What is the best HDMI cable for Dreamcast?

[Bonkey Kong]

Has anyone used any of the HDMI cables for the Dreamcast?

 

I am thinking about buying the Hyperkin version and curious if anyone here has used it that might know if it is a smart buy or not?

 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

If you want the best HDMI from a DC you have to save up the bucks and get a DCDigital installed. While I've not used this exact cable with a DC, I do have one of their Genesis HDMI cables and was not impressed as the image was darker, softer and introduced lag that wasn't present when using my HDRetrovision cables with my Genesis setup.

 

In fact, it might even be a better image to go with a VGA cable set for the DC and then get a VGA to HDMI converter to use from there.

 

[Hydro Thunder]

If you're looking for a cheap HDMI output for Dreamcast, I recommend the cable by the brand LevelHike.  It is head and shoulders above Hyperkin and most other offerings in terms of brightness, clarity, and such and is usually available from StoneAge Gamer.  I got the Hyperkin cable first and did not like it very much at all.  

The LevelHike is about $30 and though it's not ultimate, the lag isn't too bad and the picture is very good (especially in comparison to the Hyperkin and other inexpensive offerings).

If you search for reviews that include LevelHike, you'll see it comes out on top vs the other cables of that sort.

[Steven Pendleton]

Hyperkin, LevelHike, Pound, and all of that is the same exact thing: garbage. Those things are horrible. They cause lag, the picture quality is not great, and the ones that handle 240p systems treat the signal as 480i instead of 240p. They're all essentially the same generic product, as they all use basically the same low-quality components. They are mass-produced in China and different companies buy them, put their names on them, and sell them, but they're all more or less identical.

 

You have a few options: DCDigital is literally the highest-quality option. It requires cutting your Dreamcast's case, so be aware of that. It is the single best option on the market as long as you don't mind cutting the case.

 

Other than that, there are a few other options. VGA to either OSSC, RetroTINK 5X-Pro, or Framemeister is probably going to be the next best thing. After that is probably something like a Dreamcast HDMI box. I have the Akura from Beharbros. It's okay, but it uses the same VGA to HDMI converter that those cheap cables use, so the image is slightly distorted and off-center, which is a problem that apparently affects the Pound/LevelHike/Hyperkin cables.

 

Now I have never used the Pound/LevelHike/Hyperkin Dreamcast cable, but I did have one of them (I think Hyperkin) for the Genesis/MD and it didn't work at all on my monitor, my friend's monitor, or my friend's TV. Just know what you're getting if you do decide to buy one of those.

Edited August 8, 2021 by Steven Pendleton
Punctuation is nice to have. Apparently I forgot that for a moment.

[Hydro Thunder]

All of what Steven Pendleton says above is correct regarding what is better than what; I am working on improving my DC output as well.

Just keep in mind that the LevelHike / Pound etc cables are $30ish…

 

The OSSC is around $130-$200 iirc

The Retrotink5x is $300

The Framemeister is going for $1200 currently on Amazon (!)

 

And in that light, I again recommend LevelHike if your budget is in the $30 range.  If you want the best and can afford it, the Retrotink5x is getting the best reviews all around.

[+Cafeman]

Akura looks great on my set. $85. Mind you, it is not an upscaler but my Panasonic Plasma works great with this box and the output is quite pleasing. 

[Bonkey Kong]

Thanks to all the suggestions.

 

I like playing my disc games so not wanting do the digital thing.

 

I am going to look into the Akura and LevelHike as I have not heard of those before.

 

Since you who have tried them say they are not the best, I guess I may just stick with original cables that I have.

[Steven Pendleton]

4 hours ago, Bonkey Kong said:

Thanks to all the suggestions.

 

I like playing my disc games so not wanting do the digital thing.

 

I am going to look into the Akura and LevelHike as I have not heard of those before.

 

Since you who have tried them say they are not the best, I guess I may just stick with original cables that I have.

Alright. I'd also seriously consider S-video + Framemeister/OSSC/RetroTINK if you have one of those, as S-video is still good and has 100% compatibility with the entire Dreamcast library, unlike VGA. S-video will give you interlaced video for a lot of games, unfortunately. OSSC's bob deinterlacing is not great and can cause image retention on some screens like my monitor, but the others, or anything else with good deinterlacing, should be fine.

 

Also, if you don't care about fake scanlines, consider the Gekko instead of the Akura, as the Gekko is the same thing but cheaper and the only difference that I can remember is that the Akura has optional fake scanlines. The fake scanlines look okay, but I've seen better. I just checked and the Akura also has analog audio output. Other than that, no real differences.

Edited August 19, 2021 by Steven Pendleton

[aarthurn]

2 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Alright. I'd also seriously consider S-video + Framemeister/OSSC/RetroTINK if you have one of those, as S-video is still good and has 100% compatibility with the entire Dreamcast library, unlike VGA. S-video will give you interlaced video for a lot of games, unfortunately. OSSC's bob deinterlacing is not great and can cause image retention on some screens like my monitor, but the others, or anything else with good deinterlacing, should be fine.

 

Also, if you don't care about fake scanlines, consider the Gekko instead of the Akura, as the Gekko is the same thing but cheaper and the only difference that I can remember is that the Akura has optional fake scanlines. The fake scanlines look okay, but I've seen better. I just checked and the Akura also has analog audio output. Other than that, no real differences.

I'd second the Gekko, my TV has VGA in an looks good with a cheap VGA cable but when I gave an extra DC to a friend I got him a Gekko. We gave it a run on my 1080p BenQ 2150ST and it looked great even blown up to 150".  It isn't perfect and I think the DC Digital internal mod would be the best you could do but it is MUCH more expensive.

 

Watch this for more detail:

 

DC Digital

 

 

 

[Bonkey Kong]

14 hours ago, aarthurn said:

I'd second the Gekko, my TV has VGA in an looks good with a cheap VGA cable but when I gave an extra DC to a friend I got him a Gekko. We gave it a run on my 1080p BenQ 2150ST and it looked great even blown up to 150".  It isn't perfect and I think the DC Digital internal mod would be the best you could do but it is MUCH more expensive.

 

Watch this for more detail:

 

DC Digital

 

 

 

The Gekko seems to be the one that I am most interested in since I am just looking for HDMI out that will look good on a modern big screen.

I am not wanting to mod my console though and also want to be able to continue to play my Dreamcast discs.

 

Thanks again for all the awesome suggestions.

[newtmonkey]

I wouldn't even consider anything from Hyperkin, LevelHike, or Pound, as they are pretty much all the same exact thing (garbage) in a different enclosure.  They might be "okay" (i.e. they work) for Dreamcast games that run in VGA and I doubt they would add any lag since they are likely just functioning as simple analog-digital converters receiving VGA and sending 480p over HDMI, but they don't seem to work with 240p/480i games.  I would be more concerned with their use of cheap components, which would likely degrade the image quality.

 

The Beharbros products (Akuma/Gekko) are more expensive but use decent components and don't have problems with non-VGA games.  The Gekko looks to be 65 USD now, which is quite a bit more expensive that the cheap garbage you can find on Amazon, but I think it would definitely be worth spending the extra $$$ on a quality product that works properly.

[Bonkey Kong]

On 8/20/2021 at 4:27 AM, newtmonkey said:

I wouldn't even consider anything from Hyperkin, LevelHike, or Pound, as they are pretty much all the same exact thing (garbage) in a different enclosure.  They might be "okay" (i.e. they work) for Dreamcast games that run in VGA and I doubt they would add any lag since they are likely just functioning as simple analog-digital converters receiving VGA and sending 480p over HDMI, but they don't seem to work with 240p/480i games.  I would be more concerned with their use of cheap components, which would likely degrade the image quality.

 

The Beharbros products (Akuma/Gekko) are more expensive but use decent components and don't have problems with non-VGA games.  The Gekko looks to be 65 USD now, which is quite a bit more expensive that the cheap garbage you can find on Amazon, but I think it would definitely be worth spending the extra $$$ on a quality product that works properly.

Yes the Gekko is $65, I will watch some reviews on it before I decide to get it or not.  I would rather spend $65 on something good then $20 on crap.

[newtmonkey]

@Bonkey Kong

Good idea, but just be careful when watching Youtube reviews.  There are a lot of shills out there with channels just so they can get free stuff from manufacturers, so a lot of the reviews on Youtube can't really be trusted.

[Hydro Thunder]

Just going to throw out there that I have been running my games through VGA on a TV that has the input and LOVING the picture.
Also, a thing that makes me exceedingly happy, is somehow my Hydro Thunder via GD EMU is "fixed" and plays perfectly this way (even though there are tons of reports out there that this particular game will not run any way any how you try it via VGA).  I just loaded it via the GD EMU program with "VGA Fix" enabled.

 

Only question that I probably know the answer to is...this isn't the case for Plasma Sword, one of my actual honest favorite DC games (guilty pleasure, I have no defense).  Can't get it to run even using the method that worked for HydroThunder above.  If anyone has a solution, I am very interested.  Thanks in advance!

[Steven Pendleton]

A small number of Dreamcast games don't work in VGA and as far as I know they can't be forced to do so. As far as I know, you'd have to use S-video to get the best video quality from those games, as that is the highest-quality analog video thingy that works with everything. Not even sure what DCDigital does with those games.

Edited January 9 by Steven Pendleton

[Hydro Thunder]

2 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

A small number of Dreamcast games don't work in VGA and as far as I know they can't be forced to do so. As far as I know, you'd have to use S-video to get the best video quality from those games, as that is the highest-quality analog video thingy that works with everything. Not even sure what DCDigital does with those games.

Indeed - I would also be interested to know if DCDigital can play Plasma Sword.  In the meantime, as the only game I care about that I can't run in my GD Emu VGA DC, I'm happy enough to play it in ReDream.  And yes, I can has my original copy too.  I don't have any TVs that have S-video unfortunately, best picture on my composite "regular" disc drive DC is on my GX TV.  Looks nice but...13".  Mwah Mwaaaaa.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

@Steven Pendleton @Hydro Thunder

 

The DCDigital has a mode on it that you select where you change it from VGA to cable select. What this does is then somehow fake out the DC into letting those non vga games to run and come up and the DCDigital essentially reprocesses the image and upscales it. As a result, those games won't look near as sharp as games that support the actual VGA do, but it allows them to be played full screen without having to actually swap the cables as a result. Just a few buttons pressed to activate the OSD to switch the cable mode and have it reset the system. That is how it works with the older DCDigital kits like I have.

 

The newer kit known as DCDigital HW2 improves on this and now those games don't look nearly as soft as they used to and just seem to work. Bangai-O is my main test game for this because it refuses to work on VGA through any known tricks and because the sprites are so small, how clear it all looks is a good measure for how well the scaling is. This game looked so good through the newer 2.0 version I've been very tempted to get one since the ribbon cables are the same so I only have to swap out the main board for the different version as a result.