PixelFX Morph

[Konsolkongen]

I should clarify and say that the jitter is an OSSC issue, it’s not caused by the Morph.

I don’t know if OSSCs with perfectly stable images in generic mode exists, but it has always been that way on mine. When using optimal sampling the image is rock solid.

[tongshadow]

The Morph price has been dropped to $275 due to a reduction in BOM costs. That’s pretty insane

https://www.pixelfx.co/product-page/Mor ... ming-Media

Furthermore, for those of us that bought one prior to the price reduction, the analog bridge add-on will be offered at a much reduced price at just $25.

I bought one last month and have been happy with it, using it with HDMI consoles and my OSSC classic.
There is still some areas where the RT4K is superior, but hopefully the Morph will catch up.

$275 is amazing as it undercuts every other nextgen retroscaler. And it seems HDR10 works properly now, so with the right setup it should produce a similar picture to that of the Tink4K, and for almost a third of the price.

[Konsolkongen]

$275 is amazing as it undercuts every other nextgen retroscaler. And it seems HDR10 works properly now, so with the right setup it should produce a similar picture to that of the Tink4K, and for almost a third of the price.

Indeed. The Tink definitely has it beat in features right now, but I couldn't justify the price difference. I also think the PFX team has been very open to feedback on Discord, and they are quick to release new updates with various bug fixes and new features

[fernan1234]

Indeed. The Tink definitely has it beat in features right now, but I couldn't justify the price difference. I also think the PFX team has been very open to feedback on Discord, and they are quick to release new updates with various bug fixes and new features

With the cost of the bridge for analog inputs it will be $375, which is still a great price. Problem is, analog video is hard. Really need to wait and see for it to be released and widely tested before really knowing to what extent it's a great price for the value.

[Konsolkongen]

I think setting the OSSC to generic and 5x (1600x1200), and then using these settings on the Morph produce a really nice result with almost no pixel shimmer on my OSSC

[tongshadow]

I think setting the OSSC to generic and 5x (1600x1200), and then using these settings on the Morph produce a really nice result with almost no pixel shimmer on my OSSC

Looks good, but using the original resolution would allow you to take advantage of masks, which can look great on the 4k canvas.

[BuckoA51]

You can still use masks, just use the pre scale function on the Morph with the 5x input.

[Serif]

Am considering purchasing this scaler to use with the Switch (and other consoles), was curious how it handles 5.1 surround.
I have to plug my Switch into my soundbar to get proper LPCM 5.1 surround. Would an HDMI splitter be required so I can pass through sound to the soundbar and 1080p video to the Morph, or is passthrough sufficient? Thank you.

[BuckoA51]

You can pass through surround sound just fine. There was a bug on the release FW that stopped Dolby Digital pass through but this was quickly fixed.

[spmbx]

The website says the analog Bridge will be available q3, which ends in a week and no sign of it. There is also no way to order a morph with an analog bridge. Is it still coming?

[TooBeaucoup]

The website says the analog Bridge will be available q3, which ends in a week and no sign of it. There is also no way to order a morph with an analog bridge. Is it still coming?

It's still coming but with no solid date. People have asked many times in the Discord and the answer is always "Hopefully soon". I've been seeing that answer for the last 3 months.

[tongshadow]

You can pass through surround sound just fine. There was a bug on the release FW that stopped Dolby Digital pass through but this was quickly fixed.

Hey bucko, will the restock include the new shell colors? Any ETA?

[BuckoA51]

Yeah, shells should be on the way to me now, with a restock of Morph base units not too far behind that.

[tongshadow]

Yeah, shells should be on the way to me now, with a restock of Morph base units not too far behind that.

Hi, I see you've restocked. Have the colored shells arrived yet?

[spmbx]

Yeah, shells should be on the way to me now, with a restock of Morph base units not too far behind that.

Hi, I see you've restocked. Have the colored shells arrived yet?

They are on the site I think ? Or are there newer versions out?
https://videogameperfection.com/products/morph4k-case/

[tongshadow]

Yeah, shells should be on the way to me now, with a restock of Morph base units not too far behind that.

Hi, I see you've restocked. Have the colored shells arrived yet?

They are on the site I think ? Or are there newer versions out?
https://videogameperfection.com/products/morph4k-case/

Yes, but I wanted to buy an already assembled color case.

[Alf]

I'm considering buying a 4K scaler to run Mister on a 4K OLED so I don't care for analog inputs or 480i deinterlacing.

It's really hard to find unbiased reports when comparing to the Retrotink 4K and especially hard to find more recent reports on things that are potentially fixed with firmware updates. Seems like most of the debate is around 5-7 months old at best.

So maybe you guys can help me with the following:

- Does the Morph have problems with HDR?
- Is the lack of auto crop function problematic?
- How good are video filters compared to Retrotink?
- What was that about Morph overheating?
- How good is the BFI feature compared to Retrotink in regards to lag and flicker?
- Are there any specific problems on Morph when connecting a Mister?
- Any other important difference regarding the Retrotink that I might miss?

Any answers are super helpful

[ZellSF]

I can't answer your question, but you are aware of the third option that is the RetroTink4K CE? It's 475$, making its price point a nice middle ground between the Morph and the RetroTink4K.

On the "are you aware" page you said you don't care about 480i deinterlacing because it's for MiSTer only, but a few (very few) N64, PSX and Saturn titles do output interlaced and the MiSTer only does bob or weave which isn't good. The Morph probably is able to handle that (don't have one, can't say for sure) though.

It's again ridiculously few titles though, but once you mention a issue like that suddenly everyone wants to play Chrono Cross and Resident Evil 2.

[Alf]

Yes, the CE seems like something I would actually consider but the difference in price is still there.

Well I only mentioned 480i because deinterlacing is one of the key topics that get brought up when comparing Tink and Morph. It's not like the Morph is bad at it, it's just that the Tink is better.
However, I don't think this justifies the price difference, at least not for my use case.

[Konsolkongen]

I'm considering buying a 4K scaler to run Mister on a 4K OLED so I don't care for analog inputs or 480i deinterlacing.

It's really hard to find unbiased reports when comparing to the Retrotink 4K and especially hard to find more recent reports on things that are potentially fixed with firmware updates. Seems like most of the debate is around 5-7 months old at best.

So maybe you guys can help me with the following:

- Does the Morph have problems with HDR?
- Is the lack of auto crop function problematic?
- How good are video filters compared to Retrotink?
- What was that about Morph overheating?
- How good is the BFI feature compared to Retrotink in regards to lag and flicker?
- Are there any specific problems on Morph when connecting a Mister?
- Any other important difference regarding the Retrotink that I might miss?

Any answers are super helpful

I can answer some of these as I own a Morph.

- Does the Morph have problems with HDR?
No issues with HDR10 output. A substantial rework of the HDR features were made a while ago now. It looks great now.

- Is the lack of auto crop function problematic?
Not for me, but the feature would be nice. This has been discussed in their discord and I think it is a planned feature.

- What was that about Morph overheating?
This was a nothingburger. No one was able to replicate that persons findings. You can add a fan if you want to, but it is not necessary, especially with the new case that has increased vent holes.

- How good is the BFI feature compared to Retrotink in regards to lag and flicker?
Not sure how it compares to the RT as I don't own one. I would say that it is very comparable to BFI on an LG C1 if you've ever experienced that. The main difference is that BFI on the C1 added about 24ms lag if I recall correctly. The Morph adds about 2ms in totalt in 1440p120 with BFI, compared to 2160p60 on my LG C2 OLED.

- Are there any specific problems on Morph when connecting a Mister?
I can't answer this as I don't own a Mister, but many in the discord do, and I get the impression that they are really happy with the combination.

- Any other important difference regarding the Retrotink that I might miss?
Not sure if this is possible on the RT4K, but Morph just recently got auto profile switching based on GameID/source. It works incredibly well for a system like the PS2 where you might want to use all kinds of weird GSM settings for each game.

As for the RT4K CE vs Morph, it is my understanding that the Morph is much more powerful. Rotation for instance is not possible on CE (according to the RT website), this is a much requested feature in the Morph discord and I believe some work has been done to make it possible, so hopefully that will happen.

There is no denying that the RT4K (regular) is the best scaler out there, but it is also very, very expensive. I think the Morphs FPGA doesn't have as many LE as the regular RT4K but it has higher bandwidth which may be beneficial in some cases. I don't think the gap is very large between the two, and for the price it was a no-brainer for me. The Morph has some catching up to do, but I'm sure it will get there.

The PixelFX discord is a super friendly and accepting community. It would be worth it to join to ask any further questions you may have. There is no RT hate, and some users even own both devices, so they can give unbiased opinions.

[orange808]

Has the game id feature been implemented without needing to install a separate Retro Gem modification inside the console? As far as I know, that feature requires that you have a Retro Gem hardware modification soldered inside modded consoles.

Almost certain to remain a PixelFX exclusive feature, as the Retro Gem modifications and the PixelFX are both from the same developers. Of course, you will have install one of the mods in each individual supported console to use the feature.

I don't have any Retro Gem modded consoles, so I can't give any feedback on the value.

[Konsolkongen]

Yes you do need some kind of HDMI mod on consoles for it to work. Currently I think only Retro GEMs support it.

As far as I know Mister also sends information about the core it is running. I don’t think there’s any reason why it wouldn’t be able to send gameID as well, but you should be able to save auto presets per core as is.

Dustin from MakeMHz showed some proof of concept of his Xbox HD+ transmitting GameID to the Morph. That has not yet been implemented on Stellar/HD+.

[orange808]

Yes you do need some kind of HDMI mod on consoles for it to work. Currently I think only Retro GEMs support it.

That's correct.

As far as I know Mister also sends information about the core it is running. I don’t think there’s any reason why it wouldn’t be able to send gameID as well, but you should be able to save auto presets per core as is.

Yes. Both machines support this.

IIRC, MiSTer AV1 exposes the "left", "top", and aspect ratio of the signal for each core to the video scaler. "Left" is the effective end of horizontal blanking at the beginning of a scanout. "Top" is the end of vblanking after a frame vsync.

[BuckoA51]

Has the game id feature been implemented without needing to install a separate Retro Gem modification inside the console?

I'd add that the GameID stuff is open source, anyone can add it to their mods. It's not limited to functioning by sending HDMI packets either, and can be implemented over networking.

Of course a lot of HDMI mods simply lack the hardware to actually determine what game is running on them, I asked Markus about this recently for the CPS/Neo Geo HDMI mod and it doesn't look like it can be done there, for instance, without extra hardware, though it could be added as functionality to the flashcarts etc.

[BuckoA51]

Swiss just added GameID support on Gamecube over IP (requires BBA or networking solution, obviously):- https://github.com/emukidid/swiss-gc/pull/968

[tongshadow]

Finally got mine, and so far impressions are mostly positive. While 2160p scaling is nice for better CRT masks from 240p sources, I think this scaler really benefits 480p and 720p content.

240p

I also own PixelFX's Retrogem product line, and while CRT masks look great on them, they're capped at 1440p output, so there's less freedom to create them. With the Morph's 2160p output, and a 16x16 grid to create them, more convincing CRT masks can made. All pictures are taken from a LG C2 42".
This one is my personal favorite, it's used in 8x mode (1920p) and utilizes a 16x16 grid:

https://i.imgur.com/gRRSEVP.jpeg

Here's how it's made on Mister's SM Editor tool:
https://bool.space/mister/ShadowMaskEditor.htm



480p

Due to the 2160p output, 480p sources can be multiplied by a factor of 4. With this it's possible to create masks that emulate the look of a low resolution fixed pixel display, and the resulting picture looks just as sharp as a native 480p display.
I'll leave it to the pixel peepers to guess which one is the 480p Plasma and the Morph on the C2

https://i.imgur.com/Ck8WllY.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/WSpsflG.jpeg

720p

By far my favorite usage, sharp upscaling of HD/Full HD sources! We all know how blurry those sources look when upscaled by modern TVs, and the Morph is capable of solving this problem. By using a 3x3 grid that "cuts off" excessive pixels, pixelation can be effectively eliminated, resulting in a sharp picture that is very similar to a native 720p/768p display. All pictures are taken from an Xbox 360 outputting 720p.

Direct connection:
https://i.imgur.com/YMRSZxT.jpeg
Morph 3x scaling:
https://i.imgur.com/nkMZd3p.jpeg
Morph 3x scaling+grid mask:
https://i.imgur.com/pSt8hyh.jpeg


The Morph 4k isnt perfect, I experienced some annoying bugs (that dont ruin the experience), so I feel like the product is going to awhile to fully mature. However, it's a fantastic 4k scaler at the ~$250 price point.

[Fed]

Great job @tongshadow !
Been using your mask quite a bit since you shared it on the Morph discord and it is really enjoyable, thanks !

[fernan1234]

I feel like 480p actually looks better on a fixed pixel display at the same resolution than on a CRT (unless you're playing something with a lot of motion). I keep forgetting this is a good use case for 4k scalers.

[Das Muel]

I did a little review of the analog bridge (in HDR) if anyone's interested.
https://youtu.be/JQ1kM48xHf4?si=_BmXUdQZzUO0jJPh

[Konsolkongen]

I am really happy with the Analog Bridge too. Looks great!