NEW: Retrotink 5x-Pro or OSSC Pro?

[tomini]

Hello,
I bought two DVDOs - iScan HD and Edge. But I kept only Edge, because it is a newer version and has better I/O.
I'm wondering what is better - upscaling (OSSC+DVDO) or internal HDMI mod? We are talking PS2 now...
I'm yet about to buy OSSC, so I'm making last decisions. I'm thinking that PS2 - SCART -> OSSC - HDMI -> DVDO - HDMI -> monitor. Or would Component instead of SCART be better...? But that would need YPbPr, so PS1 games would struggle.

Thanks a lot <3

Original post:

Spoiler

Which one should I choose or should I return/sell both of them? I'm afraid that my monitor won't handle weird resolutions created by OSSC (2x480=960p etc...), so that's why I picked them up.
So is iScan HD better or worse in comparison to Edge? Or is it even necessary (can you make OSSC upscale to 960p, but trick display into 1080p)?
I just need them for the PS2 (sometimes going to play PS1, but FMCB can change 240p to higher res)...
I can only try Edge for now, because the iScan HD uses DVI and VGA and I have only VGA-HDMI adapter, but for some reason I cant find it.

EDIT: Previous subject name "OSSC, HDMI mod, DVDOs and connections..."

Edge sometimes loses connection to component (I think) or a white "VHS-like" line appears for a split second. "Loses connection" meaning by going straight to the blue screen for a blink of an eye. Should I route the component cables away from power cables? Clean the ports? Or what's happening and can I do something? Sometime it's okay, but there was an occasion when it was truly unplayable...
The other issue is that the Edge doesn't pass audio. I plugged the RCA red and white from component to the back "STEREO" ports. Set the audio settings to pass "STEREO" to "HDMI Video", which is my HDMI that should pass (as the back printing says) both video and audio signal, but my monitor doesn't pass it via jack to my speakers. Yet when I do the same with my PS3, audio through HDMI works.
I updated the firmware on the Edge to the latest version I could find (EDGE_163_147).

[orange808]

You should consider waiting. You're going to end up spending almost as much as a new OSSC Pro will cost. Is it worth it?

[Fudoh]

You bought the DVDOs for their deinterlacing. If you use processing of the OSSC ahead of the DVDO (except for transcoding), then you're missing out on the DVDs deinterlacing...

Scart or component into the OSSC doesn't make a difference. You should let the OSSC upscale 240p content, but let 480i pass through to the DVDO for deinterlacing.

Internal HDMI mods are first of all easy to use. Using a good scart of component cable into an OSSC is VERY VERY close, so I wouldn't worry about that.

[Lawfer]

Internal HDMI mod for PS2? There isn't one yet, might be worth waiting for one though instead of getting what seems to be an incredibely complicated setup that will cost quite a bit. We already have HDMI mods for quite a few consoles now, GameCube, Wii, Dreamcast, PS1, Original Xbox... One of the issues for PS2 though is that almost all games are interlaced and there are no good solutions to get all the games to play in progressive mode that doesn't involve deinterlacing, not sure if progressive from the source would be possible, maybe with some custom firmware of some sort or an ODE + custom firmware forcing all games to play in progressive mode could be possible?

[strayan]

Sell everything buy Retrotink 5x when released. Will likely have top notch deinterlacing for ps2.

[tomini]

You should consider waiting. You're going to end up spending almost as much as a new OSSC Pro will cost. Is it worth it?

I saw that, but thought it could be one of those projects that is "coming soon", but in the end will show up several years later.
But if the OSSC Pro will cost the same (or a margin of few bucks more)...then it would be a bummer if I bought basic OSSC.

I'm really new to this. What OSSC Pro will bring that might interest me? For now I'm aiming for PS2 only, but I might pick some other console.
Ports? I think normal OSSC has enough of them, but apparently Pro will have more. Otherwise I don't understand other features of the Pro version, as I don't have normal OSSC, so I'm kinda lost and can't compare those two based on 3 year old videos.
Could you (or someone else) shine some light on this?
Thank you.

[tomini]

You bought the DVDOs for their deinterlacing. If you use processing of the OSSC ahead of the DVDO (except for transcoding), then you're missing out on the DVDs deinterlacing...

Scart or component into the OSSC doesn't make a difference. You should let the OSSC upscale 240p content, but let 480i pass through to the DVDO for deinterlacing.

Internal HDMI mods are first of all easy to use. Using a good scart of component cable into an OSSC is VERY VERY close, so I wouldn't worry about that.

To be honest - I didn't
I though that FMCB would deinterlace it, but apparently the GSM settings are less useful than they appear to be.

Well it does make a difference. If I'm going to to go Component, then I need YPbPr set on my PS2 and that makes PS1 games go ape-sh*t. I need RGB video format and that is found in SCART or composite as a example. Composite has video on one cable, so it has poor quality, then SCART is best quality and compatibility.
And what about PS2 games? Line-scale them like 4x or 5x and pass through DVDO for deinterlacing?

I don't have much skills with soldering, so I asked about HDMI mod out of curiosity if it is somehow way superior than this whole setup. But it is true that it would be interlaced and I believe that very HDMI mod will keep original (480i) resolution and my TV sucks with upscaling. Not to mention my monitor which would be my primary display for this setup...it's setup is basically non-existent.

strayan is talking about Retrotink 5x. I saw this line of products as a inferior upscalers that are just plug'n'play for those that don't want to mess with some setup and settings.
OSSC < Retrotink 5x < OSSC Pro ?

Thank you.

[tomini]

Internal HDMI mod for PS2? There isn't one yet, might be worth waiting for one though instead of getting what seems to be an incredibely complicated setup that will cost quite a bit. We already have HDMI mods for quite a few consoles now, GameCube, Wii, Dreamcast, PS1, Original Xbox... One of the issues for PS2 though is that almost all games are interlaced and there are no good solutions to get all the games to play in progressive mode that doesn't involve deinterlacing, not sure if progressive from the source would be possible, maybe with some custom firmware of some sort or an ODE + custom firmware forcing all games to play in progressive mode could be possible?

I believe I saw few videos and threads about it. Here are some examples... But yeah - biggest drawback is that now you are outputting interlaced standard resolution, which many TV don't handle well or at all. Just asked if there is some new mod that I didn't stumble upon, which could make the picture as good as my imagined setup with much less hassle in favor of spending time soldering...

Sell everything buy Retrotink 5x when released. Will likely have top notch deinterlacing for ps2.

Kind of a bold statement. "Will likely have..." is not very credible fact. I was thinking about waiting for OSSC Pro, because I tried normal OSSC on one retro event a year or two back. I'm willing scraping all of this, but I don't know when it will arrive. I still see Retrotink as a inferior way to upscale video. Just connect it all together and play. For some this is awesome, but I like to tinker with my stuff to get the last pixel as perfect as it can get...
With OSSC Pro I have at least this information "The pro is still quite some way off, we're hoping for a launch later in the year but with Covid etc you never know." and diagrams, features etc... Pro version can bring a lot to the game, because normal OSSC has already a lot to offer. Including 5x.
Do you have any fact for the deinterlacing? That's the only thing that made me little interested in it... Otherwise it will 5x picture whic OSSC can do and deinterlacing (bob) is not bad, but my DVDO will do the job quite well. Not to mention OSSC Pro could bring better deinterlacing with all the configuration and flexibility.
Thanks

[Kez]

You bought the DVDOs for their deinterlacing. If you use processing of the OSSC ahead of the DVDO (except for transcoding), then you're missing out on the DVDs deinterlacing...

Scart or component into the OSSC doesn't make a difference. You should let the OSSC upscale 240p content, but let 480i pass through to the DVDO for deinterlacing.

Internal HDMI mods are first of all easy to use. Using a good scart of component cable into an OSSC is VERY VERY close, so I wouldn't worry about that.

To be honest - I didn't
I though that FMCB would deinterlace it, but apparently the GSM settings are less useful than they appear to be.

Well it does make a difference. If I'm going to to go Component, then I need YPbPr set on my PS2 and that makes PS1 games go ape-sh*t. I need RGB video format and that is found in SCART or composite as a example. Composite has video on one cable, so it has poor quality, then SCART is best quality and compatibility.
And what about PS2 games? Line-scale them like 4x or 5x and pass through DVDO for deinterlacing?

I don't have much skills with soldering, so I asked about HDMI mod out of curiosity if it is somehow way superior than this whole setup. But it is true that it would be interlaced and I believe that very HDMI mod will keep original (480i) resolution and my TV sucks with upscaling. Not to mention my monitor which would be my primary display for this setup...it's setup is basically non-existent.

strayan is talking about Retrotink 5x. I saw this line of products as a inferior upscalers that are just plug'n'play for those that don't want to mess with some setup and settings.
OSSC < Retrotink 5x < OSSC Pro ?

Thank you.

Fudoh was saying SCART vs Component doesn't make a difference in terms of picture quality. A good quality SCART will produce the same image as good quality component. I don't think YPbPr creates any issue with PS1 games.
PS2 is one of OSSC's weakspots because it's mostly 480i, but the Edge has good deinterlacing. So hook up your PS2 to the OSSC via SCART or Component, then OSSC to DVDO. When you are playing any 240p game (most PS1 games, a few PS2 games), let the OSSC do the scaling, 4x/5x or whatever. When you are playing a 480i game (most PS2 games), set the OSSC to passthrough and let the DVDO do the scaling/deinterlacing.

There are a lot of solutions on the horizon, though. The Retrotink statement is not bold, the RT5x is an upcoming product which is much more feature-rich than the current RT2x line, and bits of information are popping up suggesting it will have good deinterlacing and a bunch of other features to compete with or beat the OSSC. It's difficult to say when the OSSC Pro will come out, and more difficult still to know how long it will take to get really good deinterlacing (but I think it will happen eventually). The OSSC Pro is gonna cost at least twice as much as the regular OSSC though. A PS2 HDMI mod will honestly have to have good deinterlacing to be worthwhile, but that I think is a long way off. Those guys seem to have a lot of projects on the go currently. It might be worth waiting at least for a while. The DVDO Edge takes component anyway, so 480i PS2 games will look pretty good running straight through that.

[tomini]

Fudoh was saying SCART vs Component doesn't make a difference in terms of picture quality. A good quality SCART will produce the same image as good quality component. I don't think YPbPr creates any issue with PS1 games.
PS2 is one of OSSC's weakspots because it's mostly 480i, but the Edge has good deinterlacing. So hook up your PS2 to the OSSC via SCART or Component, then OSSC to DVDO. When you are playing any 240p game (most PS1 games, a few PS2 games), let the OSSC do the scaling, 4x/5x or whatever. When you are playing a 480i game (most PS2 games), set the OSSC to passthrough and let the DVDO do the scaling/deinterlacing.

There are a lot of solutions on the horizon, though. The Retrotink statement is not bold, the RT5x is an upcoming product which is much more feature-rich than the current RT2x line, and bits of information are popping up suggesting it will have good deinterlacing and a bunch of other features to compete with or beat the OSSC. It's difficult to say when the OSSC Pro will come out, and more difficult still to know how long it will take to get really good deinterlacing (but I think it will happen eventually). The OSSC Pro is gonna cost at least twice as much as the regular OSSC though. A PS2 HDMI mod will honestly have to have good deinterlacing to be worthwhile, but that I think is a long way off. Those guys seem to have a lot of projects on the go currently. It might be worth waiting at least for a while. The DVDO Edge takes component anyway, so 480i PS2 games will look pretty good running straight through that.

Did I say somewhere that either of the produce better picture? I don't think so...oh, yeah. Well I meant by "better" if it has some upsides in terms of compatibility or features unlocked in OSSC for particular cable only. Because by my knowledge Component is inferior because of the PS1 titles. And yes, PS1 games can't produce YPbPr through component properly. I had to play with GSM configuration and that is not very user-friendly when I want to pop a game in and play.

Wait... OSSC as a passthrough only? Why not line double it? It's 480i, but 960i would look better, then deinterlaced with DVDO, or not? It's a waste of money then. I want OSSC for PS2 and PS2 games. I will play only few PS1 titles. I saw My Life in Gaming and other channels how they praised OSSC as a best scaler for PS2 and DVDO as his sidekick.

Double the price? Now I want to pickup just the basic OSSC... If the price will be double, then I could just go for Framemeister if the Pro won't have any cool new features or advance deinterlacing. Considering that some OSSC were faulty and they perfected it more in the 1.6 revision...I'd hate to be early adopter just to beta test Pro for such a price tag...

[Kez]

Did I say somewhere that either of the produce better picture? I don't think so...oh, yeah. Well I meant by "better" if it has some upsides in terms of compatibility or features unlocked in OSSC for particular cable only. Because by my knowledge Component is inferior because of the PS1 titles. And yes, PS1 games can't produce YPbPr through component properly. I had to play with GSM configuration and that is not very user-friendly when I want to pop a game in and play.

This does not apply to OSSC. It's not an issue with the component output but rather modern devices not liking 240p via component. OSSC will play PS1 games fine via component or scart, the thing that matters is getting a high quality cable. The main difference between RGB/YPbPr for PS2 is that when in 480p mode, the RGBS signal changes to RGsB which many SCART devices don't accept (but again the OSSC is fine with).

Wait... OSSC as a passthrough only? Why not line double it? It's 480i, but 960i would look better, then deinterlaced with DVDO, or not? It's a waste of money then. I want OSSC for PS2 and PS2 games. I will play only few PS1 titles. I saw My Life in Gaming and other channels how they praised OSSC as a best scaler for PS2 and DVDO as his sidekick.

To my knowledge, OSSC does not do 480i->960i. It does Line3x 1440i.. but I don't think the DVDO will accept this. Also, for 3D graphics the use of linedoubling vs interpolation is debatable.. so 480i scaled by DVDO would look better to many than using line doubling. Some people want to see sharp pixellated jaggies, but I think for PS2 games the softening effect of other scaling methods is quite pleasant.

If the price will be double, then I could just go for Framemeister if the Pro won't have any cool new features or advance deinterlacing.

Yes, the OSSC Pro is going to be significantly more expensive than the OSSC. It has far superior hardware and a lot more functionality. It will definitely have cool features and deinterlacing, and it is likely to receive continuous improvements and updates throughout its life. However the Framemeister sets a very high bar, and whether the OSSC Pro will beat it in deinterlacing from day 1 remains to be seen. If PS2 is your main priority, you can do a lot worse than Framemeister.. but the Framemeister will likely never get any better than it is now, whereas the OSSC Pro will continue to improve (and the OSSC already beats the FM pretty much everywhere except deinterlacing).

[tomini]

This does not apply to OSSC. It's not an issue with the component output but rather modern devices not liking 240p via component. OSSC will play PS1 games fine via component or scart, the thing that matters is getting a high quality cable. The main difference between RGB/YPbPr for PS2 is that when in 480p mode, the RGBS signal changes to RGsB which many SCART devices don't accept (but again the OSSC is fine with).

Oh yeah, I'm stupid! I got the answer and I forgot about it. Yeah, TVs take component as the higher res so they will not care about 240p signal. However I remember MLiG talking about it...might have misunderstood it.

To my knowledge, OSSC does not do 480i->960i. It does Line3x 1440i.. but I don't think the DVDO will accept this. Also, for 3D graphics the use of linedoubling vs interpolation is debatable.. so 480i scaled by DVDO would look better to many than using line doubling. Some people want to see sharp pixellated jaggies, but I think for PS2 games the softening effect of other scaling methods is quite pleasant.

I can safely say that OSSC can produce 960i... Well this is kind of unexpected. I was just going to buy normal OSSC, but...uuuh. It's complicating and I don't like that. How can a more than 10 year old device produce better image than new device made just for this usage?

Yes, the OSSC Pro is going to be significantly more expensive than the OSSC. It has far superior hardware and a lot more functionality. It will definitely have cool features and deinterlacing, and it is likely to receive continuous improvements and updates throughout its life. However the Framemeister sets a very high bar, and whether the OSSC Pro will beat it in deinterlacing from day 1 remains to be seen. If PS2 is your main priority, you can do a lot worse than Framemeister.. but the Framemeister will likely never get any better than it is now, whereas the OSSC Pro will continue to improve (and the OSSC already beats the FM pretty much everywhere except deinterlacing).

So should I buy OSSC (there will be a tax jump after this order window)? Wait for OSSC Pro? Or don't buy anything for PS2? Because as you put it...DVDO is only thing I need basically. Which is stunning, cuz I watched hours of guide/tips videos on this topic and OSSC was the answer if you don't want/have access to Framemeister...and DVDO was either forgot or some put it as a useful tool. This was said for playing PS2 games on PS2 via modern TVs and monitors...now you are saying that OSSC will be only a passthrough. Then why not just have the component plugged into the DVDO itself and nothing else?

Thanks a lot <3

[Kez]

I can safely say that OSSC can produce 960i... Well this is kind of unexpected. I was just going to buy normal OSSC, but...uuuh. It's complicating and I don't like that. How can a more than 10 year old device produce better image than new device made just for this usage?

It is complicated unfortunately! Ultimately OSSC is a just-for-gaming, a budget, hobbyist device produced on a small(ish) scale.. and at a basic level it is an ADC and line multiplier.. it works super well for 240p gaming (which covers a large spectrum), but line multiplication also has some limitations. I believe there are some specific properties of interlaced signals which make 480i->960i impossible for the OSSC, while tripling to 1440i it is still possible.

The DVDO Edge was a far more expensive device ($800), produced on a larger scale by a large company. Although it is not a gaming device, it was made in a transitionary period when SD and interlaced signals were important to more people than now, so we will never really get the resources put into our niche hobby that DVDO were putting into their scalers back then.

So should I buy OSSC (there will be a tax jump after this order window)? Wait for OSSC Pro? Or don't buy anything for PS2? Because as you put it...DVDO is only thing I need basically. Which is stunning, cuz I watched hours of guide/tips videos on this topic and OSSC was the answer if you don't want/have access to Framemeister...and DVDO was either forgot or some put it as a useful tool. This was said for playing PS2 games on PS2 via modern TVs and monitors...now you are saying that OSSC will be only a passthrough. Then why not just have the component plugged into the DVDO itself and nothing else?

If your use case is only PS2, the DVDO will do the job I think. PS1 games should also work via component on the DVDO Edge (which has okay 240p processing if I recall), but the OSSC is far superior at dealing with those.

I am fairly confident the OSSC Pro will eventually be as good or better, but I don't know how long that will take!

[Guspaz]

The RetroTINK 5X has a few major benefits when it comes to handling interlaced content. That is, it features a motion-adaptive deinterlacer, and it supports optional buffered operation to preserve display sync during 240p/480i resolution switches. The OSSC Pro will also feature an optional framebuffer, but Marqs doesn't appear to have decided what to do about the deinterlacer yet. Just a few days ago he discussed trying Intel's deinterlacer but finding that while the quality was good, it used too many FPGA resources. So the initial firmware for the OSSC Pro may just feature the same bob deinterlacing as the original OSSC.

There has been some demonstration footage posted of the RT5X doing various things with interlaced content. Here is some, though it's generally been horribly mangled by Twitter overcompressing the video.

Here's it handling Chrono Cross scaling 240p/480i to 1080p with no signal dropouts: https://twitter.com/Voultar/status/1366899178819977226

Here's it handling deinterlacing of a 480i game with horizontal movement: https://twitter.com/Voultar/status/1366866833530314753

And here's handling two tough cases at once via VHS playback with fast-forwarding (so both sync and interlacing stress testing): https://twitter.com/retrotink2/status/1 ... 1500687368

[orange808]

So, what's the Retrotink using? All of Chi's designs have used off the shelf parts up to this point. Given the anticipated low price point, it can't be a custom FPGA. Is that Qualcomm and STM rebranded HQV deinterlacing they purchased and baked into their ARM IP? I'm pretty sure the Silicon Optix IP was split in two (with some redundancies) and it ended up with Qualcomm and STM.

[orange808]

On second thought, I think STM bought the Faroudja IP and baked that into their ARM STM IP. That could be quite good. I'm almost sure STM bought Faroudja's IP.

[Guspaz]

The RT5X uses an Altera Cyclone IV FPGA. I believe the OSSC Pro is using a Cyclone V. I have no idea what the RT5X's pricepoint is, my guess is that it'll be notably cheaper than the OSSC Pro, but that's just speculation.

[kitty666cats]

Ah, that’s interesting! I was browsing through old pics on my phone yesterday and happened upon pics of the innards of my old TVone C2-1100 (“Corio2” as most call them, I think that’s kinda funny since that’s the name of the technology but it is far more memorable than calling them C2’s) unit and saw it had a Cyclone II in it. Funny seeing this newer Cyclone mentioned literally 1 day after.

[tomini]

I can safely say that OSSC can produce 960i... Well this is kind of unexpected. I was just going to buy normal OSSC, but...uuuh. It's complicating and I don't like that. How can a more than 10 year old device produce better image than new device made just for this usage?

It is complicated unfortunately! Ultimately OSSC is a just-for-gaming, a budget, hobbyist device produced on a small(ish) scale.. and at a basic level it is an ADC and line multiplier.. it works super well for 240p gaming (which covers a large spectrum), but line multiplication also has some limitations. I believe there are some specific properties of interlaced signals which make 480i->960i impossible for the OSSC, while tripling to 1440i it is still possible.

The DVDO Edge was a far more expensive device ($800), produced on a larger scale by a large company. Although it is not a gaming device, it was made in a transitionary period when SD and interlaced signals were important to more people than now, so we will never really get the resources put into our niche hobby that DVDO were putting into their scalers back then.

So should I buy OSSC (there will be a tax jump after this order window)? Wait for OSSC Pro? Or don't buy anything for PS2? Because as you put it...DVDO is only thing I need basically. Which is stunning, cuz I watched hours of guide/tips videos on this topic and OSSC was the answer if you don't want/have access to Framemeister...and DVDO was either forgot or some put it as a useful tool. This was said for playing PS2 games on PS2 via modern TVs and monitors...now you are saying that OSSC will be only a passthrough. Then why not just have the component plugged into the DVDO itself and nothing else?

If your use case is only PS2, the DVDO will do the job I think. PS1 games should also work via component on the DVDO Edge (which has okay 240p processing if I recall), but the OSSC is far superior at dealing with those.

I am fairly confident the OSSC Pro will eventually be as good or better, but I don't know how long that will take!

So wait for OSSC Pro and compare specs - if it is worth it... Or get the RetroTink 5x.

Do you use DVDO (or someone else perhaps)? Because I connected the two RCA audio ports, set HDMI video/audio to output audio as well from "Stereo", but there is no sound transmitted through the HDMI to my monitor which should carry the audio through AUX cable I have connected to it.
Am I missing something or is this a known bug? I'm on the latest firmware version.

The RetroTINK 5X has a few major benefits when it comes to handling interlaced content. That is, it features a motion-adaptive deinterlacer, and it supports optional buffered operation to preserve display sync during 240p/480i resolution switches. The OSSC Pro will also feature an optional framebuffer, but Marqs doesn't appear to have decided what to do about the deinterlacer yet. Just a few days ago he discussed trying Intel's deinterlacer but finding that while the quality was good, it used too many FPGA resources. So the initial firmware for the OSSC Pro may just feature the same bob deinterlacing as the original OSSC.

What would you lean towards? Wait for OSSC Pro and keeping DVDO for now or getting OSSC now with DVDO as deinterlacer or wait for RetroTink 5x? I know that this is a bit of speculation, because specs and more importantly the feature sets of these upcoming products are unknown...but I really don't know. I just got an opinion that OSSC isn't worth it for PS2 titles...which undermines my whole planned setup.
Perhaps if you'd know if DVDO can handle 960i or resolutions like 1440i...? Or the audio issue I'm having?

Thank you all <3

[tomini]

Perhaps if you'd know if DVDO can handle 960i or resolutions like 1440i...?

The HDMI ports on the DVDO Edge are version 1.3, so they can carry 1440p @60Hz, so 1440i wouldn't be a problem. And I could test it with running my PC at 1440i through the DVDO. NVidia settings allow to make custom resolution.

[Guspaz]

The RetroTINK 5X has a few major benefits when it comes to handling interlaced content. That is, it features a motion-adaptive deinterlacer, and it supports optional buffered operation to preserve display sync during 240p/480i resolution switches. The OSSC Pro will also feature an optional framebuffer, but Marqs doesn't appear to have decided what to do about the deinterlacer yet. Just a few days ago he discussed trying Intel's deinterlacer but finding that while the quality was good, it used too many FPGA resources. So the initial firmware for the OSSC Pro may just feature the same bob deinterlacing as the original OSSC.

What would you lean towards? Wait for OSSC Pro and keeping DVDO for now or getting OSSC now with DVDO as deinterlacer or wait for RetroTink 5x? I know that this is a bit of speculation, because specs and more importantly the feature sets of these upcoming products are unknown...but I really don't know. I just got an opinion that OSSC isn't worth it for PS2 titles...which undermines my whole planned setup.
Perhaps if you'd know if DVDO can handle 960i or resolutions like 1440i...? Or the audio issue I'm having?

Thank you all <3

I'm biased because I'm an official RetroTINK distributor, though I have zero insider knowledge about the RT5X. I plan to switch from my current OSSC to the RT5X, because as far as I can tell, the RT5X has got everything that's missing (for me) from the OSSC. Good deinterlacing, no sync drop, auto-phase, 1440p output, etc. The OSSC Pro is going to be more flexible/configurable, but my experience with the OSSC has shown me that I value something that "just works" at 95% more than something that "can be made to work" at 100%. I also like that the RT5X will have built-in composite and s-video (on top of SCART/YPbPr), which the OSSC Pro will not. I don't currently have any consoles that require me to use composite or s-video, but I'd like to have the flexibility (also makes testing slightly easier).

Personally, I wouldn't buy a regular OSSC today. It's not going away, so if you wait a while, you'll be able to see the price and reviews of the OSSC, OSSC Pro, RT2X, and RT5X, and decide which one is the best fit for you.

[tomini]

I'm biased because I'm an official RetroTINK distributor, though I have zero insider knowledge about the RT5X. I plan to switch from my current OSSC to the RT5X, because as far as I can tell, the RT5X has got everything that's missing (for me) from the OSSC. Good deinterlacing, no sync drop, auto-phase, 1440p output, etc. The OSSC Pro is going to be more flexible/configurable, but my experience with the OSSC has shown me that I value something that "just works" at 95% more than something that "can be made to work" at 100%. I also like that the RT5X will have built-in composite and s-video (on top of SCART/YPbPr), which the OSSC Pro will not. I don't currently have any consoles that require me to use composite or s-video, but I'd like to have the flexibility (also makes testing slightly easier).

Personally, I wouldn't buy a regular OSSC today. It's not going away, so if you wait a while, you'll be able to see the price and reviews of the OSSC, OSSC Pro, RT2X, and RT5X, and decide which one is the best fit for you.

Thank you for this. You have a point about the "just works"/"can be made to work"...
The issue is that like GPUs and CPUs, you can wait forever. There will always be something better on the way. If this is like ~6 months ahead...I could wait. At least the DVDO works. Just the RCA audio not passing through HDMI sucks a big one...

[ldeveraux]

I'm biased because I'm an official RetroTINK distributor, though I have zero insider knowledge about the RT5X. I plan to switch from my current OSSC to the RT5X, because as far as I can tell, the RT5X has got everything that's missing (for me) from the OSSC. Good deinterlacing, no sync drop, auto-phase, 1440p output, etc. The OSSC Pro is going to be more flexible/configurable, but my experience with the OSSC has shown me that I value something that "just works" at 95% more than something that "can be made to work" at 100%. I also like that the RT5X will have built-in composite and s-video (on top of SCART/YPbPr), which the OSSC Pro will not. I don't currently have any consoles that require me to use composite or s-video, but I'd like to have the flexibility (also makes testing slightly easier).

Personally, I wouldn't buy a regular OSSC today. It's not going away, so if you wait a while, you'll be able to see the price and reviews of the OSSC, OSSC Pro, RT2X, and RT5X, and decide which one is the best fit for you.

Thank you for this. You have a point about the "just works"/"can be made to work"...
The issue is that like GPUs and CPUs, you can wait forever. There will always be something better on the way. If this is like ~6 months ahead...I could wait. At least the DVDO works. Just the RCA audio not passing through HDMI sucks a big one...

The OSSC does "just work" for 95% percent of the people using it. I hate fiddling with settings to get the best picture, and I didn't really have to do that with the OSSC. Sure there are quirks; the remote is weird, the settings don't seem to save properly (for me at least), but once through the settings and it looks perfect. They seem to be out of stock at VGP (I don't trust other foreign sellers), but if you can find one with the remote and overlay, then it really is pretty simple to use. It's essentially sold now for about 1/2 the price I bought it for 3 years ago, and who knows when the OSSC Pro or RT5X will be released. If you want great looking video sooner than later, go for it!

[orange808]

The problem is the combined cost of two DVDOs and an OSSC is going to be a significant amount of money. You'll probably have buyer's remorse (regrets) by the end of the year.

I underestimated the RT5X. I wasn't planning on bothering with it before, but now it's very interesting. After I heard the community that follows the YouTube influencers saying the Gonbes has really good deinterlacing (it really isn't special), you can understand my skepticism. Can't wait to try a Cyclone RT5X design. That sounds cool.

[Guspaz]

I meant the percentage as sort of, what you can get out of it. The OSSC "just works" with most of my consoles (though a few still cause issues), but it does so in generic sampling mode. Pixel-perfect sampling has proven impossible for me to get right. As much as the OSSC "just works" there is always some settings you can tweak to get it just that much better.

So what I'm trying to say is that I value the device that gives me the best results in "just works" mode, not the device that gives me the best results in "can be made to work" mode. The RT5X has auto-phase, which would seem to make pixel-perfect sampling into a "just works" feature, or perhaps one with minor effort (it seems you need to select the console from a list for it to auto-calibrate against the expected timing). Even if the classic OSSC still has certain flexibilities that the RT5X won't, even if the classic OSSC could potentially produce some better output than the RT5X if you dove deep into the tweaking, I'd rather have the RT5X.

Now as for the OSSC Pro, since it will in theory have even more capable hardware than the RT5X (at least in terms of the FPGA), I'm sure that you can tweak that thing to get it even farther than the RT5X. But it won't have composite/s-video, I don't recall hearing it will have auto-phase, the deinterlacing is still uncertain, and it will probably cost a bunch more. So this is what drove my decision on which one I'll be getting. Before the RT5X was announced, I had planned to buy an OSSC Pro.

[ldeveraux]

I meant the percentage as sort of, what you can get out of it. The OSSC "just works" with most of my consoles (though a few still cause issues), but it does so in generic sampling mode. Pixel-perfect sampling has proven impossible for me to get right. As much as the OSSC "just works" there is always some settings you can tweak to get it just that much better.

So what I'm trying to say is that I value the device that gives me the best results in "just works" mode, not the device that gives me the best results in "can be made to work" mode. The RT5X has auto-phase, which would seem to make pixel-perfect sampling into a "just works" feature, or perhaps one with minor effort (it seems you need to select the console from a list for it to auto-calibrate against the expected timing). Even if the classic OSSC still has certain flexibilities that the RT5X won't, even if the classic OSSC could potentially produce some better output than the RT5X if you dove deep into the tweaking, I'd rather have the RT5X.

Now as for the OSSC Pro, since it will in theory have even more capable hardware than the RT5X (at least in terms of the FPGA), I'm sure that you can tweak that thing to get it even farther than the RT5X. But it won't have composite/s-video, I don't recall hearing it will have auto-phase, the deinterlacing is still uncertain, and it will probably cost a bunch more. So this is what drove my decision on which one I'll be getting. Before the RT5X was announced, I had planned to buy an OSSC Pro.

I hear you. I just wish we had more concrete release info for the RT5X and Pro. I'm not asking for that info, I know it bugs most developers. Who knows when they might actually be released though, and then whether they will live up to the hype. That's a big question mark on the former, and complicating things further, probably a "hell yes" on the latter.

[maxtherabbit]

The problem is the combined cost of two DVDOs and an OSSC is going to be a significant amount of money. You'll probably have buyer's remorse (regrets) by the end of the year.

I underestimated the RT5X. I wasn't planning on bothering with it before, but now it's very interesting. After I heard the community that follows the YouTube influencers saying the Gonbes has really good deinterlacing (it really isn't special), you can understand my skepticism. Can't wait to try a Cyclone RT5X design. That sounds cool.

Maybe I've just never seen real "good" deinterlacing. I wasn't really into DVDs so I missed out on that whole era of video processing. The motion adaptive deinterlacing in GBS-control is better than any TV's built in deinterlacer I have seen. I have nothing else to compare it to really

[Lawfer]

So wait for OSSC Pro and compare specs - if it is worth it... Or get the RetroTink 5x.

Hard to say, none of them are out yet, the RetroTink 5x has no HDMI input which can be a deal breaker in 2021, and from the looks of it the OSSC has some weird "ghosting-like" issue going on which I noticed while playing PSP games and Guspaz mentioned noticing that as well a little while ago, dunno if that will be fixed in the OSSC Pro or not.

[Kez]

Do you use DVDO (or someone else perhaps)? Because I connected the two RCA audio ports, set HDMI video/audio to output audio as well from "Stereo", but there is no sound transmitted through the HDMI to my monitor which should carry the audio through AUX cable I have connected to it.
Am I missing something or is this a known bug? I'm on the latest firmware version.

What would you lean towards? Wait for OSSC Pro and keeping DVDO for now or getting OSSC now with DVDO as deinterlacer or wait for RetroTink 5x? I know that this is a bit of speculation, because specs and more importantly the feature sets of these upcoming products are unknown...but I really don't know. I just got an opinion that OSSC isn't worth it for PS2 titles...which undermines my whole planned setup.
Perhaps if you'd know if DVDO can handle 960i or resolutions like 1440i...? Or the audio issue I'm having?

I have a DVDO Edge Green, which is very similar to the Edge. I tested my PS2 on it and had no issues with audio. Stereo input and HDMI video output. I remember a while back I lost sound from the Edge altogether because I had HDMI-CIC (Anynet) enabled on my TV, so maybe check that out.

Can confirm that 1440i from the OSSC does not work, and as previously mentioned there is no 960i.

[tomini]

I have a DVDO Edge Green, which is very similar to the Edge. I tested my PS2 on it and had no issues with audio. Stereo input and HDMI video output. I remember a while back I lost sound from the Edge altogether because I had HDMI-CIC (Anynet) enabled on my TV, so maybe check that out.

Can confirm that 1440i from the OSSC does not work, and as previously mentioned there is no 960i.

I'm using gaming monitor, so there is no Anynet. And PS3 audio over HDMI works normally.

Really? No 960i? Then how to upscale PS2?
Thank you.