RetroTINK 5x-Pro

[eightbitminiboss]

Weirdly enough I was only able to replicate it on the character select screen.

Spoiler

Edit: Oh wow, yours on the same screen are more intense however. I'm using official GC component cables, what are you using?

[Linkr2]

Weirdly enough I was only able to replicate it on the character select screen.

Spoiler

Edit: Oh wow, yours on the same screen are more intense however. I'm using official GC component cables, what are you using?

That's true, yours is way less intense, at least we can confirm that the problem exists which is a relief on my side as it means is not an issue with my specific unit, thanks for doing the test.

I'm using the official Wii component cable along with a GCHD MK II.

Today I will try to test how it looks directly on a Wii with the component cable, to see if it's less intense and more similar to yours.

EDIT:
Tested Wii directly intro the Retrotink5x with official Wii component cable, and I got similar areas to yours this time:

Spoiler

Scanlines off:


Scanlines 50%


Scanlines 90%


Scanlines Integer 100%:

Same setup but closer to the TV:

Spoiler

Scanlines 50%


Scanlines 90%


Scanlines Integer 100%:

[thebigcheese]

I know I'm probably one of the few who cares, but is there any chance the smoothing filter will make a comeback? I really liked it on N64. I know that's asking a lot for just one console, but it really made a big difference for me. Unless the soft interpolation is close enough? I haven't seen a lot of N64 comparisons, unfortunately, so it's hard to say.

[Gara]

There's probably a bug in the scanline generation that needs to be looked @. TBH, I didn't imagine anyone would use them for 480p content.

It's more common than you'd think. 480p on my Sony CRT has small gaps in the fields that look like faint (blanking lines?) scanlines. Chasing that look with artificial scanlines and filters seems to have its niche. Sometimes it's just people who want to add scanlines to everything for whatever oddball reason.

On an unrelated note, you'd be my personal savior if you figure out a way for the Scart port to take YPbPr. Is this a possible feature you could implement with firmware? I'd happily contribute to a gofundme or patreon account to help pay for your time implementing things like this.

[fernan1234]

I know I'm probably one of the few who cares, but is there any chance the smoothing filter will make a comeback? I really liked it on N64. I know that's asking a lot for just one console, but it really made a big difference for me. Unless the soft interpolation is close enough? I haven't seen a lot of N64 comparisons, unfortunately, so it's hard to say.

I'd wait for some comparisons, or ideally just check how the soft interpolation looks like on your own TV or monitor. It may end up being a nice balance, you may even like it more than the old smoothing filter.

480p on my Sony CRT has small gaps in the fields that look like faint (blanking lines?) scanlines.

Yep, this is 480p on any CRT. Even 720p will show the slimmest of blank lines if you see close enough, after all these are non-SD tubes that can fit more/finer scanning lines than that technically.

[thebigcheese]

I'd wait for some comparisons, or ideally just check how the soft interpolation looks like on your own TV or monitor. It may end up being a nice balance, you may even like it more than the old smoothing filter.

I'm hoping to find out before I buy I have the RT2X SCART currently, which doesn't have interpolation, just the smoothing filter. At this point, the 5x would mostly be for the N64 generation and up as the older consoles I just use a Mister for, so smoothing, deinterlacing, and resolution swaps are the more important features for me. And I know the latter two are excellent

[mikechi2]

Cool, I'll see if I can replicate that Pikachu yellow and see what happens, haha.

[vol.2]

480p on my Sony CRT has small gaps in the fields that look like faint (blanking lines?) scanlines.

If I understand you correctly, what you are seeing is retrace lines and that means you have your G2 voltage turned up too high. If you think this might be the case, you should post about it in either the Questions that Don't Deserve their own thread thread, or start a new one.

[Linkr2]

Cool, I'll see if I can replicate that Pikachu yellow and see what happens, haha.

Haha, thanks mikechi2 for your awesome work!

As far as I've been testing, any extreme light/pure yellow will trigger that, here is another example.

Dreamcast 480p through scart (with the Sega Dreamcast RGB 480p SCART cable from retrogamingcables), in the CAPCOM vs SNK 2 start screen you can notice that same effect at the bottom of the yellow logo shape, and on the yellow texts of this screen:

Spoiler

Scanlines off:


Scanlines 50%


Scanlines 90%


Scanlines Integer 100%:

[maxtherabbit]

480p on my Sony CRT has small gaps in the fields that look like faint (blanking lines?) scanlines.

If I understand you correctly, what you are seeing is retrace lines and that means you have your G2 voltage turned up too high. If you think this might be the case, you should post about it in either the Questions that Don't Deserve their own thread thread, or start a new one.

Pretty sure that's just a really awkward description of the natural scanlines that occur when sending 31kHz to an SVGA CRT

[Josh128]

^
I agree.


LinkR2-- those 480p scanlines look perfect. This is to a 1080p TV? Do you have some small black bars at top and bottom due to 960p in a 1080p frame?

[Ruprit]

Cool, I'll see if I can replicate that Pikachu yellow and see what happens, haha.

Haha, thanks mikechi2 for your awesome work!

As far as I've been testing, any extreme light/pure yellow will trigger that, here is another example.

Dreamcast 480p through scart (with the Sega Dreamcast RGB 480p SCART cable from retrogamingcables), in the CAPCOM vs SNK 2 start screen you can notice that same effect at the bottom of the yellow logo shape, and on the yellow texts of this screen:

I noticed this issue while playing Shinobi III on the Genesis after I lose a block of health.

Spoiler

[energizerfellow‌]

Got my device today and tested quickly some arcade PCBs. One word : impressive.
Do not pay attention to the colors, I did not set the RGB of my supergun correctly.


PSIKYO SH2


CAVE CV1000B


SNK MVS


Sega System 18


Taito F3

I will test other systems tomorrow (CPS1, CPS2, System 16, System 32, ...)

The Taito F3 is probably the most impressive of those.

Now try it with some Toaplan, Seibu Kaihatsu, or Midway arcade boards.

More info on the Toaplan fun and sync:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=65035

[Gara]

480p on my Sony CRT has small gaps in the fields that look like faint (blanking lines?) scanlines.

If I understand you correctly, what you are seeing is retrace lines and that means you have your G2 voltage turned up too high. If you think this might be the case, you should post about it in either the Questions that Don't Deserve their own thread thread, or start a new one.

No, not a problem. I was just trying to describe the faint lines you see with 480p on a CRT Monitor and their existence being a factor in why someone would introduce artificial scanlines to a 480p source on a modern screen. I guess they are just referred to as scanlines.

[BrianC]

I'm curious to see how this does with Popeye (interlaced arcade game). I managed to order the 5x before it was too late, but I'm still waiting on it to ship.

[N64]

My TINK 5x and HD Retrovision Genesis cables came on the same day, what are the odds? I did notice the same pink stuff when scanlines were turned on. It happened in some yellow areas and some yellow/orange, and even some light blue/almost cyan turned into fully pink pixels with 100% scanlines on. I can post photos if that will help. Also when the brightness switch on the HD Retrovision cables was in the high position it was much worse, maybe it could be an issue of like clipping highlights or something.

Another thing I noticed, with 480p, every output resolution appears fine except for 1080p "under" which crops the bottom of the image quite significantly. 768p appears to as well to a lesser extent.

[Brett_D92]

Got mine a few days ago and am impressed with the results. Though I noticed something that looks like a white flash between certain menu transitions on PS2, and not sure if it's something in my chain or how it actually is. But I'm pretty sure I've never had it on either FM or OSSC:

https://youtu.be/gvAk1_YaprM

This was via Component using HD Retrovision cable, haven't tried it with the other ports yet in case its cable related (would be surprised if it was).

[Kretinou]

Now try it with some Toaplan, Seibu Kaihatsu, or Midway arcade boards.

More info on the Toaplan fun and sync:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=65035

Tried Midway NBA Jam = not working (f***ing 56hz).

Irem M72 and PGM are fine







I'll try later with Toaplan Horror Story and Atari Primal Rage.

I've no Seibu

[Tempest_2084]

I think this may have been answered in one of the review videos but I can't seem to find it now.

S-Video, Composite, and Component all share the same audio jacks right? Can you use RCA splitters to have S-Video and Component hooked up at the same time?

You can't have Composite and Component hooked up at the same time, correct? Even with a splitter?

[Josh128]

You dont want to use splitters unless you can mechanically or electrically disconnect the sources. Splitters alone will feed the signal back into the other source even if its switched off and will cut your signal level by at least 3dB (half). It will darken the input to the 5X.

[Tempest_2084]

You dont want to use splitters unless you can mechanically or electrically disconnect the sources. Splitters alone will feed the signal back into the other source even if its switched off and will cut your signal level by at least 3dB (half). It will darken the input to the 5X.

So how do you have S-Video and Component hooked up at the same time without having to recable each time you want to play? I didn't think splitters would matter too much for audio.

[Josh128]

You dont want to use splitters unless you can mechanically or electrically disconnect the sources. Splitters alone will feed the signal back into the other source even if its switched off and will cut your signal level by at least 3dB (half). It will darken the input to the 5X.

So how do you have S-Video and Component hooked up at the same time without having to recable each time you want to play? I didn't think splitters would matter too much for audio.

Audio isn't really a problem as you can more easily turn up the volume. Video is because you are way more limited on brightness and contrast than audio amplification.

Using a mechanical or active video switch is the best way to do it.

[Tempest_2084]

You dont want to use splitters unless you can mechanically or electrically disconnect the sources. Splitters alone will feed the signal back into the other source even if its switched off and will cut your signal level by at least 3dB (half). It will darken the input to the 5X.

So how do you have S-Video and Component hooked up at the same time without having to recable each time you want to play? I didn't think splitters would matter too much for audio.

Audio isn't really a problem as you can more easily turn up the volume. Video is because you are way more limited on brightness and contrast than audio amplification.

Using a mechanical or active video switch is the best way to do it.

Well that shouldn't be a problem for Component/S-Video then since they have separate video inputs. It's the component/composite that will be the problem. Since I only have one composite system (Intellivision) I guess I'll just have to use that with my other TV.

[shiftednes]

I have been messing around with the 5X and tried it on my Asus PG279Q 1440p monitor. It is not compatible with the 1440p output of the Retrotink 5X which is fine. But the more puzzling thing to me is that it also isn't compatible with 480p output. Is there a technical reason that might be? It works with 720p and 1080p just fine. The OSSC outputs 480p to the Asus monitor just fine as does the Time Sleuth lag tester and an UltraHDMI modded N64 in 480p output. I can't think of any other 480p sources I might have tried.

[energizerfellow‌]

I have been messing around with the 5X and tried it on my Asus PG279Q 1440p monitor. It is not compatible with the 1440p output of the Retrotink 5X which is fine. But the more puzzling thing to me is that it also isn't compatible with 480p output. Is there a technical reason that might be? It works with 720p and 1080p just fine. The OSSC outputs 480p to the Asus monitor just fine as does the Time Sleuth lag tester and an UltraHDMI modded N64 in 480p output. I can't think of any other 480p sources I might have tried.

Sounds like a PC-style VESA 640x480 vs a video-style DTV 480p and your monitor not supporting one of those.

[Ruprit]

I have been messing around with the 5X and tried it on my Asus PG279Q 1440p monitor. It is not compatible with the 1440p output of the Retrotink 5X which is fine. But the more puzzling thing to me is that it also isn't compatible with 480p output. Is there a technical reason that might be? It works with 720p and 1080p just fine. The OSSC outputs 480p to the Asus monitor just fine as does the Time Sleuth lag tester and an UltraHDMI modded N64 in 480p output. I can't think of any other 480p sources I might have tried.

I have that monitor. It's currently in a box, but I can test it out with my 5X in the next few days.

I think the monitor being true G-Sync (has the Nvidia module) is the issue. I remember having a hell of a time using it with my OSSC where only 720p worked.

A few years ago, I looked through Videogameperfection's TV compatibility forums and found more than one G-Sync module monitor with severe incompatibilities. It's a shame to hear that it has carried over to the 5X.

Having said all that, I've owned multiple freesync monitors and have never had an issue with the OSSC and now the 5X. I'd love to know if any monitors containing the G-Sync 2.0 module suffer from the same issues.

[shiftednes]

I just tried 480p on two of my TVs and it also wouldn't work on them. I checked out Bob's RetroRGB video and think I know why. It turns out 480p is actually 1440x480 meant for older VGA monitors or plasma TVs (it looks like it works on newer TVs as well like in his video). I guess my TVs (2009 and 2014) and monitor don't like that width, which is really wide. 480p does work via HDMI to component convertor on a multiformat PVM that can accept 480p like the 14L5 though. https://youtu.be/nwNrqIjxBaA?t=611

[Guspaz]

Is there any particular reason to use 480p output on a modern monitor? The only use case I can think of for 480p is something like using it on a PC CRT.

[shiftednes]

Is there any particular reason to use 480p output on a modern monitor? The only use case I can think of for 480p is something like using it on a PC CRT.

Yeah, probably not. I just always thought of 480p as being like a safe resolution that kind of worked on anything so I was really surprised to see it not working for me and just wanted to know the technical reason of why that might be since something like the OSSC or Framemeister does work. Turns out it is the oversampling.

[Guspaz]

I would be surprised if the output resolution was 1440... Have you tried doing 480p with triple buffering to improve compatibility?