XRGB-mini Framemeister

[Guspaz]

The chart of revenues for the entire industry demonstrates conclusively that the crash wasn't just a story. Example:

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/vgs ... 0429034414

Revenue of consumer sales basically disappeared in 1985. The Commodore 64 sold half as many units as the 2600, most of those sales were outside the US (nearly a fifth of all C64s sold were in Germany alone, for example), and not all Commodore 64s were used for gaming. It was popular as a computer, but relative to the 2600 that preceded it or the NES that followed it, not as a gaming platform.

Games didn't die. We were playing Commodore 64's. The casuals got flushed. Game design grew and RPG's appeared--creating a market for home exclusive software with deeper gameplay.

Of course a device for hardcore gamers didn't sell like the 2600. Of course floppy disks and networking invited piracy--we weren't buying every game.

Fewer dollars didn't mean gaming stopped. The popular narrative is a lie written by people like Seanbaby. I think he was five or six in 1983. He couldn't read, copy games, or scheme ways to dial in for wares. Just NES kiddies making up sh*t. The younger "NES generation" gamers fell into a console donut hole between 1983 and 1986. Sucks for them.

I've never even heard of "seanbaby"... The videogame crash was an obvious crash both while it was happening and immediately after. Many companies went out of business, many people lost their jobs, many stores refused to sell videogames, industry revenue tanked. If you call the industry revenue crashing to a single-digit percentage point "the casuals got flushed", well, that's still a market crash. It was all over the news back then. This was all super public and has been exhaustively documented, it's like you're spouting jet fuel/steel beam level conspiracy nonsense.

[pyrotek85]

From what I read people at the time legitimately believed that video games were simply a fad that was passing by. I'm too young to know details firsthand though.

[orange808]

The chart of revenues for the entire industry demonstrates conclusively that the crash wasn't just a story. Example:

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/vgs ... 0429034414

Revenue of consumer sales basically disappeared in 1985. The Commodore 64 sold half as many units as the 2600, most of those sales were outside the US (nearly a fifth of all C64s sold were in Germany alone, for example), and not all Commodore 64s were used for gaming. It was popular as a computer, but relative to the 2600 that preceded it or the NES that followed it, not as a gaming platform.

Games didn't die. We were playing Commodore 64's. The casuals got flushed. Game design grew and RPG's appeared--creating a market for home exclusive software with deeper gameplay.

Of course a device for hardcore gamers didn't sell like the 2600. Of course floppy disks and networking invited piracy--we weren't buying every game.

Fewer dollars didn't mean gaming stopped. The popular narrative is a lie written by people like Seanbaby. I think he was five or six in 1983. He couldn't read, copy games, or scheme ways to dial in for wares. Just NES kiddies making up sh*t. The younger "NES generation" gamers fell into a console donut hole between 1983 and 1986. Sucks for them.

I've never even heard of "seanbaby"... The videogame crash was an obvious crash both while it was happening and immediately after. Many companies went out of business, many people lost their jobs, many stores refused to sell videogames, industry revenue tanked. If you call the industry revenue crashing to a single-digit percentage point "the casuals got flushed", well, that's still a market crash. It was all over the news back then. This was all super public and has been exhaustively documented, it's like you're spouting jet fuel/steel beam level conspiracy nonsense.

Most gamers are casuals. 2600, NES, and Wii all have that in common.

I already explained what killed the consoles. Mommie an Daddy held the purse strings and the 5200/ColecoVision sucked. You said some conspiracy about shovelware, but the truth is the 2600 was ancient and the console companies didn't have what consumers wanted. This created the console donut hole I referenced.

Would you spend a bunch of money to buy a new console and repurchase all your games to get slightly better versions? Is that a thing? Would you spend that money to buy slightly better versions of games that you won't ever play? Just to make little Joey smile?

Regardless, the birth of RPG's and the rise of Electronic Arts, Accolade, Data East, Broderbund, and Bethesta is hardly the sign of a dead gaming atmosphere.

Who went out of business? Little software houses? Seems like it opened up the market for creative games to emerge.

Mattel didn't go out of business; they just decided the gold rush was over. Atari's awful management kept making terrible decisions; Atari died because of poor management. Coleco dropped everything to sell Cabbage Patch Kids.

Odyssey got sued off the face of the earth. Vectrex was doomed from the beginning. They don't count.

I was happy as a clam. Games weren't dead.

[bodine1231]

I'm having trouble getting my PC Engine to work on both my XRGB and PVM.

Firstly,I purchased this item off of eBay for the (white japanese PC Engine).
http://www.ebay.com/itm/152319901979?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

The listing stated that it would work with Genesis 2 RGB so I purchased this (I needed a cable for my Genesis 2 anyways)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/201309414919?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

On the XRGB it gives me a blue screen or a no signal
On the PVM I get this



Ok, I figure I have the wrong Genesis 2 cables for this PC Engine (they work fine on the Genesis 2). So I try component,same thing on the XRGB (blue screen/no signal) and same on PVM (as pictured).
Now I figure maybe its the AV board I ordered,I hooked up a composite video cable and I get a picture on both the PVM on XRGB (shown below), so the board works.




I'm assuming I have the wrong Genesis 2 cable for this AV Board,can someone link me to the right one?

[brentsg]

I already explained what killed the consoles. Mommie an Daddy held the purse strings and the 5200/ColecoVision sucked.

Damn, I wouldn't agree that the ColecoVision sucked.. I thought it was amazing. It seemed like magic after playing the 2600, and the fact you could simply plug in an adapter and keep playing that pile of 2600 games made it ever better.

The 5200 era was better enjoyed as an Atari 400/800/etc without the horrible controller. I think the CV and 5200 era had the unfortunate circumstance of following the horrible glut of 2600 shitware that was all over the shelves. Never has a console had so much useless crap released for it. I remember enjoying the crash by picking up piles of 2600 games in sale bins at places like JC Penny's.. pennies on the dollar.

[masqdgamer]

I've never even heard of "seanbaby"...

He wrote really lame comedy bits for EGM about 15yrs ago, assuming we're talking about the same guy

[enigmaxtreme]

Does anyone else have an issue using the HDMI Direct option, if I turn it on, my capture devices refuse to show the picture!

[Ripthorn]

I'm having trouble getting my PC Engine to work on both my XRGB and PVM.

Firstly,I purchased this item off of eBay for the (white japanese PC Engine).
http://www.ebay.com/itm/152319901979?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

The listing stated that it would work with Genesis 2 RGB so I purchased this (I needed a cable for my Genesis 2 anyways)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/201309414919?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

On the XRGB it gives me a blue screen or a no signal
On the PVM I get this



Ok, I figure I have the wrong Genesis 2 cables for this PC Engine (they work fine on the Genesis 2). So I try component,same thing on the XRGB (blue screen/no signal) and same on PVM (as pictured).
Now I figure maybe its the AV board I ordered,I hooked up a composite video cable and I get a picture on both the PVM on XRGB (shown below), so the board works.




I'm assuming I have the wrong Genesis 2 cable for this AV Board,can someone link me to the right one?

It seems that the person who made this adapter forgot to boost the csync.
Your best option would be to buy a cable with composite video as sync.

[Ripthorn]

I just converted my adapter from jp21 to euro scart.
I got image and audio, but with some funny colors.
image upload no compression

Is this crosstalk or my mini is broken?

Do you guys remember this?
Since the wiring of my scart to mini din 8 was right, but with framemeister showing strange colors, the logical conclusion would be a problem in the RGB input.

Framemeister open and voilà:

Spoiler

free upload pictures

Yeah, I know, scorched rgb input
Fortunately, it was repaired.

Spoiler

upload png

Before anyone asks, no, I did not use SCART on JP21 adapter or vice versa.
The guy who repaired my mini said that usually happens when a lightning strikes the electrical grid, but it's been a long time since the last one fell here.

Since I use this adapter, my theory is that an electrical surge has hit my electrical grid, part of the surge that went through the power input was filtered, but the part that went through the RGB input did not, since it normally should not receive power directly from the power supply.

It's worth noticing that I have other devices plugged in the same outlet (receiver, 60 inch Plasma, Xbox One S, etc) and only the Framemeister had this problem.
The same guy who fixed my mini said this could be avoided if the electrical installation of my old apartment had ground.

[Blair]

oh jeez Ripthorn, that's crazy! I'm glad you got it fixed. (who did you take it to? just a normal local electronics repair guy?)

makes me kind of nervous about my own area, (not very well grounded).

[TheShadowRunner]

oh jeez Ripthorn, that's crazy! I'm glad you got it fixed. (who did you take it to? just a normal local electronics repair guy?)

makes me kind of nervous about my own area, (not very well grounded). :shock:

That's so crazy it doesn't make sense to me.
1. The power surge only burning the RGB input without damaging anything else on the way, let alone the power input, is so odd.
2. You just happened to be using an externaly powered scart to xrgb mini adapter, which is a million times more likely to be the culprit when it comes to burning RGB inputs (some short circuit in the cable, a bad connection, wrong polarity input..).
Just saying :o

[Ripthorn]

oh jeez Ripthorn, that's crazy! I'm glad you got it fixed. (who did you take it to? just a normal local electronics repair guy?)

makes me kind of nervous about my own area, (not very well grounded).

I sent it to a person specialized in repairing old electronics.
You will probably be fine if you use a scart to mini din converter powered by USB or without a sync stripper.

oh jeez Ripthorn, that's crazy! I'm glad you got it fixed. (who did you take it to? just a normal local electronics repair guy?)

makes me kind of nervous about my own area, (not very well grounded).

That's so crazy it doesn't make sense to me.
1. The power surge only burning the RGB input without damaging anything else on the way, let alone the power input, is so odd.
2. You just happened to be using an externaly powered scart to xrgb mini adapter, which is a million times more likely to be the culprit when it comes to burning RGB inputs (some short circuit in the cable, a bad connection, wrong polarity input..).
Just saying

Well, I forgot to mention, it burned the LM1881 on scart converter too.

Could be this too, but the same guy who fixed my framemeister verified all my scart cables and my two scart to mini din 8 converters and everything is fine, except the burned LM1881.

[Everblue]

Not sure anyone noticed here, but it seems Micomsoft are going to stop making the Framemeister, with the latest production run to happen in February 2017 (they are blaming a chip which is becoming hard to find and is required to make a Framemeister). Micomsoft are unsure if there will be another model. This saddens me. Meanwhile, Framemeister prices on Ebay have become ridiculous.

http://www.micomsoft.co.jp/micomsoft_news3.htm

Google Translate:

Thank you very much for your generous support of microcomputer software products on a daily basis.
It was announced that the main IC of our product "FRAMEMEISTER" will end production. February 2017 will be the last order. In that case, I plan to purchase sufficient stock to last more than 1 year, but I can not purchase additional after February. It will end as soon as stock runs out. In order to ensure delivery, please consult our company or intermediary store, please summarize required plan by February 2017.
We appreciate your understanding and cooperation by customers. We appreciate your continued patronage of our products as well.

* As previously reported, inventory has been temporarily out due to the same IC delay. After restocking in February 2017, we are planning to produce and ship as usual for the time being.

Record


Model number
DP code
JAN code
Next scheduled arrival
FRAMEMEISTER N
3913547
4961997001868
February 2017

[Fudoh]

should still be easily available for the next two years though, so not exactly something to worry about.

[Everblue]

I hope so

I mean, I already own one but it would be a pity if it is not available for other people to buy.

[axlblazeadam]

I sincerely hope this won't get noticed by scalpers. Imagine paying $1000 for a FM in 3 years from now?

I can already taste the eBay ads...

FRAMEMEISTER *ULTRA RARE* (IN BOX - NEW & SEALED) -- PLAY YOUR FAVORITE RETRO CONSOLES IN HD/COMES WITH FBX PROFILES PRE-INSTALLED

[NJRoadfan]

I wouldn't be surprised if a success product is already in the works. The XRGB-2 and 3 didn't shoot up in price after they were discontinued and they offered near lag free up scaling (a market that the OSSC recently filled).

[Guspaz]

They're not a large company, so if they didn't see any reason to replace the Framemeister, they probably didn't have anybody working on a successor. This is not a mass market product, so the cost of paying one or more people to work on a successor has to be justified. They would need to either be able to improve the functionality enough to convince Framemeister owners to buy the new device, or they would need to substantially increase the profit margin by either reducing manufacturing cost or being able to justify a higher sale price.

Now they don't have a choice, since they won't be able to continue selling the existing product. The question is, will they have a replacement ready in time? For all we know, they're just going to work on swapping out the Framemeister's scaler chip with a different option, because it would probably cost less to modify the existing product for that than to design a new product from scratch. We'll have to wait and see.

[bodine1231]

Ok I just got my csync cables in for my RGB SNES Mini from retro console accessories on eBay and some weird shit is happening with it and my Framemeister. Every 10-15 sec the screen will hitch and the picture will split into different colors for a milisecond and appear back to normal.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/201284360714?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT


I'm thinking it has to be a Sync setting on the Framemeister because it doesn't do this on my PVM. I've tried messing with different sync settings on the XRGB but can't get it to go away.

[austin532]

I sincerely hope this won't get noticed by scalpers. Imagine paying $1000 for a FM in 3 years from now?

I can already taste the eBay ads...

FRAMEMEISTER *ULTRA RARE* (IN BOX - NEW & SEALED) -- PLAY YOUR FAVORITE RETRO CONSOLES IN HD/COMES WITH FBX PROFILES PRE-INSTALLED

3 years from now? This is already happening. Well minus the pre-installed FBX profiles. Proof that most of the sellers are scalpers and know nothing about this device. Any hardcore gamer selling these would have those bad boys on there.

[bodine1231]

Looks like I've nailed it down to being the "game mode" on my KS8000 TV causing the problem that I pictured. There was a firmware update released today and I think it screwed something up. I played through a whole level in Mario World without getting the flicker,when I enabled game mode and played it again I got the flicker multiple times.

[ZellSF]

I'm really hoping we'll get some new decent scalers soon. XRGB-mini going out of sale and DVDO video processors getting harder to find each day. Not that there's any problem soon, but if we go a few years with nothing new...

[Everblue]

Well in theory there is OSSC. But it is not for me due to lack of HDMI.

[tacoguy64]

They have to come up with the replacement for the FM right?
One that fixes everything that was wrong with it and adds 4k support?

[BuckoA51]

Well in theory there is OSSC. But it is not for me due to lack of HDMI.

DVI to HDMI adapters aren't exactly expensive...

[Everblue]

Well in theory there is OSSC. But it is not for me due to lack of HDMI.

DVI to HDMI adapters aren't exactly expensive...

What about audio?

[rtw]

DVI to HDMI adapters aren't exactly expensive...

Did we ever reach a conclusion on a good DVI + Audio -> HDMI combiner ?

[Lord of Pirates]

3 years from now? This is already happening. Well minus the pre-installed FBX profiles. Proof that most of the sellers are scalpers and know nothing about this device. Any hardcore gamer selling these would have those bad boys on there.

It's pretty absurd. Some listings have supposedly sold for $600 - $700.

I'm really hoping we'll get some new decent scalers soon. XRGB-mini going out of sale and DVDO video processors getting harder to find each day. Not that there's any problem soon, but if we go a few years with nothing new...

If the OSSC 2 solves the issue of needing to combo I suspect we'll see a lot of iScan VP units flood onto eBay. I don't think many people are buying them with movie processing or the wealth of image adjustments in mind.

[Guspaz]

Y'all are assuming that there will even be an OSSC 2. It's clear that Marqs doesn't have nearly as much time these days as he did when he developed the OSSC, and he's only talked about a successor as a possibility rather than a certainty. Even if he does, it would probably be years.

[pyrotek85]

Y'all are assuming that there will even be an OSSC 2. It's clear that Marqs doesn't have nearly as much time these days as he did when he developed the OSSC, and he's only talked about a successor as a possibility rather than a certainty. Even if he does, it would probably be years.

Especially when people are still waiting to get the first one.