X Station PS1 ODE

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RoboArmy
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by RoboArmy »

This is awesome, but I wish they'd went for a black background for the menu at least. :lol:

I seriously hope this isn't a "if you don't order within a minute of orders opening you lose" situation, because I'm very, VERY excited about this. I'm probably gonna wear all controllers I have out when I get my hands on it.
fernan1234 wrote:It'd be really cool if this had a setting to set the last loaded game to load automatically on power on, bypassing the menu and not displaying the blue loading screen. The effect would be to see the Sony splash screen, followed by the PS logo, followed by black screen into game loading, thus replicating authentically the original experience of loading the CD-ROM (and of course being able to get the menu to change this setting or set a new game as the default with a certain button press at some point during the boot sequence to abort the auto load).
Yeah that's a great idea. I'd say it's a totally unneeded, but still pretty cool touch.
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darcagn
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by darcagn »

Voultar now has his PS1Digital/XStation install video up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZTMTG267II
RoboArmy wrote:I seriously hope this isn't a "if you don't order within a minute of orders opening you lose" situation, because I'm very, VERY excited about this. I'm probably gonna wear all controllers I have out when I get my hands on it.
Castlemania has tweeted that they do not anticipate any stock issues and that everyone should be able to get one.
I'm hoping because of the low price of the ESP32 they'll be able to make a ton of these things without stocking issues.
fernan1234 wrote:It'd be really cool if this had a setting to set the last loaded game to load automatically on power on, bypassing the menu and not displaying the blue loading screen. The effect would be to see the Sony splash screen, followed by the PS logo, followed by black screen into game loading, thus replicating authentically the original experience of loading the CD-ROM (and of course being able to get the menu to change this setting or set a new game as the default with a certain button press at some point during the boot sequence to abort the auto load).
Would be nice, as long as there's a way to reset the console and get back to the menu.
ODEs/Flash carts that can't reset back to the menu and require me to get up and power on/off drive me nuts.
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NormalFish
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by NormalFish »

Watching Voultar's install now. Absolutely no way I'm going to do this myself. guess i'll stick to emulation until they're either super cheap or an easier alternative comes along.
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RoboArmy
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by RoboArmy »

NormalFish wrote:Watching Voultar's install now. Absolutely no way I'm going to do this myself. guess i'll stick to emulation until they're either super cheap or an easier alternative comes along.
The PSDigital install looks like absolutely hell but the XStation one doesn't seem that bad apart from the pin lifting. I think it's worth a shot... or you could send it to a local tech to install it for you.

But about PSDigital... I'm just gonna stick with Sync on Composite SCART for now :mrgreen:
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NormalFish
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by NormalFish »

RoboArmy wrote:
NormalFish wrote:Watching Voultar's install now. Absolutely no way I'm going to do this myself. guess i'll stick to emulation until they're either super cheap or an easier alternative comes along.
The PSDigital install looks like absolutely hell but the XStation one doesn't seem that bad apart from the pin lifting. I think it's worth a shot... or you could send it to a local tech to install it for you.

But about PSDigital... I'm just gonna stick with Sync on Composite SCART for now :mrgreen:
Nah, I've ruined enough systems to know precise soldering work on pins like that, even just lifting them, is not something I should do. I'm content using POPS for PS1 stuff anyway, just unfortunate since I had thought it would be simpler
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Kez
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by Kez »

I can see a lot of PS1 chips being ruined as a result of botched X-Station installs. Obviously an experienced modder can do it without too much trouble, but these pins are super easy to snap if you bend them about too much and once you do it's a real pain to repair.
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Fudoh
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by Fudoh »

Do we have a separate thread on the PS1Digital, yet?

Small question after seeing Digital Foundry's video of the HDMI upgrade rigth now: is there really no 720p output option available?
fernan1234
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by fernan1234 »

Fudoh wrote:Do we have a separate thread on the PS1Digital, yet?

Small question after seeing Digital Foundry's video of the HDMI upgrade rigth now: is there really no 720p output option available?
Not for now at least. It seems to have only "VGA", 480p, 960p, and 1080p.

I suppose 960p covers any benefit that 720p would offer. On the display side, 1080p displays will obviously do better with either of the last two, 720p displays aren't really a thing, and 4k displays all upscale 1080p better than 720p, in spite of the reasonable but in practice incorrect assumption that 720p is good for integer scaling in 4k displays. Any other case in which 720p would be useful?
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Austin
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by Austin »

fernan1234 wrote:Any other case in which 720p would be useful?
Older capture hardware setups that will only do 60fps when set to 720p, 30 when set higher.
jd213
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by jd213 »

Any chance of either of these being able to remove dithering on the fly?
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Gunstar
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by Gunstar »

jd213 wrote:Any chance of either of these being able to remove dithering on the fly?
X Station has an option for de-dither according to the FAQ
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Fudoh
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by Fudoh »

Any other case in which 720p would be useful?
I don't like scanlines in 1080p (or 960p) resolution. 720p looks way better due to the secondary scaling step and the better scanline to non-scanline ratio (1:2 instead of 2:2).
fernan1234
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by fernan1234 »

Fudoh wrote:
Any other case in which 720p would be useful?
I don't like scanlines in 1080p (or 960p) resolution. 720p looks way better due to the secondary scaling step and the better scanline to non-scanline ratio (1:2 instead of 2:2).
You're right, I totally forgot about scanlines, which I also consider essential. I would have imagined that they look good in a 960p mode but I've never used it myself. But on other digital sources 720p scanlines definitely look better, albeit in an overall less sharp image.
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Fudoh
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by Fudoh »

I would have imagined that they look good in a 960p mode
IMO too artificial due to the increased sharpness and definition.
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darcagn
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by darcagn »

fernan1234 wrote:720p displays aren't really a thing
they aren't?
BONKERS
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by BONKERS »

darcagn wrote:
fernan1234 wrote:720p displays aren't really a thing
they aren't?
Not true 720p. As in 1280x720.
All 720p Tvs are 1366x768. Some offer 1:1 pixel scaling modes of 720p input and leave the rest blank. But some don't.
I've got an older Samsung 720p TV 32" that is pretty decent but it doesn't allow 1:1 720p input. So 720p scaled to native res on 3D games look pretty meh. 720p from upscaled 240p sources looks pretty decent with that secondary scaling step. Downscaling from 1080p internally is very sharp but can lead to added aliasing.
Native 768p input on a PC looks great. (1360x765 is a perfect 16:9 resolution. So you can get 1:1 pixel scaling of that through GPU drivers and just leave a few blank lines. Same with 720p. So it can end up looking pretty good for 720p content.

Lack of a 720p output mode is pretty disappointing TBH. 720p is more compatible with average devices than 960p probably. 1080p will be be more window/pillarboxed. However 720p wouldn't necessarily be full screen either since a lot of PS1 games leave blank lines on the top and bottom. But it would be closer.
fernan1234
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by fernan1234 »

Speaking of resolution in PS1 games and how much the picture actually fills the screen, the PS1 is kind of a nightmare for digital output not only using different resolutions (not to mention scan rates in some cases) in different parts of the game, but also different picture sizes. Since I use a CRT I often use an overscan preset to fill up the screen more with games with a smaller picture size for the main gameplay. For digital I'd say something like the OSSC's 4:3 generic mode works better.

edit: and sorry if we're getting too off-topic here, seems like we really need a PS1Digital topic.
nmalinoski
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by nmalinoski »

fernan1234 wrote:
Fudoh wrote:Do we have a separate thread on the PS1Digital, yet?

Small question after seeing Digital Foundry's video of the HDMI upgrade rigth now: is there really no 720p output option available?
Not for now at least. It seems to have only "VGA", 480p, 960p, and 1080p.
Being that this appears to be built on top of what was designed for the DCHDMI/DC Digital, these video modes seem to have been chosen to avoid non-integer scaling; 240p and 480i (and 480p from the DC) will fit into a 480-line frame (VGA 640x480, DTV 480p 720x480), and that can be easily line-doubled to 960p (regular 960p, 960p windowboxed to 1080p). (Not sure about PAL modes.)

The DC Digital doesn't [currently] support any non-integer scaling, so it makes sense that the PS1 Digital wouldn't either, and thus the lack of an output option for 720p, or a full-frame 1080p for that matter.


Side note: I think 720p will be moot on the PS2 as well; while I think the GSM chip supports 720p output, I don't think any PS2 games really do--I think it goes from 480p to 1080i, so all of the typical PS2 video modes will fit into a resulting 1080p frame (240p/480i/480p -> 480p, 960p; 1080i -> 1080p).
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Fudoh
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by Fudoh »

I understand that 960p (or windowboxed 1080p) unifies the resolutions incl. 480i/p. On the DC 240p sources hardly matters, but on the PS1 it's certainly an oversight. I could live with 1:1 480i inside a 720p frame, but 3x for scalined 240p is essential.
siopoudis
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by siopoudis »

fernan1234 wrote:It'd be really cool if this had a setting to set the last loaded game to load automatically on power on, bypassing the menu and not displaying the blue loading screen. The effect would be to see the Sony splash screen, followed by the PS logo, followed by black screen into game loading, thus replicating authentically the original experience of loading the CD-ROM (and of course being able to get the menu to change this setting or set a new game as the default with a certain button press at some point during the boot sequence to abort the auto load).
This is actually how it works in the current beta. The console always boots to the last selected game, boot animation and license and everything. To get to the Loader, you have to press and hold the reset button for about 1 second (or with PS1Digital, you'll be able to to this through IGR on the OSD).

It's not certain how this will work when it's released. The other option is to run the full boot sequence on reset, and always boot to the Loader on a power cycle.
https://8BitMods.co.uk - Plenty of mod kits and consoles available for UK and EU
fernan1234
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by fernan1234 »

siopoudis wrote:This is actually how it works in the current beta. The console always boots to the last selected game, boot animation and license and everything. To get to the Loader, you have to press and hold the reset button for about 1 second (or with PS1Digital, you'll be able to to this through IGR on the OSD).

It's not certain how this will work when it's released. The other option is to run the full boot sequence on reset, and always boot to the Loader on a power cycle.
It's great to know that at least it's possible. Ideally, since there will always be some group of users who prefer it one way or another, there will be a user setting to change the boot behavior to fit more than one preference.
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RoboArmy
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by RoboArmy »

James-F wrote:Most (if not all) of those PU18 boards in a 700x are in the SCPH-7003 "Asia Region" models.
There is not a single clue on the internet about SCPH-7000/7001/7002 console with a PU18.
The wiki and modchip pages says "PU18 in some early 700x models" but no one actually seen one besides SCPH-7003.

Anyone actually has/seen PU18 in 700x models besides 7003 ?
Keep you expectation super low to non-existent about PU18 in a 7000/1/2.

Unless I'm wrong. :)
Yeah I'm actively avoiding 700 models for now. Just got my for-parts ""5500"" that clearly had mismatched parts inside, including a top cover without the serial i/o opening, and a PU-20 board. I didn't think finding a decent console for this mod was going to be complicated but here we are :lol: oh well, at least its on an ebay-like site with buyer protection. Dude can whine about "not accepting returns" all he wants, but hopefully he'll reply positively to my friendly partial refund/return inquiry lest he has to deal with the platform itself.

Certainly miss having plenty of local ads and flea markets with PS1s. Should have grabbed a couple when people just gave them to you to get rid of it.
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by citrus3000psi »

Fudoh wrote:Do we have a separate thread on the PS1Digital, yet?

Small question after seeing Digital Foundry's video of the HDMI upgrade rigth now: is there really no 720p output option available?

It is planned in a future firmware.
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Greg2600
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by Greg2600 »

Hmm, the pulling of the pins is certainly not a great selling point, even if soldering is not required. I guess good thing PS1's are not a ton of money. The restriction to 5500 series and older is stinky, though most of those probably have had laser issues so replacing the drive isn't that bad.

In terms of compatibility, does lid opening/closing for multidisc require soldering a switch like the USB-GD ROM? Furthermore, what types of dumps will it work with? How will it handle CDDA? You'd hope the CUE2 files that have been done for the PSIO would work here too.

I have a PSIO for many years, and honestly the thing has always seemed to run game images fine for me. I've never really had issues. My lone peeve is that the menu takes FOREVER to load.
eightbitminiboss
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by eightbitminiboss »

Greg2600 wrote:Hmm, the pulling of the pins is certainly not a great selling point, even if soldering is not required. I guess good thing PS1's are not a ton of money. The restriction to 5500 series and older is stinky, though most of those probably have had laser issues so replacing the drive isn't that bad.

In terms of compatibility, does lid opening/closing for multidisc require soldering a switch like the USB-GD ROM? Furthermore, what types of dumps will it work with? How will it handle CDDA? You'd hope the CUE2 files that have been done for the PSIO would work here too.

I have a PSIO for many years, and honestly the thing has always seemed to run game images fine for me. I've never really had issues. My lone peeve is that the menu takes FOREVER to load.
It should be taking redump images without modification unlike the PSIO.
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by spmbx »

So for the games that need one, do you need to supply a cracked image or does this load the images without needing a crack?
fernan1234
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by fernan1234 »

citrus3000psi wrote:
Fudoh wrote:Do we have a separate thread on the PS1Digital, yet?

Small question after seeing Digital Foundry's video of the HDMI upgrade rigth now: is there really no 720p output option available?

It is planned in a future firmware.
That's a game changer. Great to know.
Icelvlan
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by Icelvlan »

For PS1Digital do we know if 5001 is compatible? Seems to be same motherboard as 5501 and 7001.
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by siopoudis »

Ok, answers for a few questions I saw here:

- The Loader / Menu app is being re-worked and will look different to the prototype you've already seen
- Multi-disc images are supported by an open/close lid action. You queue the images before you launch, and whenever you open / close the lid, it switches to the next disc in the queue
- No extra soldering necessary. All features described on Castlemania's page are with the one QSB you have to solder in place. All necessary signals, including lid, are on there.
- Games that need libcrypt patches, will still need to be patched with XStation at launch. A further update will read the subchannel data, and remove this need altogether, though
- CU2 files are not going to be supported (proprietary format). You can use .iso, .cue/bin (single and multiple), .cue/img and possibly .ccd/img in the future
- CDDA is handled perfectly fine. The new loader will allow mounting audio discs too, and you'll even be able to add them to the queue to swap discs in games that give extra functionality with audio discs (like vib-ribbon)
- The boot behaviour will probably be configurable.
https://8BitMods.co.uk - Plenty of mod kits and consoles available for UK and EU
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Einzelherz
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Re: X Station PS1 ODE

Post by Einzelherz »

Sign me up for the autoplay last game boot option. My personal biggest hangup with any of these is the falling out of the moment when having to navigate a menu.
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