/vr/ - Retro Games

>>10107191
>bro fuck crts just get this cheap scaler to play retro games in a still inferior way
anti-crt fags rope yourself.

>>10107191
I don't even have a 4k tv. Who the hell needs to see mario's pixel ass at 4k.

>>10107195
>shaking in anger at the thought of people having options and preferences
This is new levels of pathetic.

>>10107191
>$1,000
Lol fuck that shit

>>10107191
Probably gonna be $199 for the RetroScaler 4x on aliexpress.

>>10107191
I like their products, but this just getting ridiculous. They treat their pricing like the number of pixels directly matches the price. IIRC, their midrange model is already close to $500 and their basic bitch upscaler costs almost $300. At such an astronomical price (I could buy almost every game that I want for this price), I think it’s only for the most hardcore uncompromising enthusiast with a burning hole in their pocket. Bet it looks good, but really, their entry level model should do this resolution already, since most TV’s that you’d actually use this on are 4K. This top range model should do 8K, ballers already have those TV’s or will in the next few years.

if you play any retro console on any resolution above 480p you are a dumbass

I think the 4X is an amazing product but even that was slightly overpriced. I'm not autistic enough to pay for analogue 240p video upscaled to 4K. 1080p and 1440p is honestly more than good enough for these video sources.

>>10107250
>1080p and 1440p is honestly more than good enough for these video sources.
I agree, I just think it’s nuts that if you buy their lower tier models, you’re spending up to $500 for an upscaler than can’t even upscale to the native res of your display.

>>10107252
The design for a such a device that can perform at that price doesn't exist yet unfortunately. I hope a lot of autism and competition can bring us this product in time

>>10107228
It uses a specific fpga that's quite expensive, if and when it's cloned it will still be expensive.

>>10107191
I'm by no means a "just get a CRT" guy but in this case it does seem like the more financially prudent option

>>10107191
Just buy a CRT they are still cheap later these scalers will become cheaper or even free with software modding

I'm honestly tempted because I have a big ass bright oled tv and I play a lot of retro games. I'd even like to put a certain current gen console through it. But I'm trying to resist the temptation

I love the 5X but I have zero reason to upgrade since I don't even have a 4k display, the highest I've gone up to is 1440p. If I ever do then I think I'd just grab one of those Photofast "4K Gamer Pros", stick it into the back of the 5X, and call it a day with likely similar results. 1000 is insane, but if they already have set ups and consoles and everything else then $1000 is probably just a drop in the bucket for them.

>>10107279
Yeah, at some point it gets to be a little much. You're effectively paying PVM money to make your 4K OLED look like a CRT. Size, space, and weight are relevant to be sure but that is certainly very expensive.

Why can't you CRTfags stay in your thread? OP asked about the upscaler and unless you are a poorfag, the 1k are nothing. So yeah, I am going to get it and play retro on one of my cfw consoles, while you are discussing about CRT. Just finished SoE with the 2 player hack with my wife on my LG G3. You fags can't even play hacks.

>>10107358
Is /vr/ the only board that responds to price concerns with "shut up poorfag"? I only use /vr/ and /a/ so I don't know.
>>10107195
I like how this guy didn't even bother reading the post before responding

>>10107191
I have the 5x and I enjoy it, but I don't own a 4k TV or monitor and I don't see a point in paying $1000 for this thing when CRTs are cheap

>>10107191
Seems pretty pricey, I imagine a 5X would be the better option. If the 4K does a great job upscaling PS3, 360, Wii U (and Switch) then it could be worth it.

>s-video on the front behind a panel

that's annoying as fuck, why

What's the point of a 4k scaler?
My understanding was always that the issue with scaling retro consoles was that 240p is rarely supported by modern TVs or scaling devices that are built exclusively with 480i input in mind
So wouldn't it be enough to just linedouble the 240p to 480p and then use a much cheaper scaler or even the one built in to your TV to go to 4k?

>>10107393
>Is /vr/ the only board that responds to price concerns with "shut up poorfag"?
No everywhere does. Poorfags whining about price are annoying. I don't go onto ferrari forums and post that they are too expensive, I just accept they are not for me.

>>10107260
The FPGA just by it's self is $15. Mouser has em. I am not saying there isn't more to it but $199 sounds less ridiculous knowing the most expensive physical component is $15.

>>10107426
Composite too. Those are the only ports that we'll ever even be using for /vr/ consoles.

>thousand bucks
lmao fuck off

>>10107191
lookin' good

$1000 is mad, it will be a high priority for cloning.

By the way the case design is an absolute fucking joke for $1000.
For that I would want at least an aluminium/steel enclosure, and don't follow the fucking OSSC approach of putting ports on all sides, if it's a truly premium product I want all ports on the rear of the unit. Why do I want all of my cables on show like spaghetti junction when it's unnecessary to have it that way?
They need to take some inspiration from hi-fi products.

I want to pair this with a 4k projector to play nes classic gba games

>>10107516
Composite on the front is stupid, but All I really need from an upscaler is something with component input. The rest of the /vr/ shit I care about is composite. I think this company would do well if they stratified pricing more on the number of inputs, rather than resolution. I’d rather save money and just a component/composite 4K upscaler than pay more for all the extra bullshit

>It’s going to cost $1,000

>>10107426
The panel is removable for custom mods or if you don't like it. The back is full of rgb inputs and the side has scart. This thing looks like it's ready to get gangbanged in all directions
>>10107480
Check out the first screenshot in the thread. You get way more detailed scanlines. Without those effects, a cheaper upscaler is a way better deal and 4k isn't worth it. It'll also provide enough resolution to make it possible to do convincing effects on hd content from 7th gen and nintendo

Why does this thing need FPGAs? What would be different if ARM was used?

>>10107279
No shit
I just pulled a 27" Trinitron off the street a couple days ago. This is my 4th set. They're still out there.

>paying 1000 dollars to play your own games
Literally worse than buying roms

>>10107191
Just get a crt you fucking retard

What if you want to play on your 75 inch $3000 tv that you already have and not make any compromises?

>>10108162
Just run RF straight into your aux cable if you really want to play games. Shit works

>>10107191
I just bought the 5x 3 weeks ago. Honestly, it is cool that the 4k has direct video for Mister, that’s actually cool. If I were truly invested on the videogaming aspect, I would buy it but honestly, I am getting tired of this. I am 34 now and I have other shit to do now. I had a blast playing Ocarina/Majoras mask randomizer and some dungeon and dragons with my brother but I think I just wasted my time.

Anyway, if somehow I make tons of spare cash, I may buy it, but currently I have other projects in mind.

Here's something of a review of sorts. Interesting that he mentioned composite support through component inputs on the back. I'll probably just keep the door shut on the front ports if I get one. Wish the s-video was back there too

https://www.retrorgb.com/retrotink-4k-details-revealed.html

>>10107191
>1k
Welp, I guess I'm not getting one anytime soon.

>>10108449
>1k
seriously thats fucking stupid,how autistic do you have to be.
i mean sure modern gaming sucks but you could literally buy a fucking ps5 for less money.
what are these guys smoking.

>>10107191
>>10108449
>>10108460
Thank God it's not really $1000.

>>10108460
It's a luxury device for rich people who already have the PS5 and the awesome tv. These are genuinely really expensive to make. Hopefully someone will come up with a cheaper solution with different components and no lag. Although that would be a hell of a project. I think we might just be fucked when it comes to 8k looking forward unless humanity invents more shit that could be adapted to this niche functionality

>>10107614
>if it's a truly premium product I want all ports on the rear of the unit.
I think the logic for the SCART on the side is because a lot of SCART cables are oriented in a way that mounting on the side of the unit is more stable and keeps the wire parallel with the rest. It's a very stupid connector that's only good for it's versatility. No real excuse for the front composite/S-Video ports though. The sliding door is where the SD card should go.

>>10107235
>$300 - $500
>astronomical price
get a job ya mook

This is not my forte, so forgive the potentially dumb question. If you already integer scale to 1080p with an existing scaler, won't your TV do just fine up scaling to 4k? Surely another integer scale is not going to have a performance hit? I'm just confused what advantages actually exist for native 4k when TVs are (I assume) well equipped to upscale 1080p content to 4k.

>>10108480
It'll be 900+ minimum, probably like 950

>>10108754
The most impressive upgrade will be the detail of masks and scanlines as you can see in the images at the top of the thread. If you don't care about that stuff, then there's no reason to buy this. This is for rich people who want to play games and watch movies through a 70 inch bvm. It'll also be able to do neat stuff with 720p+ signals. Can't really do good scanlines on that unless you scale it up a bunch. For retro stuff it mostly means slightly sharper scaling, much more accurate nerdy effects, and inputs for everything. It'll also handle colors better in many situations and other misc stuff. But much more economically sensible solutions already look great as you mentioned.

>>10107191
People buy the most embarrassing garbage to try and go home again. If youre spending this kind of money why not just get a big crt?

>>10108597
Not that expensive. There's just no competition.

>>10107191
>device used to make antiquated technology look better
>$900+
>and it still needs updates
You're all insane. Do you honestly believe that a TV that incorporated that tech would add anything more than $100 to the asking price?

>>10109107
I dont understand what you mean. He delivers updates regularly with new features. He's already ported everything from this product to the 5x that it can possibly support for free. Anon as you know, there is no such tv that does what you're saying. We're in the world where this product is designed by Mike at home and not the teams at LG or Sony. Maybe in the future we'll get something like the open source gbs-c with free software and labor.

>>10109107
The scalers is most televisions are notoriously shitty

>>10107307
No one cares, just use it for what you want.

>>10109107
>Do you honestly believe that a TV that incorporated that tech would add anything more than $100 to the asking price?

This is a niche product built by a single person, not a mass-market consumer device built by a Fortune 500.

>>10109224
They totally are, but at least the one built into my TV that costs $500 total can upscale to 4K. I love the retrotink devices, but the fact that built-in upscalers can scale to a higher resolution than their $500 products and the same as their products that are twice as expensive as the entire TV, it’s just baffling.

>>10109256
I meant I'm trying to resist the temptation to drop a grand on the cat in the hat's magic giant crt in a box. Looks good as fuck but still trying to decide if it's worth it for me personally

>>10109274
Only you can decide, it’s not worth it for me despite the fact that I can afford it. I’d personally only want to drop 1k on an upscaler that will be able to upscale to the native res of the display that I plan to buy in the next 5 or so years (8K). Until then, I’d settle for the 4x. My 2 cents.

I thought the point of these things was to just convert analog video signals to digital without introducing input lag or looking like shit? Is it really necessary to make a scaler that scales 720p hdmi to 4k hdmi? I think most TVs can handle that themselves without much trouble.

>>10109383
That's a misunderstanding of what this does

>>10109383
The higher the output resolution the less upscaling the TV needs to do which results in a sharper image. Although the true advantage of the 4K is for better CRT simulation since the difference in clarity from 1080p or 1440p is pretty negligible

>>10108690
500 might not be that much money but it also depends what you get for those 500,would you pay 500$ for a handful of peanuts because you have a job therefore you can.

I'm still using a Framemeister specifically because I was waiting for something like this.

>>10107243
Iswitch between my PVM and 4K OLED + upscale specifically because I'm not a dumbass. What kind of dumbass willingly restrictions themselves of options?

I don't think $1000 is that much if you're doing professional level footage capture or are an enthusiast about any old media, like laserdisk or whatnot

obviously for your average game there are far better options

>>10107191
I don't see what benefit this offers over the tink5x, which can do 1440p just fine. at that price I think I'd rather just get another 5x.

>>10109912
I am quite curious about what they are doing for LD and VHS users. Because frankly LD, VHS, Betamax archival isn't about image processing as much as it is about signal processing. The leading projects in this analog recovery are focused on fixing flawed signals first. This isn't realtime right now. The signal is captured digitally then corrected and from that a digital video is created ala LD-Decode and VHS-Decode. I guess maybe doing a LD VHS Decode then playing it through some 4k filter would be pretty neat.

For anyone who is illiterate, "Budget for $1,000 and be plesantly surprised" means it's not going to be $1,000.

>>10109994
>and we hope you will be pleasantly surprised
>and we HOPE you will be pleasantly surprised
I mean I hope it's $700 but he's said he doesn't think it will sell out and isn't bothering with pre orders or anything like that. So how hopeful can we be

>>10110006
Mike never does pre-orders

>>10109273
>37
You have a fundamental misunderstanding of what upscaling is and how it works. No, a $500 walmart special isn't doing anything except making SD images worse.

>>10107191
I'll just stick with playing games in RGB/Component/Composite on a CRT that I bought for 15 dollars.

>>10111234
What about consoles without rgb? Just stock composite?

>>10111220
>You have a fundamental misunderstanding of what upscaling is and how it works
Two-man R&D team from any major TV manufacturer could whip up such a feature and have it ready to go in a fortnight. The only reason why it hasn't been implemented (I'm referring to offboard scalers) is because of demand. $900 is extortion whether there's demand or not.

>>10107191
that's just too much money, that price is honestly offensive.

i've wanted the 5x for a while, i couldn't see myself paying more than the $325 though.

feels too much like what every other company is doing right now, raising prices because every other company is and no one is holding them accountable.

>>10107191
>It does look amazing but it's also a thousands bucks
my crt tv was free

I don't like the price. But the implication that this is some kind of extortion scheme or that someone else could whip this up in a jiffy and sell it for an order of magnitude less is a huge cope

>>10111597
Retrotink can also get away with it right now because of there are genuinely no other alternatives. OSSC Pro I think was silently canceled because it was shaping up to be “too expensive”, the PixelFX morph was canned and seemingly rolled into a bunch of 1080p output mods for other consoles under Retro Gem or some shit, it sucks but for a two-person team it’s one of the few capable ones out there. The upscaling market currently can be best described as land of the blind and what not.

What is a good easy part-time job in the USA with decent flexible schedules? Does Walmart have part-time positions that have retirement benefits? Good 4k TVs and this is going to be a substantial amount, and my current wage cannot keep up.

>>10107192
That's pretty neat. Not a $1000 neat but hey if somebody is maintaining a home theatre which they sink a few thousand in a year on, I know people like this, then Retrotink 4k would compliment it nicely.

>>10112387
Difficulties of a financial nature.

>>10112387
furry porn artist

>>10112110
Just build a GBS-C yourself and it's good enough.

>>10112110
>OSSC Pro I think was silently canceled
oh fug, really?
well I guess I shouldn't have expected it to be very affordable in the first place, but that's a shame

>>10111667
Is your CRT 77 inches wide diagonally (63 inches in 4:3 mode)?

>>10115648
No but the crt phosphor glow looks way better than an led with filters, oled included

>>10114790
Thats what I thought originally, since VGP has a Facebook post circa Oct 10, 2022 bemoaning the project coming so close to release, yet being canned/shelved as the price tag would apparently be over $1000 USD if they were to launch it in its current state, and the projected price for the OSSC pro was already said to be $500 USD. So it wouldn't be "affordable" by most stretches of the imagination.
Granted, I have seen posts on the SHMUPS forum state that it's just on hold due to part shortages, but things havent gotten a ton better as the best case scenario is that they can get a modest batch out by the end of the year, probably early 2024 at most.

>>10114767
I have. And it's pretty good for what it is.

>>10112748
Yeah, I still haven't figured out how to muster the energy for a 2nd job but I will need it. I am hoping to win the Mega Millions jackpot so I could get the Tink 4k and a PVM.

>>10114640
It takes many years to hone skills in that craft. In my younger days I did have the privilege to be instructed by a master of classical Italian painting, but I have gone out of practice for decades. Besides, the techniques I had were for classic tools in analog rather than digital, both of which require a lot of financing which I do not have. There are many more which are much more talented than I who can dedicate to doing such work. https://youtu.be/flvyJVTxnEc