hoping y’all can help me here -
so my setup for SD content is a sony trinotron with component, fed from a SCART RGB/component converter box like the one below
and all my systems with SCART cables from retro-access, which has worked great for years now…but like i said in my last post, i went with this 10 in 1 switch
and after retro got back to me, this cable to hook into said converter box back into this new switch
and i can see it’s working, it does automatically pick up the signal of whatever system is on - no audio at the moment, but i can sort that with cabling. the bigger problem is the video is all messed up
does anyone have any idea what’s going on here? am i using something incompatible with these things? really hoping it’s not the switch itself, pretty sure i’m outside of the return window at this point. appreciate y’all!
Looks like a sync issue to me. Check this out.
Not sure what the solution would be, unfortunately.
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Correct. It’s clearly missing horizontal sync. Either the sync pulses get completely lost along the way between the source and crt circuitry, or the voltage for them drops too low to be in-spec. To pinpoint the issue you’d preferably use a scope to check the amplitude and shape of the sync pulses.
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i see - so would your guess be more likely the switcher itself, or the cable i linked running from the converter to it?
I’d start by confirming the TV is not the issue by plugging a known working console with component into it. And work from there. Adding 1 more step into the chain each time until the culprit reveals itself. Could very well be the switcher, but it’s guesswork without any actual data to work with.
https://twitter.com/hey_its_lollie/status/990857267070169089
I always find this image hilarious.
They went through hundreds of variations to create the ‘perfect’ controller for the Playstation. Refinement after refinement to create a controller where every button is in perfect reach and usable.
Then they saw the N64 analogue stick. One month later:
“Oh crap, well, engineering: slap two sticks in the middle ASAP. What? Who cares about ergonomics we don’t want to look stuck in the past”
And then we were stuck with a variation on this slap job for decades on Sony consoles.
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So true!
Man I really want to read the full article. I feel like the design language of the PS1 was very distinct from other video game systems up to that point. To my very young brain, the symbols instead of letters for each face button on the controller really drove that home. Plus the fact that it was from Sony - who I associated with the name of my local movie theater and stereo equipment - made it seem very premium even though I preferred the N64… and still do.
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so fortunately, it’s 100% not the TV - again if i just plug any of the SCART RGB cables i’ve been using forever into said component converter directly, i get the same results as always: works great!
the new variables are the switcher and the SCART cable running from it to said converter, so if something’s lacking horizontal sync, it’s gotta be one of those elements!
hoping to hear back from retro-access soon, it’d be a lot easier if this was just said cable
Unfortunately, I would be shocked if it were Retro-Access. Her cables are a staple in the scene for a reason. But you never know. Sometimes things just randomly go wrong.
Depending on your consoles, have you considered HD Retrovision for Component straight from the source and not using RGB at all? It’s been a while since I’ve looked, but I imagine component switches are a lot more common to find in the US and prone to far fewer issues.
It may simplify your whole setup rather than using a SCART switch and then converting the signal. And the quality will be identical if not better (depending on how good your converter is).
To me, SCART has so many more points of failure due to the nature of the connector. Pins bend, audio needs to be extracted, sync gets messed up, etc. If your CRT doesn’t take RGB, then you’re just adding more steps to the chain too.
Every additional step has the potential to degrade things. So unless you have systems that don’t have a specific component cable available, then it may be worth considering an “upgrade” over your current cables for your particular CRT.
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Honestly I always saw the buttons as ‘different for difference’s sake’ because the console was otherwise a deliberate continuation of the ‘90s edutainment’ design language of the Super Famicom, with some US SNES influence too.
Grey plastic of a shade between the two main greys on the Super Famicom. Similar rounded off rectangle shape with a ‘layer on top of parallel lines’ motif. Similar controller ports, similar multi-AV out. Four bright colours console logo as the only colour element on the face. PSX got some frills on the side from the US SNES (the Super Famicom Jr also got these frills), and also a circle motif playing it it being disc based. (A funny note on that motif is how the Mega Drive was designed to invoke ‘CD player’ with the central circle and being called ‘drive’ despite being cart based).
On the controller they used shapes just to try and look less like a Super Famicom derivative, and changed the dpad because Nintendo had the + patented. Extremely annoying to this day to have to type ‘square button’.
The two shoulder buttons was their solution for 3D, the idea was the second set would be dedicated to rotation the camera. And the grips were to assist with this constant camera control finger position.
Ironically I think the N64 went in a bit of a Sega direction. A ‘statement’ console, dark plastic to look ‘tough’, and a shape designed to look like a hotted up engine bay to show how ‘powerful’ it was. Very similar to the Mega Drive’s idea of trying to look like ‘cool tech’ and similar to the Supergrafx which was also designed to look like an engine block to invoke ‘power’.
I probably didn’t make that connection since the NA Super Nintendo was so different (and inferior) looking from what most of the world got with our purple/grey stylings.
So PS1, to people in my neck of the woods, may have looked more exotic than it probably looked to most people internationally. But now looking at them side by side, and yea, the influence is undeniable here. Admittedly, I didn’t make the connection on the consoles until you pointed it out. But even the logos have the same 4 colors now that I look closely.
The controller being a continuation was more obvious to be though.
I guess it wasn’t as unique of a design as I originally thought. Still, there is something sophisticated about the raised circular shape of the tray and the flat rectangular shape I find very pleasing. No other system has that. The line connecting the open button to the tray is also something very cool, and I’d love to know what sort of thought went into that.
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Your wish is my command!
I had to watch eBay for a few months to get a reasonable price copy of Digital Dreams: The Work of the Sony Design Center (1999, Paul Kunkel). The book is only going up in price.
I’m not near my scanner, and it would be very difficult to scan, but these photos seem legible enough (I skipped full page images/illustrations)
Some things you probably didn’t realise about the design of the original PlayStation:
- it was inspired by the Macintosh Plus
- the colour is grey with a hint of violet to counteract ageing/yellowing
- Sony acquired the PlayStation name from Yamaha
- it led to the VAIO range
Further reading
Album https://imgur.com/a/Br09AXj
(click for full size images)
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Awesome! That was a very satisfying read.
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yeahh, it’s prolly the switcher then. can’t imagine going through alixpress’ return system is gonna be a good time…
and you’re right, that’s an option. only problem is, here’s the systems i currently have over SCART RGB:
SMS
Genesis
Saturn
Dreamcast
NES
SNES
N64
Duo-R
Neo-Geo
PSX
PS2
Jaguar
with GC & Xbox over component. so you’re right that it’d be more direct/offer fewer points for failure, but it’d be a major overhaul in terms of sorting more cables, and i’d be right back where i am in terms of looking for a good switcher that doesn’t cost an arm & a leg (nevermind sorting how to get that signal from all these systems…)
even if there were cables available for all of those, I agree it would be cost prohibitive rather than buying a better SCART switch. If it were like 2-3 systems it would make more sense.
Trying to get my CRTs to line up in color and contrast with my OLED. Picture down below of a game after calibrating my monitors. Just eyeballing things, I found the manuals online and tried to set things around default then tweaked things using an smpte test pattern to try to get them as close to the OLED as I could, on the JVC I really needed to turn off the CMP CD MAT setting to get the reds to stop being pushed so hard that yellows looked orange no matter what. Then I took them in game, namely Twilight princess cause I knew it started with a brightness calibration before you start a save. I found that my picture to my CRT monitor through a splitter and into a Tendak HDMI to VGA adapter the picture was much too dark with the OSSCs default offset settings, even with the monitors superbright mode and max contrast, maybe it’s the adapter because my PC has no such brightness issues outputting to it. I needed to raise each color offset from the default listed online of 127 up to 145 and then on the OLED I dialed the brightness down until the border from the OSSC was pure black again to even them out. Do you guys think I did an okay job?
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Looks pretty damn close for such vastly different screen tech.
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Hi all,
just a few quick questions, as I’m looking for suggestions. I hope you don’t mind me asking.
In your opinion, is it still worth buying a RetroTink 5x today, with all the news about the OSSC Pro coming soon(ish) and the new RetroTink itself already in the talk/work?
Even though I kept - and still keep - retro-collecting, It’s been ages since I’ve actively used my original OSSC and never felt motivated to dust it off (due to all its known limitations) after updating my gaiming set up to current standards.
The point is, regardless if I import a RetroTink 5x from the US or buy it locally here in the EU, the final price will be at around 500 euros. Do you think it’s still a reasonable trade-off for what the device brings to the table, and also considered all that it can’t and will never be able to achieve?
My 3 main selling points would be:
-
Ease of use.
After all the firmware updates (I didn’t follow the entire evolution of the device but I’m aware its firmware has been constantly kept up to date), is it possible to just set up as many dedicated profiles for each console, expecting spot-on results out of the box? Or quibbles like resolution switching, having to fine tune advanced timing/sampling phases, spending ages in the video settings in general are still chores to deal with with the RT5x? -
CRT shaders.
I see a lot of pictures here, in the scanlines thread, which lead me to believe that the Retrotink is quite capable in this regard. Are these post-processing effects/masks usable with all the resolutions (so also with consoles like the PS2, GameCube and the original XBOX)? -
Performances with 480i content.
I remember a few videos (one from @Yakumo himself) showing the RT5x can handle interlaced sources and get rid of the sever flickering which is otherwise typical, with the OSSC bob-deinterlace most prominent feature. Did any of you ever test the real capabilities of the RetroTink and can confirm it prevents - for example - from temporary image retention to happen on IPS screens?
Thank you all in advance, guys. ^_-
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