XRGB-mini Framemeister

[Artemio]

Here is a picture showing the scanlines problem in 720p:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/ ... C00507.jpg

As you can see some are a bit thicker than others. It's really strange, but this happened when I upscaled my XRGB-3 in B1 mode to 720p or 1080p on the Gefen too. It only happens on light colors like these. Otherwise it looks perfectly fine. When I set the Mini to 480p output it looks fine.

EDIT: The game is Soleil (Crusader of Centy/Ragnacenty) on the MegaDrive. Very early in the game.

As I mentioned above I believe this to be the result of 720p being scaled to 1080p, which is 1.5 times 720p. Since there is not an exact doubling factor, scaling is uneven.

[Konsolkongen]

As I mentioned above I believe this to be the result of 720p being scaled to 1080p, which is 1.5 times 720p. Since there is not an exact doubling factor, scaling is uneven.

You're right. If I let the Edge upscale the 720p picture to 1080p the problem is gone.

So yeah, it's just the shitty scaler in my TV Nevermind I'm sure Micomsoft will fix the scanlines and scaling in 1080p soon

[Artemio]

So yeah, it's just the shitty scaler in my TV Nevermind I'm sure Micomsoft will fix the scanlines and scaling in 1080p soon

Have you tried 1080p with Smart x 2 yet? As mentioned above (in an edit, so maybe you didn't read it) in such case you don't need to change the V_WIDTH for Neo Geo.

[Konsolkongen]

Smart x2 works well, but the screen is just a little too small for my taste

[Artemio]

Indeed.. but scaling is perfect 4x per pixel =)

[Fudoh]

Also Smart x2 doesn't preserve the original AR. The screen is usual too wide.

All in all no excuse, as the Marvell in the Mini perfectly supports scaling to even the weirdest resolutions. There's no reason to limit nice looking scanlines to 720p or Smartx2 in 1080p, it's just a matter of getting the firmware right.

[Konsolkongen]

Indeed. Scanlines looked perfect upscaled from 480p to 1080p using the Gefen scaler.

[-SD-]

Quick question: Going by this diagram, what do I do with Pin 5, Scart Blanking? I know the diagram says it's unused, but I'm just wanting to double check it doesn't require 3v or anything going to it.

Ta very much

[RGB32E]

Quick question: Going by this diagram, what do I do with Pin 5, Scart Blanking? I know the diagram says it's unused, but I'm just wanting to double check it doesn't require 3v or anything going to it.

Ta very much

I posted that diagram. Pin 5 is still unused. It was specified when I requested the pinout from Micomsoft support, but has no use that I'm aware of. I've made a variety of cables to connect systems to the 8MDIN connector directly instead of having to use an adapter. They should've used that pin for VSYNC instead...

The first pinout Micomsoft sent me was actually incorrect!

Semi-OT. Famitakun on twitter mentioned that he's designing circuits and layouts... sounds like they're developing the XRGB-4! Marvell + ultra fast FPGA! D:

[Shining]

For those interested i recieved the new Euro SCART to XRGB Mini 8 pin adapter which takes its power from the power supply, and i now get both audio and video using my RGB modded Duo-RX! Happy times! The strange thing is, if i use 720p or above i get constant drop outs. Using 480P works pretty damn well with only minor sync issues. Maybe it is a cable issue. I'm just happy i got it working though

Feels like i'm talking to myself here . Should have figured, plugging in a separate power supply to the adapter solved all of above problems. Seems the power supply feeding my Mini was not enough for both.


Thinking about getting into Saturn gaming again. Any special model(NTSC-J) i should be looking for when using a Mini?
I might be going for this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-SEGA-SATURN ... 2a1d17540e
+
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sega-Saturn-RGB ... 2ebf825db4

Will that cable work correctly with a NTSC-J Saturn and the Euro SCART to XRGB Mini 8 pin adapter?
I see that the system is 220v(for the Asian market i guess), will it run japanese games at 60hz?

[BuckoA51]

Good to hear you got your PC Engine sorted, not talking to yourself just I had no suggestions for stopping the blanking other than using the sync booster cable that you already had.

Yeah the white Saturn will work just fine and will run NTSC/Japan titles. With an action replay it'll run NTSC/US titles too. Mine even runs PAL stuff perfectly fine (it's got a multiregion mod for this) though there aren't really any PAL exclusives I can think of that you'd want to bother with.

I use a white Saturn like that with a retro-console-accessories raw sync SCART, though I don't believe raw sync is necessary for the mini (doesn't hurt though).

[Shining]

Oh, i wasn't criticising you guys. Just thought it looked kinda funny qouting myself.

Great to hear! There's only one thing preventing me from getting a Saturn again, and that is i don't have a TATEable TV anymore. As i have a rather large display i dont mind playing shmups with black borders on each side as long as the picture dont get cropped or compressed, loosing a bit of the image. If i remember correctly, some shmups on Saturn do get cropped at top/bottom when not playing in TATE mode. Is that true or is my memory failing me?

[Konsolkongen]

I think that's a Psikyo-thing. I think you can select that in Strikers and Gunbird. Some games like Layer Section will be optimised for YOKO mode, while most others (like DoDonpachi) will look awful when not in TATE mode

I personally hate the Action Replay cartridge. It prevents the use of a proper memory card, but the need for one of those depends on your Saturn collection. I would suggest getting it modified to play all regions instead. This can be done now by replacing the BIOS, so it all happens automatically. No need for switches* and whatnot.

*The BIOS can't switch between 50 and 60Hz so that will require a switch of some sort. Can also be modified so you hold the Reset button to switch between the refresh rates.
Most EU games will run in 60Hz fine and without problems. There are some that won't, and very few that won't and are exclusive to the PAL region at the same time. Most noticeably I can think of Deep Fear (available in EU/JAP only) and Discworld 1 and 2. If these games aren't for you then I wouldn't really bother with a 50Hz mod

Deep Fear is a nice Resident Evil clone, but the EU version is getting pretty expensive. The JAP version has the English voices so you should be able to play that just fine.

This here is a very nice list of EU games having problems when played in 60Hz:
http://www.reocities.com/timessquare/ca ... itles.html

[BuckoA51]

As long as you don't forget to manually copy your save games the Action Replay card is fine

[Konsolkongen]

I have too many titles for the Saturn for that Besides there are a few games that can't save on the internal memory because they require too much space. Most noticeably (because this is Shmups-forum) Dezaemon 2, the Shmup creation software. Without a proper memory card you can't save your project.

[BuckoA51]

think the setup would get too convoluted with three scalers

Haha I really did write that back on page 12.

Anyway, if there are no objections I'm going to get stuck in and try and document as much of this on the Wiki as I can. I realise I'm not the most knowledgeable person here but I do enjoy writing so please correct any mistakes I make.

[Hamburglar]

I am going to end up having like 6 SCART based systems hooked up to my XRGB Mini. How do you guys recommend I do this? Hopefully in an inexpensive way!

[BuckoA51]

Shinybow do a 6 way SCART switch, not cheap but good quality and problem free according to reports.

[BuckoA51]

I notice on the Wiki that the sub-pages for the individual console settings are not consistently named, for instance we have "Sega Genesis" and then "Xbox 360" and "NES". (rather than "Microsoft Xbox 360 for instance) I want to get editing some of these so should they be changed before a great deal of content is added?

[Artemio]

I notice on the Wiki that the sub-pages for the individual console settings are not consistently named, for instance we have "Sega Genesis" and then "Xbox 360" and "NES". (rather than "Microsoft Xbox 360 for instance) I want to get editing some of these so should they be changed before a great deal of content is added?

Sure, you can change them anytime anyway. Of there is any inconsistency I will work on fixing it (broken links, etc)

[Hamburglar]

Shinybow do a 6 way SCART switch, not cheap but good quality and problem free according to reports.

Thanks. I'd love to buy this but am in the USA. If anyone knows any way I can accomplish this, it would be greatly appreciated.

[philexile]

Hi,

Shinybow USA will import it for you. Just call them up. Here is there contact page: http://www.shinybowusa.com/shop/contact_us.php

I have a 4-port and a 6-port SCART matrix for different setups and both work great. You do need to mod it for R/L audio out, but that's pretty easy.

Good luck!

[ZellSF]

Micomsoft knows about the bugs listed on the XRGB wiki right?

I'm really hoping 576i to 240p resolution changes will be fixed eventually.

[BuckoA51]

Have you come across this yourself then? I encountered it on the Amiga quite frequently, but it's always good to have someone else confirm or deny the existence of a bug like that.

[ZellSF]

My PS2 does it all the time. PAL bios to NTSC PSX games. I basically have to change sources to something else and back on the Framemeister every time I want to play a PSX game. Gets really annoying.

[BuckoA51]

Ah right, well at least your PS2 will boot NTSC PS1 games, mine forces everything PS1 to PAL for some unknown reason

[Konsolkongen]

What kind of bootchip does your PS2 have?

[BuckoA51]

An O2mod.

[Konsolkongen]

Not sure what that is But a modchip like the modbo 760 will play NTSC games in 60Hz.

[papa_november]

I decided to drag out my C128 to do some tests with the Mini, the results were outstanding!

This is great, because the C128 and C64 looked like ASS on the XRGB-3. It looked so bad that a friend of mine swore his XRGB was broken when he first saw it - he just couldn't believe it.

Hard mode: try an NTSC Atari XL/XE that has had a PAL ANTIC swap and puts out NTSC-50 as a result. My XRGB-2+ just barely manages to put out something acceptable, and i absolutely had to use S-Video to get a picture at all. Most modern TVs throw a temper tantrum over the signal and some will refuse to even display it. Even multisystem monitors can't make up their mind when they see the signal and show it in black and white.