OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

[naz]

5x + custom scanlines is way better than 3x. Here are a few pics I took with my cell (in person it looks better).

Spoiler

I wish I could add very faint vertical scanlines, but currently the custom setting for this ONLY works on the lines you leave at 0 strength, not all of them.

[orange808]

Spoiler

Real scanlines on a real monitor.

Your 5x is a nice look, but authentic? Nope.

[headlesshobbs]

Remember when I posted this a long time ago?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dBiBdIQ6_4


Of course now we have hybrid scanlines, among some other options.

[Fudoh]

@naz: the vertical thickness variation based on the pixel brightness is a very good argument indeed. With a decreased sharpness on the display's end I might agree that these look great, but without touching the panel's sharpness, it's a bit too sharp for me and I prefer a univeral panel setting, so I can feed various sources without changing the settings there.

[maxtherabbit]

any word on a release binary with the current commits?

[thchardcore]

Spoiler

Real scanlines on a real monitor.

Your 5x is a nice look, but authentic? Nope.

I've had a ton of high grade low res CRTs and I would never go back to any of them after using the OSSC with a good PC CRT. Authentic or not, the sharpness and geometry gains are worth it imo.

[naz]

Well... if I go for "Authentic" I should be playing through RF on a no knob CRT and a set a pliers to change to channel 3.

Here is a picture of Sagat on a BVM, the variable thickness scanlines I posted try to emulate this picture:

Spoiler

Notice the BVM is even sharper (but the lines are rounded, there are no square pixels in there), 6x on the OSSC pro might allow me to get even closer.

I share Fudoh’s preference for a softer image, but mainly on 240P 3D games (PS1, Saturn and N64), for 2D I’m quite happy with the fake BVM effect.

[orange808]

Well... if I go for "Authentic" I should be playing through RF on a no knob CRT and a set a pliers to change to channel 3.

Here is a picture of Sagat on a BVM, the variable thickness scanlines I posted try to emulate this picture:

Spoiler

Notice the BVM is even sharper (but the lines are rounded, there are no square pixels in there), 6x on the OSSC pro might allow me to get even closer.

I share Fudoh’s preference for a softer image, but mainly on 240P 3D games (PS1, Saturn and N64), for 2D I’m quite happy with the fake BVM effect.

Do what makes you happy.

[NormalFish]

every time someone says "authentic" in this thread, it's ripe for the flaming.

[headlesshobbs]

Well... if I go for "Authentic" I should be playing through RF on a no knob CRT and a set a pliers to change to channel 3.

Here is a picture of Sagat on a BVM, the variable thickness scanlines I posted try to emulate this picture:

Spoiler

Notice the BVM is even sharper (but the lines are rounded, there are no square pixels in there), 6x on the OSSC pro might allow me to get even closer.

I share Fudoh’s preference for a softer image, but mainly on 240P 3D games (PS1, Saturn and N64), for 2D I’m quite happy with the fake BVM effect.

I have similar results with 5x on my panel as well, but I set h. sharpness at 0

https://freeimage.host/i/2dguN1

Had this been a pc lcd, there probably wouldn't be any way of making these adjustments.

[Kez]

Do what makes you happy.

This is the crux really, if you like what you see then keep going. It is totally down to preference! If we're talking authenticity, though.. I think these zoomed-in photos of BVMs are quite misleading and do not compare 1:1 with LCDs. The bloom effect is so strong on CRTs that even a few feet away the scanlines appear much thinner than they are up close, whereas on LCDs, they remain very clear even from much farther away. When I play games I don't have my face pressed up against the screen (usually), so the "authentic" experience I am trying to replicate is that of sitting at least 6 feet back from a CRT.

[Galdelico]

@naz and @headlesshobbs - Are you getting those results on a 4K or a 1080p panel? If it's possible, would you mind sharing your scanline settings too, I'd love to give them a try and see how they look on my display (I use a PC monitor, though, so I don't expect it to look nearly as good in the end).

[headlesshobbs]

I have a 1080p LG panel and the only thing I'm really doing is putting the other lines aside from 3 at 100%, with hybrid scanlines on subtraction setting up 2 or three notches.

HDTV's have configuration controls and scalers where pc lcd's usually lack those options. I would imagine you'll be stuck with sharp pixels that you can't do much of anything about, unless you're wiling to experiment and try adding vertical scanlines and tinkering with the scanline+hybrid levels yourself. When you do, set columns 1 or 2 max and run normal lines 1 and 5 very light to start off with before you make adjustments. Sometimes just 1 scanline very light helps matche the aperture grille you see on some arcade crts or trinis.

I never bothered to save a preset, so best of luck!

[orange808]

Do what makes you happy.

This is the crux really, if you like what you see then keep going. It is totally down to preference! If we're talking authenticity, though.. I think these zoomed-in photos of BVMs are quite misleading and do not compare 1:1 with LCDs. The bloom effect is so strong on CRTs that even a few feet away the scanlines appear much thinner than they are up close, whereas on LCDs, they remain very clear even from much farther away. When I play games I don't have my face pressed up against the screen (usually), so the "authentic" experience I am trying to replicate is that of sitting at least 6 feet back from a CRT.

Sure. I agree.

Although, I see more in that photo (it's actually my cabinet monitor, not a PVM) than the scanlines and glow. Pac Man is tricky to reproduce on a digital display in general. To get it close, I need what Fudoh was talking about: linex3, hybrid scanlines, and a warp processor (for tate and curvature). It's a torture test for gear.

No matter what, it never really matches that unique look on the real cab. Although, the subject here was sharp pixels.

Notice how the "M" and "V" have smooth slopes? Also, the middle of the "M" isn't just an obtuse floating block on the bottom. That pixel needs a touch of softness.

The monitor is a nice display and it is sharper than a consumer television, but 5x is considerably sharper than what I get from my CRTs.

[MidOrFeed2015]

anyone here can recommend a HDTV that properly maintains 4:3 aspect ratio when linedoubling 480p?
my trash TV is forcing widescreen anytime I feed it line2x480p and I can't fix it within the TV's settings.
you get what you pay for!

[Fudoh]

anyone here can recommend a HDTV that properly maintains 4:3 aspect ratio when linedoubling 480p?

not a single one. At least not by default.

There are TVs that let you adjust the aspect ratio freely (like the LG OLEDs), but in general 1440x960p will always be interpreted as square pixel AR and not like a signal with NTSC pixel ratio (like 480p).

[BuckoA51]

Where is this free aspect ratio adjustment you speak of on the LG OLEDS?

Or do you simply mean you can choose 4:3 or 16:9 etc regardless of the input resolution?

[Konsolkongen]

Aspect Ratio > All Direction Zoom

It's a pretty neat feature.

[Elrinth]

I'd like to have OSSC profiles for:
X68000 15hz,24hz,31hz via VGA
FM Towns all possible resolutions via VGA
MSX via RGB
MSX via RGB (one of those graph9990 card or whatever they are called)
TurboGrafX/Pc-Engine/SuperGrafX via Component
TurboGrafX/Pc-Engine/SuperGrafX via RGB

[maxtherabbit]

I'd like to have OSSC profiles for:
X68000 15hz,24hz,31hz via VGA
FM Towns all possible resolutions via VGA
MSX via RGB
MSX via RGB (one of those graph9990 card or whatever they are called)
TurboGrafX/Pc-Engine/SuperGrafX via Component
TurboGrafX/Pc-Engine/SuperGrafX via RGB

http://pbnl.byethost7.com/ossc/profiles/

get to work then

[BuckoA51]

Aspect Ratio > All Direction Zoom

It's a pretty neat feature.

You're right, I have owned this TV more than a year and never realized you could free zoom in this mode... well I definitely feel stupid now

[TooBeaucoup]

So I had a storm roll through my area a week ago and the power in the house went out for about a second and then came back on. I had my OSSC on at the time and now it no longer works. Funny thing is, I have a ton of electronics hooked up and nothing else was damaged. Upon turning on the OSSC, the screen lights up but nothing appears. It just stays lit up with a blank screen. I get no picture anymore and can't do anything. I took the OSSC apart and nothing on the board looks fried, all of the little tiny fuses look good. I've already replaced it with a new OSSC, so it's whatever. But, it'd be a shame to just throw this one away. Did it just get bricked and needs to be reprogrammed or something? I'm wondering if something can be fixed through the JTAG port. I don't have the equipment or know-how for that, but I'm wondering if that might offer a potential fix. In the end, I'll just toss it and not think twice about it, but what a bummer.

[MidOrFeed2015]

anyone here can recommend a HDTV that properly maintains 4:3 aspect ratio when linedoubling 480p?

not a single one. At least not by default.

There are TVs that let you adjust the aspect ratio freely (like the LG OLEDs), but in general 1440x960p will always be interpreted as square pixel AR and not like a signal with NTSC pixel ratio (like 480p).

well I guess when it comes time to upgrade, ill go LG OLED.

[Gunstar]

Everyone, OSSC(X) Pro is already out!...


I've never come across the problems they've mentioned on my OSSC, is it mostly non-VGP versions of the OSSC that exhbit these issues?

[Triple Lei]

HOMER: Well, basically, I just copied the OSSC we have now.

BURNS: Mm...

HOMER: Then, I added some fins to lower wind resistance. And this racing stripe here I feel is pretty sharp.

BURNS: Agreed. First prize.

(clip)

[Gunstar]

HOMER: Well, basically, I just copied the OSSC we have now.

BURNS: Mm...

HOMER: Then, I added some fins to lower wind resistance. And this racing stripe here I feel is pretty sharp.

BURNS: Agreed. First prize.

Simpson's has an image for everything! Haha the racing stripe is so damn close to Homer's design too

[NJRoadfan]

HOMER: Well, basically, I just copied the OSSC we have now.

BURNS: Mm...

HOMER: Then, I added some fins to lower wind resistance. And this racing stripe here I feel is pretty sharp.

BURNS: Agreed. First prize.

At least it makes the fakes easier to spot!

[fernan1234]

Everyone, OSSC(X) Pro is already out!...


I've never come across the problems they've mentioned on my OSSC, is it mostly non-VGP versions of the OSSC that exhbit these issues?

I wonder if the "jitter, black screen and so on when the old OSSC is working in high intensity" is supposed to refer to issues in problematic cases such as SNES and NESRGB @ 5x on some displays. I doubt they managed to improve that, but I guess we can never totally count out Chinese "innovation" (not to make new stuff, but to occasionally make old stuff a little bit better and cheaper--albeit usually at the cost of quality).

[NormalFish]

Think it's more likely it's resolving issues with cheaper components they replaced when cloning it? that's what the verbiage sounds like.

[TooBeaucoup]

Think it's more likely it's resolving issues with cheaper components they replaced when cloning it? that's what the verbiage sounds like.

Exactly. They're touting these as improvements when it's really just them making the unit properly over their previous trash versions... LOL!