Just got an XRGB Mini...

[Ziggy]

Cool, thanks for the info! Junker HQ seems to have info missing for most consoles tho. I'll probably mess with scanlines, but I've never seen why people love them so much. I get that it gives you a CRT look, but why would I want that? The only thing I can come up with is that it can sometimes hide some problems. But yeah, I love how crystal clear a retro game can look without scanlines.



Do most people in the USA just use the stock power adapter? When I (briefly) owned a JPN Neo•Geo CD, I always just used the stock power adapter direct into an outlet, but I would keep it unplugged all the time. With the XRGB tho, I think I wanna just be able to leave it plugged in. So I guess I'm gonna start hunting for a quality power adapter to use.

For any one that can solder, here's a little trick by the way. You can hunt for a 5v 2.5a power adapter and ignore the tip/barrel size and polarity. The XRGB mini uses an "EIAJ" power tip, 4mm OD and 1.7mm ID (the model 2 Genesis and PS2 Slim use this too btw). Radio Shack use to carry them in store, but they stock less and less of these types of parts as time goes on. Here it is on DigiKey though. I already have some on hand actually. So I'm just gonna keep my eye out for a 5v 2.5a adapter and the next time I see a trusted brand name I'll snag it. Then I'll just solder on the tip with the right polarity and be done.




So, for the PS2... RGB or Component? Or does it not make a huge difference?


For the Dreamcast... Why am I reading so much about people fiddling with the VGA output? I thought the Dreamcast also did RGB output, why aren't people just using that with the XRGB mini? Seems like it would be easier, no?

[AppleQueso]

Do most people in the USA just use the stock power adapter? When I (briefly) owned a JPN Neo•Geo CD, I always just used the stock power adapter direct into an outlet, but I would keep it unplugged all the time. With the XRGB tho, I think I wanna just be able to leave it plugged in. So I guess I'm gonna start hunting for a quality power adapter to use.

Honestly? I just left it plugged in and never had any issues. If you want to be extra safe, you should get a step down converter, though I don't think it pulls enough power for it to be a problem.

For the Dreamcast... Why am I reading so much about people fiddling with the VGA output? I thought the Dreamcast also did RGB output, why aren't people just using that with the XRGB mini? Seems like it would be easier, no?

Dreamcast DOES do RGB out, but only 480i. You need VGA if you want 480p games.

[Ziggy]

Honestly? I just left it plugged in and never had any issues. If you want to be extra safe, you should get a step down converter, though I don't think it pulls enough power for it to be a problem.

Yeah, I forgot to mention, I'm not gonna be using a step down converter. If I had a few JPN power adapters that I wanted to use then I'd probably get one. But for just one item, nah. I'd rather just get a replacement power adapter with the appropriate input voltage. I have a box of spare adapters, I might actually have one now that I think about it.

Dreamcast DOES do RGB out, but only 480i. You need VGA if you want 480p games.

Ah, I see. So it's kinda like the Wii.

But, from what I've read, VGA output isn't supported in all games. I know that you can force VGA in some games that don't support it. It just seems like kind of a headache to be honest. When using the XRGB mini, is 480p from the Dreamcast really that big of an improvement over 480i? And I don't mean to be all like "the difference isn't big enough for me to care," I'm asking seriously because I don't know. I'm not even all that big on the Dreamcast.

[AppleQueso]

Honestly? I just left it plugged in and never had any issues. If you want to be extra safe, you should get a step down converter, though I don't think it pulls enough power for it to be a problem.

Yeah, I forgot to mention, I'm not gonna be using a step down converter. If I had a few JPN power adapters that I wanted to use then I'd probably get one. But for just one item, nah. I'd rather just get a replacement power adapter with the appropriate input voltage. I have a box of spare adapters, I might actually have one now that I think about it.

Dreamcast DOES do RGB out, but only 480i. You need VGA if you want 480p games.

Ah, I see. So it's kinda like the Wii.

But, from what I've read, VGA output isn't supported in all games. I know that you can force VGA in some games that don't support it. It just seems like kind of a headache to be honest. When using the XRGB mini, is 480p from the Dreamcast really that big of an improvement over 480i? And I don't mean to be all like "the difference isn't big enough for me to care," I'm asking seriously because I don't know. I'm not even all that big on the Dreamcast.

That's why you'll find those VGA boxes with the 15khz/30khz switches on them. They can basically change the DC over to RGB mode with the flick of a switch for games thta don't work on VGA

[Ziggy]

I don't play much Dreamcast as it is anyways, so I'm not really gonna worry about it. A while back I bought a composite AV cable for the Dreamcast that has all the pins in the connector. I was planning on making it into an S-Video cable. I guess if I ever care to play DC on the HDTV I'll just make it into an RGB cable.



I might change me opinion about scan lines. Well, at least for the N64. The N64 is overall pretty blurry. The scan lines seem to really help with this. From my limited testing that I've done so far, I definitely like the N64 with scan lines a lot more than without.

So when I modified my N64 for RGB, I have the RGB and sync signals going to four RCA jacks. I did this because at the time I was using an RGB to component transcoder that uses BNC (which I have RCA adapters on) for in/outputs. So I just opened up the console and moved the RGB signals to the AV output so I can use a standard SCART cable. It's definitely too dark. The RGB mod that I did doesn't require any components in the cable, and the cable has 220uF caps in it. Games that are normally bright and colorful (Mario 64, Cruisin USA, etc) look fine. But other games are way too dark. I noticed it with Goldeneye. Doom 64 was so dark that when the first level loaded I couldn't see a damn thing. Turning the brightness up doesn't help. So the only thing I can really do is get another cable and rip the caps out of it just for the N64. Either that or make a custom cable.

[Ziggy]

So I tried out the Genesis for the first time. I guess this was the first time I've played the Genesis without any over scan. I only tried Sonic 2. It had a colored border all the way around the screen (it would be whatever the primary color of the background is). On levels when it's blue, it's actually kind of annoying. I know that I can use a setting that'll get rid of it on the top and bottom, but AFAIK there's no way to get rid of it on the left and right. Are all Genesis games like this?

[ninjainspandex]

So I tried out the Genesis for the first time. I guess this was the first time I've played the Genesis without any over scan. I only tried Sonic 2. It had a colored border all the way around the screen (it would be whatever the primary color of the background is). On levels when it's blue, it's actually kind of annoying. I know that I can use a setting that'll get rid of it on the top and bottom, but AFAIK there's no way to get rid of it on the left and right. Are all Genesis games like this?

Yeah it is kind of annoying but you get used to it, NES is like that too. Lol you could take some black construction paper and cut out a sort of psuedo TV 4:3 border and tape it to you HDTV so you don't see that overscan

[Ziggy]

Haha, well it doesn't annoy me THAT much! While playing through Sonic 2, I mostly forgot it was there.

That isn't a bad idea, though. Kinda like what you'd find on an arcade cab.

[ninjainspandex]

Haha, well it doesn't annoy me THAT much! While playing through Sonic 2, I mostly forgot it was there.

That isn't a bad idea, though. Kinda like what you'd find on an arcade cab.

a Bezel! yeah that was the word I was looking for.

[8bit]

I'd just like to comment on how damn expensive the XRGB Mini is... How the hell can this thing really be more than a laptop or a PS4?! I'd love to have one but not for around $350-$400.