RetroTink 2X Pro flakey?

[BillDMatt]

I was wondering if anyone else who has their atari 2600 hooked up to a RetroTink 2x Pro experience random signal loss.     It doesn't happen all the time  but it does happen periodically,    The retrotink itself will flash, like it's booting up , the screen will go blank during a game for a about a second or two and then the signal comes back.    I do know it's meant for at least 240P and an atari sends out a lower resolution output than that  and it may struggle with it  but If that was the case I would think it would happen all the time.   Again, it doesn't happen all the time just periodically .   And then I may goes days or a few weeks without it happening.   So it's hard to recreate.  

 

Anywho I was wondering if anyone else has  experienced this as well.   or  do I might have a flakey one.

 

My set up is    S-Video modd to the RetroTink....   audio  r/w cable out to separate speaker,  HDMI  from RetroTink to the the TV.   RetroTink is powered by USB to TV.  

 

Thanks for any help

Edited May 25, 2023 by BillDMatt

[Tempest]

Is it on every game or only certain games?  Some games don't play well with the 2X or 5X without being patched due to out of spec sync coding.

[BillDMatt]

1 minute ago, Tempest said:

Is it on every game or only certain games?  Some games don't play well with the 2X or 5X without being patched due to out of spec sync coding.

It can be any game.  I can play Ms. Pacman for weeks on end and nothing will happen, but then out of the blue it will do it.   I do know certain game just won't play at all,  Asteroids, Battle Zone,  War Lords,  I can't play those at all on my atari retro tink,  but  the other games normally play just fine, except for the random dropped signal issue.   

[Tempest]

Warlords, Star Wars ESB, Battlezone, Buck Rogers, and Moon Patrol are all known to have issues (never heard of Asteroids having problems though), but other games should be ok.   I'm not sure what your issue is then.

 

BTW you can find patched versions of the games I mentioned above that will work.

[BillDMatt]

48 minutes ago, Tempest said:

Warlords, Star Wars ESB, Battlezone, Buck Rogers, and Moon Patrol are all known to have issues (never heard of Asteroids having problems though), but other games should be ok.   I'm not sure what your issue is then.

 

BTW you can find patched versions of the games I mentioned above that will work.

Asteroids only recently had the screen blanking issues, but it was more in common with the BattleZone and Star Wars ESB.   I always suspected I might have a Flakey one since it never consistently held the audio.   So I have to re route the audio to a separate speaker and then connect the S Video directly to the retroTink.    

[+GoldLeader]

I think I've only used mine twice w/Atari (S-video modded 7800),   and more often with other systems...But once it was hooked up,  I never had any issue that I recall.  I wonder if there's something wrong with your Retro-Tink?  A call to their customer service (if they have one) might be in order.

 

2 other random thoughts:  If your power cable goes out,  that would happen.  Also if your HDMI cable or S-Video cable, is flaky,  that could happen.  I'd replace all of those with quality parts and triple check before calling customer service.

[akator]

I've had lots of issues with my RetroTink 2X Pro and the 2600.  Most of the issues appear to be because of video timing changes, something common with the 2600 and its games.  My RetroTink seems to be very sensitive to these changes.

 

I verified the cause was video timing changes by comparing different 2600 hardware, a 7800 running 2600 games, other HDMI encoders, and MiSTer.  The RetroTink video drops don't happen with my Atari 800XL, VIC-20, Genesis/32X, Sega CD, PlayStation, or Dreamcast.  The 2600 video timing changes trip up the RetroTink far more than my cheap ($35) Tendak HDMI upscaler or the HDTV's built-in composite inputs.

 

I've tried different USB power supplies and video cables.  The problem seems to be slightly improved by using a S-Video signal amplifier but it doesn't eliminate the issue.

Edited May 25, 2023 by akator

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Doesn't the Tink5x have a new buffer mode built into it to help address these issues on the 2600 side of things? I don't only either the Tink2x or 5x but had heard it has that feature in it and I know they provide firmware updates all the time on the newer 5x product. The only Retrotink product I own is my Tink2x SCART that I use in the lab for RGB upgrades but that doesn't apply. 

 

 

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

16 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Doesn't the Tink5x have a new buffer mode built into it to help address these issues on the 2600 side of things?

 

That's right, the Tink5x has a setting called Triple Buffer and I have it turned on for my 2600 profile. It makes a HUGE difference with games that have line count and other screen issues and helps prevent sending a picture to the TV that might cause it to lose signal. It's even helpful when powering on the 2600 so that you're able to see the output immediately.

 

This setting is especially important with classic era games that were programmed with the wider tolerance of a CRT vs sensitive modern digital equipment. It's also helpful with homebrew games that are still WIP and haven't worked out all their bugs yet.

 

- James

[+SpiceWare]

On 5/25/2023 at 1:55 PM, Tempest said:

never heard of Asteroids having problems though

 

Asteroids has a VSYNC issue, @Omegamatrix found and fixed it for his awesome menu version of Asteroids:

 

The next release of Stella will show VSYNC! if an issue is detected with how the game generates VSYNC:

 

@BillDMatt - if you have a flash cart you should download the menu versions of Asteroids and Warlords as they include a fix for the VSYNC issue.

 

 

[+sramirez2008]

1 hour ago, SpiceWare said:

 

Asteroids has a VSYNC issue, @Omegamatrix found and fixed it for his awesome menu version of Asteroids:

 

+1 I love @Omegamatrix menu version of Asteroids. Love it! 

 

Btw, I have a RetroTINK 2X "Classic" and have not experienced any issues with it, although I only use it during game nights. 

[BillDMatt]

On 5/25/2023 at 10:07 PM, -^CrossBow^- said:

Doesn't the Tink5x have a new buffer mode built into it to help address these issues on the 2600 side of things? I don't only either the Tink2x or 5x but had heard it has that feature in it and I know they provide firmware updates all the time on the newer 5x product. The only Retrotink product I own is my Tink2x SCART that I use in the lab for RGB upgrades but that doesn't apply. 

 

 

I was thinking of getting the 5x but thought that the price to my needs might be overkill, but if the randoms black screens do continue I might just go that route.    It's so weird it hasn't happened since I posted this but it could flare up today who knows.   

[BillDMatt]

On 5/26/2023 at 4:23 PM, SpiceWare said:

 

Asteroids has a VSYNC issue, @Omegamatrix found and fixed it for his awesome menu version of Asteroids:

 

The next release of Stella will show VSYNC! if an issue is detected with how the game generates VSYNC:

 

@BillDMatt - if you have a flash cart you should download the menu versions of Asteroids and Warlords as they include a fix for the VSYNC issue.

 

 

thanks  I glead it's not my system,  I tried it again and its unplayable.   I know just play it on my other atari that's hooked up via composite on a crt.   

  

Edited June 3, 2023 by BillDMatt

[+DrVenkman]

On 5/26/2023 at 4:43 PM, sramirez2008 said:

+1 I love @Omegamatrix menu version of Asteroids. Love it! 

 

Btw, I have a RetroTINK 2X "Classic" and have not experienced any issues with it, although I only use it during game nights. 

I discovered the Asteroids issue early on (first couple days) with my RetroTINK 2X Pro. At least a few other games I recall having issues off-hand: 

 

1. Empire Strikes Back (weird screen flash and freeze/missed frame(s) when destroying AT-ATs

2. Starmaster (just doesn’t work - black screen). 

3. Battle Zone - jumpy/hesitant images

 

I know there are a few others but I didn’t go through all 130+ carts or 1,000+ titles on my Harmony Cart looking for them, lol. 

 

Someday when my CRTs are all dead, I’ll go all-in with an OSSC or RetroTINK 5X or something, but for now I’m gonna wait.

[+sramirez2008]

53 minutes ago, DrVenkman said:

Someday when my CRTs are all dead, I’ll go all-in with an OSSC or RetroTINK 5X or something, but for now I’m gonna wait.

Same. I prefer CRTs and still have several.

[BillDMatt]

On 6/3/2023 at 8:45 AM, DrVenkman said:

I discovered the Asteroids issue early on (first couple days) with my RetroTINK 2X Pro. At least a few other games I recall having issues off-hand: 

 

1. Empire Strikes Back (weird screen flash and freeze/missed frame(s) when destroying AT-ATs

2. Starmaster (just doesn’t work - black screen). 

3. Battle Zone - jumpy/hesitant images

 

I know there are a few others but I didn’t go through all 130+ carts or 1,000+ titles on my Harmony Cart looking for them, lol. 

 

Someday when my CRTs are all dead, I’ll go all-in with an OSSC or RetroTINK 5X or something, but for now I’m gonna wait.

On my Empire Strikes Back I only have issues when I destroy the AT AT with a direct hit on the flashing hatch.    and even that it doesn't affect the over all game play,  War Lords is another unplayable game on my retroTink

[Jetboot Jack]

For what it is worth I experienced similar issues with an RGB modded 2600 and a brand new 5X - in the end I switched over to a OSSC and setup a profile (took a little while to get that right to be fair) that works with with everything I have thrown at it so far - that however is not a solution for a S-Video output 2600 (although you can get the daughterboard for the the OSSC for composite etc that adds considerable cost).

 

I had some screen tearing issues that were the start of my 5X odyssey - see here for all the wonderful help I got before I decided to spend my way out with an OSSC - 

 

 

 

I too found the RetroTink would show a blank screen on many games for a second or two (my trigger game was Kangaroo) - I thought it was related to the screen tearing I could not resolve...

 

I do use the fixed games where available even on the OSSC...

 

sTeVE