I was reading last night on the FB discussion group of The Dreamcast Junkyard blog, that there have been manufacturing issues with the POUND Dreamcast HDMI cable. Wrong parts used resulting in a washed-out image.
Head of POUND popped in and said that they’ve suspended production until they can sort it out.
I’m posting this here just in case anyone missed this:
@BarrelCannon if you can find an 8" pvm cheaply, I’d say the novelty is worth it. I use mine for NES - this is when we covered Deadly Towers on the podcast. It was fun to be able to map it and have the pvm right in front of me. I think NES stuff looks perfectly fine on a small pvm.
Yea… At a desk is the only way an 8 incher would be enjoyable. Still, 16 inches, I feel, is optimal for a desk-sized crt if you can find one.
I would totally grab an 8-incher for fun though. They’re easy to TATE too!
Yeah, I’d definitely grab an 8 inch if I came across one.
Hey, a good time is a good time.
8 inches is too small for me. Need bigger.
That’s what SHE said.
I feel like they threw “digital” around a bit too liberally when the Gekko came up. It’s a good box, but it’s converting from the Dreamcast’s analog port to a digital out on the HDMI side. The cleanest audio I’ve heard from a DC was with an optical out mod which is tapping into the the digital bits inside the DC before it’s converted to analog. Like so:
At best and likely case is that the Gekko maintains the integrity of the DC’s analog output after converting it to digital HDMI. Nice video otherwise. Just needs to be more clear about how the use “digital” imo.
I made a video!
OK, it’s pretty ghetto, but I did say I’d try the RetroTINK-2x and get back to you all with some info and thoughts. iPhone 8 camera mounted on the HORI Switch stand sitting on the floor in front of the TV. I did a quick and dirty setup of the RetroTINK-2x with my Neo Geo CD because I really wanted to play some Viewpoint and I didn’t have it set up in the retro cave at the moment.
Notable is that when I turned it on initially it was black and white because I had to hit the signal button to switch to the composite input. That was interesting. I didn’t think it’d display anything if the wrong input was selected. The connectors for the cables seem plenty sturdy, but I would not recommend constant plugging and replugging. I’ll be putting a switch box between the TINK and my consoles. Hopefully that’s not a problem for the device.
The angle I’m at and my stupidity at video making means I didn’t tap the iPhone screen to focus on the TV at the start which would’ve probably made the picture a little better throughout from the floor angle. You can’t see the Sammy in the Sammy logo for example. It’s there though and if you watch til the end, I recorded from a different angle at the end for some footage of the game in demo mode.
Overall, it’s fantastic. It’s as simple as can be. You plug everything in, push the little button to enable the right input and BAM! Video games! I’m looking forward to experimenting more and then completely redoing my living room setup so I can play there easier for certain machines. I plan to make videos for S-Video input with the Neo CD (It’s native on the console with a port and everything… I did not know!) and the Sega CDX. There is a button there for graphic smoothing but I wasn’t a fan and didn’t enable it. I will mess with that in a future video.
No script. No plan. Just set it up and played a game and showed the device and streamed my thoughts from my brain to you. All those years of writing about video games professionally help me do that sort of thing. Anyway, enjoy!
BVM-1310, worth it? Price is not too bad (it’s never good, right?). Does this require oddball input cards? Anything I should be aware of (outside normal buying of CRTs - goemetry, hours, pq, focus, etc)?
13" is a great size and the 1310 is one of the best looking sets I’ve seen. It is an older model though so just like any other set, look at focus, geometry, brightness, etc. The input cards appear to be standard for pre-D-series BVMs so it shouldn’t be super expensive (relatively) to kit it out if need be.
I only looked at one in a lot before passing (burn-in), and never owned one though. Everything I’ve heard about the xx10 series BVMs has been overwhelmingly positive, no sync issues like latter-day models. Someone with a 1310 or 1910 could maybe chime in with any quirks.
I have a 1911 which all my googling shows is the same as a 1910.
I have (2) PVM-1354q’s and they are a fantastic little set for desk play but dont even think about playing it from anything more then a few feet away.
Thanks for this. I haven’t watched the vid just yet, but please keep updating you impressions. This thing is intriguing.
13" PVM’s are fantastic for a desk setup. I used mine alot while watching football on my PC. I wouldn’t sit any farther back than a foot or so though.
I had a 13" PVM in the past (1354Q) but sold it when I got my 19" PVM (1954Q, lol). I saw the BVM-1310 listed and it piqued my interest because “BVM.”
Thanks for the replies so far. I did enjoy the 13" range for small spaces (all areas of my house).
So… how accurate is the GBA with backwards compatibility actually? I hear it uses a “Z80 like” processor for GB/C compatibility? So it’s full hardware BC?
I’m curious because of… reasons.
I imagine it’s 100%. Nintendo’s BC always seems to be pretty barebones and faithful. I’ve never noticed a difference.
That said, it wouldn’t surprise me if I were wrong 
It’s full hardware bc and to the best of my knowledge it’s perfect. Theres actually a physical switch inside the cart slot that flips the GBA into gb/gbc mode.
The GBA even let’s you stretch the game to 3:2 for a nice cinematic feel!
