cable before(I had noisy picture), because now with a new lead the picture is looking PRISTINE, with the rest of the chain being the same!

This is sooooo clean looking, wow! modern BDP really push a super clean looking 480i signal through HDMI, not only clarity-wise but color-wise too! I am watching Whisper of the Heart right now and omg it looks so fucking good! (btw this is such a great animated film to showcase your monitor's calibration(or lack thereof) if you're eyeballing it : tons of very desaturated tones co-exist with some VERY saturated ones in the same frame, in almost all scenes of the film). The color accuracy and lighting, contrast, are SO good on this little monitor from 1988. very impressive. I know this is no BVM but it's still top notch. Really fun to push old tech like this

[energizerfellow‌]

Which of the generation 6 or 7 home consoles has the best DVD output?

(PS2/3, Xbox Original/360)

PS3

[headlesshobbs]

I get what you're saying on the conversion by chaining all those adapters together. My rule is if it's analog, you keep the connection as direct as possible (i.e. only digital gets cord length), so you prevent any chance of interference from ever coming.

I keep a spare hdmi to vga adapter directly on the back of my crt monitor as a measure.

[vol.2]

Well, I thougjt I'd give the BDP(current I own) > HDMI-to-VGA > Extron Interface > PVM chain another try.

What pushed me to do this is : my HDMI-to-VGA transcoder gave me good results in another scenario. And also, fernan a couple posts up in response to my queries, mentionned that the "cheap HDMI-to-RGB transcoder into Extron interface" chain worked well for his crt setup.

So yep, I must have had a bad VGA cable before(I had noisy picture), because now with a new lead the picture is looking PRISTINE, with the rest of the chain being the same!

This is sooooo clean looking, wow! modern BDP really push a super clean looking 480i signal through HDMI, not only clarity-wise but color-wise too! I am watching Whisper of the Heart right now and omg it looks so fucking good! (btw this is such a great animated film to showcase your monitor's calibration(or lack thereof) if you're eyeballing it : tons of very desaturated tones co-exist with some VERY saturated ones in the same frame, in almost all scenes of the film). The color accuracy and lighting, contrast, are SO good on this little monitor from 1988. very impressive. I know this is no BVM but it's still top notch. Really fun to push old tech like this

i've been using an hdmi to vga to extron to run my chromecast into a 5" sony. it's pretty amazing how good the picture looks. those little generic adapters are not all created equally tho. i had bad luck with one having hdmi handshake issues, and another with shitty picture quality before stumbling upon one that worked.

[FinalBaton]

i've been using an hdmi to vga to extron to run my chromecast into a 5" sony. it's pretty amazing how good the picture looks. those little generic adapters are not all created equally tho. i had bad luck with one having hdmi handshake issues, and another with shitty picture quality before stumbling upon one that worked.

sucks that you had to go through 3 transcoders before getting a good one. I got lucky I guess, first one I bought has a super clean and balanced picture. I'm really happy with it's performance. It's this one :



Which one do you have?


I ended up really liking my setup : this converter has analog audio so I can feed that in the PVM(my BDP has no analog audio out so I needed that feature), and also the Extron allows to tweak the picture to taste without changing my settings on the crt itself so I can keep those settings I dialed in

[bobrocks95]

Is the RetroDC still the recommended power supply replacement for multiple consoles? Is it a good regulated power supply?

The Sega Duo/Trio needing insulator caps sounds like a design flaw to me, I haven't heard of the RetroDC having this problem. Other single-console power adapters I've seen are the typical one-use wall-warts and the point is I'm trying to consolidate and use less space.

[Lawfer]

Is the RetroDC still the recommended power supply replacement for multiple consoles? Is it a good regulated power supply?

The Sega Duo/Trio needing insulator caps sounds like a design flaw to me, I haven't heard of the RetroDC having this problem. Other single-console power adapters I've seen are the typical one-use wall-warts and the point is I'm trying to consolidate and use less space.

I am looking at buying a DreamcastPSU and SaturnPSU, they are just drop in and quite easy to install.

[bobrocks95]

Is the RetroDC still the recommended power supply replacement for multiple consoles? Is it a good regulated power supply?

The Sega Duo/Trio needing insulator caps sounds like a design flaw to me, I haven't heard of the RetroDC having this problem. Other single-console power adapters I've seen are the typical one-use wall-warts and the point is I'm trying to consolidate and use less space.

I am looking at buying a DreamcastPSU and SaturnPSU, they are just drop in and quite easy to install.

I don't see the appeal personally- I'm trying to get rid of power adapters and that would add another two to my setup. I always go for console revisions with integrated PSUs if possible.

[Lawfer]

Is the RetroDC still the recommended power supply replacement for multiple consoles? Is it a good regulated power supply?

The Sega Duo/Trio needing insulator caps sounds like a design flaw to me, I haven't heard of the RetroDC having this problem. Other single-console power adapters I've seen are the typical one-use wall-warts and the point is I'm trying to consolidate and use less space.

I am looking at buying a DreamcastPSU and SaturnPSU, they are just drop in and quite easy to install.

I don't see the appeal personally- I'm trying to get rid of power adapters and that would add another two to my setup. I always go for console revisions with integrated PSUs if possible.

But isn't the RetroDC an AC Adapter itself? But from what you describe, what you seem to be looking for instead is a multi-voltage internal PSU like the PS3 and PS4 have (100-240v 50/60Hz), right? Well, that's possible but doesn't that require a bit soldering and modding? Plus all the heat would be inside the console casing, right next to all the other components, while with an external AC Adapter replacement such as the DreamcastPSU or the SaturnPSU, you keep all the heat out of the console. But anyways, what you are looking for is possible, but that would require removing the original internal PSU and replacing it with another internal multi-voltage one, I saw someone doing that with a Saturn in a youtube video.

[bobrocks95]

I am looking at buying a DreamcastPSU and SaturnPSU, they are just drop in and quite easy to install.

I don't see the appeal personally- I'm trying to get rid of power adapters and that would add another two to my setup. I always go for console revisions with integrated PSUs if possible.

But isn't the RetroDC an AC Adapter itself? But from what you describe, what you seem to be looking for instead is a multi-voltage internal PSU like the PS3 and PS4 have (100-240v 50/60Hz), right? Well, that's possible but doesn't that require a bit soldering and modding? Plus all the heat would be inside the console casing, right next to all the other components, while with an external AC Adapter replacement such as the DreamcastPSU or the SaturnPSU, you keep all the heat out of the console. But anyways, what you are looking for is possible, but that would require removing the original internal PSU and replacing it with another internal multi-voltage one, I saw someone doing that with a Saturn in a youtube video.

No, you misunderstood me, I never mentioned anything about needing a multi-voltage PSU. I just want to replace old, giant brick power adapters for consoles like NES, Genesis/Sega CD, Famicom, PSOne, etc. with smaller and more efficient options.

[nmalinoski]

Is the RetroDC still the recommended power supply replacement for multiple consoles? Is it a good regulated power supply?

The Sega Duo/Trio needing insulator caps sounds like a design flaw to me, I haven't heard of the RetroDC having this problem. Other single-console power adapters I've seen are the typical one-use wall-warts and the point is I'm trying to consolidate and use less space.

I am looking at buying a DreamcastPSU and SaturnPSU, they are just drop in and quite easy to install.

I was looking at the DreamPSU recently and decided to just stick with my resistor-bridged stock PSU (I have a GDEMU), at least for the near future, because the creator ran into a severe production issue.

The full story is on the RetroPSU blog, but the short of it is that the logic chips that were installed on the first run of ~1000 boards were bad, and the original supplier has been unresponsive, so the creator needed to rebuy the chips from another supplier, and he's going to need to manually swap those bad chips for good ones on that first batch.

I expect his sales will be fine and stable once he gets production rolling, but you're probably going to be waiting into 2019 before you can get your hands on one of these things.

[nmalinoski]

No, you misunderstood me, I never mentioned anything about needing a multi-voltage PSU. I just want to replace old, giant brick power adapters for consoles like NES, Genesis/Sega CD, Famicom, PSOne, etc. with smaller and more efficient options.

I'd like to do this, too. I had been considering getting a 10-port USB charging hub to power 5V devices, like my OSSC, HDMI to VGA converter, and normally-USB powered stuff like the NES Classic, as well as for charging phones in the living room, of course. I figure it would be more efficient and would save some space by switching from a battery of wall warts to one power lump that I could set off to the side or behind my stuff. Unfortunately, I read recently (On these forums, I think, but I don't recall where) that USB chargers (mainly the cheap, unbranded ones) don't always provide clean power, which would negatively affect video processors.

Thinking about it more, I think it would be nice to have something along the lines of a modular ATX power supply, or a power strip, that would be able to supply clean 3.3V, 5V, 9V, and/or 12V DC, depending on the need, to multiple devices. It could use keyed 2x3 Molex connectors and differently-wired/ended cables for each system. Have an NES, SNES, or VB? Your cable is wired for 9V and has a barrel plug. N64? 3.3V and 12V into a compatible 3x2 connector. OSSC? 5V and a barrel plug. DreamPSU? 12V and a barrel plug. It would be possible to create cables with MicroUSB on the end, but it'd be simpler to include a bank of 2.4a or 3a USB ports compatible with USB-PD and/or QC so you can use your own cables.

Since it's not like barrel plugs are keyed for different voltages, I would want cables to be clearly labeled on the console/device end to reduce mishaps; perhaps a nice, big tag with "12V" or "5V", or, for console-specific cables, plop a nice, big "NES/SNES/VB" or whatever on there, in addition to the voltage.

I'm aware of some bench PSUs that are set up like this, with a bank of barrel jacks, but I recall from the Guitar Pedal PSU thread that these aren't all that good for game consoles.

[Lawfer]

just want to replace old, giant brick power adapters for consoles like NES, Genesis/Sega CD, Famicom, PSOne, etc. with smaller and more efficient options.

Oh I see, but the PSOne AC Adapter is hardly giant no? Anyways, there are some third party ones you could replace for most consoles with connectors that are not proprietary, however it would need to exact same connector and the exact same output, like the GameCube requires DC 12V 3.25A, while the Wii requires DC 12V 3.7A, you need to keep in mind this as feeding 3.7A to a gamecube instead of 3.25A might damage it in the long term.

I expect his sales will be fine and stable once he gets production rolling, but you're probably going to be waiting into 2019 before you can get your hands on one of these things.

I actually was aware of all the issues and I have been indeed been waiting, I don't mind, his solution is pretty nice and it will help keep the consoles cooler and they might last longer as a result.

[nmalinoski]

just want to replace old, giant brick power adapters for consoles like NES, Genesis/Sega CD, Famicom, PSOne, etc. with smaller and more efficient options.

Oh I see, but the PSOne AC Adapter is hardly giant no? Anyways, there are some third party ones you could replace for most consoles with connectors that are not proprietary, however it would need to exact same connector and the exact same output, like the GameCube requires DC 12V 3.25A, while the Wii requires DC 12V 3.7A, you need to keep in mind this as feeding 3.7A to a gamecube instead of 3.25A might damage it in the long term.

I don't believe it will, because amperage doesn't work that way. Making more amperage available for a device is a best practice, not a risk. Amperage ratings can be seen as how much overhead you have to accommodate a connected device, and that device will only take as much current as it needs. If, for example, a GameCube really only uses about 3a of that 3.25a in practice, and then you provide it 12V 3.7a, it's still only going to use that same ~3a.

Voltage, however, does work that way, and feeding, say, 14V into your GameCube or Wii will probably cause long-term damage, if it doesn't pop something immediately.

[Fudoh]

right, you can drive a 500mA system using a 10A PSU - no problem with that.

[thebigcheese]

I'm aware of some bench PSUs that are set up like this, with a bank of barrel jacks, but I recall from the Guitar Pedal PSU thread that these aren't all that good for game consoles.

Hey I remember that thread :p Yeah, moral of the story is that the best option I know of so far is the one recommended by HD Retrovision: https://www.hdretrovision.com/vote3rdparty/. You can pull it apart and reverse the polarity internally instead of getting an adapter if you want. Doesn't look pretty, but I like it better and no one is going to be looking at your PSUs anyway. They work great.

[bobrocks95]

I'm aware of some bench PSUs that are set up like this, with a bank of barrel jacks, but I recall from the Guitar Pedal PSU thread that these aren't all that good for game consoles.

Hey I remember that thread :p Yeah, moral of the story is that the best option I know of so far is the one recommended by HD Retrovision: https://www.hdretrovision.com/vote3rdparty/. You can pull it apart and reverse the polarity internally instead of getting an adapter if you want. Doesn't look pretty, but I like it better and no one is going to be looking at your PSUs anyway. They work great.

Thanks for the actual recommendation, that looks like a pretty good slim adapter if I have to go for one.

I'm thinking that adapter for SNES, and a couple RetroDC's for everything else? The length on that splitter isn't huge, but I could probably get 2-3 systems per RetroDC depending on how creatively I can stack them...

[Lawfer]

If someone else is looking to use third party AC Adapters, you might find something you could use from here:

https://www.astrodynetdi.com

They even take custom-made requests, here:

https://www.astrodynetdi.com/contact/cu ... quest-form

[vol.2]

i've been using an hdmi to vga to extron to run my chromecast into a 5" sony. it's pretty amazing how good the picture looks. those little generic adapters are not all created equally tho. i had bad luck with one having hdmi handshake issues, and another with shitty picture quality before stumbling upon one that worked.

sucks that you had to go through 3 transcoders before getting a good one. I got lucky I guess, first one I bought has a super clean and balanced picture. I'm really happy with it's performance. It's this one :



Which one do you have?


I ended up really liking my setup : this converter has analog audio so I can feed that in the PVM(my BDP has no analog audio out so I needed that feature), and also the Extron allows to tweak the picture to taste without changing my settings on the crt itself so I can keep those settings I dialed in

I got the UGREEN adapter off of mazon
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GF ... UTF8&psc=1


You know, I suspect that some of them are just faulty off the line. A big issue with cheapo electronics is quality control; if it's a proven design, then the luck-of-the-draw really determines your outcome.

[FinalBaton]

You know, I suspect that some of them are just faulty off the line. A big issue with cheapo electronics is quality control; if it's a proven design, then the luck-of-the-draw really determines your outcome.

Definitely a BIG problem with cheap electronic gadgets, I agree there

[Revolver Ocelot]

I am still happy using with the Framemeister, but sometimes it is a bit bothersome that it reacts a bit to slow with games that are using different resolutions. Is that a inherited flaw off all upcscalers in General, and some ps1, Saturn and n64 are not so wel playable when upscalling or are there other scalers out there that can cope better with the resolutions changes?

I have already read that OSSC is a bit faster in that matter.

[nmalinoski]

I am still happy using with the Framemeister, but sometimes it is a bit bothersome that it reacts a bit to slow with games that are using different resolutions. Is that a inherited flaw off all upcscalers in General, and some ps1, Saturn and n64 are not so wel playable when upscalling or are there other scalers out there that can cope better with the resolutions changes?

I have already read that OSSC is a bit faster in that matter.

In regards to HDMI, there really isn't much you can do. If the display and/or any other video processors in your HDMI chain can't handle that switch, your only recourses are to either switch out devices for ones that can (good luck) or add a seamless switcher/scaler that will continually scale/framerate-convert to the same resolution and framerate regardless of input.

[LEGENOARYNINLIA]

I'm looking for recommendations, hopefully based on experience, for hooking up a Wii via VGA to a 31KHz monitor. I'm getting the console for free and have other things to buy soon, so I'm not looking to spend much on the solution.

I used to have exaxtly the right piece of equipment to do what I'm aiming to do right now, a Cypress component to VGA transcoder, but unfortunately it was sold about a year ago when I was broke. And now I can't find a similar unit anywhere.

[Revolver Ocelot]

I am still happy using with the Framemeister, but sometimes it is a bit bothersome that it reacts a bit to slow with games that are using different resolutions. Is that a inherited flaw off all upcscalers in General, and some ps1, Saturn and n64 are not so wel playable when upscalling or are there other scalers out there that can cope better with the resolutions changes?

I have already read that OSSC is a bit faster in that matter.

In regards to HDMI, there really isn't much you can do. If the display and/or any other video processors in your HDMI chain can't handle that switch, your only recourses are to either switch out devices for ones that can (good luck) or add a seamless switcher/scaler that will continually scale/framerate-convert to the same resolution and framerate regardless of input.

Ok I see thanks for the Information. It seems not an easy to task to find a scaler that handle these switches. According to my Research the OSSC is a bit faster, but the problem seems to be still valid. Not sure if older scales like the DVDO products act faster or not. But they are out of production and so hard to find.

Anyway it is not that big problem. Most of the games are fine with the FM, but some games like Resident Evil 2 N64 are unplayable. And these switches also make playing Die Hard Arcade harder then it should be.

Well I am hunting for CRT anyway maybe I will just wait to play these games again when I got my CRT.

[nmalinoski]

Ok I see thanks for the Information. It seems not an easy to task to find a scaler that handle these switches. According to my Research the OSSC is a bit faster, but the problem seems to be still valid. Not sure if older scales like the DVDO products act faster or not. But they are out of production and so hard to find.

Anyway it is not that big problem. Most of the games are fine with the FM, but some games like Resident Evil 2 N64 are unplayable. And these switches also make playing Die Hard Arcade harder then it should be.

The speed at which the FM or OSSC change video modes is not the problem; it's the fact that they have to drop sync to do so, and then your HDMI display and other devices need to resync. Like I said, running your OSSC or FM through a seamless scaler should avoid the problem altogether, but at the expense of a frame or two of lag. The FM seems to be technically capable of acting like a seamless scaler, but it's not clear why it doesn't.

[nmalinoski]

I'm looking for recommendations, hopefully based on experience, for hooking up a Wii via VGA to a 31KHz monitor. I'm getting the console for free and have other things to buy soon, so I'm not looking to spend much on the solution.

I used to have exaxtly the right piece of equipment to do what I'm aiming to do right now, a Cypress component to VGA transcoder, but unfortunately it was sold about a year ago when I was broke. And now I can't find a similar unit anywhere.

I think your options are a bit limited. Direct YPbPr->RGBS transcoders are rare enough; good luck finding one that goes from YPbPr to RGBHV. Of course, if you do multiple conversions, like YPbPr to HDMI (OSSC, cheap eBay/Amazon converters), then HDMI to RGBHV (Tendak or Portta active converters), that should get your Wii working on your VGA monitor, if with a slight amount of lag. If you want lag-free gaming, you're probably going to want a WiiDual, combined with a custom Wii-to-4xBNC cable, then run that into an Extron RGB interface, and connect to your monitor with a BNC-to-VGA cable.

[Fudoh]

like YPbPr to HDMI (OSSC, cheap eBay/Amazon converters), then HDMI to RGBHV (Tendak or Portta active converters), that should get your Wii working on your VGA monitor, if with a slight amount of lag.

usually not. If you get the right converters (no scaling, no frame buffer), than both conversions are pretty much lag free and as obscure as it sounds, it works well. And as long as all your games support 480p output, you can get a very cheap component to HDMI converter. If you require a scan conversion (e.g. linedoubling from 480i to 480p) then it gets more complicated.

[Revolver Ocelot]

Ok I see thanks for the Information. It seems not an easy to task to find a scaler that handle these switches. According to my Research the OSSC is a bit faster, but the problem seems to be still valid. Not sure if older scales like the DVDO products act faster or not. But they are out of production and so hard to find.

Anyway it is not that big problem. Most of the games are fine with the FM, but some games like Resident Evil 2 N64 are unplayable. And these switches also make playing Die Hard Arcade harder then it should be.

The speed at which the FM or OSSC change video modes is not the problem; it's the fact that they have to drop sync to do so, and then your HDMI display and other devices need to resync. Like I said, running your OSSC or FM through a seamless scaler should avoid the problem altogether, but at the expense of a frame or two of lag. The FM seems to be technically capable of acting like a seamless scaler, but it's not clear why it doesn't.

Ok i see. Well trying out a seamless scaler worth a try if they are not that expensive. Would you recommend a specific model?