PS360+ vs. MCC vs. Brook Retro

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maxtherabbit
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PS360+ vs. MCC vs. Brook Retro

Post by maxtherabbit »

I'm looking to get a universal PCB for old consoles (PS3 and prior)

Which of the three have better performance (compatibility and latency) on old hardware?

I've seen a few tests of input lag (most notably http://www.teyah.net/sticklag/results.html) but I've never seen a test that focused on lag on PS2 or anything earlier. Which one do you guys think is the more performant for old hardware?
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Syntax
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Re: PS360+ vs. MCC vs. Brook Retro

Post by Syntax »

Havent used a brooks yet but MC had issues with OPL IGR not working on more than 1 board so I stopped using them.

Still using my PS360+ which work great when forcing modes ect, the auto detect gets it wrong on some systems.

I do prefer using a Blissbox 4-play where I can, it has the lowest lag out of all the converters I've used, the largest selection of controllers and there's a new addon board being developed for it to work with even older non usb consoles like NES and Genesis. (The Bridge)
Latest news is its working with the Switch, Gamecube controllers for Melee :)
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maxtherabbit
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Re: PS360+ vs. MCC vs. Brook Retro

Post by maxtherabbit »

Syntax wrote:Havent used a brooks yet but MC had issues with OPL IGR not working on more than 1 board so I stopped using them.

Still using my PS360+ which work great when forcing modes ect, the auto detect gets it wrong on some systems.

I do prefer using a Blissbox 4-play where I can, it has the lowest lag out of all the converters I've used, the largest selection of controllers and there's a new addon board being developed for it to work with even older non usb consoles like NES and Genesis. (The Bridge)
Latest news is its working with the Switch, Gamecube controllers for Melee :)
I thought the Blissbox was an adapter to use old controllers on USB systems? That's the opposite of me trying to use my fight stick on old systems lol
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Syntax
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Re: PS360+ vs. MCC vs. Brook Retro

Post by Syntax »

Oversight on my behalf sorry.
I use an ebay wii classic controller hacked into a fightstick to interface with Blissbox.
There will be an option for USB pass thru in the future.
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AndehX
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Re: PS360+ vs. MCC vs. Brook Retro

Post by AndehX »

Interested in this as I am currently planning to assemble a couple of universal fight sticks for my old consoles. Trying to get hold of some MCC's but nowhere in europe stocks them and the one site in the US that does stock them, charges like $40 for shipping. Not happening. Not with the added fear of import charges on top of that...
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opt2not
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Re: PS360+ vs. MCC vs. Brook Retro

Post by opt2not »

I can only comment on the MCC and PS360+, since I haven’t picked up a Brook Retro yet.

For lag, I haven’t noticed anything too bad out of all the consoles I’ve connected to for both boards.

Compatibility-wise, MCC does GameCube and PCE/TG16, PS360+ does not. PS360+ supports the Xbox360, while the MCC doesn’t. Both boards support PC, NES, SNES, PSX/2, PS3, DC, Xbox, Saturn. But Saturn support on the PS360+ requires a special hack wiring that sacrifices the Home button input for Saturn support.

The PS360+ has mic support for the modern consoles, while the MCC doesn’t. Force modes are also better on the PS360+, but I find the MCC has better auto detection than the PS360+. Especially for the retro consoles.

The PS360+ is also easier to install, especially for RJ45 support, while the MCC requires you to Solder for RJ45.

But overall reliability seems better on the MCC, in my experience.

AndehX wrote:Interested in this as I am currently planning to assemble a couple of universal fight sticks for my old consoles. Trying to get hold of some MCC's but nowhere in europe stocks them and the one site in the US that does stock them, charges like $40 for shipping. Not happening. Not with the added fear of import charges on top of that...
Yeah that’s the going rate for a small package sent overseas, unfortunately. That’s not the company’s fault. I’ve had to tell this to some people who wanted to order RJ45 cables from me, sent to Europe, it’s just the way it is...
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AndehX
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Re: PS360+ vs. MCC vs. Brook Retro

Post by AndehX »

opt2not wrote:Yeah that’s the going rate for a small package sent overseas, unfortunately. That’s not the company’s fault. I’ve had to tell this to some people who wanted to order RJ45 cables from me, sent to Europe, it’s just the way it is...
Not sure I understand why? I've ordered many things from the US on ebay, and never paid more than about £8 for shipping....
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opt2not
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Re: PS360+ vs. MCC vs. Brook Retro

Post by opt2not »

AndehX wrote:
opt2not wrote:Yeah that’s the going rate for a small package sent overseas, unfortunately. That’s not the company’s fault. I’ve had to tell this to some people who wanted to order RJ45 cables from me, sent to Europe, it’s just the way it is...
Not sure I understand why? I've ordered many things from the US on ebay, and never paid more than about £8 for shipping....
I dunno. I’ve sent over a dozen packages to the UK, international small package shipping has never been that cheap. It’s always been a minimum of $30. You can use the shipping calculator on the USPS website to verify this.

What are you ordering from eBay, and how long does it usually take to get there?
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maxtherabbit
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Re: PS360+ vs. MCC vs. Brook Retro

Post by maxtherabbit »

opt2not wrote:I can only comment on the MCC and PS360+, since I haven’t picked up a Brook Retro yet.

For lag, I haven’t noticed anything too bad out of all the consoles I’ve connected to for both boards.

Compatibility-wise, MCC does GameCube and PCE/TG16, PS360+ does not. PS360+ supports the Xbox360, while the MCC doesn’t. Both boards support PC, NES, SNES, PSX/2, PS3, DC, Xbox, Saturn. But Saturn support on the PS360+ requires a special hack wiring that sacrifices the Home button input for Saturn support.

The PS360+ has mic support for the modern consoles, while the MCC doesn’t. Force modes are also better on the PS360+, but I find the MCC has better auto detection than the PS360+. Especially for the retro consoles.

The PS360+ is also easier to install, especially for RJ45 support, while the MCC requires you to Solder for RJ45.

But overall reliability seems better on the MCC, in my experience.

AndehX wrote:Interested in this as I am currently planning to assemble a couple of universal fight sticks for my old consoles. Trying to get hold of some MCC's but nowhere in europe stocks them and the one site in the US that does stock them, charges like $40 for shipping. Not happening. Not with the added fear of import charges on top of that...
Yeah that’s the going rate for a small package sent overseas, unfortunately. That’s not the company’s fault. I’ve had to tell this to some people who wanted to order RJ45 cables from me, sent to Europe, it’s just the way it is...
man that's a tough call - I was 100% going for the PS360+ based on everything you were saying except the "no gamecube" part

maybe I should go for the brook board but $52 on sale / $60 regular makes me hesitate

it would be great if someone who took the plunge on brook could let us know if it's worth it
Lord of Pirates
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Re: PS360+ vs. MCC vs. Brook Retro

Post by Lord of Pirates »

maxtherabbit wrote: man that's a tough call - I was 100% going for the PS360+ based on everything you were saying except the "no gamecube" part

maybe I should go for the brook board but $52 on sale / $60 regular makes me hesitate

it would be great if someone who took the plunge on brook could let us know if it's worth it
You could be that brave soul ;). The PS360+ was no longer available the last time I looked.
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opt2not
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Re: PS360+ vs. MCC vs. Brook Retro

Post by opt2not »

Lord of Pirates wrote: The PS360+ was no longer available the last time I looked.
Yeah the PS360+ is harder to find these days. The MCC is also getting difficult to buy, the only place I know of that has restocks from time to time is Paradise arcade.

Edit: @maxtherabbit if you’re set on wanting to buy a PS360+, and can’t find them anywhere, I might have a couple I can part with.
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Re: PS360+ vs. MCC vs. Brook Retro

Post by zakk »

I own a brook retro board. I've only used it with a Saturn so far (wired into my cab) and it worked just fine. However, no one should trust anyone saying 'it felt ok'; eventually someone has to produce tested lag numbers. "Feel" is useless unless it is something super obvious like massive 1 second delay.

I need to put the retro+ufb in my stick but I helpfully have a ufb without the 20 pin header pins so the extra work isn't motivating me at all.
Lord of Pirates
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Re: PS360+ vs. MCC vs. Brook Retro

Post by Lord of Pirates »

zakk wrote:I own a brook retro board. I've only used it with a Saturn so far (wired into my cab) and it worked just fine. However, no one should trust anyone saying 'it felt ok'; eventually someone has to produce tested lag numbers. "Feel" is useless unless it is something super obvious like massive 1 second delay.

I need to put the retro+ufb in my stick but I helpfully have a ufb without the 20 pin header pins so the extra work isn't motivating me at all.
Goes without saying. It's a moot point until someone feels like taking the time and money to test lag. I'd be happy to see it happen but I don't think it's going to anytime soon.
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opt2not
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Re: PS360+ vs. MCC vs. Brook Retro

Post by opt2not »

zakk wrote:IHowever, no one should trust anyone saying 'it felt ok'; eventually someone has to produce tested lag numbers. "Feel" is useless unless it is something super obvious like massive 1 second delay.
Lord of Pirates wrote: It's a moot point until someone feels like taking the time and money to test lag. I'd be happy to see it happen but I don't think it's going to anytime soon.
Agreed. Any volunteers?

I personally don't have the technical knowledge to wire up whatever solution people are using to measure lag these days. So "feel" is all we really have to go by right now. And of course, history of the product. As far as I know, I don't remember reading that the MCC has any noticeable lag, from the many years it's been available.

So until someone takes the initiative to put up actual numbers, word-of-mouth is our best judge.
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maxtherabbit
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Re: PS360+ vs. MCC vs. Brook Retro

Post by maxtherabbit »

opt2not wrote:
I personally don't have the technical knowledge to wire up whatever solution people are using to measure lag these days. So "feel" is all we really have to go by right now. And of course, history of the product. As far as I know, I don't remember reading that the MCC has any noticeable lag, from the many years it's been available.

So until someone takes the initiative to put up actual numbers, word-of-mouth is our best judge.
All you really have to do to measure lag is wire up one button on a fight stick to both boards and set one to 1p the other to 2p. Go into training mode see who gets more counter hits. The link I posted earlier describes the methodology fairly well.

Now this doesn't give you absolute time numbers of course, it just tells you if one board is faster than another one. You can extrapolate numbers from this somewhat if you have a known "benchmark" board.

Not completely precise, but it is scientific, and cost nothing if you already have the boards.
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maxtherabbit
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Re: PS360+ vs. MCC vs. Brook Retro

Post by maxtherabbit »

I'm about 90% decided to take the plunge on brook - I can't for the life of me find any hard documentation on the thing anywhere though

Brook's own site doesn't mention it whatsoever, and the arcadeshock page doesn't have any PDFs or what have you
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AndehX
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Re: PS360+ vs. MCC vs. Brook Retro

Post by AndehX »

So I bit the bullet and grabbed 2 MCC's. Managed to get the shipping down to $15. Now I just to find a good guide on wiring up the RJ45 port
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maxtherabbit
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Re: PS360+ vs. MCC vs. Brook Retro

Post by maxtherabbit »

AndehX wrote:So I bit the bullet and grabbed 2 MCC's. Managed to get the shipping down to $15. Now I just to find a good guide on wiring up the RJ45 port
the pads on the board correspond to the same order on the RJ45 connector

represented with the standard 568B color coding (left to right): orange/white | orange | green/white | blue | blue/white | green | brown/white | brown
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AndehX
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Re: PS360+ vs. MCC vs. Brook Retro

Post by AndehX »

Ok. The only thing that confuses me now is the Sega Saturn. The controller has 1 more wire than the RJ45 port.
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Re: PS360+ vs. MCC vs. Brook Retro

Post by zakk »

The saturn has 5v both from and to the console, so those cables just omit the 5v towards the console.
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Re: PS360+ vs. MCC vs. Brook Retro

Post by blackrabite »

If I just wanted to multiconsole my MadCatz TE2 360 stick for 360 & Saturn (+PS2 for bonus points?), is PS360+ the only option that can actually satisfy this, however gracefully? Trying to get something sorted to hook up the stick I have to my Saturn but still have access to shmups etc on the 360.

Thank you so much for your time!
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