Retro Core 4 - NEWS (Was the Retro Core 2 / 3 thread)

**Lowerlevels** · 03-05-2013

Great retrocore videos. Just watched through several. If I still had my collection, I would definitely save up for a framemeister. The picture quality looks excellent, definitely on par with emulators while still getting the holistic console experience.

Edit: The problem I find with emulators using scanline filters is that many just darken the screen , lowering the visual impact that HD can offer by loading up the screen with black lines. Even when toning the scan lines down, it's still noticeable. I find it muddles the clarity of the game screen so I tend not to use them. Your device seems to do it properly , from what I could see in the video and allow the pixels to come through, the scan lines don't seem like an imposing layer but part of the composite screen. Not wanting to come across as your salesman, just noticed the clarity and the fact that PC emulators sort of fall short in this arena. I don't use them (scan lines)because of this.

**Yakumo** · 03-06-2013

You are absolutely right. I mentioned this in another post somewhere about emulation scanlines not being the same as those used by the framemeister. Emulation scan lines no matter what setting you use just look like black lines over the graphics. The Framemeisters effect blends them with the graphics to give a much better CRT look if not pretty much perfect CRT look.

**MangledLeg** · 03-06-2013

Another great episode Yakumo! Love the undercover game hunting as well!!

**Vosse** · 03-06-2013

There are some great CRT shaders for some emulators out there that look almost exactly like a real CRT.

https://lh3.ggpht.com/-ZFlCHwH3oh0/U...-gamma-1-5.png
https://lh3.ggpht.com/-JfQHdW3JrTo/U...00/leveled.png
https://lh3.ggpht.com/-qcpbvOffMqA/U...background.png (this one can actually be played like this in the Emulator RetroArch I think)

**7Force** · 03-06-2013

I've always thought fake scanlines are almost as pointless as those barfy smoothing filters.

**Lowerlevels** · 03-06-2013

Originally Posted by 7Force

I've always thought fake scanlines are almost as pointless as those barfy smoothing filters.

I agree with you. The smoothing filters are horrid. I don't know why they even exist as it muddles the image clarity and chops limbs off the retro experience. My xbox 360 arcade ports have smoothing as default, while you have to go to options to get the original. I just discovered this yesterday and the non smoothed image is wonderful. Every pixel shining unhindered gives me goosebumps.

**Yakumo** · 03-06-2013

Originally Posted by 7Force

I've always thought fake scanlines are almost as pointless as those barfy smoothing filters.

Those smoothing filters really are awful, Super Eagle, h2x or whatever they are called. They are all pure crap and do nothing for the image apart from make it worse. I'd rather see the blocky pixels than use those smooth filters. The scan line filters are much better IMO but still not that good. You'll notice in the latest Retro Core I had the scan lines. This is because the videos were shot through the Framemeister in to the PC's capture card. The end result is pretty nice I thought.

**la-li-lu-le-lo** · 03-06-2013

Yakumo, did you see my post about the Super Famicom? I think it was lost because it was at the end of the last page. Have you used different Super Famicoms, and can you compare the video quality?

**Yakumo** · 03-06-2013

Originally Posted by la-li-lu-le-lo

Nice episode. I wonder why your Super Famicom looks so good on the Framemeister. My Super Famicom looks like crap over RGB - barely better than composite. It has nothing to do with my monitor or my cables, because other consoles look great on it. Also, I've used the same cable on my SNES and N64 and they look great. I guess maybe different versions of the SFC had different video quality? I don't know.

Sorry fot the late reply, I actually missed this post.

The latter SFC models had re-designed boards but I think only the audio was improved. I've used new and old SFC systems and all have the same quality but the older units do have a bar down the center of the screen (Mine does) but you can only really see it on black screens and even then you have to look for it. Apart from that it still looks solid. Maybe you have a poor RGB cable?

**la-li-lu-le-lo** · 03-07-2013

Originally Posted by Yakumo

Sorry fot the late reply, I actually missed this post.

The latter SFC models had re-designed boards but I think only the audio was improved. I've used new and old SFC systems and all have the same quality but the older units do have a bar down the center of the screen (Mine does) but you can only really see it on black screens and even then you have to look for it. Apart from that it still looks solid. Maybe you have a poor RGB cable?

No worries. I don't think it's the cable, because I've used the same cable on my SNES (Jr.), and that console looks virtually perfect. APE built the cable for me, actually. There must have been a difference in the video processing between different versions of the SFC.

**Yakumo** · 03-07-2013

Could be but like I said, I've used a first generation SFC, a mid one and even one of the last models and never noticed any difference in them through RGB. My very first SFC had the scart cable wired on to the mother board!!! I had that right at the very beginning.

**sabre470** · 03-07-2013

Great episode again :) Will relay it asap. I've done some SFC captures last week over composite, using the EZCap and it's not great :( my SFC doesn't accept my scart RGB cable for some reasons, it's a pal cable though...

**brainpann** · 03-07-2013

Originally Posted by la-li-lu-le-lo

No worries. I don't think it's the cable, because I've used the same cable on my SNES (Jr.), and that console looks virtually perfect. APE built the cable for me, actually. There must have been a difference in the video processing between different versions of the SFC.

There actually is a difference in video quality between SNES revisions. The older models output a somewhat poorer quality image vs the "1-chip" designed boards, which are available in a few old style model SNES's and all SNES minis. I dont know how far this applies the Super Famicoms or PAL SNES, but id assume it is the same, excluding the PAL SNES since there was no mini/jr version released for PAL. This little write up will show you the difference.

http://sd2snes.de/blog/archives/category/snes-general

I do believe there was some in depth discussion about this in the Super Everdrive/SD2SNES section here on ASSEMBLERgames, as well.

**la-li-lu-le-lo** · 03-08-2013

I already knew the 1-chip version of the SNES had higher video quality - like I said, I have one, and the video quality is amazing. It's just that, in the latest Retro Core, Yakumo's Super Famicom looks very good over RGB. Whereas my Super Famicom looks very blurry and faded. I don't believe Yakumo's SFC is a 1-chip version, nor is mine.

**Yakumo** · 03-08-2013

I'm nit going home tonight (I'm out drinking) so I'll take a look a the bottom of my SFC tomorrow and let you know what year and model it is.

**la-li-lu-le-lo** · 03-08-2013

Good idea. Mine is an SHVC-001, and it says "©1990 Nintendo Co., Ltd", though I'm not sure if that actually refers to the year it was manufactured. Also, it's possible that units with the same model numbers may not be identical internally.

**brainpann** · 03-08-2013

Originally Posted by la-li-lu-le-lo

I already knew the 1-chip version of the SNES had higher video quality - like I said, I have one, and the video quality is amazing. It's just that, in the latest Retro Core, Yakumo's Super Famicom looks very good over RGB. Whereas my Super Famicom looks very blurry and faded. I don't believe Yakumo's SFC is a 1-chip version, nor is mine.

My bad, I was just a bit confused by your posts.

If I understand correctly, you are wondering why your Super Famicom ,specifically, is outputting a poorer quality image than Yakumo's. Also, if I understand correctly, your RGB cable works fine on the Jr. system. Hmm, that is strange and I am interested to see what (if anything) you find out about this.

**la-li-lu-le-lo** · 03-08-2013

Originally Posted by brainpann

If I understand correctly, you are wondering why your Super Famicom ,specifically, is outputting a poorer quality image than Yakumo's. Also, if I understand correctly, your RGB cable works fine on the Jr. system. Hmm, that is strange and I am interested to see what (if anything) you find out about this.

Yes, that's correct.

I was just playing it, and I guess it doesn't look too bad... just not as good as some of my other consoles, and definitely not as good as Yakumo's.