Did anyone get the HD Retrovision Cables?

[Pullmyfinger]

Hi everyone, it's been a while!

I was looking into getting these cables and apparently a new batch is coming out this weekend. Did anyone here get them?

What are your impressions, any lag or other issues?

How are they compared to a FrameMeister or similar device?

Any other thoughts?

[ElkinFencer10]

I'd be interested in this as well since I'm planning to get some for my Genesis at least and maybe my Super Nintendo (but probably not since S-video is pretty dope).

[benderx]

They took too long to make anything happen. I'm not sure if the product is ready to release. I'm not sure if the product does progressive scan or boring interlaced at 480i. It seems it does 480p-720p 1080i & p.

They almost seem like the scam artist like the Retro Chameleon or Coleco Chameleon console. The key people who said there making these seem to have no clue in technology. while there friends/technicians/programers do all the hard work. 45-50 for a component cable and you gotta make sure it works with your tv.

[ElkinFencer10]

They took too long to make anything happen. I'm not sure if the product is ready to release. I'm not sure if the product does progressive scan or boring interlaced at 480i.

It's supposed to output 240p like normal but clean up the picture dramatically since it actually takes advantage of the RBG capability.

[CRTGAMER]

Only a video conversion cable and not a mod to the console!
The source video of the game consoles are still only Composite or SVideo, the HD Retrovision Cables cannot pull progressive out of that.

However, for the Genesis if the RGB pinout is utilized the component conversion might be worth looking into. Dreamcast as well if the VGA is a true conversion to Component. Both will need more then just cables to convert the source signals.

[MrPopo]

I got the Genesis cable as part of the Kickstarter and then purchased an SNES cable afterwards. I piped the cables into my X-RGB3 using one of those component to d-terminal converters.

It is 100% worth it for the Genesis. The difference in picture quality between composite and these cables is night and day. However, I can't get the SNES cables to work; I get no video (though audio does come through). I haven't tried just using them directly through the component port on my TV (as my component switch box is full) and I haven't spent much time fiddling with the options on the X-RGB3; it might need one of the weird options played with. That said, the S-Video is already miles better than the composite, so I'm not sure how much better these cables would be.

[Ziggy]

I'm not sure if you guys fully understand what these cables are...

How are they compared to a FrameMeister or similar device?

Apples and oranges. The Framemeister is a scaler. The cables from HD Retrovision don't do any scaling. They're just console specific RGB-to-YPbPr adapters.

They took too long to make anything happen. I'm not sure if the product is ready to release. I'm not sure if the product does progressive scan or boring interlaced at 480i. It seems it does 480p-720p 1080i & p.

These cables don't change the resolution that's being output by the console.

They almost seem like the scam artist like the Retro Chameleon or Coleco Chameleon console. The key people who said there making these seem to have no clue in technology. while there friends/technicians/programers do all the hard work. 45-50 for a component cable and you gotta make sure it works with your tv.

You have to make sure it works with your TV because a lot of HDTV suck and don't handle 240p video. You'll have the same problems with PS1 games when played on a PS2 over component cables, as well as other examples.

I don't know the final retail price, but ~$50 for this product sounds OK considering it's NOT just a cable. Consider how much it would cost to buy an RGB SCART cable, an RGB to YPbPr transcoder, and a set of component cables... That's what the HD Retrovision cables are doing, only in a self contained cable. No bulky extra converter boxes and power sources needed. $50 isn't a bad deal at all.

It's supposed to output 240p like normal but clean up the picture dramatically since it actually takes advantage of the RBG capability.

Yes, the whole point of these cables is an easy way to use the RGB output from a retro console on a modern TV in North America. HDTVs haven't had S-Video inputs on them for a while now. And the Genesis requires a modification to get S-Video output, so even if you're using a CRT you'd have a problem there. These cables just make it easy for people that can't or don't want to mod their consoles, or don't want to figure out what the deal is with RGB and sync and which converter box to buy.

The source video of the game consoles are still only Composite or SVideo, the HD Retrovision Cables cannot pull progressive out of that.

However, for the Genesis if the RGB pinout is utilized the component conversion might be worth looking into. Dreamcast as well if the VGA is a true conversion to Component. Both will need more then just cables to convert the source signals.

These cables fully utilize the console's RGB output, composite and S-Video have nothing to do with it.

A version for the Dreamcast would be neat. They have it listed under their "future products".

But yeah, they're not just cables. They have RGB-to-YPbPr circuitry inside of them (inside of that boxy thing in the pic below).

That said, the S-Video is already miles better than the composite, so I'm not sure how much better these cables would be.

If you have an XRGB3, why not just use RGB then?

If you're using an upscaler (or something) already then these cables really aren't for you, per se.

They're more for someone that doesn't have (or want) any scalers or anything. If you have an HDTV without S-Video, then you're limited to just composite video. These cables allow those people to use YPbPr instead of composite.

In the case of the Genesis, since it doesn't even output S-Video, you're limited to composite even if you're using a CRT with S-Video. Again, for the person that doesn't want to buy any converter boxes, these cables will allow them to use a better video method with just a cable.

[MrPopo]

As I seem to keep mentioning, I've tried the SNES official RGB cable and I could never get it to work; I'd get some sort of absolute shit picture. So S-Video through the upscaler was the way to go.

For the Genesis even with an upscaler you want these cables. The composite output through an upscaler still looks pretty bad; there's some major bleed. The component cables give you this nice sharp picture.

[Ziggy]

As I seem to keep mentioning, I've tried the SNES official RGB cable and I could never get it to work; I'd get some sort of absolute shit picture. So S-Video through the upscaler was the way to go.

For the Genesis even with an upscaler you want these cables. The composite output through an upscaler still looks pretty bad; there's some major bleed. The component cables give you this nice sharp picture.

For the SNES... The XRGB3 has a JP-21 RGB input. The cables that you got, are they PAL SCART cables (not the same thing)? Also note that the SNES RGB cables are pretty weird and have different components for different regions (NTSC-U and J have 220uF series capacitors on RGB, PAL has 75Ohm pull down resistors on RGB). Open the SCART connector up and see what you have. A PAL SCART cables on an American SNES will definitely mess with your picture, and it will definitely not work if you try using it with a JP-21 input.

If your SNES RGB cables has the wrong components inside, it's not too hard to swap them out (requires a little soldering). If it's a PAL SCART cable, you can rewire it to JP-21 or buy an adapter.

http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=av:nintendomultiav

https://youtu.be/LAlrdCBjUAQ?t=4m41s

For the Genesis, yeah, composite video quality is shit. But again, why not use the RGB output? With the HD Retrovision cables, you're converting RGB to YPbPr then the XRGB3 is converting that to (probably RGB first) the DVI output. You're better off just inputting RGB to the XRGB3, I would think. Less conversion going on, less to go wrong.

[MrPopo]

Yes, they were Japanese RGB cables (came in a box). I'd tried multiple ones, and I no longer own any of them since they were useless to me. I agree that it's weird they didn't work.

And the X-RGB is outputting d-sub, not HDMI.

It all works, and looks nice enough to me. The main reason I have the X-RGB is less the upscaler and more that it's outputting on native d-sub, so my TV acts like a monitor and gets out of the business of futzing with the picture and introducing noticeable input delay.