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Sega 32x & Retrotink Mini alternatives?


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My main gaming TV only has HDMI inputs (Samsung 55" QLED series) and I just found out the hard way that adding a Sega 32x to a Genesis through a Retrotink 2x mini is complete crap because the 32X outputs a weird, non-standard chroma signal that the Tink can't lock onto.

 

I was thinking about upgrading to a Everdrive MD Pro so I can also play Sega CD games without needing to deal with the additional headache of having a Sega CD unit - but this has thrown a monkey wrench into my plans.

 

Should I bother?

 

Are there any Sega 32x to HDMI solutions that are low lag and not complete crap?

 

Should I just stick with Sega Genesis/CD/32x emulation on the Raspberry Pi?

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OSSC works fine with mine. VA4 motherboard + 32X + OSSC + optimal timings is not a good combination, as it seems there is some quality to the VA4 specifically that causes that specific combination to not be able to get a good sampling phase, but the OSSC's default settings look good enough that I don't really mind using them when I want to play 32X games.

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15 hours ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

My main gaming TV only has HDMI inputs (Samsung 55" QLED series) and I just found out the hard way that adding a Sega 32x to a Genesis through a Retrotink 2x mini is complete crap because the 32X outputs a weird, non-standard chroma signal that the Tink can't lock onto.

Are you using RGB out from the 32x for this or s-video? I did an s-video mod on a client's 32x recently and they also told me that on their SMS and 32x they can't get a color picture to come through on the tink2x but on their old CRT it works fine? I've never known about this because I don't have a Tink2x myself.

 

I use my Extron 7SC to my OSSC and then to my TV and that has worked great. But before that my JVC SX-700 into a cheap s-video to HDMI converter worked good as well.

 

So you are now the second person I've heard tell about the 32x not working with a Tink2x. But I can tell you that HDRetrovision cables into my OSSC does work and that looked really good just like Steve mentioned above.

 

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2 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Are you using RGB out from the 32x for this or s-video? I did an s-video mod on a client's 32x recently and they also told me that on their SMS and 32x they can't get a color picture to come through on the tink2x but on their old CRT it works fine? I've never known about this because I don't have a Tink2x myself.

 

I use my Extron 7SC to my OSSC and then to my TV and that has worked great. But before that my JVC SX-700 into a cheap s-video to HDMI converter worked good as well.

 

So you are now the second person I've heard tell about the 32x not working with a Tink2x. But I can tell you that HDRetrovision cables into my OSSC does work and that looked really good just like Steve mentioned above.

 

Composite - not yet modded. 
 

Mine is the Tink mini - so no component, only composite and s-video. 
 

I was going to mod it, but after a little research, it seems the s-video mod makes it worse on the Tink mini. 
 

on composite, it's a crapshoot. Sometimes you get the right color palette, sometimes you get what looks like a PAL color palette approximation, and sometimes black and white. 
 

only reason I knew it was the Tink was that the Old RF output from

the same port works fine, well fuzzy and shitty, but the colors are correct. 
 

genesis output looks great without the 32x on top. 
 

the thing is - I don't want to sink another $200 for an OSSC or retro Tink pro 2x and HDretrovision cables, then another $200 on An everdrive pro MD - when I can do all this on the Pi I already have without spending a dime. 

Edited by John Stamos Mullet
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1 hour ago, gorfcadet said:

I use the RetroTINK with my 32X setup with RetroVision cables.  Here is what it looks like…

 

 

 

I really like the results especially for the price of it all.

I mean - it's outputting a stable picture so that's an improvement from my wonky setup. 
 

but watching the side by side - I have to say the colors look better/more natural on the composite/switch video. The colors on the Retrovision cables looks way overdriven and garish. Like someone went into the TV settings and turned the color and the contrast knobs all the way up to "bleeding eyeballs" maximum setting. 
 

 

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15 minutes ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

I mean - it's outputting a stable picture so that's an improvement from my wonky setup. 
 

but watching the side by side - I have to say the colors look better/more natural on the composite/switch video. The colors on the Retrovision cables looks way overdriven and garish. Like someone went into the TV settings and turned the color and the contrast knobs all the way up to "bleeding eyeballs" maximum setting. 
 

 

Well the left side is still a RetroTINK just with composites.  Have you considered an Analogue FPGA?

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17 minutes ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

I mean - it's outputting a stable picture so that's an improvement from my wonky setup. 
 

but watching the side by side - I have to say the colors look better/more natural on the composite/switch video. The colors on the Retrovision cables looks way overdriven and garish. Like someone went into the TV settings and turned the color and the contrast knobs all the way up to "bleeding eyeballs" maximum setting. 
 

 

I use a set of HDR cables on my 32x but it is going straight into my OSSC. I couldn't stand composite output from my Genesis because Text was near impossible to read on some RPGs on my flatpanel. S-video looked great but has the jail bar issue that model 1 units suffer from. But my Genesis looks better than any of my other consoles through my OSSC including the RGB ones.

 

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1 hour ago, gorfcadet said:

Well the left side is still a RetroTINK just with composites.  Have you considered an Analogue FPGA?

Again - - you're talking $500ish investment (MiSTer with all the bells & whistles) for something my $40 RPi already does with completely acceptable results.

 

Unfortuantely it just seems the 32x getting converted to low lag HDMI output is something that will cost me a ton, and still not really produce the kind of results I can already get with so many other real consoles - which is a bummer, but totally unsurprising coming from the Sega Bastard Child.

Edited by John Stamos Mullet
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1 hour ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

I use a set of HDR cables on my 32x but it is going straight into my OSSC. I couldn't stand composite output from my Genesis because Text was near impossible to read on some RPGs on my flatpanel. S-video looked great but has the jail bar issue that model 1 units suffer from. But my Genesis looks better than any of my other consoles through my OSSC including the RGB ones.

 

So is there a version of the OSSC that has S-Video, or Composite inputs, or is it strictly RGB only? RGB would solve the Sega problem, but then exclude the Atari 7800/2600.

 

Maybe this just sounds lazy on my part, but I was hoping to build one system that I can change inputs with a button/remote (I have an Inday switcher now) instead of constantly having to switch cables and devices.

 

the big problem here being that my Sammy TV only has Two HDMI inputs.

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No the OSSC is VGA, SCART RGB, and Component YUV input only. Because of that I have an Extron 7SC that I plug all of my composite, most of my other component and s-video outputs into that. It then converts all inputs into a VGA output that I can lock down to 480P. I send that to the OSSC VGA input along with audio and that goes HDMI to my actual TV in the game room. 

 

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18 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

No the OSSC is VGA, SCART RGB, and Component YUV input only. Because of that I have an Extron 7SC that I plug all of my composite, most of my other component and s-video outputs into that. It then converts all inputs into a VGA output that I can lock down to 480P. I send that to the OSSC VGA input along with audio and that goes HDMI to my actual TV in the game room. 

 

Doesn't having that many components in between the console and the TV produce an unplayable amount of lag?

 

 

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2 hours ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

Doesn't having that many components in between the console and the TV produce an unplayable amount of lag?

 

 

I'm sure there might be some as the Extron is an old commercial grade scaler/converter dating from 2003. But if there is, I'm not noticing it and it is much much less than the lag I was getting from the old s-video/CVBS to HDMI converter I was using before.

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