OSSC (DIY video digitizer & scandoubler)

[NormalFish]

Hey folks, any tips on a 1 -> 2 HDMI splitter that doesn't get too hot? Worried about mine starting a fire since it never turns off and gets extremely warm.

[Blair]

Hey folks, any tips on a 1 -> 2 HDMI splitter that doesn't get too hot? Worried about mine starting a fire since it never turns off and gets extremely warm.

from earlier in the thread

these two HDMI Splitter models have worked for me.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CC ... UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L0 ... UTF8&psc=1

I made these videos using them
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WVfkzII-sw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfLT9xIGYg8


here are some sony PSP+OSSC (screen filled with edge green's zoom) shots with 480p 2x (1440x960) some with scanlines and some without.

display: Asus VW246h

[BuckoA51]

Looks great, distinct lack of sawtooth edges compared with my early attempts, is that with "Allow Upsample2x" on or off on the OSSC?

[Galdelico]

Wow, is that how a stock PSP outputs on screen, or there is some major image processing going on in those fabulous pictures?
In the meanwhile, I'll grab a component cable for my 2004 anyway...

[NormalFish]

these two HDMI Splitter models have worked for me.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CC ... UTF8&psc=1

This is the one I currently have. The lack of off switch (or some sort of automated detection) means that it is constantly extremely warm.

[FinalBaton]

Thanks Borti! I was about to ask how the PSP looks through the OSSC. Gawd dayum, the OSSC + DVDO combo looks awesome here, I'm drooling

There's the slightest hint of ringing perceptible on the first pic, which is an extreme closeup, but I'm sure it's not noticeable at all while gaming. Picture looks very sharp and colorful, and very well-defined.

I'm sold on that combo for the psp.


(I was actually looking at buying an edge green, I think I'll go through with it for sure now)

[Galdelico]

So, I'm finally getting the hang of optimal timings/OSSC optim. settings, and I managed to get a Line2x 320x240 on my Mega Drive that is totally 'blurry columns-free' (yay!).
I'm still experiencing a little issue, though, since - even if it's set to 0 - there's still a hair of Horizontal Mask covering up something like half pixel on the very left. On the right side it's all good (no H. mask), and the frame ends up as it should, while on the left there's this thin, vertical line which I can't get rid of, apparently.

Is it a known bug or am I doing anything wrong?

Edit - I'll post a picture tomorrow, in case it's not clear what I'm talking about.

[BuckoA51]

Wow, is that how a stock PSP outputs on screen, or there is some major image processing going on in those fabulous pictures?
In the meanwhile, I'll grab a component cable for my 2004 anyway...

The OSSC really over-sharpens 480p sources in line double mode, while the DVDO softens things a lot as you zoom the PSP in, so when you put them together it makes quite a pleasing looking combo.

[Blair]

Looks great, distinct lack of sawtooth edges compared with my early attempts, is that with "Allow Upsample2x" on or off on the OSSC?

thanks!

Nope, I actually haven't had much time to experiment with upsample2x yet. (I'll probably do some of that tonight, thanks for reminding me ). I haven't had any weird visual anomalies with any of my 480p 2x testing (with the latest OSSC firmware) on the green. I'll post some Tekken 4 shots with it on. Looks so much cleaner than normal 480p. I should point out though that all the 4x modes only work on the edge green when it's set to "game mode" it won't show anything in normal mode. Which is fine (I very rarely use normal mode). I wonder if the original edge is doing something different than the green?

Wow, is that how a stock PSP outputs on screen, or there is some major image processing going on in those fabulous pictures?
In the meanwhile, I'll grab a component cable for my 2004 anyway...

thanks!

Only processing going on is the zoom function on my edge green processor to fill the screen, some monitors/TVs can do this on their own. its necessary as the PSP normally outputs gameplay in kind of a small viewing window.

these two HDMI Splitter models have worked for me.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CC ... UTF8&psc=1

This is the one I currently have. The lack of off switch (or some sort of automated detection) means that it is constantly extremely warm.

Oh really? That's strange, because I have mine on 24 seven and it never gets warm. Another suggestion is connecting it to a plug strip or surge protector with an on-off switch and just turning it off when you don't need it. I do that for most of my electronics to save on my power bill anyway.

Thanks Blair! I was about to ask how the PSP looks through the OSSC. Gawd dayum, the OSSC + DVDO combo looks awesome here, I'm drooling

There's the slightest hint of ringing perceptible on the first pic, which is an extreme closeup, but I'm sure it's not noticeable at all while gaming. Picture looks very sharp and colorful, and very well-defined.

I'm sold on that combo for the psp.

(I was actually looking at buying an edge green, I think I'll go through with it for sure now)

Excellent! The green is definitely a fun machine for gaming purposes. It's probably my second favorite processor. If you need any help with settings just ask. (Also make sure you have a remote for it, the edge series doesn't have any external buttons). the ringing might actually be from the Asus monitor. here are some shots with the same set up on my CRT. (Genesis and Neo Geo shots are from the PSP fork of retroarch. using 2X integers scaling and then resampled with OSSC 480p 2x)

more PSP shots, OSSC 480p line2x on electron blue CRT. (zoom in from edge green)

[ZellSF]

I made some PSP + OSSC + VP50 and PSP + OSSC + XRGB-mini captures earlier:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=52158&p=1260990
PSP video output is pretty clean when run through the proper processing chain.

Hey folks, any tips on a 1 -> 2 HDMI splitter that doesn't get too hot? Worried about mine starting a fire since it never turns off and gets extremely warm.

I'm a big fan of these things:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Full-HD-4K-HDMI ... Sw4DJYmYrS
They have an issue with either DVI or HDMI mode on the OSSC where there will be a pink line on the left side of the screen. That can be a problem on a very limited set of displays (that for some reason require either DVI or HDMI mode and don't have an overscanning mode that would cut it off).

Their advantages however is that they can be passively powered (by a OSSC), have micro USB power supplies (only needed when you start chaining them), adds practically no delay when resyncing, remove HDCP and most importantly they're really cheap.

these two HDMI Splitter models have worked for me.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CC ... UTF8&psc=1

This is the one I currently have. The lack of off switch (or some sort of automated detection) means that it is constantly extremely warm.

Of course with all those cheap HDMI splitters there might be a lot of internal differences between identical looking ones.
Oh really? That's strange, because I have mine on 24 seven and it never gets warm. Another suggestion is connecting it to a plug strip or surge protector with an on-off switch and just turning it off when you don't need it. I do that for most of my electronics to save on my power bill anyway.

I've seen a few reviews of identical looking splitters like that and there are some complaints of them overheating. Mine gets very hot too. I don't actively use it since I don't have a power supply easily available for it and it wouldn't accept the OSSC's 240pX5@1080p mode.

Obviously all those cheap identical looking splitters might have various internal differences.

[cr4zymanz0r]

here are some sony PSP+OSSC (screen filled with edge green's zoom) shots with 480p 2x (1440x960) some with scanlines and some without.

What exact PSP hardware are you using, and any special settings on the OSSC? With a PSP 2000 + official component cable + OSSC the output I was getting was significantly softer. Looked at lot worse than using a PSTV for PSP content. Your screenshots look great though.

[robotvendingmachine]

Sorry if this been asked before but I am getting a OSSC 1.5 from a friend and am wondering what the differences are besides the HDMI port instead of the DVI port with the 1.6?

[Harrumph]

No digital audio, unless separate audio board was fitted.
No switch for changing between audio input/output (convenient for AV2 (component input).
No dedicated audio input for AV3 (VGA input).

I think that's it.

[NormalFish]

Thanks Zell. Going to pick one of those up once I'm back in front of my PC. Appreciate it.

[robotvendingmachine]

Alright can some direct me to a DVI adapter that has the 3.5mm built in so that video and sound go to HDMI?

[nmalinoski]

Alright can some direct me to a DVI adapter that has the 3.5mm built in so that video and sound go to HDMI?

The best I found with a quick search is the StarTech DVI2HDMIA. You'd, of course, need DVI and HDMI cables, and a female TRRS to stereo male RCA adapter/cable. I can't vouch for its performance or efficacy.

Most of the results I found are for straight DVI<->HDMI adapters without audio injection. There are some DVI<->HDMI cables with audio pigtails, but those really aren't any different than separate video and audio cables; none of them seem to do any audio injection on the DVI end.

[Gunstar]

Late to say but those are really nice shots, Blair.

[orange808]

Alright can some direct me to a DVI adapter that has the 3.5mm built in so that video and sound go to HDMI?

I prefer the Kramer FC-49, but there are plenty of options out there.

[DirkSwizzler]

Hey guys, potentially dumb idea as a feature request. I'm not an EE and I've never done any FPGA work. So please excuse me if this is missing some crucial simple detail.

TL;DR: Create a mode that helps visualize if CSYNC voltages are at damaging levels.

Longer: I've been ruminating a bit on how a layperson could determine if one of their console + cables is damaging their video equipment. Assuming the layperson will never own an oscilloscope, or if they did wouldn't be quickly able to read the result. How could they go about doing the most basic amount of testing to ensure no damage is being caused.

I had previously thought you'd have to have a custom piece of hardware that would run the sync signal through a bit of circuitry to trip a red light if it's delta is over 2 volts or so.

But, every OSSC owner has an FPGA hooked up to SCART pins, which could mean that they already have the physical hardware they need in their possession, but it just needs the proper firmware.

I'm not sure where the lines blur between SCART/RGBS specific parts ends and FPGA begins. But, assuming the voltage levels are readable at the FPGA level. Then, wouldn't it be possible to funnel the sync voltage into a color channel such that a user armed with a wiki page can look at the screen and determine if bad shit is going on.

I'm imagining that during a given horizontal line, the device could record the lowest and highest sync voltage encountered. Assuming it's capable of sampling at 2+ times the sync rate. Then on the next line it could use the red channel to show the delta value as a horizontal bar. With each successive pixel representing a delta greater than or equal to X/0.01 volts. So, if you had exactly an ideal 0.7 volts peak to peak, you'd see the leftmost 70 pixels lit. If you were as high as 2 volts peak to peak, you'd see the leftmost 200 pixels lit.

Hopefully some of that makes sense and is possible.

[Galdelico]

So, I'm finally getting the hang of optimal timings/OSSC optim. settings, and I managed to get a Line2x 320x240 on my Mega Drive that is totally 'blurry columns-free' (yay!).
I'm still experiencing a little issue, though, since - even if it's set to 0 - there's still a hair of Horizontal Mask covering up something like half pixel on the very left. On the right side it's all good (no H. mask), and the frame ends up as it should, while on the left there's this thin, vertical line which I can't get rid of, apparently.

Is it a known bug or am I doing anything wrong?

Edit - I'll post a picture tomorrow, in case it's not clear what I'm talking about.

Apologies for the self-quote, but I've got some pictures to show up a bit better the issue I encountered above.

Basically, this is Line2x optim. 320x240, on my Japanese Mega Drive 2. The screen is centered, Advanced Timings all good, Vertical Mask set to 8 and Horizontal Mask to 0 (zero): I only cranked its brightness up to better demonstrate what's going on.

This is what I get to the right: https://i.imgur.com/e5vcUtk.jpg
Alignment is perfect and beyond the last column of visible pixels begins the colored overscan (pink, in this very case).

Now, this is what happens to the left: https://i.imgur.com/v5rUzaq.jpg
As you can see, there's this hair of Horizontal Mask active by default, literally covering up half-pixel along the vertical border, even if it's set to 0. If that line wasn't there, alignment would be perfect to the right as well. No matter what I do with the Advanced Settings, I can't get rid of it.

I don't know if that is a bug or if I'm doing anything wrong (I honestly doubt, as for example in Optim. Line4x that doesn't happen at all, and when it's set to 0, the H. Mask is actually invisible on both sides), but, in case this can be fixed in a firmware update, I'd absolutely love to see it patched. As unimportant as it can seem to the majority of OSSC user-base, Optim. 320x240 Line2x is still the best way to display even scanlines on a 1080p screen, so at least to me it would mean massively.

Of course, if there's already a turnaround, any help would come super appreciated.

[RaphM]

TL;DR: Create a mode that helps visualize if CSYNC voltages are at damaging levels.

Longer: I've been ruminating a bit on how a layperson could determine if one of their console + cables is damaging their video equipment. Assuming the layperson will never own an oscilloscope, or if they did wouldn't be quickly able to read the result. How could they go about doing the most basic amount of testing to ensure no damage is being caused.

I had previously thought you'd have to have a custom piece of hardware that would run the sync signal through a bit of circuitry to trip a red light if it's delta is over 2 volts or so.

Its a bit off-topic for this thread, but I got myself a "DSO 138" digital oscilloscope for exactly this purpose.

Different sellers provide it for about 15-40€ (depends on if you want it pre-assembled) - its of course lacking lots of features "real" oscilloscopes have, but for me it worked great for the limited purpose of measuring CSYNC pulses (its specifications go to 200khz / about 50V, which is more than enough to capture CSYNC signals).

It really was an "Aha" effect visualising the sync signals of my different consoles (especially since everything looked as expected - attenuated CSYNC looked very nice with 0.4Vpp pulses for most consoles, 1Vpp for some mods (both are still in spec), TTL outputting consoles went up to 4Vpp without proper cables, Sync on Luma showed the luma information modulated onto the SYNC signal and so on...) - for me it really was the perfect solution for this verification task.

Just one tip - you get correct results only when measuring under load (when the consoles are actually connected) - I did this wrong at first .

[Blair]

Late to say but those are really nice shots, Blair.

thanks Gunstar!

What exact PSP hardware are you using, and any special settings on the OSSC? With a PSP 2000 + official component cable + OSSC the output I was getting was significantly softer. Looked at lot worse than using a PSTV for PSP content. Your screenshots look great though.

I'm also using a regular usa psp2000 model with the official component cable (I also have a monster cable branded one as well). Some games have a really weird bilinear filter on them so upscaling to a larger screen can look pretty bad (Final Fantasy tactic war of the Lions) I haven't had much time to experiment but I've heard that various patches can remove the bilinear filters to fix the softness. emulation can also defeat the filter.

What games were you testing?

Alright can some direct me to a DVI adapter that has the 3.5mm built in so that video and sound go to HDMI?

Mono price has two or more varieties available, I purchased this small one.

Spoiler

and fellow user strygo purchased the larger one I believe. all of them are probably re-brands from other companies.
the one I picked up (dvi+audio to HDMI adaptor) was on sale for, $20 and it does an ok job of combining sound with the video output of the OSSC (1.5), give it a listen.
this was just for my gameplay recording needs, but for anyone that has a first generation OSSC without the audio board upgrade, this could be a good solution.

(sound is from the line-out port on my Sega CDX)

OSSC+SEGA CDX direct line4x (scanlines 15%)

Spoiler

LINK:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WVfkzII-sw

(please set video quality to 1080p60)

[strygo]

Blair: I got the one you have pictured. It works great - in fact, I happened to order a second one today.

[Blair]

Blair: I got the one you have pictured. It works great - in fact, I happened to order a second one today.

oh, excellent! I'm glad its working for you. (when you mentioned startec in the other post I thought you were talking about the other model) for $20+ it definitely gets the job done. (I thought about using it for other purposes, like audio mixing. hopefully I get some time to experiment later)

Line4x that doesn't happen at all, and when it's set to 0, the H. Mask is actually invisible on both sides), but, in case this can be fixed in a firmware update, I'd absolutely love to see it patched. As unimportant as it can seem to the majority of OSSC user-base, Optim. 320x240 Line2x is still the best way to display even scanlines on a 1080p screen, so at least to me it would mean massively.

what kind of problems are you having with scanlines at line 4X? are they uneven? what display model are you using?

[Galdelico]

what kind of problems are you having with scanlines at line 4X? are they uneven? what display model are you using?

Yep, exactly. If you take a look at those two images I posted above, those are taken while using Line2x optim. 320x240, and scanlines (25% intensity) just look beautiful, to my eyes. Combined with the slightly softer IQ provided by line double, they give me this 'analogue' feel that I genuinely adore.
With the other modes, they aren't evenly spaced.
In Line4x - with my Asus VG275Q 1080p 27" PC monitor (same thing happens with my older VW246H, which is also 1080p but only 24") - they start drawing horizontal patterns on screen, starting from 25% intensity on. At 100%, it becomes perfectly apparent. Then again, in Line3x with scanlines at 100%, I notice that only occurring over certain colours: in general, in spite of scanlines not looking off from where I sit when I play, at a closer inspection it becomes pretty obious they aren't even.

I'm not using any video processor in between the OSSC and the monitor.

Edit - Of course, everything is fine on my 4K, 27" inch display (LG 27MU67): as it allows integer scaling, scanlines look even in every video mode.

[Mantrox]

Just an odd tip for the folks using the OSSC, i have no idea if this problem is related to this piece of hardware or not as it could be some monitor quirk.
I just finished playing Seirei Senshi Spriggan with the following setup:
PC Engine Duo-R >> OSSC set to line triple >> DVDO EDGE with some zoom and pan options >> Dell U2715H

On the game over screen:


The word "continue" flashes.
This image was on the screen for about a minute.
After i changed the source of the monitor back to the PC, the word "continue" was faintly flickering on screen.
It stayed like that for a good 10 minutes while i panicked a little (turned everything off, unplugged and when i turned it on it was still there), then i activated the LCD conditioning on the Dell, and as i am writing this post it has slowly vanished.

I never had a problem like this with this monitor.
Does anybody know what's causing this? Is it in any case related to the OSSC/DVDO combo or is it a monitor problem?

[Galdelico]

Seems yet another confirmation that IPS displays don't like heavy flickering graphics.

It's been discussed here a few pages back, and I've experienced the very same occurrence on my LG 27MU67, playing everything 480i or high-res games on the Saturn and the PS1. A temporary 'flicker-retention' effect, that vanishes after a while, once you turn off your monitor.
Out of curiosity, it can also be triggered (with certain games, such as Galaxy Force II in the SEGA 3D Ages series) on those New 3DS XL consoles that come with IPS screens.

I can't imagine that it's source related. We heard similar stories when using interlaced content with the OSSC, but your source isn't interlaced. Your monitor should show the same effect when using an emulator with the same game.

Yeah, it's most likely not exclusive to interlaced contents, but involving pieces of graphics that flash/heavily flicker in the same spot (doesn't happen with moving flickering shadows in SNK games, for example, or with the fake transparency effects in some CAPCOM fighting games' backgrounds).
TN panels don't seem affected. I tested two Asus monitors (one from 5/6 years ago, and another one that came out in 2017) with identical results, plus Galaxy Force II on a standard, dual TN 3DS XL console.

[Fudoh]

Does anybody know what's causing this? Is it in any case related to the OSSC/DVDO combo or is it a monitor problem?

I can't imagine that it's source related. We heard similar stories when using interlaced content with the OSSC, but your source isn't interlaced. Your monitor should show the same effect when using an emulator with the same game.

[Mantrox]

Thanks for clearing that up.
Since it was a first for me, i just found it weird.

[lepo76]

My new Tv ( Sony KD-49X7000E ) doesn't like the super famicom (1 chip-02 and 03)
I m using firmware 0.77 ...basically I can't get any image out of it and the tv tells me that the signal is not supported

I understand this is a fairly common issue and I am wondering if there's any workaround I could try

Just to clarify, everything works as expected if I use a HP computer monitor.. it's just that TV

Thanks a lot for your help