XRGB-mini Framemeister

[noonan2678]

Wow, ya, sorry about that. I was replying with the thought that you were referring to a PVM monitor. I believe I read it in another post/thread.

My response is completely not valid. Sorry about that.

[Chocograph]

With FW 2.00, did they fix scanlines for 288p pal?

[Fudoh]

With FW 2.00, did they fix scanlines for 288p pal?

what was wrong with them ? Besides the fact you either had to use 576p output or overscan 288p to 240p for a 720p output.

[gutsmanheavy]

overscan 288p to 240p for a 720p output.

How can you do that?

[FBX]

overscan 288p to 240p for a 720p output.

How can you do that?

If I had to guess, it means using the zoom functions until the top and bottom 24 pixels are cut off. Fudoh can correct me if I'm barking up the wrong tree.

[Fudoh]

yes - just what you're doing with your 1080p profiles.

The difference is that most 288p signals only use the inner 240p area anyway (basically the original 240p signal running on a 288p carrier). Next to no titles in the 16-bit era and only the minority of titles in the 32-bit era had been adjusted to use the full PAL (low-res) resolution.

[Xan]

I believe PS1/PS2 can only use 256 or 512 lines in PAL anyway, not sure about other systems.

[Edward_Tz]

Read back the last 10 pages. Didn't see a solid answer. Sorry if it has been talked about already.

Did the update help the 240p to 480i transition time?

[Bobster]

Read back the last 10 pages. Didn't see a solid answer. Sorry if it has been talked about already.

Did the update help the 240p to 480i transition time?

Nope. Sadly it's still really bad

[austin532]

FBX, after doing some tests it seems like V_Scaler 4 is better or at least cleaner than 5 for 480i content. I was wondering if you got around to testing this or noticed this before and had a different opinion.

[noonan2678]

@FBX - finally tested while forcing 1080p. I have to say, the settings look great! I normally play with scanlines, but everything does look great even without.

I've only tried SNES so far, but will check out the others as well. Regarding 4X and 5X, I get what it's doing. The 5X fills a 4:3 window on my 55" while the 4X is a bit smaller. Does that sound about right?

[austin532]

Read back the last 10 pages. Didn't see a solid answer. Sorry if it has been talked about already.

Did the update help the 240p to 480i transition time?

Nope. Sadly it's still really bad

I doubt this will ever get fixed and is probably the most requesting issue that Micomsoft fix but I'm still thinking positive hoping it will one day. Even if they can't fix this completely, shortening the transition time by 1-2 seconds will still be a huge improvement.

[pyrotek85]

Read back the last 10 pages. Didn't see a solid answer. Sorry if it has been talked about already.

Did the update help the 240p to 480i transition time?

Nope. Sadly it's still really bad

I doubt this will ever get fixed and is probably the most requesting issue that Micomsoft fix but I'm still thinking positive hoping it will one day. Even if they can't fix this completely, shortening the transition time by 1-2 seconds will still be a huge improvement.

It might also just be a hardware limitation or quirk of some kind that can't be fixed with software.

[parodius]

I believe PS1/PS2 can only use 256 or 512 lines in PAL anyway, not sure about other systems.

Some 3D Saturn games have been optimized for PAL, they run faster to compensate for 50Hz and use 288p, for example Sega Rally.

[FBX]

@FBX - finally tested while forcing 1080p. I have to say, the settings look great! I normally play with scanlines, but everything does look great even without.

I've only tried SNES so far, but will check out the others as well. Regarding 4X and 5X, I get what it's doing. The 5X fills a 4:3 window on my 55" while the 4X is a bit smaller. Does that sound about right?

5x overscans by 8 pixels, and this is because 5 x 224 = 1120

4x underscans because 4 x 224 = 896

The 4x mode is better for scanlines if that's your thing. Personally, I think using 4x and scanlines set to 80 and 110 looks pretty damned good for SNES.

[herna]

Good afternoon,

I am planning to build my own arcade cabinet with some sort of PC+MAME inside.

Since I'm having some troubles to find any reliable original arcade monitors, I was planning to use the XRGB-mini with an LCD monitor or TV. My first idea is to connect and HDMI cable from the PC to the XRGB HDMI input and another one from the XRGB HDMI output back to the LCD monitor.

Do you think it's possible? Is this a good option to get proper results? Sorry but all the examples I've seen from the rest of the people is with original consoles like NES, SNES, MegaDrive...

Thank you very much.

[Tomdominer]

Ok, I'm having so many problems with this box and I can find little to no support apart from this forum. I accept that these are all problems created because I'm using unusual hardware, or a combination of pal and ntsc machines, but I can only get a perfect working signal out of two of the five consoles that I have plugged into it. Also, for the rgb signal using a euro scart convertor and firmware 2 I seem to have to always set the sync level to even get any sort of picture.

Japanese Super Famicom: This console never gets perfectly in sync and always has v-sync issues. It seems most stable at around 22hz I guess. I'm using an official nintendo gamecube euro scart cable.

European Megadrive / Genisis: The picture's colour hue is wrong. I'm using a euro rgb scart cable: https://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk/seg ... le-tv-lead

European 3D0: Black and white picture. I've read that the framemeister doesn't work for pal s-video or composite signal, so there might be nothing I can do here.

Does anyone have any advice on how to contact or where to look for support as I can't only really find this thread....

[Fudoh]

Do you think it's possible? Is this a good option to get proper results? Sorry but all the examples I've seen from the rest of the people is with original consoles like NES, SNES, MegaDrive...

no, it's not a good idea. On an emulation rig you got much better CRT shaders available than what a Framemeister could provide. The XRGB is meant for original sources.

[RGB32E]

Japanese Super Famicom: This console never gets perfectly in sync and always has v-sync issues. It seems most stable at around 22hz I guess. I'm using an official nintendo gamecube euro scart cable.

The DOL-013 cable has a series 220uF capacitor on the composite video line that if bypassed, should fix your sync issues. I've had to perform this modification on my own DOL-013 cable as I don't have any PAL consoles. SNES pin 3 is also wired in the cable - 12VDC on PAL, CSYNC on NTSC consoles. Alternatively, you can remove the 220uF cap and move the SNES pin 3 wire in the SCART plug to where the negative leg would be connected to give you CSYNC output. However, the cable won't be safe with PAL consoles if you modify it for CSYNC, as feeding 12VDC to the XRGB-mini could damage the unit!

[Tomdominer]

Japanese Super Famicom: This console never gets perfectly in sync and always has v-sync issues. It seems most stable at around 22hz I guess. I'm using an official nintendo gamecube euro scart cable.

The DOL-013 cable has a series 220uF capacitor on the composite video line that if bypassed, should fix your sync issues. I've had to perform this modification on my own DOL-013 cable as I don't have any PAL consoles. SNES pin 3 is also wired in the cable - 12VDC on PAL, CSYNC on NTSC consoles. Alternatively, you can remove the 220uF cap and move the SNES pin 3 wire in the SCART plug to where the negative leg would be connected to give you CSYNC output. However, the cable won't be safe with PAL consoles if you modify it for CSYNC, as feeding 12VDC to the XRGB-mini could damage the unit!

I really appreciate the answer, but I only vaguely understand what you said. I'm a retro game enthusiast that kinda thought all this would be fairly "plug in and play" but this all seems way deep on the video / input understanding level.

I've been mostly feeling my way around the unit and how it works by trial and error. Plugging and unplugging things. So, I've solved the Snes problem by unplugging every other video cable going into the unit. Weirdly, if I even had the component audio input hooked up (but not switched on) it would cause these syncing issues, as would ANY cable plugged into the device at the same time as the Snes DOL-013 cable.

Also, I had my pal megadrive (genesis) plugged into a scart swicher box, which seems to change the colour for some of the inputs, no idea why. My megadrive still has sync issues. It worked before, but now it won't ever settle, regardless of the sync level I choose. Also, interestingly, I even get sync issues on the snes if the screen goes white or near white? Would this be related to the cable issue?

Any help is very very welcome, as I've blown a load of cash on this and haven't really be able to use it yet...

[FBX]

New profile: NTSC Super Game Boy with the Game Boy image area exactly filling the screen on 1080p with no scaling artifacts!

Right, so the trick here is to first use one of the SNES profiles so you can see to make your SGB assignments and select the black border. Once you do this, you can then simply load the "SGBRGB7X" profile, and it will expand the image so that the Game Boy graphics EXACTLY fill the 1080 screen vertically. This is of course provided you set your display to "Full Pixel" as usual. You'll also want to make sure the Game Boy area is perfectly centered on the vertical axis. This is done by adjusting the ZOOM_V_POS setting until it aligns perfectly with the top and bottom edge of the screen. On my display, a value of 49 hit the spot.

New profile is already added to the download zip.

[opt2not]

New profile: NTSC Super Game Boy with the Game Boy image area exactly filling the screen on 1080p with no scaling artifacts!

this is going to be awesome.

[RGB32E]

A SGB profile for setting zoom size to 60? Is there anything else particular to it? Haven't gone through the hassle of DL your profiles, but a single setting appears to do what you describe.

[RGB32E]

I really appreciate the answer, but I only vaguely understand what you said. I'm a retro game enthusiast that kinda thought all this would be fairly "plug in and play" but this all seems way deep on the video / input understanding level.

Unfortunately using original HW with any of the XRGB units can be a non-plug and play experience depending upon the display, cabling, switches, and particular console revisions (many variables to fail boat).

[FBX]

A SGB profile for setting zoom size to 60? Is there anything else particular to it? Haven't gone through the hassle of DL your profiles, but a single setting appears to do what you describe.

Yes fortunately it only took one setting change instead of having to juggle overscan as well. However, it's technically faster to just load the profiles instead of having to change the zoom size up and down as you switch between sizes. That and also it doesn't have to be explained as a special case for the newbies. They just load it like all the other profiles.

[leonk]

Where else can we find profiles? Looking for nesrgb and tg16.

[FBX]

Where else can we find profiles? Looking for nesrgb and tg16.

My NES RGB arrives tomorrow, so I'll be double-checking them. However, preliminary reports are that the SNES profiles work just the same for it as well. TG16 would be further down the road as I'm tapped out currently after buying the NES RGB-modded console.

I honestly don't know if anyone else is doing profile packages.

[wake_me]

New XRGB mini owner with troubles. I think my micro sd card is corrupt and preventing me from installing the firmware, but when I have the xrgb mini hooked up through the hdmi output I get no image on my screen when it is powered on and hitting menu button. I tried on three different tvs and using different hdmi cables. Will it not output an image at all until the initial firmware install or could this be another problem? I can't find any info doing a google search. I'm going to get another mem card today, but I am just worried about not getting the xrgb menu outputted


thanks so much.

[opt2not]

I honestly don't know if anyone else is doing profile packages.

I think you're the only one. And we love you for it!!!

[FBX]

I honestly don't know if anyone else is doing profile packages.

I think you're the only one. And we love you for it!!!

Hey thanks!

Well my RGB modded NES arrived in the mail today, and I'm STUNNED at how good it looks! I took my JP-21 RGB CSync cable and hooked it up to the Framemiester. I had it default to my SNES5X profile and it worked perfectly with razor-sharp graphics! I dare say it looks even better than an emulator because of how well the Framemeister corrects the aspect ratio whilst still retaining that sharp pixel look.

One downside is even the default Nestopia palette that comes installed on the board is only about 80% accurate to the original console's colors. The past week I have been obsessively working on a new palette that mimics the original graphics as closely as possible. My current progress is at about 97%, and I'm having to invest in an Ever Drive cart so I can run a test ROM on the console. The test ROM fills the screen with one palette entry, and I can use the controller to advance the screen to the next palette. I really only need this for a few of the dark green shades to get them nailed down perfect. My palette is already looking superb as is, but I want it as close to 'perfect' as possible. Tim even offered to install it on a NESRGB board for me as a sort of 'special edition' sort of thing, so I'm very excited to get this project finished.

At any rate, the SNES profiles do work great for NESRGB, but I'm now working on a new profile that shows all 240 lines of the NES. This can only be done by maxing ZOOM_SIZE to 100, lowering the V_WIDTH (in VISUAL_SET menu) to 31, and then using ZOOM_OVERSCAN to adjust the image size. It may not be possible to get uniform integer scaling this way, but this profile will be good for games like Legend of Zelda, where the game doesn't look right unless you can see all 240 lines.