XRGB-mini Framemeister

[BuckoA51]

This is one thing that bugs me about the FM, that mode changing thing. I hope it gets sorted in 1.08 ?

It's unlikely to ever get sorted, it might get slightly better but I think a fix is pretty much impossible.

[Rymdkakor]

The best audio solution for the SNES is the SPDIF mod. I have my SPDIF SNES 1CHIP-01 connected to a DacMagic 100 and the noise floor is virtually non-existent! Meaning, if I turn my preamp to ear splitting levels there is no noise or hum, regardless of on screen content.

Is there a way to fix the noise, maybe not completely but as much as possible, and still have it feeding both audio and video through the multi out? I'd like to have as few cables as possible and with the power supply, rgb-scart, euroscart to mini din adapter, framemeister, power supply for the frame meister and finally the hdmi-cable I have more than I'd like already xD

[Fudoh]

Audio on the multi-out isn't bad in general. The Mini's A/D audio converter is bad though. If your TV has an analogue audio input associated with the HDMI input you're using, it might make sense to bypass the Mini for audio.

[RGB32E]

Audio on the multi-out isn't bad in general. The Mini's A/D audio converter is bad though. If your TV has an analogue audio input associated with the HDMI input you're using, it might make sense to bypass the Mini for audio.

Ha! It's pointless to mention running audio through the mini degrades sound quality. Convience trumps quality for most users.

When I used to use S-Video on my CRT TV I took an official GameCube S-Video cable and turned it into a short breakout adapter so that better cables could be used.

[Fudoh]

It's pointless to mention running audio through the mini degrades sound quality. Convience trumps quality for most users

I know, I don't even bother myself. Reducing the volume level on the Mini (to about 12-15) and increasing the TV volume instead helps as well. Usually to a degree, where the buzzing doesn't matter during games anymore.

[synth79]

I noticed a slight shhhh sound when I first powered up the Frame Meister. It's always there and never goes away. It's not good to hear that and I did wonder if I got a lemon. But now it doesn't bug me because the machine performs so well at doing the rest of what it's supposed to do.

Do you guys XRGB Mini sound like this too?

Least it's not tinnitus

[Chacranajxy]

I'm finally looking to upgrade from my XRGB-3, which has served me pretty well these last 4 years or so. I haven't had a chance to read through the 119 pages of this thread, so I apologize in advance for asking something that's probably been answered, but:

How does the Framemeister, with the current firmware, perform with the PS2, GC, and Xbox? I've got component cables for all of 'em, and I'm primarily concerned with 480i and 480p content. The XRGB-3 was great for 240p games, but exhibited so much noise with anything that was 480i or above that I didn't bother with it for anything but the older systems because it actually looked worse.

And how much input lag can I expect this to introduce if I upscale to 1080p? Fudoh's page suggested the thing is damn quick, but I'm not sure if that's still the case when I'm upscaling.

[ekek2009]

@ekek2009: but don't forget that you need a matching adapter cable. The Extron box combines the H/V sync signals into C-Sync, but you still need to get the signal into the Mini, so you need a BNC to MiniDin8 for a direct connect or a BNC to Scart/JP21 cable to use with your existing adapter cable. You might also want to get audio in there.

Got ya, I'm going to use a BNC/Scart cable and wire in female audio leads to plugin sound.

[Smashbro29]

I'm finally looking to upgrade from my XRGB-3, which has served me pretty well these last 4 years or so. I haven't had a chance to read through the 119 pages of this thread, so I apologize in advance for asking something that's probably been answered, but:

How does the Framemeister, with the current firmware, perform with the PS2, GC, and Xbox? I've got component cables for all of 'em, and I'm primarily concerned with 480i and 480p content. The XRGB-3 was great for 240p games, but exhibited so much noise with anything that was 480i or above that I didn't bother with it for anything but the older systems because it actually looked worse.

And how much input lag can I expect this to introduce if I upscale to 1080p? Fudoh's page suggested the thing is damn quick, but I'm not sure if that's still the case when I'm upscaling.

It handles Xbox and Wii nicely. I found myself insanely annoyed while playing Mega Man X8. I'd miss the beginning of cutscenes because they'd run at 480i but the game was running at 480p. The time it takes the mini to switch between the 2 really makes a difference in those games.

[Chacranajxy]

I'm finally looking to upgrade from my XRGB-3, which has served me pretty well these last 4 years or so. I haven't had a chance to read through the 119 pages of this thread, so I apologize in advance for asking something that's probably been answered, but:

How does the Framemeister, with the current firmware, perform with the PS2, GC, and Xbox? I've got component cables for all of 'em, and I'm primarily concerned with 480i and 480p content. The XRGB-3 was great for 240p games, but exhibited so much noise with anything that was 480i or above that I didn't bother with it for anything but the older systems because it actually looked worse.

And how much input lag can I expect this to introduce if I upscale to 1080p? Fudoh's page suggested the thing is damn quick, but I'm not sure if that's still the case when I'm upscaling.

It handles Xbox and Wii nicely. I found myself insanely annoyed while playing Mega Man X8. I'd miss the beginning of cutscenes because they'd run at 480i but the game was running at 480p. The time it takes the mini to switch between the 2 really makes a difference in those games.

That does sound really annoying... does it do that regardless of what cables you're connecting with? And I assume it'll cut off the beginning of PS1 games running on a PS2 as well...

I'd like to avoid any bullshit like that, especially since (to the best of my knowledge), the XRGB-3 didn't have that issue.

[Smashbro29]

That does sound really annoying... does it do that regardless of what cables you're connecting with? And I assume it'll cut off the beginning of PS1 games running on a PS2 as well...

I'd like to avoid any bullshit like that, especially since (to the best of my knowledge), the XRGB-3 didn't have that issue.

I always miss the first few seconds of it being on (for example I was playing DK64 and missed the "OKAY" at the beginning.) and whenever it switches resolutions mid game.

I find most games are consistent in that you're gonna miss the fist 2-5 seconds from the time the mini gets a signal until you start getting a picture or if it switches resolutions at all.

I don't know if they can fix that but it does sort of make Mega Man X8 hard to enjoy (only game I've tried so far that switches resolutions).

[Chacranajxy]

That does sound really annoying... does it do that regardless of what cables you're connecting with? And I assume it'll cut off the beginning of PS1 games running on a PS2 as well...

I'd like to avoid any bullshit like that, especially since (to the best of my knowledge), the XRGB-3 didn't have that issue.

I always miss the first few seconds of it being on (for example I was playing DK64 and missed the "OKAY" at the beginning.) and whenever it switches resolutions mid game.

I find most games are consistent in that you're gonna miss the fist 2-5 seconds from the time the mini gets a signal until you start getting a picture or if it switches resolutions at all.

I don't know if they can fix that but it does sort of make Mega Man X8 hard to enjoy (only game I've tried so far that switches resolutions).

That honestly might be a dealbreaker for me.

I had an audio processor that would always cut out the first few seconds of an audio signal, and that drove me fucking crazy. I wanted to smash it, but cooler heads prevailed and I sold it. Point is, now I'm overly sensitive to that kinda thing.

[synth79]

Do any SNES or Genesis games have the hdmi signal handshaking whateveryouwannacallit problem? anyone noticed it going off when hooked up to them? or is it just newer consoles like ps2, n64, etc

how about turbo gfx 16/pc engine?

[BuckoA51]

I'd like to avoid any bullshit like that, especially since (to the best of my knowledge), the XRGB-3 didn't have that issue.

It does have the same issue, at least when connected to anything HDMI, though it's not as slow as the Mini

Do any SNES or Genesis games have the hdmi signal handshaking whateveryouwannacallit problem?

One of the Sonic games on the Genesis does, Sonic and Knuckles maybe?

I had an audio processor that would always cut out the first few seconds of an audio signal, and that drove me fucking crazy.

Pretty much every amp/processor I've ever encountered does that with TOSLINK if you feed it LPCM. More like half a second than a few seconds but very annoying.

I noticed a slight shhhh sound when I first powered up the Frame Meister.

From the unit itself or from the audio it outputs?

[synth79]

Ahh I should be able to test that then because the Genesis I bought is coming with all Sonics bar Sonic 3. So I should be able to see which sonic changes modes. (if it happens in level 1 to 3 or so) (not a huge sonic fan really)


The shhhh sound comes through the TV, so audio output of Mini. It's not loud i'm just emphasising it so you know what I mean. It's exactly the same sound as used to come from my Toshiba 32" Widescreen CRT TV's rear speakers. Not a huge deal.

[BuckoA51]

Happens on the splash screens that say "such and such stage 1".

[synth79]

Happens on the splash screens that say "such and such stage 1".

oh a huge blow for sonic fans and micomsoft fans alike. That's quite a bummer actually. Does the XRGB 3 exhibit this problem too?

[BuckoA51]

To a degree, but doesn't black out for as long. I don't use audio on my mini so can't comment if mine does that or not.

[synth79]

Thankfully the Frame Meister worked flawlessly with quite a lot of SNES games for me the other night. I never noticed any problems with:

F-Zero, Mario Kart, Mario World, Aladdin, Prince of Persia, Street Fighter 2 (all variants tested apart from alpha), World Heroes 2, Mortal Kombat 1, Ultimate MK, Kirby Superstar. Ranma 1/2, Ghouls n Ghosts, Zelda ancient stone tablets, Arabian Nights, Super Double Dragon, Gourmet Chef, Parodius (tested most of them), Earth Defense Force, Contra 3, Super Turrican, Super Turrican 2, and Nosferatu. (ALL of these games listed, NTSC versions)

So comfort can be had from the vast majority of games that run amazingly well.

edit: actually though, here's a thought... does this problem exist via S-Video too? i'm guessing it does since N64 is a problem with Resident Evil 2... hmm.... Anyway I am S-Video only at the moment. Though it's easy to forget looking at the pics I took the other night.

In case anybody missed them here they are again:

http://s1285.photobucket.com/user/synth ... t=2&page=1

[BuckoA51]

Any game that changes between 240p and 480i (or 288p and 576i) during gameplay will have the problem, regardless of what cable you use.

[lettuce]

Any game that changes between 240p and 480i (or 288p and 576i) during gameplay will have the problem, regardless of what cable you use.

Any chance on this being improved upon in a FW update?

[BuckoA51]

Unlikely (as previously discussed).

[Zapf]

How do shitty scalers in tvs and standalone devices deal with it? Couldn't they have a compatibility mode where they just process everything as if it were 480i and you just deal with whatever artifacts that creates?

[BuckoA51]

They blank the screen too as far as I am aware. It'd be better to process the signal as 240p all the time I would imagine?

[Thomago]

Couldn't they have a compatibility mode where they just process everything as if it were 480i and you just deal with whatever artifacts that creates?

A feature like this in the Mini would be great.

[RGB32E]

Tested out a sync combiner adapter for the mini with VGA output from the Dreamcast. I've built the same circuit and tested with the XRGB-3, but not the mini. Looks good to me and will be making more of these soon!



On a side note I noticed that the music on JGR for the DC sounds far superior to the XBLA HD re-release. I'd imagine the XBLA audio has heavier compression?

[Fudoh]

I've built the same circuit and tested with the XRGB-3, but not the mini.

what's it good for on the XRGB-3 ? I mean, you can just set the input on the 3 to RGBHV without the need for sync combiner circuit, can't you ?

[rCadeGaming]

What circuit did you use to combine sync?

[RGB32E]

I've built the same circuit and tested with the XRGB-3, but not the mini.

what's it good for on the XRGB-3 ? I mean, you can just set the input on the 3 to RGBHV without the need for sync combiner circuit, can't you ?

Correct. I only used the XRGB-3 for testing purposes. I was testing a VGA (RGBHV) to SCART cable. The only SCART input I had at the time was a SCARTF to HD15M adapter I had build for testing cables.

[darcagn]

Which circuit did you build? This is the one for which I ordered parts. Should be coming in any day now.

Component list
C1 22 uF 10V electrolytic
C2 22 uF 10V electrolytic
R1 2.2 kohm
R2 2.2 kohm
U1 74LS86 or 74HCT86