SegaSnatcher Posted December 9, 2021 Share Posted December 9, 2021 So I tested it out and sadly S-Video doesn't work. It just gives you a black and white image when trying to use the S-Video input in that adapter. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixdownita Posted December 9, 2021 Share Posted December 9, 2021 6 hours ago, zetastrike said: Is that the composite to SCART adapter that you can order? I didn't spring for that because they only mentioned composite. If I knew it also has s-video I would have included it in my order. why? RetroTink-5x already has an Svideo input at the back, would you like a second one? The adapter is for a second composite input via the RGB connector, Scart added SVideo support in the late 80s and I doubt many sets were compatible, at any rate as @SegaSnatcher found out the Svideo Y signal (luma) is connected to component and the C (chroma) according to wikipedia pinout should be on the Blue (or is it Red? I get confused between up and down https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCART for pass-thru), hence if you only use Y you get BW signal (given Y is literally composite without chroma). Given the other composite is shared with YPbPr it kind of make sense to have one available on the Scart side. I am sure Mike could extend support to SVideo on that side from that adapter if he wanted to (already the choice between RGB and Comp-over-RGB is via menu, no fancy detection so adding SVideo could be relatively straightforward). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted December 9, 2021 Share Posted December 9, 2021 Search ebay on "Radio Shack Gold Series A/V Extend-A-Jack" that's what I use, you plug Composite and S-Video into the back of the RT5X, and then you can plug a component source through the back of those jacks. The audio L/R through the red/white jacks, and green component through the yellow. Does sending a component signal through these jacks cause any issue? I doubt it, but I don't use the RT5X for component currently, just S-Video, Composite, and SCART RGB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zetastrike Posted December 12, 2021 Share Posted December 12, 2021 On 12/8/2021 at 8:48 PM, SegaSnatcher said: So I tested it out and sadly S-Video doesn't work. It just gives you a black and white image when trying to use the S-Video input in that adapter. What firmware did your unit have when you got it? Mine shipped on Friday and was wondering if I'll need to update it to the latest one from Mike's site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Pendleton Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 (edited) I recently learned that the OSSC's LPF doesn't work on the VGA input. That might be why it's impossible for one of my Dreamcasts to get a perfect sampling phase. Very disappointing. My other Dreamcast has a sampling phase that works perfectly, though. Edited December 13, 2021 by Steven Pendleton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SegaSnatcher Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 On 12/12/2021 at 9:47 AM, zetastrike said: What firmware did your unit have when you got it? Mine shipped on Friday and was wondering if I'll need to update it to the latest one from Mike's site. All of them are shipped with an older stable firmware. You will likely need to update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeonSpaceBeagle Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 mine is waiting at home right now. i didn't expect it to arrive so soon. I'm at work and there's a 50/50 chance it gets stolen from my apartment building lobby :( I should have gotten it shipped to work. Can anyone who got this recent batch say if the firmware shipped is good enough? I have no way to update the firmware unless I can use a chromebook or my phone. Does Kinko's update firmware for objects? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeonSpaceBeagle Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 Yay it arrived! No power supply though.. is it def okay to plug it into an older led from 2010 and a newer one from 2019? I have fried so many electronics because I've used the wrong power supply. I don't want to fry this thing. I guess I'll Google but that's failed me before too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeonSpaceBeagle Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 So far tried out the N64 and Saturn. Can't say I'm impressed. The tracks in fzero are blotchy. Something seems off with the Saturn sound too. Maybe that one is my svideo cable tho. The scanlines arent bad if you are into that. But I'm not happy with the N64. I cycled through all the settings too. Am I missing something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeonSpaceBeagle Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 And the included remote keeps dimming my lamp I thought I was going insane just now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeonSpaceBeagle Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 Nevermind maybe the roads in fzero were always splotchy. Wipeout 64 looks amazing and the nes emulator in N64 evedrive looks better than I've ever seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeonSpaceBeagle Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 Sorry I should have waited a while and posted just once.. after playing around with it, it's great ! It was on a janky ass tv that keeps reverted backing to retail mode.. cant wait to try out the 480 consoles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 Hey I was curious if you're using like a Sega Genesis/Nomad and want to run that through a modern TV, I know of those POUND cables that have been around, but just randomly saw something similar from LEVELHIKE on amazon and it's like $30 and they have one that'll work with all things cartridge based Sega (SMS, Gen, Nomad, SCD, 32X) and was seeing largely a very very high 4.X / 5 rating. Anyone ever heard of these before and know if it's worth the bother? I have a nomad but sometimes I'd like to use the TV to play like I did like 20 years ago. Is this worth the $30 or are maybe some of those reviews a mix of plugs and people with low standards? https://www.amazon.com/Genesis-Original-Master-System-Console/dp/B07Z5W7QS7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeonSpaceBeagle Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 (edited) I was using a tv16 and I believe a PS2/1 levelhike cable . And I think for 64 as well. They all seemed decent except reds are kind of annoyingly pink and magenta. Sticks out horribly in some games. Edit.. I would get that for 30 seems decent for all those connections. I also didn't notice much lag.. but I'm not great at detecting that unless it's really bad. Edited December 14, 2021 by NeonSpaceBeagle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Pendleton Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Tanooki said: Hey I was curious if you're using like a Sega Genesis/Nomad and want to run that through a modern TV, I know of those POUND cables that have been around, but just randomly saw something similar from LEVELHIKE on amazon and it's like $30 and they have one that'll work with all things cartridge based Sega (SMS, Gen, Nomad, SCD, 32X) and was seeing largely a very very high 4.X / 5 rating. Anyone ever heard of these before and know if it's worth the bother? I have a nomad but sometimes I'd like to use the TV to play like I did like 20 years ago. Is this worth the $30 or are maybe some of those reviews a mix of plugs and people with low standards? https://www.amazon.com/Genesis-Original-Master-System-Console/dp/B07Z5W7QS7 Pound, LevelHike, and Hyperkin are all basically the same thing, as they use the same components. Pretty sure they are all basically the same product just with different brands on them, but all should be avoided. They apparently treat 240p as 480i, which is obviously bad, and the image quality is not great. I had one of them myself. I think it was Hyperkin. Didn't work with my Mega Drive on my monitor, my friend's monitor, or his HDTV. Get this https://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk/RAD2X-CABLES/SEGA-MEGA-DRIVE-2-GENESIS-2-32X-HD-RAD2X-HDMI-480P-CABLE instead. Yeah, it's like double the price, but if all you want is HDMI for only one system and don't mind only getting a line double, this is the best option on the market right now. Edited December 14, 2021 by Steven Pendleton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 (edited) 11 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said: Pound, LevelHike, and Hyperkin are all basically the same thing, as they use the same components. Pretty sure they are all basically the same product just with different brands on them, but all should be avoided. They apparently treat 240p as 480i, which is obviously bad, and the image quality is not great. I had one of them myself. I think it was Hyperkin. Didn't work with my Mega Drive on my monitor, my friend's monitor, or his HDTV. Get this https://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk/RAD2X-CABLES/SEGA-MEGA-DRIVE-2-GENESIS-2-32X-HD-RAD2X-HDMI-480P-CABLE instead. Yeah, it's like double the price, but if all you want is HDMI for only one system and don't mind only getting a line double, this is the best option on the market right now. So that bad eh? I guess a lot of people just like the sharpness the images online you find, but ignore the side effects. That is a bit more steep, and it would be even more so being an import from the UK from the looks of it. I'll see if I can source is closer to home perhaps. I just want a nice clean image if I take my modded Nomad to the TV. The Nomad I have has a nearly decade old adapted in car dvd LCD panel people used to stuff in Nomads before the last 5 years roughly had those mcwill ones and what not. The image is nice and clean, sharp, crisp, right color balance vs the old blues and ghosting of the stock screen, but despite that I'd like to use a TV at times otherwise I'd put up with a dumpy $15 RCA cable. The other even more costly option, free a little space and get the Mega SG essentially. Edited December 14, 2021 by Tanooki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Pendleton Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 9 minutes ago, Tanooki said: So that bad eh? I guess a lot of people just like the sharpness the images online you find, but ignore the side effects. That is a bit more steep, and it would be even more so being an import from the UK from the looks of it. I'll see if I can source is closer to home perhaps. I just want a nice clean image if I take my modded Nomad to the TV. The Nomad I have has a nearly decade old adapted in car dvd LCD panel people used to stuff in Nomads before the last 5 years roughly had those mcwill ones and what not. The image is nice and clean, sharp, crisp, right color balance vs the old blues and ghosting of the stock screen, but despite that I'd like to use a TV at times otherwise I'd put up with a dumpy $15 RCA cable. The other even more costly option, free a little space and get the Mega SG essentially. You can try it, but if your display doesn't accept 480i, you won't get anything out of it. I would not be surprised if that's why it didn't work on the 3 displays that I tried it on. I discovered that it treats the signal as interlaced and that my monitor does not support interlaced long after I'd returned the cable to the store. Not worth the trouble, I think, but you can try it if you want to. I've been using my Nomad and Mega Jet with the RT5X and it works perfectly for both of those. Mega Jet's video output is almost as good as the Mega Sg's, so it looks really incredible. Nomad's is slightly worse, but still pretty good overall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeonSpaceBeagle Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 So I literally shed a tear last night when I hooked the gamecube up with the retrotink5. It was like playing on a giant CRT! <3 Tonight is the PS2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 13 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said: You can try it, but if your display doesn't accept 480i, you won't get anything out of it. I would not be surprised if that's why it didn't work on the 3 displays that I tried it on. I discovered that it treats the signal as interlaced and that my monitor does not support interlaced long after I'd returned the cable to the store. Not worth the trouble, I think, but you can try it if you want to. I've been using my Nomad and Mega Jet with the RT5X and it works perfectly for both of those. Mega Jet's video output is almost as good as the Mega Sg's, so it looks really incredible. Nomad's is slightly worse, but still pretty good overall. Well I'm not sure what it's up to entirely, but the GC2HDMI I have externally on my gamecube pops up a 480i on my screen when it first starts up with a game. But as it is the RT5X is an expensive overkill for my purposes. I just want a clean image that doesn't get all hazy, fuzzy, the usual a cheap RCA cable can do on most LCDs in the last 10-20 years as it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Pendleton Posted December 22, 2021 Share Posted December 22, 2021 New RT5X firmware is available. It's quite impressive. It's now possible to have a true 4:3 image with optimal timings. There are a lot of other things as well, but yeah, basically it's really really good and you definitely want this new firmware. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeonSpaceBeagle Posted December 22, 2021 Share Posted December 22, 2021 (edited) Watched a two hour video on youtube last night (I think RGB something?) with the maker explaining the new features after the update. Quite impressive. A lot of it is so over my head and I have a few questions maybe someone can answer? There seems to be a menu that I am not able to access. It's a menu with really specific input values and stuff like that.. Is that part of the new firmware update? Is there a way to reset the device after messing around with it, or is it a situation where you can really screw it up if you don't know what you are doing like playing around in the service menu of CRT's? One more question.. how sturdy are devices like this? not specifically this, but input boxes in general? I have probably changed cords at least 100 times since I got the device and I don't want to wear anything out or snap anything off, though it appears to be sturdy. Would I be better off maybe getting a male to female adapter for each of the input holes on the device so that that the only thing that would break with repeated penetration would be the adapters? I was impressed with everything I threw at it, except for the HD Hyperkin Megaretron. That has digital HDMI and also analog AV out. I tried the av composite and there was a lot of interference and jailbars (the only issue).. I wound up buying a used genesis off craigslist yesterday and there's no jail bars. (of course the reset button is broken on the genesis grrr). Tell me not to buy the hd retrovision cables, and that's it's a waste of money though. it is right!? (i know it's probably not).. but how much of a better experience is using those cables on this device? a big difference? EDIT- so there's definitely no way whatsoever I can update the firmware with an android phone or chromebook? Edited December 22, 2021 by NeonSpaceBeagle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted December 22, 2021 Share Posted December 22, 2021 In answer to the HDRetrovision cables, I own 2. I own their cables for the Genesis/Megadrive and their PS2 component cables. The component cables for the PS2 are just a slightly better quality vs any others you could likely get but to be fair, those cables aren't that expensive compared to the cables for their Genesis and SNES systems. What those cables are doing is transcoding the RGB signals from the console and providing you with a component output to use. I still say that my sega Genesis through those cables produces the best overall image from any of my consoles going into the OSSC. I think it even looks better than the RGB consoles I have connected up. But this is largely due to how settings are setup. My Sony doesn't really like any of the optimized timings through the OSSC so I have to use the passthrough mode or Generic 4:3 setting for the timings on most of them. The Genesis however, I'm able to use optimized timings and it looks fantastic because of this. My point is HDR cables are expensive yes, but I think it was worth every cent for the quality I get from my Genesis console. The ONLY issue I've had with my cables (I've had them for a few year now I think?). Is that the 3.5mm audio input jack on the side on mine is flaky and would cause audio to cut in/out. As a result I'm not using that and have a separate set of audio cables from the Genesis going into the OSSC directly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeonSpaceBeagle Posted December 22, 2021 Share Posted December 22, 2021 I see there are knockoffs of the HD Retrovision cables for genesis on ebay for about 22 dollars.. They look the same. Some reviews are okay, some say they are trash.. I think i'm going to chance it. I wasn't prepared for this rabbit hole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted December 22, 2021 Share Posted December 22, 2021 4 hours ago, NeonSpaceBeagle said: I see there are knockoffs of the HD Retrovision cables for genesis on ebay for about 22 dollars.. They look the same. Some reviews are okay, some say they are trash.. I think i'm going to chance it. I wasn't prepared for this rabbit hole. https://www.ebay.com/itm/353454629234?hash=item524b89a172:g:UzcAAOSwCFFgdQ2G These things? I wouldn't touch those. HDR cost what $65? Not bad considering the quality, performance, and with adapters you can run Genesis, Master System, TG-16, Saturn, Neo Geo, PS1 off the same set of cables. RetroTink products seem to be extremely durable. They are made FOR video gaming, whereas in the past we've had to repurpose professional video equipment for the same tasks, and those crapped out as many were very old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newtmonkey Posted December 23, 2021 Author Share Posted December 23, 2021 (edited) I fooled around with the latest RetroTINK-5X firmware, and it's a game changer. It's taken the device from "awesome" to "amazing." The biggest changes are the menu and the ability to save/load profiles. Tons of options have been added, but I suspect most people will leave them alone, with the possible exception of the vertical and horizontal position settings. The zoom settings are nice—you can now set optimized console-specific settings AND get a perfect 4:3 aspect ratio. I spent last night setting up a composite video Famicom profile, and it's wonderful. Perfectly centered, perfect 4:3 aspect ratio, and set to 1080 OVER to crop the overscan areas. I decided to go with the "consumer 2" scanline filter, and combined with the 4-line comb filter, it looks surprisingly clear and very close to consumer CRT in look. It's really amazing. I plan to setup my other profiles (PCE, N64, PSP, PS2) over the weekend, so I'll take some pictures and upload them once I'm done. --- I'm still paranoid about using the SCART input as you aren't supposed to use TTL CSYNC cables with the RT5X, and I have no way of telling if any of my SCART cables are TTL. My first RT5X was either defective out of the box, damaged in shipping, or destroyed by a bad cable (Mike Chi did replace at it no cost, for which I am eternally grateful), so I don't want to risk it, but I also don't want to go spend hundreds on all new cables just to be sure. So for now, I will keep using the OSSC for SCART RGB, and the RT5X for composite/S-video/component. --- In other news, I've been using the OSSC with my dedicated DOS gaming PC. It looks absolutely fantastic, and now I can turn on the scanline filter for EGA games and pretend I'm playing them on an actual EGA card and EGA monitor :). One issue I've run into is that the monitor drops the signal when switching from text mode (DOS prompt) to graphics mode (nearly all DOS games). A quick press of the input button fixes it, but it's a little annoying. I'll have to fool around with the sync settings and see if I can resolve it. Does anyone have any advice on specific sync settings on which I should focus in troubleshooting this? Edited December 23, 2021 by newtmonkey 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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