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Best "upgraded" console outputs
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maximumbob54:
The other thread got me thinking. I've invested heavily trying to get the best picture I can from all my consoles. Not that I have all of them but this is some of my collection:
All of these are plugged into a XRGB Mini set to 1080P on my Samsung 60" that I set to four by three mode.
SNES - RGB SCART
Previous to this I had a S-video mod SNES and plugged into my late model Samsung the picture looked close to perfect. I did composite before that and going to S-video was a really nice bump in picture quality. The flat screen has no S-video so no comparison but wow does it look good. My worry was the pixels would look goofy large but unless you sit too close it's not as big a deal as I thought it would be. That goes for all of these really.
N64 - RGB SCART mod
This one also used to be S-video on the tube until I went to the new TV. Had someone on eBay a while back install the RGB amp and wow is the picture good. Well. As good as the N64's hardware will allow the picture to look. Still looking at the Game Shark option to bypass system settings. I hear the Ultra HDMI is neat but I'm in deep enough for now with all this...
Genesis Model 1 HD Graphics version - RGB SCART
Wow did composite look bad on this thing. I've been told the HD graphics model has the best RGB output but that doesn't mean it's perfect. I can easily see some "jailbars" or whatever it's called in some colors but the pixels are all razor sharp through the SCART cable. It's just a shame the US never saw SCART as it may look like an odd plug but man is RGB superior to anything we ever had.
Genesis Model 2 - RGB SCART
Why a model 2 as well? Because it's what I had before I found the other one. And I can hardly tell the difference in the picture through the composite or the RGB SCART. They both have the same murky composite picture issues, and the RGB SCART while it looks much better still isn't as clean a picture as it could/should be on either model compared to other consoles. My only point is unless you are a picture perfectionist the model 2 looks just about as good to my eye as the model 1 with RGB SCART.
PC Engine Core II - RGB SCART mod
The original PC Engine was RF only until they made an add on, and the Core and Core II were composite. Mine came to me with the mod already done. I've read it's a fairly simple mod but you lose the composite output, not that I care. The picture through RGB SCART is as close as I can see to perfect. I don't see any odd coloration, patterns, or anything. Super happy I bit the bullet on buying this thing even if I hardly have any games so far.
Saturn round button- RGB SCART
Supposedly the original oval button model has the best picture output across all formats but I've never had any complaints about mine. The RGB SCART picture is pixel perfect to my eye. I honestly never new the Saturn could look this good.
PSone - RGB SCART
This is the mini model. Wow did S-video clean up the picture on the tube TV for both the Saturn and this one. Night and day difference for the better. And once again on the big TV the RGB SCART looks amazing.
The rest that are newer are component or HDMI and of course picture perfect on newer TV's.
Last I will explain the painful journey to get to that picture quality I wanted. Like many that saw the XRGB I laughed at the price and walked away. Instead, I opted for one of the cheap SCART to HDMI black boxes on eBay, Amazon, and the like. It worked. Sort of. When I plugged in the Saturn and tried Albert Odyssey it looked amazing. Then as soon as the character moved and the background shifted everything would blur. Stop moving and it looks good again. Then about fifteen minutes into it the picture died. Had to unplug the power supply and plug it back in. Worked for a couple of hours and did the same thing. Nothing felt hot. No clue what it was but I got tired of it and tried a different model of the same thing. Odd shaped one that wasn't one of the black box versions and it didn't work at all. Snake eyes on that one. Then I tried one of the SCART to component boxes. And quickly found they don't pass sound through the SCART to anything. Had to buy a daisy chain add on that broke out the stereo sound to a pair of RCA female plugs. Oh, and both the HDMI boxes and this one require power. Just something to keep in mind. And it never would work. No clue what was wrong. Tried a new power supply known to be good. Opened it up and tinkered. Took out the audio break out and still no picture. Nada. Bought another one that looked a tiny bit different but was pretty much the same thing. Tried this one and same thing all over again. Old Samsung tube TV, three different flat panels, and a friend's TV. Nope. Well forget this thing. At the time the OSSC wasn't even out yet but that's only 240P to 480P or a line triple for some things but for what it cost I finally said fudge it and bought the XRGB Mini. For all the money I blew on trash I should have just bought it in the first place.
Long story short, TL/DR, the gist of it is you get what you pay for and the XRGB is AMAZING. Drink the kool aid and if you are at all on the fence just save up if you have to and buy one before they are gone. Totally worth it to me and zero regrets even with the sky high price. Still years later the closest thing is the OSSC and again it doesn't have all the same options.
And then the wild card. I hate to say it but the picture quality on the Retron 5 pretty much is as good or better than any of them. No lie. But it's emulation even if you get to use your cartridges. I love mine because it gives me an excuse to buy dirt cheap Famicom and SFC carts of games there's no way I would buy the NES/SNES version. I think I paid less than ten each for Chronotrigger, FF4, 5, 6, Mother 1 and 2, and Super Metroid. Good luck getting the US release of those for that cheap! And the final sell on the 5 was the ability to use my actual controllers with it. Yeah, a Pie would be cheaper, blah blah blah PC blah blah blah but there's nothing like pulling the cart off the shelf even if it's not the actual console. And I won't lie, I do use save states way too often. It's an addiAnd cting option to have... And even having the Super Gameboy and Gameboy player for the GCN I still feel like the Retron 5 does the best with the Gameboy lineup. So just know your options as this is indeed one just like a Pie is another.
Was going to go all in on the HD Retrovision component cables but did their test on my TV's and my new one doesn't do 240P via component. But my old one does. Stupid technology... Not keeping up with my decades old out of date consoles... How dare it...
Anyways, that's my story. It's a madness. Really it is.
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