XRGB-mini Framemeister

[RGB32E]

Dreamcast VGA from the official box looks great connected directly to a HDTV... Does it look bad on your particular TV? If you wanted to connect to the mini, a Kramer FC-14 would be all you'd need...

Very interested in various results for Dreamcast VGA -> Gefen VGA to DVI Scaler/Plus (for A/D conversion, NO scaling) -> HDMI -> XRGB Mini

Throw an SLG3000 in there every now and then too.

[BuckoA51]

"Unsupported signal" kind of bad on my HDTV

[Konsolkongen]

Dreamcast VGA from the official box looks great connected directly to a HDTV...

Not on any HDTV I ever tried. There were heavy moire patterns, especially noticeable on a game like Guilty Gear which is pure 2D goodness and has that checker-board effect behind the gauges.

Official DC VGA box > Gefen VGA to DVI > TV gives the most perfect Dreamcast image I have ever seen

[Fudoh]

I would agree. If you have a DC VGA box and Gefen scaler (and want to keep the Gefen), I would go directly into the TV set. I don't see how the Mini would improve the result.

[retr0gamer]

My mini arrives today! Only 2 days to travel from Japan to the US -- crazy! What do I need to get to connect component to the d-terminal plug on the mini? I haven't been able to find anything online that I can buy to do this. I've seen some female d-terminal to male RCA, but I imagine I need female RCA to male d-terminal? It should be possible to do without a box as they're both YPbPr correct?

[SGGG2]

Try B&H. Expect to pay $40 ~ $50.

[RGB32E]

My mini arrives today! Only 2 days to travel from Japan to the US -- crazy! What do I need to get to connect component to the d-terminal plug on the mini? I haven't been able to find anything online that I can buy to do this. I've seen some female d-terminal to male RCA, but I imagine I need female RCA to male d-terminal? It should be possible to do without a box as they're both YPbPr correct?

That's cool! It's a really nice unit. The XRGB-3 included an adapter for component cables (D端子 to 3 RCA female)... not that it really helps your current situation. Those adapters seem to be hard to find, but I'm sure there out there somewhere!

I use the official D端子 cable for the Wii (works perfect):
http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/switch-langu ... uage=en_JP

Here's the offical D端子 cable for the PS2/3 (I use RGB instead):
http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/switch-langu ... uage=ja_JP

I'm tempted to get one of these so I can connect my Kramer FC-14 to the mini:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sony-VMC-DP10CV ... 0487265439

EDIT: There's also this cable making material:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/D-Terminal-link ... 0618572580

[Zapf]

How exactly do I change the output res, mine seems to be stuck on 480p EDIT: figured that out

I'm also getting some audio buzz, but its not noticeable when theres actual sound occurring ingame - tryin to figure out if thats a ground loop issue or a problem with having multiple plug adapters chained (male scart -> scart/rgb21 converter -> rgb21/mini din 8 converter -> xrgb mini)

[zak]

My mini arrives today! Only 2 days to travel from Japan to the US -- crazy! What do I need to get to connect component to the d-terminal plug on the mini? I haven't been able to find anything online that I can buy to do this. I've seen some female d-terminal to male RCA, but I imagine I need female RCA to male d-terminal? It should be possible to do without a box as they're both YPbPr correct?

http://www.solarisjapan.com/products/D% ... le%29.html

[RGB32E]

It's a safe guess that the Mini's RGB input is for C.Sync only, right ? I was wondering about the XSync and it's ability to output 15khz
RGBHV.

The RGB input accepts composite/Y in addition to CSYNC on pin 3. I haven't tried changing the picture mode from Game_1 to see why 480i RGB isn't displaying correctly. I tried my Genesis 1 with Sonic 2 and the picture drops out in split screen mode (448i/480i). This was with a CSYNC cable (100uf on CSYNC).

Also, jailbars are the thing of the past with the Saturn. Sure, LPF on the XRGB-3 removed them pretty well, but it was at the expense of picture sharpness. That was too much of a trade off for me.

Anyway the reason I'm posting ... Quick question for RGB32E

You mention the Mini's pretty great at upscaling a component signal from the Wii and This is exactly what I've been looking for.
Any chance of a couple of screen shots showing the standard of 480p Upscaling on the Wii

Sure, I took some pictures, but I don't think I was able to do it justice. You decide!



Here are some SNES and Genesis 1 snaps:

[Zapf]

Hmm, it doesn't appear to recognize my snes at all. I get some audio but no video.

This is the later revision (prior to the snes jr though) with the better video output and the molded eject button, I'll see if my older one works any better. I'm using composite video for sync on it, that might be the problem.

My nes works fine, so does my model 1 genesis (+sega cd and 32x). I still get the vertical jailbars though.



update: older snes does not work for me either.

[retr0gamer]

http://www.solarisjapan.com/products/D% ... le%29.html

I hope I'm not going senile and that was just added -- I swear I looked there and everywhere else before :p

[zak]

http://www.solarisjapan.com/products/D% ... le%29.html

I hope I'm not going senile and that was just added -- I swear I looked there and everywhere else before :p

It was added recently

[retr0gamer]

Has anyone from the US plugged their power adapter in yet? It's a DC 5V 2.3A adapter, tip positive with 100V 50/60hz input. I don't want to risk it, but I also don't want to get a bulky step down converter if it's not needed for such a low wattage device.

[Fudoh]

The Wii screenshots look nice!

I use the Mini PSU on a 230V output with a 2:1 stepdown converter, so it's at least 115V as well. Works fine on all my import stuff.

[SGGG2]

@ RGB32E

Depending on the set, problems with noise, improper scan area, I've used two VGA/Component transcoders (Audio Authority, HDFury2) and they soften the image quite a bit. PS3/HDMI > Fury2/component looks *exactly* like YPbPr direct from the PS3 so I assume it's near reference quality, it's difficult to image the Kramer being better, but I've been surprised before. I prefer using B0 over the Gefen for certain titles, hence my curiosity...

I cannot believe how sharp those 16-bit shots are. The XRGB-3's sharper on your setup?!

[retr0gamer]

Ok, did some initial testing: SNES, Saturn, and N64 look great -- incredibly clean and crisp. HDMI handshake times are kinda annoying, especially with my N64 -- whenever it switches scenes (I'm not sure what happens internally) or switches from the main menu of the game to the actual game, the picture cuts out longer than it used to -- sometimes long enough for the mini to say "no signal" which it then takes even longer to recover from.

I'm having a strange problem with the genesis though. The one cable I have that I was using previously with a SCART -> RGBs -> DVDO Edge for a model 2 Genesis which worked fine produces a mangled image with the mini. The picture is shifted down and to the right and overlaps on itself. I can use the cable with pure sync and that looks great (with no jailbars) but the display constantly loses the picture with that cable, so it's unusable. Anything I should try, and would a picture of it help?

EDIT: I'm also seeing the same kind of ringing that I had on the DVDO Edge, it might even look a little worse. Are there any settings that could cause this? It doesn't matter if sharpness is set to 1 or 0, and I'm outputting at 1080p with my TV in game mode, TV's sharpness set to 0, and any other special features disabled. Using the raw sync cable makes no difference in the ringing, but just makes the picture cut out whenever it gets too bright (flying high up in Super Mario World, for example). The TV is a SHARP 52LE835U.

EDIT2: Pictures

Genesis problem:



SNES with DVDO Edge:



SNES with XRGB-mini:

[darthcloud]

Ok, did some initial testing: SNES, Saturn, and N64 look great -- incredibly clean and crisp. HDMI handshake times are kinda annoying, especially with my N64 -- whenever it switches scenes (I'm not sure what happens internally) or switches from the main menu of the game to the actual game, the picture cuts out longer than it used to -- sometimes long enough for the mini to say "no signal" which it then takes even longer to recover from.

I'm having a strange problem with the genesis though. The one cable I have that I was using previously with a SCART -> RGBs -> DVDO Edge for a model 2 Genesis which worked fine produces a mangled image with the mini. The picture is shifted down and to the right and overlaps on itself. I can use the cable with pure sync and that looks great (with no jailbars) but the display constantly loses the picture with that cable, so it's unusable. Anything I should try, and would a picture of it help?

Using expansion pak some games often switch between 240p and 480i mode between in-game and menu.

That was actually my concern after reading Fudoh review, Hope it's something they can fix somehow.

Too bad I'm away for the whole Xmax break won't be able to try mine till January :O

[retr0gamer]

Yeah on Killer Instinct 64 for example, the enemy can get in a couple hits before you can even see anything

[darthcloud]

Yeah on Killer Instinct 64 for example, the enemy can get in a couple hits before you can even see anything

This one don't use the Ex. Pak, so I guess they just put the menu in 480i and the game is 240p.

So you can't even turn off the hi-res mode to avoid the resolution switch in that case.

[retr0gamer]

Beta firmware is up, v1.04:
http://translate.googleusercontent.com/ ... X1dhvZVssA

http://www.micomsoft.co.jp/XRGBminiV1.04E.zip

The menus are actually in english now
Ringing on SNES is gone, but the genesis problem still exists.

[Artemio]

Can't wait to get mine... I am broker, but my brother bought one for me as a Christmas present. I am particularly interested in the Neo Geo performance which sounds great

Hopefully I will join you next week with mine. Want to play Odin's sphere.

[SGGG2]

Gamecube 480p?

[BuckoA51]

Using the raw sync cable makes no difference in the ringing, but just makes the picture cut out whenever it gets too bright (flying high up in Super Mario World, for example).

I can use the cable with pure sync and that looks great (with no jailbars) but the display constantly loses the picture with that cable, so it's unusable. Anything I should try, and would a picture of it help?

Geez, It's the XRGB3 all over again

[Fudoh]

to be fair, I used the exact same sources with the exact same cables I used before on the XRGB-3.

SFC: dropouts before (needed termination set to 220 Ohms) -> pretty much perfect on the Mini.
MD: terribly shaky picture before, jailbars on the XRGB-3 -> pretty much perfect on the Mini.
SAT: dropouts in whites, slight bend on top on the XRGB-3 -> pretty much perfect on the Mini.

I use the original Nintendo cable on the SFC (uses composite video), the original Sega RGB cable on the Saturn (uses composite video as well) and a custom-made cable with sync + capacitor on the Mega Drive.

[retr0gamer]

Geez, It's the XRGB3 all over again

I get the same behavior on the DVDO Edge with those pure sync cables from the eBay user you mentioned. So I don't think it's a mini issue. With the exception of the Genesis, my old cables work fine.

EDIT: with a different (non-pure sync) cable from that same eBay user, Genesis works fine with the mini. I wonder what it is about that one cable that makes it work fine on the DVDO Edge but not the mini.

EDIT2: Well, almost fine -- doing the white screen benchmark test on the Genesis makes the picture drop out on the mini.

[BuckoA51]

Using pure sync all round here (since it cured the picture dropout when bright issue on the XRGB3) and never noticed any problems on the Edge,though of course I don't use the Edge much for 240p having an XRGB3 too......

...So the mini prefers composite video for sync, weird?

I'm also beginning to suspect its better to mod the Genesis as per the MMonkey method rather than mod the cable, since I seem to get better results with my Genny that way.

[Zapf]

My snes is workin fine with this cheap play asia rgb cable. hmm. Maybe this nicer one got wired for csync without me realizing it.

[Fudoh]

I'm also beginning to suspect its better to mod the Genesis as per the MMonkey method rather than mod the cable, since I seem to get better results with my Genny that way.

it's really the same. I suspect the eBay sync cable to use a wrong (or badly) sized capacitor. I've run through a bunch of carts recently, some which easily produced dropouts on the XRGB-3 (e.g. the Super Shinobi title screen with the flashes) and those were all fine on the Mini. Using an Everdrive instead tended to introduce a few dropouts right after booting the (same) games. Using the Everdrive along with another adapter caused massive dropouts all the time. I have no idea what changes about the RGB signal using different carts to play the same roms, but I'll try to have this checked on an oscilloscope.

Usually the sync mod for cable works with a capacitor alone. I might try adding a resistor in line to the capacitor. If anyone with the above problems has a 75ohm resistor on hand, give a try - might very well work out fine.

[Zapf]

What cap is the retro_console_accessories cable using (it should be in the scart head so you can check). I'm going to buy new cabling on monday so I can talk to her about it.