Unified BigBox console: Native 224p–720p HDMI to scalers

[mugen808]

Hi guys, happy to join the community!

I have been trying a lot of things these past months, from physical consoles to Batocera, CRT Script, CRT Emudriver, RetroPie, and even Lakka… And I finally gave up on finding the “perfect” solution for a unified emulation setup that could:

- Boot directly to a gamepad interface
- Run everything from 80's arcade cabinet to Switch games
- Output true native resolutions (224p to 720p) over HDMI

And feed those into a scaler like RetroTink 4K with no keyboard required, ever.
So I built it myself...

The result is a Windows 10-based emulation console, mostly articulated around BigBox, REWASD for controller standardization, and CRU + Res-O-Matic to output native resolutions per game.

Everything runs via HDMI → RetroTink 4K → 1080p CRT-style upscaling (I am using a 1080p monitor but it could be 4K with the right display), using CRT shaders from the RT. And of course a rotative VESA stand for vertical arcade!

Once decided to build this, it took me a whole month setting up, making custom scripting etc., but I documented every step and wanted to share it here: Full documentation on GitHub

Key Points:
- Native 224p–720p output over HDMI (no upscaling from the PC)
- Works with modern scalers (tested on RetroTink 4K)
- Gamepad-only from boot to shutdown
- Can launch pretty much any ststem, arcade, console, Steam, etc. available
- Per-game resolution control (via CRU + Res-O-Matic + LaunchBox scripting)
- Hotkey-based quitting (Home + Start) with custom AHK scripts for stubborn emulators
- Even handles popups, Steam overlays, and controller order issues

Though built for scalers, this setup should also work with HDMI-to-analog converters too, for feeding CRTs with proper 240p/480p timings.
And for anyone trying to build a scaler-powered hybrid system like myself, it might save you a lot of time and pain.

I built it for myself, but if anyone else is walking the same path — I hope this helps. Cheers!

[Josh128]

Thanks. Looks like you put a lot of effort into this. An interesting part to me is that you are getting native 240p out of an RX 580? I thought CRTemudriver with HD 5000 GPU era was required for this type of thing? I wasnt aware that a standard Adrenalin driver + RX580 was capable of it. Are resolutions auto-configured per MAME game, etc?

If a simple HDMI>VGA or Component transcoder will get you 240p 15KHz out to the tele, this is pretty cool. There are tons of RX 580 4GB and 8 GB GPUs out there for dirt cheap and they are very capable GPUs. Played through Doom 2016 on a 4GB version at 1080p and didnt miss a beat.

[spmbx]

Why use an expensive scaler like retrotink when you're already using a pc platform that has its own abilities for upscaling, shaders etc?

[mugen808]

@Josh128
Thanks for the encouragement! Yes, the RX 580 can output native 240p using CRU + Adrenalin 22.5.1 (the last signed driver supporting low dotclocks), which avoids CRT Emudriver’s unsigned drivers and Vulkan issues.

HDMI can be transcoded to VGA or SCART if needed, but this setup purpose is handling 224p to 720p on one machine (from arcade to Steam) all at native res, optimized for scalers. It’s built for a full-range, gamepad-only experience, without switching systems.

If you're only targeting 240p–480p, easier options like MiSTer or Batocera + CRT Script are available, but they’re locked to 15/31kHz analog, so no 720p/1080p support.

Regarding MAME: the guide shows how to set per-system or per-game specific resolutions, taking, ST-V at 224p as example, using a custom MAME/ini/stvbios.ini with:
resolution 2560x224@60
switchres 1
…which works because CRU has already defined that 224p mode.


@spmbx
Good point! I already had the RetroTink 4K on hand, so that’s why I used it. As for a scaler, the difference is huge, native 224p–480p upscaled by RT4K looks night and day better than Windows or Batocera internal scaling for 8–32-bit games.
The scaler’s output quality was key for me! Any compatible scaler would work, though. It doesn't have to be an RT4K

[Bassa-Bassa]

So it's using mainline Mame and not Groovymame?

If you're only targeting 240p–480p, easier options like MiSTer or Batocera + CRT Script are available, but they’re locked to 15kHz analog

Are you really suggesting Mister or Batocera over Windows with CRT Emu Driver (and/or Groovy Mister) for that?

As for a scaler, the difference is huge, native 224p–480p upscaled by RT4K looks night and day better than Windows or Batocera internal scaling for 8–32-bit games.

That's quite a claim. So shaders on RT4k are better than anything you can find for Windows, disregarding (possible) added latency? (Honest question, never used a RT4k.)


Anyway, congrats on finishing the project!

[mugen808]

Hi @Bassa-Bassa,
Thanks for your message!

MAME:
Yes, I’m using regular MAME. Haven’t tried GroovyMAME since the standard version already gives me perfect resolutions with CRU and CRT SwitchRes. But I am insterested. If GroovyMAME offers something extra, I’d love to know about it!

MiSTer/Batocera vs. CRT Emudriver/GroovyMAME:
Sorry if my message was confusing. I was actually not comparing Batocera vs CRT Emudriver.
I only meant that any system based on Batocera/ MiSter/ CRT Emu etc. will be easier to set than my BigBox-CRU setup. And the BB only advantage over them is to provide both 224p and HD capabilities.
So I suggest to avoid it if you only want 15/31Khz and prefer existing alternatives.

Scaler vs. Windows/Batocera:
I make no claim, it’s the experience I had! (And I don’t work for RetroTink )

Testing my Super Famicom, Mega Drive, PS1/2 on a 24" display with the RT4K blew me away. Native upscaling was so sharp and crisp and scanlines so perfect…
Pre-upscaling to 720p or 1080p on Windows/Batocera gave me stretched pixels (without shaders or integer scaling) / sharpness loss (with shaders) / Authenticity issues such as too many scanlines (a sprite’s face that had 3 scanlines in native 240p might end up with 5 at 720p output)

That’s just what I observed at home and I was convinced enough of the scaler superiority over the upscaled output from a PC that I decided to build and set the project discussed here.


Photos attached (DQ6, Secret of Mana on SNES). Camera sucks, but they hint at the real deal!

[spmbx]

Ok, good to know and good info! I noticed the wording of my question could seem a bit negative, it was an honest question so thanks for the explanaition

[SGGG2]

Windows scaling works just fine, at least in Retroarch, sharp bilinear or interger look as good as any stand alone scaler. Way more shader options with ReShade and whatnot. Nothing wrong with using a PC for a more consolized approach, though.