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Post by Ex on Apr 12, 2024 11:51:23 GMT -5
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Post by Sarge on Apr 12, 2024 21:38:22 GMT -5
Hmm... not entirely sure why it would look so much worse, unless your TV does a really bad job scaling that content. You can tell mine does from the shots, but I would have thought 1080p on the 5X would get you pretty close with progressive scan and component cables. Not sure what's going on. Ex: I'd be one of the gaijin helping wipe them out, probably. But I don't think it's just the foreigners, there's probably just dwindling supply just like over here, and there are a lot of Japanese sellers that also sell on eBay. I've bought quite a few myself that way, in solid quantities to get a good deal. But I think those prices have crept up a bit in a few places I've looked, too.
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Post by Ziggy on Apr 13, 2024 8:30:00 GMT -5
Well to be fair, I haven't done a whole lot of tinkering with it. To be honest, I'm kinda too lazy for that sort of stuff these days. I'm still very much a hardware enthusiast, but the drawn out process of endless settings between the Wii, the scaler, my AVR and TV and then A/B testing everything to find out what looks best by trial and error... I really just wanna turn my Wii on and play it. That's why I'm hoping the HDMI mod will save me. I can just plug it in and use it, with the same global settings my TV has for everything. That's why I ended up getting a PVM. I have quite a few consumer CRT TVs in my basement. But there was a stretch of a few years when my basement was under construction, it took me a long time to get everything back in order, so I couldn't use those CRTs. During that time, all of my gaming (retro and otherwise) was on my HDTV. I eventually got a Framemeister. And as good as it looked, some things were still just a pain in the ass. I eventually got so sick of it that I went out and picked up a 13" consumer TV (I don't have the room upstairs for the larger CRTs that I keep in the basement). I ended up enjoying it so much, and realized that a small screen really isn't bad at all (you just have to sit closer to it) so I decided to upgrade to a 13" PVM. Now 99% of my retro gaming is done on the PVM. The ease of use is just so much better than an HDTV with a scaler. You turn it on and it just works. No sync delay, no input lag, no settings or profiles to load, no scaling issues. There's a few SNES games that the first second after you turn the console on you get a Nintendo splash screen. You get that "ba-ding" noise with the Nintendo logo in the center of the screen. Like Super Mario World and Link to the Past. I hadn't seen that screen or heard that "ba-ding" in years (because the Framemeister takes a few seconds to lock the sync) and being able to experience that again was awesome. Right now my Wii is setup like this: Wii > component switch box > RetroTINK 5X > HDMI switch box > AVR > HDTV. Since everything pipes through the AVR, my TV always stays on one input. But I still have to make sure 4 other devices are on the correct input, as well as the RetroTINK being on the correct settings. Since I'm a nerd with too many things hooked up to my TV, I have two different HDMI switch boxes hooked up to the AVR. I tend to forget which HDMI switcher the TINK is on, and then which input on the AVR that switch box is on LOL. It sucks because when my TV says no input, I have to check so many things. Luckily both HDMI switchers will auto select a live input when it's detected. But it still can be a pain in the ass.
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Post by Sarge on Apr 13, 2024 14:03:30 GMT -5
I get that - I love tinkering, but sometimes it's exhausting. I'm pretty sure I spend more time playing around with setting stuff up than actually playing on it. The Framemeister used to be the business for sure, but with some attendant quirks and at least some input lag. I'm glad there are other solutions out there now. Maybe an HDMI mod would help that out indeed, although I've not really dived into that area of modding. It's something I'd like to do for a few of my systems, at least. My own Wii setup is in flux, but it's currently Wii > component switch box > RetroTINK 4K > HDTV. Since I don't have an AVR, I'm just letting the TINK live on its own HDMI port. I've got four on this set, which is enough once I factor in my other HDMI switchers (two mechanical ones with three and two, respectively). I may be looking at adding another, larger switch, though, since the TINK will also take up to 1080p HDMI, which bypasses my TV's awful 720p scaling for PS3/360/Wii U. I also should try the TINK on my 1080p set that I bought for cheap - it's an older Sony set, and the info I see says it's 120 Hz, so I could test out the black frame insertion. Probably will darken the image too much, though, especially since this set will have no concept of HDR and whatnot to boost back up. (Neither does my 4K set - it supports HDR, but it was added later in firmware, and it doesn't have the color gamut to do it correctly.)
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Post by Ziggy on Apr 13, 2024 14:33:58 GMT -5
HDMI output mods on a per console basis can get expensive really fast, which is why I would prefer a single scaler that could do everything. But I guess some people go down the rabbit hole anyway with that, and do various console mods to get better video quality for scalers. Like various RGB bypass mods, the SNES dejitter mod, etc. I'd probably be more interested in that stuff if I had more time and energy for modding these days. The Wii I want for the reasons stated, but the PS2 I guess is only because it's more convenient. Currently I just use the analog audio from the PS2 because it's too much of a pain in the ass to switch my AVR to the digital input. Since I share that HDMI input on the AVR via a switch box, I would have to constantly toggle the audio source back and forth.
That's another thing with CRT versus HDTV with external scalers... CRTs are so much more forgiving with various things. Maybe it's because the scaler is also upscaling whatever noise is there, or something just inherent to the analog to digital process, because it seems so much more imperative to have good quality AV cables with upscalers. I bought a SCART switch box from eBay, and the seller sent me some extra crap in the box with it. Including a really cheap generic SCART cable for a model 2 Genesis. He included a note that it was poorly shielded and added lots of noise to the picture. I tested the cable out on my CRT and it looked crystal clear LOL.
My new 4K TV seems to scale pretty well, surprisingly. With some quick tests for DVD movies, the TV scaling looks better than my BD player or AVR upscales. I haven't tested out PS3/360 720p content yet though.
What HDMI switchers do you use? I've looked around in the past, and I was surprised that there doesn't seem to be any real quality ones out there. I'm sure it wouldn't be cheap, but I was hoping to find something around 10 inputs and with a form factor closer to standard width of AV gear. Currently I have a couple of cheap HDMI switchers from Amazon. And while they do work, they leave a bit to be desired. For starters, it took some effort to find ones that have an on/off function. A lot of them just power on when they're plugged in, and something about leaving some weird Chinese brand device powered on 24/7/365 just irks me. The first one I bought had the inputs on the back but the output on the side, which is annoying for obvious reasons. The second one I bought has all of the HDMI ports on the back. But they're both so small and light that they get yanked around by the long and heavy HDMI cables. Oh, the woes of being an AV nerd!
Speaking of hardware mods though, is there an audience for that here? If I posted a thread for a mod project, would you guys be interested in that sort of thing?
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Post by Sarge on Apr 13, 2024 15:07:35 GMT -5
Yeah, CRTs tend to hide those small imperfections. I don't have a PVM like you do, just a few consumers sets: 32" and 20" Trinitrons, and a shadow mask-style 20" RCA set. The latter two only have composite and component, so I ended up buying a Koryuu to transcode S-Video to component. One of my switchers is quite old - it's a Philips 3-port mechanical switcher. The other was bought when Radio Shack was going out of business, and is a 2-port mechanical. Everything today tends to be electrically-switched, which I don't love. I've got a cheap Chinese 3-port one that I don't use anymore that's just a pigtail coming from the TV to three port, and a button to swap them. No power supplied to it. It seemed to work okay for what I was using it for at the time, and I may end up integrating it again, but I'm pretty sure it only handles 4K30. I would absolutely read a mod project thread. I love that kind of stuff, and it might inspire me to get off my butt and do some mods myself. One of the big ones I'm debating right now is doing the reset glitch hack on one of these 360s I'm sitting on... or just spending around $150 for a pre-modded one on eBay. The PS3 is so much easier to put CFW on.
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Post by Ziggy on Apr 13, 2024 15:57:55 GMT -5
I was lucky enough to find a 27" Wega in a thrift store some years ago, so that use to be my main CRT before I got the PVM. The 13" predecessor to the PVM is a Sony Trinitron. And then I have another bubble screen Trinitron that I got from the side of the road, but it's a beast. I forget the size, 30 or 32", something like that. The 27" is a bitch but I can lift it by myself if I have to. The 32" though, I don't attempt to lift alone. So I question why I have it LOL. And I think I may actually prefer the bubble screen compared to the flat screen of the Wega (although I guess the Trinitron screens aren't really bubbles since they only curve in one direction). I have a few other CRTs, backups for backups, mostly because the basement allows for the extra storage space. If things change, I might end up having to offload them. I also have a 13" TV/VCR combo that I keep on my workbench for testing mods/repairs. And I still have my VHS collection, so sometimes I pop in a movie when I'm at the workbench.
I picked up a couple of transcoders, but I don't currently use any. Before I got the Framemeister, when I was experimenting with cheaper options, I got this old pro grade transcoder that must have been in a TV studio or something. The list price on it was $1199.95 LOL, but I think I paid less than $50 for it. It can basically transcode to/from any video signal, so I'll be holding on to it. The downside is that it's 1u rack space size, which isn't so bad, but it has a really loud fan in it. And then I have one of those component to RGB transcoders, that little black metal box one that you use to see everywhere. I decided to pick one up before they disappear, just in case I ever need it one day.
The PS3 I'll probably look into CFW after the store is finally shut down and I no longer have to log into PSN with it. I figure I'll wait until then so I don't have to deal with any potential headaches. The 360 I only recently got, so I haven't even really thought about modding it yet. Is the 360 easy to mod? I've read some things in the past that make it sound like it's a can of worms.
Speaking of which... I had briefly owned an oXbox some years back, I got it pre-modded from someone on a forum. I didn't care about it at the time, so I traded it away. But recently I've been interested in more and more oXbox games. Since the 360 is my only Xbox, I always have to check the compatibility first. I guess I need another console like I need a hole in the head LOL. But I wonder if I should get an oXbox, or perhaps an Xbone instead? My component switch box has 3 inputs, and I'm currently only using 2 (PS2, Wii) so I figure I have the available input should I decide to get an oXbox. They also seem pretty simple to soft mod, too.
Cool, I'll post a thread right now about a mod I've been chipping away at.
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Post by Xeogred on Apr 13, 2024 19:26:45 GMT -5
I find it hilarious how much I hear about Shinjuku and Ikebukuro name dropped in other media outside of videogames, now that I've played a few SMT's where those locations are usually pretty iconic (recurring towns/dungeons). I guess it just never registered how popular those two places are in Japan until I hit up the SMT's haha.
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Post by Ex on Apr 13, 2024 22:37:40 GMT -5
But I wonder if I should get an oXbox, or perhaps an Xbone instead? I vote for the original Xbox. Perfect compatibility with its games obviously, and not a difficult console to work on/repair.
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Post by toei on Apr 14, 2024 0:12:07 GMT -5
Xeogred Shinjuku is probably the most famous ward of Tokyo, since I think that's traditionally been where the most bars and clubs and so on are, and I guess it's basically the big commercial center as well. I think it's home to the red-light district as well, which is probably why it's so famous/infamous. I know that's it's the first place within Tokyo that I ever heard of, in Japanese entertainment. There are tons of movies "Shinjuku" in the title going back to the late '60s, which hardly ever happens with any other areas (other than entire cities, mostly just Tokyo or Osaka), and you hear the name in songs. The name Ikebukuro I remember mostly from SMT as well. Here's a list I found of movies with "Shinjuku" in the title. It's probably not even complete: Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1968) (probably pretentious, avant-garde type thing) Shinjuku Outlaw: Step on the Gas (1970) (yakuza, probably good) Shinjuku Mad (1970) (weird independent movie about hippies being trash, not very good) Modern Yakuza: Thugs of Shinjuku (1970) (yakuza, and probably good, but unsubbed) Shinjuku Maria (1975) (pinku / erotic movie) Shinjuku's Number One Drunk - Killer Tetsu (1977) (yakuza, unsubbed, probably great) Shinjuku Messy District: I'll Be There (1977) (erotic) The Shinjuku Love Story (1987) (yakuza-adjacent youth romance) Brief Encounter in Shinjuku (1990) (this is a Hong Kong movie) The City that Never Sleeps - Shinjuku Shark (1993) (Shinjuku Shark is a series of hard-boiled detective novels) Shinjuku Yokubo Tantei (1994) (unsubbed detective movie) Shinjuku Outlaw (1994) (yakuza v-cinema) Black Society - Shinjuku Triad Society (1995) (crazy Police vs. Chinese Triads v-cinema, good) Shinjuku Boys (1995) (western-made documentary about lesbians hostesses who milk lonely women out of their money) Tokyo Mafia: Battle for Shinjuku (1996) (low-budget Yakuza vs. Chinese Triads movie) Shinjuku Boy Detectives (1998) (presumably the most wholesome thing on this list) Shinjuku Incident (2009) (Hong Kong movie, starring Jackie Chan) Shinjuku Swan (2015) (based on a seinen yakuza-adjacent manga about a young hostess recruiter) Shinjuku Swan II (2017) Shinjuku Punch (2018)
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