(click here for a standalone version of the XRGB-Mini Framemeister review)

The Sales Bin (updated May 11th, 2012):

- Micomsoft SC-500N1 SD and HD analogue + digital PCIe Capture card from the XRGB makers. NEW - 220 EUR incl. shipping

- Marantz VQ2400 Composite and S-Video to component converter (NTSC and 480i only) (25 EUR plus shipping)

- Sony PGM-2950 stackable 29" 31khz (RGBHV/VGA) monitor. (170 EUR plus transport) *on hold*

- Blackmagic Multibridge Pro II ultra high-end capture solution for PCs. Retails for 1,600 EUR (700 EUR plus shipping)

- PC Engine (white) + Interface + CD-Rom² comes boxed in nice condition and w. games (300 EUR plus shipping)

- Kate Bush - The Whole Story rare PAL LD, mint condition with DVD transfer of the LD (39 EUR plus shipping)

- Freddie Mercury Tribute 2 LD Set, 207 min (longest version) with DVD transfer of the LD (59 EUR plus shipping)

- Ferenc Cako DVD Set (3 DVDs with stop motion and sand animation classics), extremely rare (49 EUR plus shipping)

- Nightmare Busters SFC japanese "release" of the Arcade Zone actioneer. 100% mint condition (179 EUR plus shipping)

- Otherwise just some bits and pieces right now.....

- Full List: available for download right here. Email me with any question or inquiries!

Expected for 2012:

- a new videoprocessor from the folks who made the HDFury converters.... (expected Q3, 2012)

- the new $2,000 Teranex processor from BMD. Previously $45,000+ (expected Q3, 2012)

Coming soon:

- Review of PMS Crystalio II (high-end video processor with Dual processors - Faroudja 2310 + Gennum VXP)

- Feature page about the Creative ZiiEagle player with 668 Shaw Brothers movies (+ capture instructions)

Update Log:

April 12th, 2012: added a review for the Lumagen Vision HDQ (highly recommended)
January 24th, 2012: added the ultimate Top-5 "which processor to buy" list (just scroll down on this page)
January 23rd, 2012: added the Ligawo RGB Scart to HDMI converter
January 23rd, 2012: added the ML-20 3DPlus Linedoubler
December 18th, 2011: added the XRGB-Mini Framemeister (full review)

(for the remaining uddate history since 2008 click here)

Update, Sep. 2009: a general note on future updates. The CYP Instant HQV review marks the very first review without any use of a digicam. All future screenshots will be taken digitally using a HD capture device. This eliminates any artefacts (moire) and gives a 100% pure impression of what the processors' outputs look like without the additional processing by my own television. There'll also be video captures of the upcoming processors. The first videogame upscaling video can be found down under the Instant HQV review. Check it out!!

The device used for all new screenshots and video captures is a BlackMagicDesign Multibridge Pro2. Besides capturing it can be used to do scanline overlays for HD sources (without any additional lag!). The screenshot below shows Death Smiles on the 360 "scanlined" (little more info here.). I might do an article about it some time in the future. If you're interested in details right away, feel free to email me.

Definitions:

old videogame = anything 8-bit (Famicom, PC Engine), 16-bit (SNES, Mega Drive), 32-bit (PSOne, Saturn) up to the PS2 or GameCube.
flatpanel TV = anything LCD or Plasma with a resolution higher than 480 lines - no matter if 32" WXGA or 65" Full HD.

Basic Proposition:

If you like to play classic videogame systems from time to time and have switched to a Flat Panel TV lately you will have noticed that most games look plain ugly. You might be happy with the picture in case you've only used inferior connections before (FBAS, that's the single yellow video line with the RCA (Cinch) connector at the end. And before I forget it: plugging such a cable into a Scart adapter doesn't make the picture any better, the signal's still the same). Most people I've talked to assumed that the shitty quality is introduced by the scaling neccessary (bringing the videogame's resolution to the TV's resolution), but that's actually only rarely the case.

Of course there are TV sets out there with bad scalers (for example the R7 and R8 series of Samsung TVs do an incredibly bad job in scaling 720p to the panel's resolution), but most of the time it's the horrible deinterlacing combined with the TVs video electronic which is optimized for video material (movies, TV shows, but not graphics). Deinterlacing is neccessary because your old videogames have a 15kHz video output (that's classic NTSC or PAL). Since LCD and Plasma displays are progressive by nature, the incoming signal has to be deinterlaced (linedoubled) to 31kHz before it can be displayed. The TV can take over this job, but it won't look nice.

To get the best picture out of your old systems you can buy an external deinterlacing device which takes the system's videosignal, performs some kind of linedoubling and outputs a 31kHz signal, so the TV has just to do a little scaling before it can show the actual picture. That's actually what this whole site is about - guiding you in finding a proper device for this important job.

And what about your newer systems ? XBox360 and PS3 can be connected via HDMI or component (YUV) to your TV directly. They'll output progressive 720p or 1080p signals. The old XBox has 480p via component for nearly all the games, same goes for the GameCube or Wii. At the bottom I'll have a quick look at a transcoder unit which can be used to "transcode" 480p YUV into VGA.

240p vs 480i: non-interlaced vs. interlaced 15kHz video:

Most of the classic systems use a non-interlaced 15kHz output which is compatible to the classic TVs we all had at home in the 80s and 90s. That's usually between 220 and 240 lines of visible video, along with 280 to 330 pixels of horizontal resolution. In the 90s 480i output became popular. It provides 480 lines of resolution (but only 240 lines per field = at a time) at 640 to 720 pixels of horizontal resolution. A handful of SNES games used this mode (Ranma 1/2), some Saturn games (Columns 97), quite some PSOne games (Tobal 2) and actually most of the PS2 games out there. While in theory 240p games don't have to be deinterlaced, 480i can be converted to 480p in a lot of different ways, providing different qualities in the result. 240p games run at 15khz as well and have still to be "upconverted" to 480p (31khz). Many newer TVs won't accept 240p on their component inputs. That's why it's often not an alternative to use a RGB Scart to Component (available for $50 to $100, e.g. from CYP) on those new TV sets.

The Purpose of the page:

It's been 12 years now since I switched from my classic Sony CRT television (with Scart RGB input) to a progressive CRT display. I've started using linedoublers back then to enjoy the more vibrant picture a progressive tube can provide. About 8 years ago I've switched to a LCD television and have upgraded quite some times since back then to better models (from a Samsung 32" to a LG 32" to a Sony 52" XBR5 and currently ending up with a 52" Sony HX905). Videoprocessors (enhanced linedoubling devices) has been a central part of my setup since back then.

While I own a XBox 360 and a PS3 I still like to play classic videogames. I like my PC Engine, I love my Saturn and the PSOne's got a nice collection of classic videogames as well. In addition I've got a PS2 which provides a nice lineup of titles for everyday's use. For years I've strived to gain the perfect picture on my LCD display. I've test lots of different video devices and by setting up this little page, I want to provide an overview on what's available on the market today.

The benchmark:

There are thousands of possible software titles which can be used to benchmark the devices in question, I usually use these:

- Metal Slug X (PSOne): a classic 240p title, I use a PStwo via Component or RGBS video to display it.

- Winds of Thunder (PCE): a classic 240p title. Used on a PC Engine it provides pure 240p RGBs video.

- Dragon Blaze (PS2): a 240p title running falsely in 480i mode.

- ESPGaluda (PS2): a game which can be switched from 480i to 240p and vice versa while running.

- Sega Ages: Fantasy Zone II DX (PS2): this one can internally be switched between 240p, 480i and 480p - very convenient.

- Outrun2SP (PS2): my reference 480p title on the Playstation 2.

Here are two screenshots how 240p signals are processed on a good, modern LCD without any additional, external processor -
take it as a benchmark for the tests below.

Game specific things to look out for:

- Metal Slug X (PSOne): a good deinterlacer should not try to deinterlace the game. If this happens you'll notice a different apperance of the picture while the game is in motion (compared to non-scrolling portions of the game). Usually the pixels become blurred when the background starts scrolling in case deinterlacing is applied.

- Winds of Thunder (PCE): many current devices have a problem to accept 240p signals at all. Quite a few Samsung LCD TVs come to mind. I connect my PCE in addition to the PStwo just to check if the device is able to handle 240p video from vintage signals without loosing sync.

- ESPGaluda (PS2): 30Hz drop shadows (the shadows on the ground below the flying battle ships are flickering with 30Hz to create a kind of transparency effect) are the hardcore test for every linedoubling device. "Good" devices try to deinterlace those flickering shadows and therefore create terrible artefacts by deinterlacing the shadows with the ground. The game uses these drop shadows in 240p mode as well as in 480i mode. Deinterlacing them correctly in 240p is crucial for vintage systems, while deinterlacing them correctly in 480i mode is important for many newer games (Beat'em ups like Capcom Fighting Jam).

- Dragon Blaze (PS2): it's just used for crosschecking the ability to deinterlace 480i signals. It's an interesting title since the actual graphics are 240p which are just mapped onto the 480i output of the PS2.

General things to look out for:

- Inputs: nowadays component video is a must and RGBs is actually nice to have. If you want to play vintage games on their real hardware (e.g. NES or PC Engine) and want the best quality, you'll want to get a RGB output modification for your system). Video and S-Video are pretty standard and the hardest of hardcore gamers will want a RF input to connect their pre-vintage systems (Pong?).

- Outputs: VGA is the standard for 31kHz video signals. The downside is that many displays won't accept linedoubled PAL (576p@50Hz) on their VGA input (important for european gamers only). The more sophisticated processors have progressive component video output as well. Nicer are DVI or HDMI outputs. The signals are digital and HDMI is capable of handling 576p without any problem. One way to get a linedoubled PAL signal running on your TV using a device which has only VGA output is to buy a VGA to HDMI converter. Those thingies are pretty common, are about $50 on ebay from HK and work quite well. If you want reference quality, check the Gefen units on this page.

- Processing delay: Current "gamer LCD monitors" have an input delay caused by the overdrive of about 2 frames (30ms), older LCDs have a more blurry picture, but no input lag (2011 update: it's actually getting better again, check the recommended displays section at the bottom for some monitors with 1 frame or less of delay). LCD and Plasma TVs have a common delay caused by the deinterlacing, scaling and processing of the input signal of about 30-50ms. Some TVs come up with 100ms delay (Samsung A6 series with 100/120Hz), some TVs have a gaming mode which reduces the lag to 10-20ms. If your deinterlacing device adds a delay of it's own now (e.g. 50ms) to an already slow LCD television, things get pretty unplayable. You won't be able to hit your arrows in Dance Dance Revolution, you won't be able to perform your combo moves in Street Fighter and you won't be able to dodge bullets anymore in DoDonPachi. As a player you'll be able to adapt to a certain delay, but you should nevertheless try to keep the delay as low as possible.

- Interframe Creation: is a new tech introduced on 120/240+ Hz displays to render new frames between the original ones. While this can be very nice to have to watch movies (especially Sony's motionflow tech) and while it might be intriguing to use it on video games, it's usually the No.1 killer in terms of added delay. Interframe creation simply takes time. The fastest (and not very good) methods take two additional frames of processing, while Sony and Samsung sets usually end up in the 70ms+ range with this feature enabled.

(as of january 2012)

Oh, how I hate these Top10 or Top5 lists. That's probably one of the reasons why I have more processors than actual sources in my own setup. It's impossible to give *the* 100% recommendation when it comes to buying a deinterlacer for your vintage videogames systems.
Still I get so many emails asking the same question over and overa gain, that's I'll try and give my personal Top5 list of which video
processors to buy.

1st Place: The XRGB-Mini aka Framemeister from Micomsoft. The brandnew king of 240p processing! At approx 380 Euro (US$480) the best processor for 240p you can buy, especially if you have a large high-end Plasma or LED/LCD set. Integrated scanline support, high compatibility (MVS runs fine) and very good picture quality for all 240p sources. HDMI output only, no 1200p support, no VGA input and no PAL support right now.

2nd Place: The XRGB-3 from Micomsoft. At approx. 320 Euro (US$400) new and about 250 Euro used still an excellent choice for all your 240p sources. VGA input and output. Scanline support with 480p output and resolutions up to 1920x1200 without scanlines. PAL support if you add a VGA to HDMI converter to the output. Much more inputs than the Mini. You should know the basics about sync processing and RGB signals if you plan on getting a XRGB-3.

3rd Place: The iScan VP30 with ABT102 upgrade from DVDO/ABT. This combo was about 2,000 Euro when released about 5 or 6 years ago. The going price for a VP30 with ABT102 deinterlacing card is about 250 to 300 EUR right now. The VP30 is much more flexible than the XRGB units. You get overscan and zoom controls, color controls and much more. Picture quality is great, but not as pixel perfect as with the XRGB units. The VP30 offers a VGA input for Dreamcast and a VGA output to add a SLG3000 for scanlines. A HDMI output is available for outputs up to 1080p. The scaling engine isn't bugged by the massive ringing the DVDO Edge unfortunately shows.

4th Place: The Videon Omega One and Vigatec FX2 units are fantastic linedoublers. The units are identical with the Videon having two component inputs, while the Vigatec has one RGB and one component input. They have analogue 480p/576p output only (through component and VGA). You can add a SLG3000 for scanlines. Both units also have great comb filters, so if you plan on using a composite video source (NES or Turbo Grafx without RGB mod), they're your number one choices. Prices ragen from 100 to 200 Euro right now.

5th Place: The GBS-8220 / Sync Strike / SLG3000 combo or a HDBoxPro / SLG3000 combo. Cheap (less than $50 for the GBS8220, $55 for the orignal HDBoxPro incl. shipping), easy to use, highly compatible. The GBS offers a RGB input (but you need a sync cleaner like the Sync Strike for home systems), while the HDBoxPro is component only. Quality is ok'ish if used without a SLG3000, but nice once used with a SLG3000. The GBS-8220 requires some custom cabling, while the HDBoxPro is ready to use ouf of the box. The HDBoxPro offers slightly better deinterlacing for 240p sources. Look out for a all-in-one-box solution from Arcadeforge in 2012 !!

You can email me whenever you like by clicking here: scan@hazard-city.com

The candidates (with 2012 price estimates)

- HD Box Pro (around $50 new) *TOP5*

- Lenkeng family of videogame processors (around $50-80 per device, new)

- Ligawo RGB to HDMI converter (around $70 new) *added 2012*

- Extron Andora Linedoubler (around $100 used) *added 2011*

- Videon Omega One (around $150 used) *TOP5*

- Vigatec FX2 (around $200 used) *TOP5*

- Vigatec VC1280 (around $150 used)

- Zinwell Brite View Video Scaler (around $100 used) *added 2011*

- ML20 3Dplus Linedoubler (around EUR 90 new) *added 2012*

- Silicon Optix Image Anyplace (around $350 used) *added 2011*

- Cinemateq Picture Optimizier Plus II (around $200 used)

- Micomsoft Dipl-TV ($150 used)

- Micomsoft XRGB2 ($200 used), XRGB2+ ($250 used), XRGB3 ($350 used) *always up to date including the user's guide* *TOP5*

- Micomsoft XRGB-Mini Framemeister ($480 new) *added 2011* *TOP5*

- PixelMagicSystems Crystalio ($500 used)

- Spatz Barracuda ($1400 new)

- Pioneer PDA-V100 HD ($200 new)

- iScan Pro (around $90 used)

- iScan Ultra (around $120 used)

- iScan HD/HD+ (around $170 used)

- iScan VP20/VP30 (around $200-350, depends on ABT102 upgrade card) *TOP5*

- iScan VP50 (around $600 used), VP50Pro (around $1300 used)

- DVDO Edge ($799 new, $400 used) *updated the review, added SLG3000 screenshots*

- Optoma Themescene HD3000 (around $400 used)

- CYP Instant HQV (Realta) ($900 new)

- Algolith Dragonfly (Silicon Optix Realta) (around $500-750 used)

- Lumagen Vision HDQ ($500 used) *added 2012*

- Lumagen Radiance XD (high-end $3000 processor)

- Vigatec S1 (high-end $15,000 processor, last seen for $2000 used)

- Gefen Home Theater Scaler Plus (around $150 used)

- Gefen High-Def Scaler (HD Mate) (around $150 used)

- Denon DVP-602CI (around $500 used)

- PS3 (for running PS1 and PS2 Games) ($400)

- Asus EEE Box (for emulating instead of playing on the actual hardware) ($350)

- Extron Super Emotia ($100 used) and Burosch Con-1 ($100 used) for the fun of it (these are not deinterlacers)

- Crescendo Systems RTC 2200 transcoder unit ($180 new) *added 2011*

- Gefen VGA to DVI Scaler Plus ($100-150 used)

- Micomsoft XSelect-D4 Cross-Transcoder ($180-200 used)

- Extron Crosspoint 128 RGBHV Switch ($150-200 used) *added 2011*

- SLG3000 scanline generator ($70) *added 2011*

HD Box Pro (and clones)

Introduced in early 2008, the HDBoxPro is a low-cost 1-chip design from China. It can be ordered from the manufacturer's website directly at the incredible low cost of $50 plus shipping. Click here for the order website.

MSX: a loss of clear definition and sharpess can be seen when the screen starts scrolling. Nothing serious though.

ESP: with the right setting (video-biased deinterlacing setting) drop shadows in 240p are correctly deinterlaced.

DB: deinterlacing errors in the drop shadows in 480i games.

The overall picture is to be considered good. It's not as sharp as the XRGB's output when the output is set to 480p, but it can very well stand up to much more expensive processors. One big advantage is that the the box does accept 480p and HD signals as well. So when playing a Wii or PS2 game which supports 480p you don't have to re-do your cabling to gain something out of the better output signal. As further tests have shown the HDBoxPro is lag-free when used with 480p input (as a pure transcoder).

Pros: cheap price, component input, 480p compatibility, scaling ability, little delay, remote control, did I mention the price ?

Cons: noisy signal, no zoom function, mediocre transcoder function, just a single input, agressive sharpness regulation

Since the introduction of the HDBoxPro in early 2008 a few clones using the exact same chip have shown up. Most notably probably the XCM "Megacool" VGA Box. It's slightly more expensive (around EUR 70), but has a sleeker design. There's also the CBS8220 CGA/EGA/YUV to 2VGA converter PCB which is sold as an arcade accessory. It's basically a tweaked HDBoxPro with Dual VGA ouput and RGBs input besides the component input. It's available for $50 on ebay.com (just search for CGA to VGA). (left pic is the XCM box, right is the arcade pcb version). If you're looking for the home versions and are living in the USA, Monoprice is offering a nice clone for under $40 (click here ). It's basically identically to the HDBoxPro, but is missing a motion sensitivity setting, so 240p is treated as 480i all the time.

Conclusion: terrific performance for the price tag. If you have to stay on a $50 budget, this is your only option anyway. Beware of the additional costs for RGBs to YUV transcoders though which might catapult you into price areas where other devices might be available.
Can easily be paired with a SLG3000 for scanline emulation. Can also be used as a pure transcoder from component to VGA.

Lenkeng Series of video game processors

Lenkeng is a chinese company which offers video converters. From the looks of it, most of them are identical with the basic HDBoxPro layout and though I have no idea who came first (Lenkeng or the original HDBoxPro), Lenkeng succeeds in offering some of the cheapest, but most convenient video game processing boxes out there. The official website can be found here and the easiest way to find shopping sources for the item in question is just to copy the product code (e.g. LKV7000) into Google and see what comes up. Most of the boxes cost somewhere between $40 and $80 with many eBay offers already including worldwide shipping.

I'm far from having tried all the available Lenkeng solutions, but logic suggests that they're all based on the very same processor inside and since I had good experience with two of Lenkeng's boxes and with a third one coming along, I wanted to add their whole lineup to the processors on this page.

Let's start out with the LKV7600 which is just the same as the HDBoxPro but without a IR remote control. While quite a few people seem to have problems with the HDBoxPro (grounding issues), the LKV7600 I had on hand was fine all around (but so was my HDBoxPro). The LKV2300 is a VGA to component transcoder with chooseable output resolution. I haven't tried this unit, but it seems reasonable to add this to a XRGB's output if now VGA input is available on the TV set and all HDMI inputs are in use.

The LKV354 is a Component to HDMI converter without any scaling capabilties. It's basically just a video analogue to digital converter. The very same unit is available in silver and with "game converter" printed on it. It's then called LKV5000 Wii to HDMI converter. It comes bundles with a Wii component cable though...

Then there's Lenkeng's RGB Scart to HDMI converter series called LKV360 and LKV361 (the 361 just adds S-Video support). Those two units are confirmed to work very nicely with 240p material, so they basically replace the overpriced and hard to get Coosis Scart to HDMI box. The output is again fixed at 720p, but both PAL and NTSC supported with 720p50 and 720p60 output. Likely the cheapest and easiest way out there to get 240p RGB onto the big screen (2011 update: the LKV362 offers 1080p output as well).

And last but not least there are Lenkeng's two PSP processors. The analogue one is the reason how I first came to find out about Lenkeng. The LKV7000 looks much like a HDBoxPro, has got component inputs and VGA output. My guess is that this has the same processor as the HDBoxPro, but with a different firmware. Interlaced signals are not supported anymore (hence no deinterlacing), but instead a zoom function is available through the menu which zooms the PSP "272 lines in 480p signal" to fullscreen. The output resolution can still be choosen from a list of PC resolutions. The LKV8000 is the digital version, probably performs in the same manner, but has a fixed 720p output. The PSP zoom works rather nicely. Next to the XRGB-3 the LKV7000/8000 are the only machines out there which can zoom PSP games. Some higher end video processors obviously can do this as well, but the picture usually gets very blurry on those. At least on the LKV7000 the transcoding of non-PSP signal (e.g. 480p from a PS2) works very nicely as well. Probably the next best thing to a Buroch Con-1 or an XSelect-D4 (which are both hard to find and cost a lot more). Here's photo from a my 52" Sony LCD running PSP Prinny in glorious fullscreen.

Conclusion: while I usually don't like "nameless" chinese manufacturers, Lenkeng succeeded in getting it's name out there. Their HDBoxPro clone, their PSP scalers and their easy to use RGB Scart to HDMI converters are highly recommended. Don't expect XRGB-3-like performance from them, but they're all worth their money and if your goal is basically just to add RGB Scart inputs to your HDTV set, this is the quick'n dirty path to 240p glory.

Ligawo RGB Scart to HDMI Converter

Ligawo is a chinese manufacturer just like Lenkeng. The converters can easily be found on eBay and Amazon. The concept sounded promising! A single box solution for RGB Scart and S-Video inputs and a HDMI output with various output resolutions (including 720p, 1080p and some PC resolutions). But boy, Ligawo's boxes have really bad quality. While the basic functions work (50Hz and 60Hz RGB input via Scart), the processing quality is just bad. The upscaling is quite blurry and there's a lot of deinterlacing happening even with already progressive 240p sources. Quality for 480i inputs is kinda ok, but then again you don't need RGB in the first place.

You would expect this kind of quality from a no-name $299 32" LCD TV, but not from a 60 Euro external solution. The Lenkeng boxes are better and the HDBoxPro clearly shows that you can get actual quality at the same price.

Conclusion: works if you're deperately in need of Scart connector, but almost every processor on this website has better quality than this Ligawo converter box.

Extron Andora Linedoubler

The Extron Andora series of linedoublers probably represents one of the oldest machines on this site. The Andora units are from the mid 90s, a time when progressive displays were rare and the world was ruled by mighty CRTs. This said, with Extron being a high-end manufacturer since back in the days, the Andora already featured a 15khz RGBs input. It will only accept clean sync, so you the proper cables for your systems or use a sync stripper like the Sync Strike. The RGB input is a 9-pin DSub connector, but a Scart to DSub adapter is easily built.

One remarkable aspect about the Andora is that it's completely lag free as there is no deinterlacing applied to the picture. The single fields are just doubled to get the proper 31khz output. This results in slight combing artefacts in high movement scenes, but this is masked pretty nicely when using a SLG3000 for scanlines on the Andora's output. The picture quality of the Andora is excellent and - thanks to the non-existent digital processing of the picture - sharper than on most other candidates you can see here. In terms of sharpness the Andora is comparable to the XRGB-3.

With the missing deinterlacing the Andora isn't for everyone, but if you're into fast-paced arcade games and want ZERO processing lag, you might be able to catch an Andora very cheap on eBay or elsewhere.

Conclusion: a very "pure" processor. No fancy extras, RGB input, ZERO lag. Pair it up with a SLG3000 for use with arcade boards!

Videon Omega One (HDP) and Vigatec FX2 (FX2+)

The Videon Omega One has been introduced in 2001 at a price tag of US$1500. It features the legendary Faroudja FLI2200 deinterlacer chip and was named one of the best linedoublers on the market. The Vigatec FX2 is a relabeled Omega one unit from a german company. One of the two available component inputs on the Omega One machine (along with 4 Video and 2 S-Video inputs) has been remodeled to RGBs. The Videon can commonly be found on eBay all over the world, while you need to look out on european marketplaces to score a FX2 with RGB input. Current market price of the Videon is around $150 while the Vigatec might hit $200. There are updated versions of both processors available. The Videon is called Omega HDP, wile the Vigatec is called FX2+. The units are basically the same with an additional HD passthrough input added on both machines. They also feature an enhanced filmmode function for movie deinterlacing, but that's of no concern for us right here.

MSX: 100% maintained clearness and sharpness on scrolling backgrounds. True 240p mode, no deinterlacing applied.

ESP: 240p dropshadows are deinterlaced correctly - as well as 480i drop shadows (at the cost of a little delay)

WOT: works fine on the FX2 unit. Works fine on the Omega One with an addition RGBs to YUV transcoder up front.
(Depending on the PCE Engine RGB amp in question, a little more work on the amp might be neccessary.)

These two machines can probably be considered the best standalone deinterlacers for 240p material out there. The picture is somewhat not as sharp as on the competitors (XRGB), but this gives the picture a very natural CRT-like look. If you need more sharpness apply some from the TV settings. Picture quality of the Video and S-Video inputs is top-notch as well, because of the great comb filters used. If you have vintage systems which you don't want to mod to RGB, this is your machine (NES via yellow RCA). There's also a FLI220 specific feature called diagonal edge enhancement. One 240p this will interpolate the picture to avoid blockiness. In the end it's a matter of taste, but it's nice to have and works very well (while I prefer to keep it disabled). The Processing delay for all FLI2200 or FLI2300 based processors is rather low (between 1 and 2 frames) (Vigatec Germany claims that the FX2 performs at under 0.5 frames, but from my testings a few years back, that's not true. The Faroudja chips also "feel" more laggy than the lag-free XRGB-3).

A missing zoom function by the way results into black borders around the image. Especially on the PS2 which uses an underscanned output image (e.g. standard black borders on all four sides) this can get a bit annoying (can be 2-2.5 inches on a 50" screen)

The FLI2200 or FLI2300 can also be found on the Holo3DGraph PCI cards. I've done a seperate article on these cards which you can read here. It focuses on picture rotation instead of deinterlacing though.

Pros: affordable ($150-200), multiple inputs, very high built quality (originally $1500 machines), perfect 240p mode, switchable diagonal
edge enhancement, remote control, both VGA and component progressive output

Cons: not 480p compatible, no sharpness function on the YUV and RGB inputs, rather soft picture out of the box, no zoom function

Conclusion: next to the XRGB series, the very best processors for 240p material out there. With some systems (e.g. PC Engine or Neo Geo MVS) even less problematic than Micomsoft's XRGB-3 processor.

Vigatec VC1280 (Comm-Tec Up 1280)

The Vigatec VC1280 was introduced around the year 2000 at horrendous prices of about $3000 back then. Similar units are available from various companies. The one I had on hand was a Comm-TEC Up 1280 unit. The VC1280 is a full-size rack-mountable processor with 4 composite inputs, 4 times S-Video, 2 times RGBs/Component and a single VGA passthrough port. On the output side a VGA port and a set of BNCs is available. The unit has also audio switching capabilites with 4 analogue stereo inputs and one output.

In Comparison to the Vigatec/Videon linedoublers the VC1280 does upscaling to 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024 (plus a few weirder ones like 720x960) and 1280x720 which is nice to feed computer LCDs or a HD-Ready display (LCD or Plasma). The unit has a little LCD screen on the front which allows the user to all settings without the need of an onscreen display.

The RGBs/Component inputs are done in DSub15 style (VGA connectors). This might be litlte weird for first time users, but it allows for smaller size connections and cheap self-made cables. I used a D-Sub to Scart adapter to test the VC1280 with a japanese Sega Saturn unit and a D-Sub to Component adapter to test a PS2. The unit succeeded in 240p tests. The picture quality is similar to the FX2 unit above (with DCDi turned off), but with added sharpess due to the scaling process.

The Vigatec VC1280 doesn't show up very often on eBay and other sites, but when it does, it can usually be bought for around 150 EUR ($200) which makes them a nice alterntive an XRGB machine. The VC1280 is one of the few machines which is upscaling to XGA and other resolutions and are still very fast (1-frame delay) and does proper deinterlacing of drop shadows on 240p titles. The machine also has got zoom and shifting functions which allow you to eliminate the underscan (black) borders on a PS2 signal.

Pros: affordable, scaling engine to XGA, fast, nice picture quality on 240p inputs, 2 RGB ports, audio switching, zoom

Cons: DSub inputs instead of Scart or RCA, no 480p input processing

Conclusion: nice vintage processor. Hard to find. Involves extra work for building Scart and YUV to DSub15 adapters for every single input.

Zinwell Brite View

A rather unknown processor. To my knowledge Zinwell was quite active on the US market, but I can't remember seeing a BriteView over here in Germany more than a single time over the past years (and that's when I bought this one).

With it's limited inputs (composite, s-video, component, one each) the Brite View at first seems like a processor in the iScan Pro range, but a first test run (or a look into the manual) suggests that it's actually a more powerful unit. The Zinwell supports VGA output resolutions of up to SXGA (1280x1024) and component output resolution of 720p and 1080i.

The BriteView comes in a dark metal chassis with an embossed Zinwell logo on top. The remote control allows to switch between inputs and to adjust basic cotrols (brightness, contrast, sharpness). There's also a button to directly change the output resolution, so you can easily toggle between VGA, SVGA, XGA and SXGA.

The processors supports 480i and 576i inputs and properly recognizes 240p and 288p video on all inputs. The image quality of the processor is ok. It's not great, but it heavily gains from the scaling to higher resolutions and the proper 240p handling is nice to see. The Zinwell adds a little overscan to the picture, which can easily be noticed on a PS2 signal (which usually has large underscan borders). The processing lag on 240p is quite low (around 1 frame) and the Zinwell works nicely with the SLG3000. The scanlines get thinner/smaller the higher you set the output resolution, so the Zinwell should be set to 480p output for a "proper" scanline look.

In comparison to other processors, the Iscan Pro performs a little better, but given the low price of the Zinwell (50 Euro), it's surely an affordable alternative.

Conclusion: overall a nice little processor. With the scaling minimized (output set to 480p VGA), the Zinwell can be used with the SLG3000 for added scanline goodness.

ML20 3Dplus Linedoubler

The ML20 is a basic linedoubler designed and made in Germany. It has a very high-end built-quality to it and the units supposedly sold for several thousand Euro a piece back in the days. The units are available in dark blue or charcoal grey color. You can use these to drive 3D glasses (hence the name), but if you skip this functionality, you have a solid, but simple linedoubler which takes 15khz via RGBs and component and outputs 480p or 576p through VGA.

The unit works fine with most 240p sources and handles 480i (and 576i) as expected. Quality isn't great (not bad either), but there's little adjustment possibilites and the inputs are quite sensitive to noise.

There's really nothing to rave about. If you have one of these, they can be used for basic 240p to 480p processing. You can add a SLG3000 to the output to add scanlines. On the other hand, you can find plenty of other processors at this price tag, which do the same job.

Conclusion: not bad, not great either. Really nothing special and hardly any adjustment possibilites.

Silicon Optix Image Anyplace

This one actually took my ages to get. I've setup an automated eBay.com search for Silicon Optix back in 2008, but the only units showing up were in bad condition and with prices of more than $700 plus shipping. Anyway, in the summer of 2011 I finally got one and ran the full program of tests. And what can I say ? Who would have expected that the Silicon Optix turned out to be a new star among the video game processors out there ? Well, it did. Read on to learn about it!.

The Image Anyplace was introduced in 2004 or 2005 for a hefty $4000. It was aimed at users of digital high-end projectors, because - as the name already suggests - the Image Anyplace is the only video processor out there to feature extensive digital keystone correction for projectors. You can use it to counter any kind of geometry distortion caused by projecting from all kinds of weird angles. What hit me about the Silicon Optix unit, is it's ability to provide +/-90° picture rotation to any of it's inputs. But first things first....

The Image Anyplace features the FLI2200 processor (just like the Videon and Vigatec units), but adds a FGPA for scaling (up to 1400x1050p or 1080i) and live-geometry-corrections and rotation. As expected from the Faroudja processor inside, the Image Anyplace features full 240p compatibility and recognition, so it doesn't even try to deinterlace 240p material. For 480i material you get full control over the FLI's deinterlacing features. There's a even a DI-mode called static mesh which is very similar to the gamemode on the DVDO units - just better. I'm hardly impressed by any video processor nowadays, but the SI did the trick. Amazing for all kinds of classic video game signals! With the nice scaling available in the unit, the overall picture quality is even better (= sharper) than on the Videon/Vigatec units - excellent!

The processor has got SD inputs (composite, s-video, component) and HD inputs (component, RGBHV, VGA, DVI) and processing and image rotation is available to all of them. The only thing missing (because of it's american heritage) is a RGBs input, but a RGBs to component transcoder can be added cheaply.

So far, so good. The major selling point in this processor is it's ability to rotate the picture. Before the Image Anyplace, this feature was only available in a HTPC setup using the Holo3DGraph processor card. Unfortunately it's a pain in the ass to find a Holo card nowadays and setting up a HTPC isn't everyone's cup of tea anyway. The Image Anyplace takes all those features and puts them into a single standalone processor.

No matter if your input is 480i (e.g. from a PS2), 240p (e.g. from a Saturn) or 480p (e.g. from a Dreamcast), the Image Anyplace makes all your TATE-compatible games shine - without the need to rotate your display. As you can read in my Yokotate article, the advantage of using a TATE mode isn't only the bigger playing screen, it's the better resolution and the waive of any scaling in the source. Classic games running at 320x240 usually need to be downscaled to 180x240 for Yoko play. Dreamcast games like Exelica running in 640x480 have to be downscaled to 360x480. With the Silicon Optix, you get the full resolution all the way. The Image Anyplace offers both clockwise and counter-clockwise rotation as well as multiple combinations with all kinds of flipping or mirroring. Everything works like a charm and looks stunning! The whole processing lag remains on a very moderate level with around 1 frame for already progressive signals and still under 2 frames for interlaced 15khz signals.

There are two very minor cons I could find while testing the unit: a) given the age of the unit, 1080p is not available. The highest HD resolution output for DVI/HDMI and VGA is 1080i and the highest PC resolution output is 1400x1050p. And b) while the scaling overall is really good, the Image Anyplace cannot apply picture rotation to a signal with scanlines without causing scaling artefacts (unevenly scaled scanlines). For 99% of all possible users this isn't important, but it's a hint for anybody thinking of chaining a XRGB-3 with the Image Anyplace ;-)

Pros: excellent processing quality and full 240p compatibily, many inputs, picture rotation for "Yokotate" gameplay

Cons: not this easy to find if you're on a budget. No 1080p output (just 1080i or PC resolutions up to 1400x1050p)

Conclusion: one of a kind! Not only great quality for all 240p sources, but the only processor to allow picture rotation for all inputs.
Hands-down the best processor I can think of to use a supergun on a large digital display without rotating the display.

Cinemateq Picture Optimizier Plus II

Cinemateq is a german company (from the outskirts of munich) which had it's high a few years back (around 2004/2005). They introduced a series of processor called "Picture Optimizier" ranging from a simple linedoubler (PO), over three generations of scalers (Picture Optimizer Plus I and II and POP HDMI). Cinemateq went out of business a few years back, but the company assets were bought and so the name's kinda still around nowadays (but without the original team of engineers and technicians).

The Cinemateq processors were quite expensive back in the days, but can be found quite cheap on eBay these days. I bought myself a Picture Optimizer Plus II SDI for about 180 Euro. While the usual downs apply to the Cinemateq just like to most processors of the time (e.g. it does not process 480p inputs, but has seperated pass through inputs for ED and HD signals), it has one thing that no other processor (besides the XRGB) has: real RGB Scart inputs - and there are even two of them! Besides the Scart inputs, there are two sets of component, two S-Video, two Video (or SDI). On the output side the Cinemateq is very well equipped with RGBHV (BNC), VGA, Component and DVI.

For some weird reason the DVI output is officially limited to 1080i output, while the RGBHV output supports 1080p without any problem. The Cinemateq processor are quite flexible and can be set to every output resolution you want (which is nice for WXGA display users). All settings can be done on the front display or via on-screen menu. The menu's are easy to understand, but get more complex the deeper the user gets into them.

From a compatibility standpoint the Cinemateq performs very nice. I threw various sources at it, ranging from a PS2 via component to a Saturn through RGB Scart (and some others) - and the POP processed all of the them like a charm. The Cinemateq units have lots of manually selectable deinterlacing modes of which only some work nicely on 240p material. The auto setting can't be recommended as it causes 240p to flicker and judder. Cycling through the modes I quickly found a working deinterlacing mode. The results for 480i material are ok, but nothing to talk about. There's no motion-adaptive video deinterlacing, so the possible resolution is cut into half (on slow moving games, e.g. RPGs). The results on 240p were nice though and reminded me very much of what the Faroudja based Vigatec units can do. Diagonal enhancement is available in the menu as well, but it's not really as good as Faroudja's implementation. The scaling and optional sharpness setting add a nice touch, so that in overall the POP's picture appears sharper than the pure linedoubling of a FX2 unit.

Pros: very affordable nowadays, 4 RGBs/Component inputs, many outputs, highly flexible menu with lots of options

Cons: no audio routing, only 1080i for DVI / HDMI, the usual 2-frame delay on 240p and 480i gaming material

Conclusion: a nice processor from Germany, extremely well built, good quality, nice alternative to Faroudja linedoublers.

Micomsoft Family of video deinterlacers (XRGB and others) - XRGB-2, XRGB-2plus, XRGB-3

Two info resources ahead: The english language XRGB-3 Wiki can be found here. It's maintained by a few XRGB-3 users from the shmups.com board (including me) and has lots of useful information. The largest discussion on everything "XRGB" can be found here on the shumps.com forum. My user name over there is Fudoh and everyone's welcome to join in !!

Micomsoft is a japanese company which used to make software and joysticks back in the 80s (they created the incredible XE1 line of joysticks for the PC Engine and other oldies). At some point in the 90s they got into developing video switchers and linedoubling devices all targeted at customers who wanted to connect videogame systems to their PC monitor. With the XRGB they introduced a RGB-capable linedoubling device back in the mid-90s. It was geared towards the users of japanese PCs (NEC, Sharp etc) and did have a non-standard 31khz RGB output for those systems' displays. In the late 90s the XRGB-2 was introduced and brought the attention of overseas gamers to the company. Dealers like NCS started carrying Micomsoft's devices and the XRGB-2 soon became the de facto standard for upscaling videogames. The XRGB-2plus later on added a component input and the XRGB-3 (introduced in 2006) added scaling capabilities plus a DVI output. The Displ-TV is tuned down version of the XRGB-2plus, but with an added TV tuner. It's the only deinterlacer out there taking japanese RF signals, so you will be able to connect your really old systems (VCS2600, Pong, Intellivision, original Famicom) to a LCD or Plasma this way. Note that american RF frequencies tend to differ from the japanese ones, so I have no idea if american systems RF sources would work. All the machines are rather easy to find when looking in the right places. Yahoo Japan is a start or good videogaming communities in case you cannot buy in Japan by your own. Solaris Japan is another good source (run by a friend of mine).

The latest (and current 2010/2011) model, the XRGB-3 has two basic modes of operation, B0 and B1. In B0 you get full processing (incl. scaling to resolutions from XGA (1024x768) up to WUXGA (1920x1200). B1 is basically a XRGB-2plus operation mode (linedoubling only). Several features are disabled in B1 mode (like screen resizing), on the other hand the processing delay in minimized (to nearly zero). In terms of picture quality (via VGA output) and processing speed (delay) the XRGB2, 2+ and 3 in B1 mode are all rather the same.

The main annoyance of the earlier Micomsoft machines is their shaky and weak vertical sync signal. This results in unstable vertical lines. One a colorful and fast moving arcade game that's no problem at all. You probably won't even notice it from a normal viewing distance, but with RPGs with white text and straight boxes all the time this might drive you crazy. So if you're the RPG-playing kind of gamer, test the XRGB series of machines before buying. (The effect is also affected by your display. There are monitors out there which will compensate this very well, while others might show this effect merciless). This effect was heavily reduced on the XRGB-3 when the LPF function was added via firmware upgrade. The RGB scart socket on front is a nice addition, but note that it's got a japanese layout and you will blow your machine by connecting a european scart RGB cable without an adapter. Quality of the RGB and Component inputs are basically the same.

The following results are for the XRGB-3 in B0 mode (with scaling up to 1920x1200):

MSX: excellent 240p mode, very sharp picture, actually the only machine close to the PS3's performance on PS1 games.

ESP: 240p drop shadows are displayed properly as well as their 480i counterparts.

WOT: works fine, same as MSX

DB: verification of the 480i drop shadows.

While these results are for the XRGB-3 in B1 mode (linedoubling to 480p via VGA):

MSX: excellent 240p mode, perfect scanline emulation (see screenshots at the bottom of the page)

One thing the XRGB offers which hardly any other processor does, it the near-zero-latency on B1 mode. It's often been asked why the XRGB-2, 2+ and 3 manage do deinterlace in no time when other processors take 2-3 frames time until they can show the deinterlaced picture. The reason behind this is that the XRGB-2, 2+ and 3 in B1 mode do *not* really deinterlace. What they do is to emulate a CRT like look without real deinterlacing. On 240p content each line is simply doubled resulting in a 480p output picture. On 480i material only 240 lines (one field) is displayed at a time. Every field is simply linedoubled. If you take one moment in time (1/60 second) you'll only see the information of one single field on the screen. This results is a theoretical loss of possible information. "Real" deinterlacing devices (and scalers) always take at least two successive fields and calculate a full frame image out of them. Moving areas are reduced to the resolution of a field, while non-moving areas are built from both fields and show more vertical details. This method is called motion-adaptive deinterlacing. The XRGB-3 added real deinterlacing in B0 mode which caused a delay of 2 frames. It only does a very mediocre job in deinterlacing, so the linedoubling (B1) mode is always to be preferred on 480i material. The method of just upscaling a single-field is also called field scaling and the DVDO machines (VP20/30/50/50Pro/Edge) do this in Gamemode (1).

And while talking about emulating the CRT-like look of older videogames, we come to the one feature which distinguishes the XRGB line of processors from *every other* videoprocessor out there: the emulation of visible scanlines. You can read some basics about scanlines here. To cut it short: scanlines are the visible dark lines between every horizontal line of pixels. They are not part of the signal, but are produced by CRT displays while displaying low-res signals. LCD and plasma displays cannot show scanlines by nature, but by emulating those scanlines as part of the signal itself the task can be accomplished on flat-panel TVs as well. Not everybody likes to have scanlines (they tend to make the picture darker and can distract from gameplay when too strong, on the other hand they're just part of the retrogaming experience), but if you do, you have a strong argument for buying a XRGB unit. The XRGB machines will do scanline emulation faithful to what it would look like on a CRT. On 240p material you get strong and visible scanlines while on 480i material you only get very light ones. The XRGB-2 has only got one setting (on/off), where the 2plus has four density levels available. The XRGB-3 offers a scale from 0 to 255 (a setting of about 180 is my favorite one). If you're running games which are falsely displayed as 480i while actually being 240p (like Taito's Mushihimesama and Ibara conversions on the PS2) you won't be able to display faithful scanlines. On those games the tiny 480i scanlines tend to produce artefacts.

The XRGB-3 also accepts 480p and analogue HD signals. For 720p and above I found the bandwith of the inputs too low and I don't see much reason to have the XRGB work with HD signals anyway. For 480p signals the B0 mode does a nice job on scaling and the B1 mode does a good job of transcoding the signal from YUV to VGA. The yellow Ferrari below shows OutRun2SP in 480p scaled to SXGA in B0 mode.

Pros (XRGB3): pure videgame machine, SD, ED & HD Input via Component, DVI passthrough from PC, scanline emulation in B1 mode, nearly lag free in B1 mode, can be used as a trancoder (480p component in, 480p VGA output), DVI/HDMI connection in B0 mode. Has a zoom mode to play PSP games in fullscreen!! VGA input on the back is 15khz RGB-compatible as well, so you got two RGBs inputs...

Cons (XRGB3): quite expensive for a 240/480p only videogame machine, 2-frame delay in B0 mode (still rather ok, but bad compared to B1 mode), You mustn't connect the DVI and VGA at the same time (a bit annoying when you switch from B1 to B0 often and want to use HDMI for B0), real bad 480i deinterlacing.

Additional tidbits: Due to combined efforts of the shmups.com board members (including me ;)) Micomsoft released an english language firmware for the XRGB-3. It's basically an english 2.12 version and be downloaded here. Micomsoft also relased a debug utility for the Scart RGB input which allows to fix problematic sources (e.g. arcade PCBs). This requires a Windows PC connected through USB though. The software can be downloaded here.
 

After years of abstinence I finally unburried my japanese Saturn (Hitachi model 2) to hook it up to my XRGB-3. While the picture quality is overall very nice (very uncomplicated system in terms of picture noise), I've run into a tiny problem with a little static wave on top of the picture. You can see it on this screenshot below. I haven't found a way to fix it yet, so if anyone has an idea or even the same problem, just email me.  I'm using original Sega Japan RGB cables (which use composite video instead of real sync). First generation Saturn units (those with the oval buttons) don't show this effect....

Conclusion: **the** ultimate 240p gaming processor. It doesn't get any better. If you can afford $450 for a new XRGB-3 unit, get one. If you play 480i games (e.g. RPGs) on a regular basis get a cheap 480i deinterlacer in addition (e.g. an iScan Pro or Videon/Vigatec unit).

The eagle has landed! 14 months after it's first announcement and nearly 6 years after the release of the legendary XRGB-3, Micomsoft has started to ship out the new XRGB-Mini, also called FRAMEMEISTER. While the "mini" in the official name let us hope for a smaller price tag than it's older brother, the price actually turned out to be same. Micomsoft asks for 38,640 yen (currently $496 / EUR 380). This review will show if the price is justified, who's the target audience of the new Mini and what flaws Micomsoft's new baby has.

With only 295 gramms (10.4 ounces) the Framemeister is a lightweight which reminds of a chinese electronic toy and doesn't really look like a $500 video processor (just as a reminder: the DVDO Edge Green is priced at $499 as well). But well, we won't mind the looks, if the inner values are worth it, will we ? The Mini comes with a 5V power supply (100V only) and a remote control which isn't so much different from the one we all know from the XRGB-3. Also included in the box are a Scart (JP21) to Mini-Din 8 adapter cable, a printed manual and a 512MB micro-SD card. You don't get a D-Terminal to RCA/Cinch adapter cable, which is a shame, since there was one included with the XRGB-3 and those cables aren't easy to find outside of Japan. If you're going to buy the Mini, make sure to get such a cable as well.

The front of the Mini features a composite video input and one for s-video along with analogue stereo audio. On the left there's a Mini-Din 8 input which can be used for 15khz RGBs sources. (If you want to build your own adapter cables, the pinout is available here on the Gamesx.com wiki). Contrary to the other XRGBs where the Scart input could be used for component as well, this one's really limited to RGB. On the back we get one HDMI output, two HDMI inputs, one D-Terminal along with stereo audio inputs, a micro-SD slot and a mini-USB connection. Obviously missing from the "full package" is a VGA input for systems like Sega's Dreamcast and a VGA output for analogue displays or to utilize faster (or less processed) VGA inputs on current LCD or Plasma sets.

Although expensive, quite quirky and only available directly from Japan, the XRGB-3 turned out to be *the* best video processor for anything 240p-related. Naturally this raised the bar and put the expectations for the new Mini to a very high level even before it's release. The XRGB-3 offered two completely different processing modes. One with razor-sharp scaling up to WUXGA but without scanline emulation (B0) and a linedoubling mode with 480p output only, but with the option to display scanlines (B1). While B0 was compatible with most sources, B1 was troublesome with many sources. The XRGB-Mini promised to unite those two modes into one, new, easy-to-use engine.

When first connected to a TV set, the Framemeister is set to a rather compatible 480p output. Using the on-screen menu, the resolution for the HDMI output can easily be set to 480p, 720p, 1080i and 1080p. Micomsoft discourages the use of  1080i though, because of the prolonged processing time (480i gets deinterlaced to 480p, then scaled to 1080p, then reinterlaced for the 1080i output). The on-screen menu is completely in english and very easy to navigate (firmware 1.04 offers a language switch).

The Volume Control on the remote is available for embedded PCM only, either from one of the HDMI inputs or from one of the analogue inputs. If you're running a system which delivers bitstream audio (DD5.1 or DTS), the controls won't work.

From the number of processing modes, the new Marvell QDEO Kyoto G2 processor inside the Framemeister seemed a bit complicated, but most of the processing modes available turned out to be same with just minor differences in color saturation. Standard is a motion- and pixel-adaptive deinterlacer suited for 480i and 1080i material. Movie, Anime and Natural use the same deinterlacing setting. Anime's simply boosting the saturation and contrast. Game1, Game2 and Master modes are using a more simple, field-based deinterlacing mode, which comes with a bit of vertical screen shake (typical Bob'ing effect). Game1 uses the standard color settings, Game2 uses the Anime color settings and Master adds scanlines to the Game1 mode. Picture is a 2:2 deinterlacing mode for static images. Given that the Marvell processor is quite powerful (it's the same processor used in the highly-praised Oppo BDP-93 Blu-Ray player), it's a shame that Micomsoft didn't include filmmode deinterlacing for 3:2 sources.

The zoom settings allow a 1:1 (for 480i/p sources) or a 2:1 (for 240p sources) display using the "Scale x1" mode. This results in large black borders on all four sides, but is nice for capturing purposes as it allows to capture in 720p and cut away the borders for a pixel-perfect 1:1 capture. Standard is used for 4:3 images, while Normal 2 preserves the source's pixel ratio. Letterbox zoom settings are available for 4:3 letterbox Games like Biohazard 4 on GameCube or PSP systems. There's no continuously adjustable zoom or overscan setting though.

Most of the menu options are pretty self-explanatory. You get controls for all the processing modes and zoom settings which are available from the remote already. You get two sets of resolution settings, one for the HDMI modes and one for the DVI modes (here you'll find all the typical PC resolutions from 640x480, 1024x768, 1360x768, up to 1600x1200 for 4:3 screens and 1920x1200 for 16:10 screens). One submenu is reserved for Marvell-related settings. Here you set the deep color mode, adjust the skew and influence the horizontal and vertical scaling engine. Game and video presets are available for the Marvell scaler as well. Skew is used to adjust the horizontal scaling when a game uses a wider resolution than 4:3. Using a bad skew setting can cause a minimal amount of shakiness on vertical edges. We're really talking minimal, so minimal that I didn't even notice it on my first test sessions.

My first test run was done with a classic 480i source. 480i was the dark age of gaming which started with late PS1 games and lasted through the whole Playstation 2 era. The XBox1 was lucky enough to have 480p available on most titles already. GameCube had 480p support on many major titles in the NTSC countries and the Dreamcast had VGA support for most titles as well. Today 480i remains the crown discipline for every deinterlacer. 480i60 video requires a motion- and pixel-adaptive deinterlacer which the Marvell QDEO processor can offer. Deinterlacing on real 480i titles looks very nice. The detail level is outstanding and the sharpness is great. On 240p titles which are output as 480i (most of the classic collections on the PS2) the deinterlacing engine can get a bit agressive and you'll notice a few artefacts here and there. Chosing the "Game" processing mode instead of "Standard" applies a single-field deinterlacing to the input signal (comparable to what the XRGB-3 does in B1 mode). This causes a little a vertical trembling. The picture looks good, but not as sharp as with the XRGB-3's B1 mode. The scaling engine offers two presets (Game and Video) and adjustable scales for both the horizontal and the vertical scaling. On several 480i titles, the "Game" setting looked just wrong (stepping artefacts on all diagonal edges), but setting the scaling to Video fixed this nicely. Using the manual settings for the vertical scaling (moved the slider from 6 to 8) I was even able to fix the dropshadows on 480i material in Standard processing mode (tested with SvC Chaos on the PS2). If you increase the slider too much, the scaling gets very blurry, so I'm not sure what Micomsoft intended by offering the manual adjustment (to this degree). Unfortunately the manual scaling settings are not saved, but deleted once you chose one of the presets.

One thing I already expected to be bad (and which turned out to be ugly indeed) is the sharpness option. This one's handled by the Marvell as well and it's just as bad as on all the other Marvell machines out there (including the Oppo BDP-93 Blu-Ray player). The sharpness slider can be adjusted from 0 to 32. It should be set to 0 for everything from 480p to 1080p. On 240p and 480i it can be set to 1 or 2 without doing too much damage. I found that adjusting the horizontal and vertical scaling options was a much more subtle way to add a little sharpness to all SD and ED input resolutions. On the lower settings, the sharpness control adds a "waxy" look to the image, similar to what you would expect from an agressive NR control on your TV set.

The Framemeister truly shines with all 240p signals I've thrown at it so far. 240p signals are recognized on all analogue inputs. No deinterlacing is applied. For 240p it doesn't make a difference if you chose Standard or Game processing. Meister is the same, just the with added scanlines. Without any doubt, the Framemeister takes the top position for any 240p processing devices. By using different output resolutions (480p, 720p or 1080p) you can chose different sharpness levels. On 1080p the processing looks absolutely razorsharp. With the right scaling options it looks just as nice as on the XRGB-3 (in B0 mode). As long as the scanlines are rendered the way they are in 1080p (see box about scanlines below), 720p is my favorite output resolution. It's not as razorsharp as 1080p (because of the TV's additional scaling), but it looks at least as good as the XRGB-3 in B1 mode. With 480p output the picture's still very nice, though a bit softer than the XRGB-3's 480p output - more like what classic Faroudja linedoublers would deliver.

The uspcaling of already progressive ED or HD signals (e.g. 480p through component or 720p from a XBox360 through HDMI) looks nice. It will take a few minutes to fine-tune the H/V scaling options, but eventually it will look just the way it's supposed to look. I'm not the biggest fan of processing HD formats. A few years back many TVs really sucked at upscaling 480p or 720p to their native panel resolution, but most modern TV sets do a quite acceptable job on scaling progressive signals. I don't think I would route my XBox360's signal through the Framemeister unless I'm a HDMI-input short. If you know my other upscaler reviews, you know that I like really good scaling. The Marvell QDEO's scaling engine is good. It's better than DVDO/ABT's scaling engine as it doesn't introduce any ringing (unless you pump up the sharpness setting), but it's not as good the Optoma's scaling engine. By chosing the right scaling options, the picture kinda gets close though. With the current firmware there's a bug with processing a 480p component signal from a PS2. There's a chroma-shift in the red color channel, which causes all  reds to shift a few pixels to the left (compared to the luma channel) - this blurs the picture a bit. The pictures shows the video preset to the left and the game preset to the right. You can also see the chroma-shift. Depending on your TV set, the chroma-shift can be fixed by setting the Mini to RGB output using the color space option.

A big problem of the XRGB-3 was it's analogue processing. It was very sensitive to noise and produced a shaky sync on it's output. Many sources could only be used by activating a low-pass-filter (LPF). The Framemeister does not have such a setting. Overall it's analogue processing is excellent. There's still a manual A/D level setting available, but I couldn't tell much difference in adjusting it manually. Most of the sources I used didn't show any noise. Using a component (or D-Terminal) cable on the PS2 still shows some noise though, especially in dark grey areas or when the brightness setting wasn't properly adjusted. I wouldn't call it a deal breaker, but it's still annoying. 15khz from a PS2 using a RGB cable instead is noise-free.

The other big hickup on the XRGB-3 was it's compatibility with the various sources. For years I had to keep a Faroudja-based linedoubler on hand just to be able to play my PC Engine from time to time. Some Mega Drive models required special settings on the XRGB-3. My model 2 saturn unit showed a little bend on top of the picture. MVS was basically impossible to use with the XRGB-3's B1 mode and everyone who has used a XRGB-3 knows of the infamous AFC setting which could be used to cure bending on the top of the picture, but which introduced a little shakiness on the output signal. BEGONE you compatibility problems! Over the past days I've used a bunchload of systems with the Framemeister, ranging from the classics like Super Famicom, Mega Drive and PC Engine to Playstation 1 and Saturn, PS2 and XBox360. And they all worked flawlessly without any hint of bending or instability (well, I had to change my PC Engine's RGB cable, but that's something I can live with). I was especially impressed how flawlessly the Framemeister handled a PGM and a NeoGeo MVS system connected through a supergun. I had honestly expected sync issues, framerate issues and god knows what else, but everything worked fine on both my Sony LCD TV and my NEC LCD monitors. Outstanding !

The Framemeister provides two status info screens. A short one which is accessable through the remote. It shows the input resolution, the output resolution, status about the V-sync lock and the sound format (PCM or Bitstream). A more in-depth info screen is available from the menu (called "Full Status"). The 4-screen info provides detailed information about the input signal (incl. the exact refresh rate with two decimal places), the output signal, the delay caused by the processing and the number of hours the Mini has been used and how often it has been booted up. The output screen always says "60Hz V-sync locked", but I checked this with another processor and the HDMI rates are really "bend" according to the input. That's even true for PGM or MVS which run at 59.18Hz. Once you unlock the V-sync, the output refresh is shown as 59.94Hz (Standard NTSC and HD timing). So far I haven't found any source on which I had to unlock the V-sync. With unlocked v-sync the studder is quite obvious. I wouldn't call this playable anymore. It's neccessary for video capturing though.

A word about the processing delay: the XRGB-mini is fast, really fast! In fact, it's so fast, that I don't even understand how it works. I haven't measured the actual delay(s) yet, but from a comparison with the XRGB-3's B1 mode, the Mini doesn't "feel" any slower. The delay is supposed to be shown on the full status screen. Depending on the input resolution, the output resolution and the processing mode, the delays shown range from 1.03ms to 9.83ms. Even with proper 480i deinterlacing the delay is shown is with practically no delay. The weird thing about this is that a pixel-adaptive video deinterlacer needs to buffer at least two fields to be able to compute a new frame with information from both fields. Even weirder is that Micomsoft themselves state in the manual, that for timing-critical games the game mode should be used (instead of Standard mode) - though the Standard mode doesn't rate any slower (judging from the info screen). I'll look into this sometime soon, but any way this turns out: the Framemeister is fast enough to support even the most hardcore bullet hell shoot'em ups (or Bemani or whatever is your cup of tea).

So where does the mini stand in comparison to the many other video processors I've tested in the past ? With nearly $500 it's obviously a high-end machine which isn't suited for everybody. If you planned on getting a XRGB-3 soon and you don't belong to the few people who need pixel-perfect scaling with 1200 lines of video (for 24" 16:10 LCD screens) or PAL functionality right now, get the Mini instead. It's so much easier to use and it will certainly get more attention from Micomsoft in the future (regarding firmare updates and such). At about a third of the price you can still get a Faroudja-based processor like the Videon or Vigatec along with a SLG3000 for scanlines. If you have VGA available on your display or TV, those are still valuable and good alternatives. At about $250 to 350 you can get an iScan VP30 plus SLG3000. The VP30 offers much more options for actual movie and TV processing, is *at least* as good as the Mini on 480i deinterlacing and isn't bugged by the Edge's ringing scaling engine. It's just not as sharp on raw 240p processing as the Mini. Pair any of the above processors with a Gefen VGA to DVI (or HDMI scaler) and you get a powerful combination able of handling 288p and 576i content along with full scanline support. That's something the Framemeister can't do and who knows if Micomsoft will be able to add PAL support after all. If your majority of games consist of PS2 RPGs and 240p isn't your main focus, the DVDO/ABT processors might be a better choice for you. Second hand Edge units are available for around $350.

A word about firmware updates: Micomsoft already released two updates shortly after the machine's release and the actual update process is really ease. You simply put the FW folder onto the included Micro-SD card, insert it into the Mini and connect the power adapter to the it. The update takes about 30 seconds. After that you should do a full software reset using the menu's option.

Conclusion: Micomsoft has delivered! The Framemeister is huge step forward in terms of usability and compatibility. Gone are the days when scanlines required a VGA connection, gone are the problems with dropouts, shakiness or special requirements for RGB cables. With the Framemeister you don't need an second video processor for optimal results. The XRGB-mini performs great right of the box. There are a few minor drawbacks (ridiculous 1200p modes, missing 50Hz support, ugly scanlines on 1080p output), but the positive aspects easily outweigh the few (fixable) quirks. All hail the new king (for 240p processing) !!

Additional thoughts after a month with the Mini: I don't really get Micomsoft's market positioning of the Mini. As the XRGB-3 successor the obvious main goal was fantastic 240p processing and that is where the Mini truly shines. Except for the (currently) missing support for PCBs with non-standard refresh rates (e.g. Seibu boards with 54Hz), the Mini is the very best 240p processor out there. I found the whole HDMI processing to be rather expendable though. I don't see the need for processing a 360 or PS3 (except for getting proper letterboxing on a 16:10 screen) and I would have wished for a cheaper unit without HDMI inputs and one or two more component inputs instead. The missing VGA input is an oversight as it would have been nice to connect a Dreamcast without transcoding to component first. 480p processing could have been even better. Another complain I have is that you have to manually tune in the scaling options *a lot*. Different sources require different setting and there are hardly two sources which work fine with the same settings.

The new XRGB-mini Framemeister can be bought from SOLARIS JAPAN
at reasonable prices and with "friendly" customs declaration.

PixelMagicSystems Crystalio

It makes actually rather little sense in adding this machine to this overview. I just did because it was my videoprocessor for about 2 years and it's a perfect evolution of the Faroudja chip design. It has flaws, but it has perfect picture quality. It can bought at the manufacturerers' website for about $1750 (2011: no longer of course) and can be found on eBay every once in a while for $500-600. There are two smaller brothers (Plasma Enhancer Pro) which should be available for a lot less money, but should feature about the same quality with just a reduced amount of inputs on the machine.

MSX: perfect 240p mode, no deinterlacing applied, but the diagonal edge enhancement can't be turned off, so the picture's interpolated.

ESP: correct deinterlacing of the 240p drop shadows and correct deinterlacing of the 480i drop shadows (at the cost of delay)

WOT: perfectly fine, but especially on older games the edge enhancement can get a bit annoying

The machine is sheer overkill for any videogame-only setup, but with it's FLI 2310 it's a wonderful example how good the actual picture quality can be. The fine-adjustable sharpness tool gets the maximum out of small details. The downside is a delay of about 2~3 frames (32~48ms) for all interlaced (and 240p) signals. For the price you get of course full picture controls like zoom, stretching or scaling to any resolution you want. In the end I had quite some trouble with the money (not booting up anymore) and to my knowledge that's a destiny to befall all the Crystalio unit out there eventually.

Pros: the best picture quality for SD signals, correct drop shadows on 480i material while keeping full resolution, zoom & scaling, massive amount of inputs (RGBS, component, SDI, progressive HDTV, DVI...)

Cons: delay of 3 frames, machine tends to fail generally (faulty motherboard design), Price of course

Conclusion: nothing for gamers. Too expensive for videogames, faulty by design and better home theater processors are available.

Spatz Barracuda

The Barracuda is a brandnew (well, as of 2009) linedoubler from german video specialist Uwe Sperling (Spatz). It's a standalone linedoubling unit which incorporates a new chip from Fardouja Labs. When I first heard about it, I became curious at once. I love the processing of the older Faroudja chipsets (FLI2200 and FLI2300) and a combination of them with new hardware design, HDMI inputs and outputs would be a dream come true. Mr. Sperling was so nice to send over a test unit and so I had the opportunity to check it out.

From the manual there were two very promising aspects to this newcomer. First the component inputs should be able to accept progressive video signals and second all incoming signals are converted from the analogue domain to the HDMI output. Analogue audio signals are muxed into the HDMI stream as well.

Well, I got the unit, connected my japanese PS2 and popped in some games. My test cadidate for progressive input is OutRun2SP. It delivers outstanding quality via 480p. I also tried Sega Ages Fantasy Zone Collection to switch between 240p, 480i and 480p on the same game and I tried the usual standard candidates.

MSX: correct deinterlacing, unfortunately lots of diagonal enhancement (DCDi)

ESP: correct deinterlacing at 240p setting, faulty drop shadows at 480i

DB: faulty drop shadows (480i but 240p content) due to the new faster Faroudja chipset

WOT: working fine

OR2SP: not working at all via 480p

So, this is where we stand. The overall quality (built-quality and picture quality) of the Barracuda is great, but it has currently two bugs. The first one is a bad chroma delay on the Component inputs which causes a yellow-ish border to all objects (see screenshot below). There's a chroma delay compensation in the menu, but it's a global setting and the chroma delay is different for the two color channels of the YUV connection. The second bug is that the Barracuda (at least my test unit) does not accept 480p via component inputs, which is especially weird since it's a main selling feature for the machine.

The new Faroudja chip differs from it's predecessors. The first thing to notice is that the chip is fast, really fast, I would say it's 1-frame max. in delay which is quite good for a processor of this quality. The obvious disadvantage of the gained speed is that the new chip won't deinterlace drop shadows on 480i material properly anymore. This was a huge strength of the previous Faroudja chips.

And last not least, the DCDi processing (diagonal enhancement) can't be turned off. Well, it of course can in theory, but the firmware does not offer this option. I've written a lot about the enhancement in the VP50Pro overview. It's not a bad thing per se, but for videogames it's not good.

Conclusion: damn expensive (more than double the price of the Edge). Currently a letdown due to the bad YUV videogame processing.

Pioneer PDA-V100 HD

This sleek black box from high-end Plasma specialist Pioneer was never intended to be a standalone videoprocessing unit. Basically it is a Media Extender box for commercial Plasma displays. It allows a wall mounted installation of TVs with only a single HDMI running to the set. The suggested retail of the box is 449 EUR ($600), but it can currently (late 2008) be found for a mere 145 EUR from a dealer on the Amazon marketplace. Other online retailers start at around EUR 190. From the manual the box features a Faroudja chipset with DCDi processing, has Video, S-Video, Component (YUV) and RGB Scart inputs as well as four HDMI inputs and a single HDMI output. The output resolution can be switched to 480p/576p, 720p and 1080i.

What made the machine look interesting for the gaming community is the RGB Scart input. So I got and gave it a try. And threw it back out again: The whole analogue section is hardly worth mentioning. The picture quality (no matter if the input is set to 240p, 480i or even 480p is so bad, that it's definitely not worth getting this unit. What makes me really shudder is the fact, that not even a plain 480p (component) to 480p (HDMI) conversion looks good. It's all a blurry mess. This unit is actually a good example of how a good chipset (Faroudja w/ DCDi) is so poorly implemented, that it sheds really a bad light on an otherwise good name. Directly under this text you can see a picture of the chroma delay added by component processing (yellow/green-ish outline to the left of the object).

Conclusion: not even worth considering.

DVDO iScan Pro

The iScan Pro was introduced in 2001 and was a price breaker at it's time. It was the first DVDO product to have Component input and it was in the $1000 range. It can rather easily be found on the 2nd hand market for around $100 nowadays. It has manual "knob" controls on it's front and no remote. On the other hand it's small and easy to hide - let's say in an arcade cab.

MSX: the iScan Pro has a 240p detection where no deinterlacing is applied, but it has a bug where weird pixels appear where none are supposed to be (see picture below). It's not a problem of the machine per se, it's a problem of the used SIL503 chip. It sounds more extreme though than it actually is. Many gamers are quite happy with the older DVDO machines.

ESP: correct deinterlacing of 240p drop shadows, broken 480i shadows. In fast moving games like ESPGaluda you won't be able to notice the but mentioned above.

WOT: working fine, but text-ridden games might exhibit the 240p bug.

SIL503/504 Deinterlacing bug with 240p inputs (does not show on every game and system) - the screenshot is actually simulated, because the "hanging" pixels are caused by the game, not the processor, but anyway, that's what the bug on the SIL503 looks like...

Don't overestimate the bug. Don't buy the unit when you plan on playing lots of 240p RPGs, but go ahead for action games of any kind. The picture quality of the Video and S-Video inputs are rather bad compared to what the FLI2200 eqipped machines above can deliver, but the component quality is very good. It's a little bit sharper than the FX2 and Omega One units (still the sharpness control won't affect the component input) and the picture is excellent overall. It's ok for 480i video deinterlacing and has a noticable, but not too annoying delay of around 35ms.

Pros: small, rather price worthy, good component quality, output switchable from VGA to progressive component

Cons: bug on 240p inputs, low quality video and s-video input, no remote, noticable lag, no RGBS input.

Conclusion: still a nice plug'n'play unit. Once setup it can be forgotten and hidden away.

DVDO iScan Ultra

The iScan Ultra was the successor to the iScan Pro. It featured an on screen display, various inputs, DVI output and overall greatly enhanced usability. The processing got a little bit sharper due to better A/D converters, but overall processing remained the same. Thus all the things said for the iScan Pro remain valid for the iScan Ultra. The machine still can't handle RGBs input without additional transcoders.

The DVI output provides a bit better connectivity to HDMI-equipped displays. While many TVs have better quality using the VGA input (because it's usually used to display text from a notebook), some newer TVs (e.g. some of Panasonics 2010 plasma sets) have dropped the VGA input. Without getting into details right now: the 640x480 vs. 720x480 controversy also speaks for using the HDMI input instead of VGA.

Conclusion: a nice linedoubler with lots of options. Serious alternative for TV sets without VGA inputs.

DVD iScan HD, HD+, VP20, VP30

The iScan HD was the sucessor to the iScan Ultra. It added RGBs support and a scaling engine up to 1080p output. The processor was upgraded from the SIL503 to the SIL504, but the overall performace remained about the same. It had the ability to add an SDI input for sophisticated DVD playback and for movie sessions it's still a nice and afforable scaling device. Unfortunately the 240p bug remained (see iScan Pro above). The HD+ is basically the same unit adding support for scaling HDTV signals.

The VP20 and VP30 were introduced a few years back and begin now to become affordable (as of 2008). The VP20 is running around $200 and the VP30 is available at about $250 while the ABT102 upgrade usually adds $50-100 to the price (2011: the ABT102 is extremely hard to find nowadays). In their basic configuration they are using the same processor of the iScan HD+. They just added HDMI inputs to make the unit safe for the future.

A year later the ABT102 Deinterlacing Card was introduced as an upgrade and this was when these two machines became very interesting for gamers. The difference between the VP20 and VP30 is that the 30 model has a VGA output (good for the SLG3000) and can be upgraded to SDI, whereas the 20 model has a digital output (HDMI/DVI) only. When you go shopping for one of the units, make sure the ABT102 upgrade is included or buy it at an extra $100. The results below are for ABT102 equipped VP20/30 machines only ! For units without the upgrade refer to the iScan Ultra specs above.

The ABT102 upgrade introduced two Gamemodes for deinterlacing. Gamemode 1 is a field scaling mode, which means no deinterlacing is applied. This is actually very similar to what the XRGB does. The difference to the XRGB is that massive edge enhancement is applied automatically interpolating the picture (much too strong in my opinion). The Gamemode 1 has also very low latency (<10ms). Gamemode 2 adds an additional frame of delay, but will provide a sharper and more detailed picture on 480i inputs. It has the usual problems with 480i dropshadows though.

MSX: proper 240p handling in GM1, but with massive interpolation which changes the look of 240p games massively. The picture is a bit shaky (flickering lines), just like the XRGB2 in 480i mode. This is caused due to 240p being seen and handled as 480i.

ESP: proper 240p drop shadows and 480i drop shadows in GM1. Deinterlacing artefacts in the shadows (240p and 480i) in GM2.

WOT: works fine via RGBs

DB: proper drop shadows in Gamemode 1, deinterlacing artefacts in Gamemode 2.

Pros: extremely flexible, low delay on Gamemode 1, RGBs input, very good scaling engine, HDMI output and input, excellent picture quality.

Cons: massive edge enhancement in GM1 on 240p games, shaky horizontal lines due to improper 240p handling, still 4 times the price of an Omega One

Conclusion: the iScan HD/HD+ are nice RGB-capable processors which can solve not only your deinterlacing problems, but also your TVs scaling problems. The VP20 and 30 (with ABT102 upgrade) are great low-latecy videogame processors. They combine great 480i deinterlacing for PS2 and GameCube games with 240p functionality. Both are more flexible than the newer DVDO Edge, but can't handle 1080i input material as good.

DVDO iScan VP50 and VP50Pro

The iScan VP50 was introduced in 2006, the 50Pro in 2007. The VP50 is very similar to an ABT102 equipped VP30 just using a new processor and having proper 1080i deinterlacing. Prices have recently dropped and 2nd hand machines under warranty run at EUR 500 ($700) at the moment. The VP50 is a very nice home theater hub and all what has been said on the VP30 above is true for the VP50 as well - except one bit - see below.

The 50pro is a remodeled 50 with added Mosquito Noise Reduction and a new enhanced sharpness and small detail enhancement tool. The 50pro is still rather pricey ($1400 used), but it features stuff like HD-SDI for people who need it. The 50pro has a changed Gamemode 1 eliminating the shakiness of horizontal lines. Massive diagonal edge/detail enhancement is still applied though (which is bad in my opinion).

When the processors were released, both would not handle 240p signals from anything but a Playstation 2. When I started to work with ABT (kudos to Dale Adams!) on this problem, the VP50 was already no longer supported. So eventually the problem was fixed on the 50pro (and it's sucessors, the Edge and the iScan Duo), but never on the VP50. Therefore all of the following applies to the 50pro only! (If you consider a VP50 for any reason and have question and what works and what does not, just email me!)

MSX: 240p is treated correctly as a progressive source, only 6ms delay, massive ringing though

ESP: 240p is treated correctly; proper 480i drop shadows in Gamemode 1, but deinterlacing errors in Gamemode 2.

WOT: 240p is treated correctly as a progressive source, only 6ms delay, massive ringing though

DB: proper drop shadows in Gamemode 1, deinterlacing artefacts in Gamemode 2

Pros: excellent and very sharp (too sharp sometimes) SD picture, extremely flexible state of the art videoprocessor

Cons: fantastic high-end processor (HD-SDI), but the scaling engine isn't suited for 240p material (causes vertical ringing)

Conclusion (to the review above and below): the VP50 performs just like the VP30, but can't handle 240p from anything but a PS2*. It's out of the question for vintage gaming because of this. The 50pro is an excellent videoprocessor for 480i material and for 720p, 1080i or 1080p from a PS3 or 360. It has proper 240p and 480p handling, but I don't like the ringing the scaling engine causes. Because of this my main setup consists of a 50Pro and a XRGB-3. (* 2011 update: I was recently told that the VP50 actually does accept 240p RGB when pure, clean sync is used instead of composite video. I don't have the means to test this right now, but maybe the info is helpful to some people.)

DVDO Edge

The DVDO Edge is a video processor introduced at the CEDIA in September 2008 with a suggested of retail of $799 (Eur 799). As of now (late 2011) the Edge can be found for around 350 EUR used and about 500 EUR new from eBay.com. (Attention: the new Edge "Green" version does not yet support 240p signals while in game mode. The problem is known to the developers and I'll update this text here, once a firmware update gets available). The most remarkable thing about it that it drives the whole video processor market in a whole new direction. In 2007 Anchor Bay Technologies (the company behind DVDO) introduced the VP50pro at $3,499 and the new Edge has something like 90% of the feature set of the 50pro for about a quarter of the price.

The built quality of the Edge is great and the whole chassis is rubberized (which feels great). DVDO finally got around packing in a new remote control (with red illuminated buttons), which feels much better than the old cheap one, but is still a bit generic which means many of the buttons don't do anything. The things stripped down from the 50pro are the upgrade capability to (HD-)SDI, the analogue RGBHV output and the second composite and S-Video inputs - most acceptable for most folks I would say. DVDO added a new graphical user interface, two more HDMI inputs and a second HDMI output for audio only.

If you're used to the old DVDO menu, the new one's a sheer catastrophe, but if you're learning from scratch it should be pretty ok. It's not this complicated and one should be able to find what he's looking within seconds even without reading the manual. The basic setup is pretty easy. For most displays it's just running the automatic wizard and naming your inputs. (screenshot of the new menu below)

On a digital level the Edge is pretty much identical with the 50pro, in other words: if you want to rescale your XBox360's signal, or have your HD-DVDs converted from 1080i/p60 to 1080p24, it's all pretty much plug'n'play. Picture quality (Scaling quality) is great (and very sharp) as expected. One downside in comparison to the 50pro is that there's a 56ms delay (3.5 frames) on progressive sources unless you active the Gamemode which brings the delay down to an excellent 6ms (in other words: the old Gamemode 2 is missing). Problem is that the sharpening tools (Edge Enhancement and Detail Enhancement) don't work anymore with the Gamemode turned on (on progressive sources). It's not tragic for HD signals and it's probably more or less a programming bug (since you get 6ms delay plus sharpening on the 50pro), but it's good to know.

480p input from a component source (PS2 Thunderforce VI for example) basically looks the same as on the 50pro, which means you get a little bit of ringing compared to a pure transcoder setup, but that's more or less negligible. To get the best performance out of the Edge you have to turn on the Gamemode which again disables the sharpening tools (on progressive sources only). For 480i games you can either let the Gamemode turned off which produces a pretty nice picture (very similar to the 50pro) but with a bit more delay since the Gamemode2 from the 50pro's portfolio is missing. The Gamemode setting behaves a bit different compared to the 50pro (in addition to the missing sharpening possibilities). It's closer to the XRGB-2(plus)'s 480i deinterlacing adding a bit of sharpness and coming closer to a CRT's 480i look. I actually think it's the Gamemode 1 from the VP20/30/50 and not the one from the 50pro (which has pros and cons...).

The big question after all is however how 240p material is being handled. As the first ABT/DVDO machine since the iScan HD units 240p material is recognized properly (the input shows 240p). This works very nice with Composite and Component inputs (and most likely S-Video as well). (The same 240p recognition was added to the VP50Pro in early 2009 and there the sharpness control work even in Gamemode).
The DVDO Edge has gone through a lot firmware updates over the past two years and it's considered widely bug free as of now. There are no more problems with 240p recognition (Composite, S-Video, Component and RGBs are fine, so are 288p PAL sources). If you dislike the ringing added to 240p material, you can try an older firmware which treats 240p as 480i. If you're interested in this, just email me.

Ocassionaly the Edge can perform badly on 240p material after a firmware upgrade. This happened to me on a few occassions and is nothing to worry about. You can click on the screenshot below to download a small .avi clip. What the clip shows is a) a certain softness to the picture which is not supposed to be there and b) a sync instability causing a "wobble" effect similar to what some XRGB units exhibit on certain monitor setups. The whole problem can be cleared by doing a hard reset of the machine and unplugging the power for a few minutes. It's not a problem whatsoever and I just wanted to keep the video on the page in case someone runs into this problem and doesn't know what to do about it...

To give comparable results, here are the results with the usual suspects:

MSX: proper 240p handling (with and without Gamemode) (Screenshot below for MSX in action)

ESP: proper 240p handling, 480i drop shadows in Gamemode, deinterlacing errors in 480i without Gamemode

WOT: proper 240p handling (with and without Gamemode)

DB: proper drop shadows in Gamemode, deinterlacing artefacts without Gamemode

So where does this all put the Edge ? Well, it's an excellent videoprocessor, especially at this price tag. It's on par with it's big brother, the 50pro as long as you don't need SDI or an analogue output (the later one can be added with a HDFury for $100). The missing sharpness controls in Gamemode on progressive sources are not really a serious problem: Below you have a shootout along with quite a few screenshots comparing the 50pro, the Edge and the XRGB-3 for various input materials (240p, 480i and 480p).

Conclusion (to the review above and the one below): the Edge is still one of the best video processors out there and it's very affordable at the same time. It's compatibility to all kinds of sources is great and the only downside the the ringing caused by the scaling engine on 240p material. I can't stand it, but it you can live with it, the Edge is *the* processor to buy, both for vintage and current gaming (and movies of course). The Edge can also be used as an interface between VGA source (e.g. the XRGB-3) and HDMI-only displays.

Optoma ThemeScene HD3000

The Optoma HD3000 is one of the few videoprocessor based on Gennum's VXP HD processor chip (the other two being the Crystalio II for $6500 and the Lumagen Radiance for $4500). The ThemeScene was introduced in late 2006 at a suggested retail price of 2000 EUR here in Europe. At this price I wouldn't have considered it. In december 2008 the HD3000 was available for EUR 800 here in Germany and at this point I started to get interested in the machine. I was able to get a demo unit and wrote a review for Optoma's VXP processor. You can find this review (which is actually a shoot out against the DVDO Edge) over here (german language only though).

In September 2009 the Optoma HD3000 was discounted to a mere EUR 299 in France. As to be expected they sold out in a rush and are quite hard to find since back then. Your best chance is probably to check the european eBay sites. Rrecently (summer of 2011) mint units sold for less than 200 Euro on eBay Germany.

The HD3000 is quite a high-end machine. It has got 4 component inputs (of which 2 are RGBs enabled), 3 HDMI inputs and 3 VGA/RGBHV inputs besides 3 composite and 3 S-Video jackets. It features a sturdy metal chassis and weights alot compared to the Edge or other processors. Still I have to make clear that the machine is probably not very well suited for us gamers. 240p compatibility is very bad as this kind of signal is only supported from a PS2 via component. Older machines (via RGBs) won't give a picture (so no PC Engine or Saturn gaming) and transcoding from RGBs to YUV first doesn't help either. 480i deinterlacing is top-notch though and the main reason why I want to present the Optoma a bit here is the fantastic scaling engine compared to other processors out there.

My testing material for the following consisted of OutRun2SP (jap, PS2, 480p) and Metal Slug X (jap, PS1, 240p). The Optoma has a very blocky scaling algorithm, which tends to produce stepping artefacts on movie material, but on graphics (like videogames) it works real wonders. I've never before seen such good scaling for videogame signals. If you check the MSX title screen comparison at the bottom of the page, you'll see that the Optoma output matches the pure digital emulation of PS1 games on a PS3. It's really, really breathtaking and something I would wish for on a possible XRGB-3 successor.

The following three screenshots show a closeup of the Ferrari in OR2SP. The first picture shows the processing done by the DVDO Edge. The picture's quite sharp, but note the ringing (light halos) around the black edges. The third picture shows the rather soft scaling done by my TV set directly (PS2 prior transcoded to VGA). And now have a look at the middle one. The difference is quite obvious - wonderful !
 

To show that the Optoma's scaling engine works for 2D as well, have a look at these three Metal Slug X shots. The closeups on the 2nd and 3rd shot show how wonderful and pixelperfect graphics are upscaled to 1080p.
 

So, can I recommend the Optoma for gaming purposes ? No, not for anyone looking for an allround solution. It's a gorgeous machine for certain tasks though. It can upscale an already progressive signal from a XRGB-3, it can upscale progressive component sources (XBox and XBox 360, Wii, GameCube) and it has nice 480i deinterlacing (though it's buggy with certain PS2 games, email me for details if you want). If you can find the Optoma at 300 EUR get it. It's a wonderfully built machine with great upscaling!!

Conclusion: great upscaler for 480p to Full HD, mediocre deinterlacer for vintage gaming needs. Excellent built quality, hard to find.

CYP Instant HQV (Silicon Optix HQV Realta processor)

The Instant HQV is one of first affordable (well, $1000) Realta standalone processors on the market. The Realta is usually used in high-end Blu-Ray players or AV Receivers, so it was interesting to see what it performs on videogames (though this was not the main focus).

To cut it short: the main problem of the Realta is it's processing delay which is close to 4-frames (60+ms). This is acceptable on RPGs, but hardly worth considering for 240p action titles. On 240p sources and moving backgrounds the Realta applies some kind of diagonal enhancement, similar to what DCDi on Faroudja processors does (and it's very well implemented). While the Realta processor shows nice potential (especially on movies), the firmware implementation of the Instant HQV was lousy. While nice, this isn't a processor for use gamers (especially due to the high input-lag).

Here you can see three captures from a PS2. Metal Slug X, OutRun2SP and ESPGaluda. All shots were digitally captured from a 1080p output of the Instant HQV processor. No digicam degradation here.

Conclusion: gamers can find way better processors and movie enthusiast can do so either. No reason to revisit the CYP Instant HQV.

Algolith Dragonfly (Silicon Optix Realta-based processor)

The Dragonfly was one of the very first HQV Realta processors on the market. It was introduced in late 2005 and hit the consumer market in early 2006 at around US$ 3500. Back then (and now as well) the Realta was and is a nice hometheater processor. It has very filmlike processing for 480i and 576i sources and even handles 1080i material flawless.

After recently reviewing the CYP Instant HQV I had high hopes for the Dragonfly, but unfortunately, while most bugs of the CYP firmware have been fixed on the Algolith implementation, the Dragonfly lacks one thing: 240p support in any form. The picture immediately freezes while trying to feed 240p (from any system, even a PS2), so no Metal Slug X screenshots right here...

480i and 480p processing is nice, but details aside (Overscan settings etc) doesn't differ significantly from the CYP testrun above, so simply download the CYP test video from above, if you want to see how the Dragonfly performs on videogame signals (480i/480p).

Conclusion: no 240p support whatsoever, nothing for gamers.

Lumagen Vision HDQ

The Vision HDQ was Lumagen's last processor in the pre-Radiance era. Don't let yourself fool by the "dated" DVI inputs and outputs. The HDQ is fully HDMI compatible and I actually still like DVI connectors much better than HDMI plugs and sockets. The Vision was $1,999 retail a few years ago (available new till last year, 2011) and can now sometimes be found around $500 (400 EUR).

Over the years Lumagen released literally dozens of firmware upgrades, gradually adding 1080p24 processing, motion-adaptive deinterlacing for 1080i sources and even a nice little color management system which allows to correct greyscale and gamma problems on modern displays. With the latest firmware installed the HDQ is an extremely flexible scaler with custom output timings, masking, zoom controls and every aspect ratio you can think of. The HDQ can also be used for anamorphic projection.

The HDQ offers four DVI-I inputs which can all fully process RGBHV signals. This makes the HDQ the only processor out there to offer FOUR fully processed VGA inputs. Talk about flexibility! There are two sets of component inputs (SD, ED and HD) which can also be used for RGBs inputs. S-Video and composite inputs are available as well with the composite inputs using a great 3D comb filter. A digital SDI input is available as well (out of the box, without need for expensive upgrades). On the output side there's a HDMI compatible DVI-I output and a set of BNC connectors which can outout RGBHV and component. Nice here: DVI-I and RGBHV are active at the same time, so you can drive two displays at once, e.g. a vertical one and a horizontal one :)

Lumagen's scaling engine is fantastic and doesn't add even the slightest hint of ringing. To my surprise the HDQ's scaling was even better than the Radiance's scaling - at least without any tweaking and out of the box. The HDQ is a two processor design with a SIL504 for SD deinterlacing and a FPGA with Lumagen's own algorithms for any kind of HD processing and upscaling. The combination of the SIL504 and the FPGA works nice for 480i sources, although the output is a bit on the soft side. For ED and HD inputs Lumagen's scaling engine is great and works real wonders. On 240p processing the SIL504 works ok once set to forced video, but the HDQ had some problems with the underscan many console systems have. It resized the picture on it's own which was a bit hard to correct.

With the Framemeister being the number one 240p processor, 240p is hardly a main discipline for the HDQ. For processing 480p, 720p and 1080i I liked the HDQ much better than Micomsoft's XRGB-Mini (or DVDO's Edge for that matter). Simply nice. One minus to add to the review is Lumagen's cryptic menu system. All the menu items consist of 4-letter abbreviations. Within a few minutes I knew what to do, but if you're new to video processors, that may take an hour or two to fully figure out...

Conclusion: the HDQ is a once high-end top-of-the-line video processor. It offers outstanding flexibility and is the only processor out there with four fully processed RGBHV inputs. Lumagen's own scaling engine is very fast and offers fantastic performance on 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i sources. Slight problems with 240p content, but HIGHLY RECOMMENDED and still much better than DVDOs Edge for anything above 240p. In most cases, the HDQ is even a better choice than the Optoma HD3000 - it's simply the better machine.

Lumagen Radiance XD

Lumagen's Radiance series of home theater video processors can easily be called to most sophisticated processors out there. Lumagen introduced the Radiance XD a few years back already, but has kept the product up and running by four additional models (the Radiance XS and XE and extended Plus models of those two). The firmware is also updated on a regular basis and it's just amazing how many features Lumagen has added the years. Nevertheless, with $2500 for the small Radiance XS and up to $5000 for a XE+ model, those processors are out of the question for most videogame users amongst us.

In late 2009 I published a long review of the Radiance (in comparison with the current DVDO models). The review's only available in german (at least as of now) and can be found here. The review includes many screenshots and few video links as well, so you might want to have a look at it even if you can't understand german.

When I received my demo unit in december of 2009, the Radiance had many problems with various videogame signal. There was noticeable input lag and 240p wasn't treated as such. And while Lumagen's target audience hardly includes any gamers, Jim Peterson and Patrick Harkin of Lumagen worked hand in hand with me for a few weeks to fix all problems. Over my short demo period, I received a bunch of beta firmwares and every feedback given was promptly coded into a new firmware release.

To cut this mini review short: the Radiance does most things any video processor lover can imagine. It handles every signal thrown at it and turns it into an incredible 1080p HD signal. Nevertheless, the Radiance was clearly not engineered for video game signals. While I'm complaining on a very high level, the 240p signal processing is not as clear as on the XRGB series and 480p sources lack the sharpness of transcoding-only solutions. The following two (digital) screenshots show this, first is 240p, second is 480p, both scaled to 1080p.

Conclusion: the most expensive and most sophisiticated video processor out there, but beaten by the XRGB-3 on the 240p performance.

Vigatec S1

At 11,900 EUR (10 grand plus tax) the Vigatec S1 (below my 999ES DVD Player on the picture) is the most expensive video processor out there at the moment (aside from broadcast-only solutions like Terranex). Last year I had the opportunity to mess with it for a few days and boy was I disappointed. The Vigatec S1 is combination of the Faroudja FLi2200 (yes, the SAME processor as in the Vigatec FX2) and probably a Gennum VXP processor for HD deinterlacing and scaling (can't confirm, since the chips were sanded).

To be fair, the Vigatec has been introduced a few years back already (2006 I think), but I confirmed with Vigatec and it's still available and still carries the same price tag! Anyway, of course I gave it a testrun with all my sources available and guess what, the video game processing was hardly any better than on those other 10-year old Faroudja based machines (no wonder, they use the very same processor). That being sad, that's not really a bad thing, but for a $15,000 processor ? Come on...

Conclusion: It's actually performing nice on 240p material, but only if you get it for 1/100 of the original price (which won't happen).

Gefen Home Theater Scaler Plus

Gefen is video adapter / converter manufacturer aiming at broadcast and professional studio users (very much like Kramer in Israel or Extron). For some weird reason Gefen started to target the home theater market a few years back with a line of rather mediocre video processors. They introduced a bunch of small size scalers like the Home Theater Scaler Plus which found the way into my testing rig. The different versions of the scaler available just differ in the inputs and outputs available, the processing and quality of them all is the same. On the higher end, Gefen announced a HQV based scaler (not available until today) which is nothing but a relabeled CYP Instant HQV machine.

I can't really tell what made me buy the HTS Plus after all, maybe it was the price (150 Euro), maybe is was my hope that took the best out of the VGA to DVI Scaler (see below) and made it better. A very interesting piece of information on scalers I found on Gefen's website. There they actually state that their Scalers are *not* high-end scalers, but just convenient tools making connections easier. I find this amusing, because other companies out there offering $50 processors tell you they built the best video processors ever, while uber-expensive Gefen tells you just the opposite...

Anyway, what does the Gefen Home Theater Scaler Plus offer ? It's got one Video, one S-Video, one Component and two HDMI inputs. And all of those are processed and scaled to whatever resolution you choose and output again through HDMI. The output resolutions available range from VGA, 480p up to UXGA and 1080p. The menu's actually the same as on the VGA to DVI Scaler, just with a few added settings and the possibility of added audio routing. I also found the quality to be the very same as on the VGA to DVI Scaler which I reviewed years ago. I didn't test the composite and S-Video input, but the component input gave the very same (non-fixable) chroma delay as on the other Gefen unit. This chroma delay (which I've seen on numerous machines) only happens with a PS2 as a source. Other component sources are actually fine and scaled quite nicely. The deinterlacer in the HTS is quite bad though and the user should only feed already progressive material, e.g. from a Wii or GameCube. HDMI input material is scaled very clean, so this one can be used to scale a 720p output from a XBox360 or a PS3 when an older HDTV set only supports 1080i inputs. Unfortunately the component input does not support 240p (no matter what's the source).

Pros: affordable, good scaling from one HDMI resolution to another, little delay, easy to use menu with lots of output resolutions

Cons: no 240p support at all, chroma delay on a PS2's signal through component

Conclusion: nothing for us vintage gamers. Also less useful than the Gefen VGA to DVI Scaler since no VGA input is available.

Gefen High-Def Scaler (HD Mate)

The Gefen High-Def Scaler (or sometimes "Hi-Def" Scaler, or previusly HD Mate - - Gefen just can't decide) is very similar to the Home Theater Scaler Plus reviewed above. It's based on the very same processor (which was to be expected) and sounds nearly identical on paper. After I closer look, the High-Def Scaler seems to be aimed at a more professional audience though. The Composite and S-Video inputs are replaced by a second set of component inputs. Instead of two HDMI inputs we get one DVI-I input (digital and analogue) and instead of the HDMI output we get a DVI-I output as well. Digital coax audio inputs have been removed and the High-Def Scaler can't A/D audio anymore, meaning everything input as analogue audio stays analogue, anything digital (optical only) stays digital.

What made the High-Def Scaler interesting for me was the question if the conversion quality can finally stack up to the Gefen VGA to DVI Scaler. VGA input is available through the DVI-I/A port after all. And while I expected the same chroma delay on the component inputs when converted to DVI/HDMI, the conversion quality from Component to VGA (through the DVI-I/A output) was to be tested (and measured against my reference transcoder from Burosch).

Test results: as expected the unit is widely identical to the HTS Plus unit tested above. The deinterlacing quality on the component is rather mediocre. While there're no deinterlacing errors (like combing), the picture is rather soft and the use of the sharpness controls causes massive edge enhancement while the actual detail grade stays low. The component inputs still exhibit a bit of chroma delay on certain sources (e.g. a PS2), but it seems reduced in comparison to the HTS+.

Since the DVI-I input accepts VGA through a DVI-A cable, I connected both a Dreamcast and the XRGB-3 B1 VGA output. Very much like the Gefen VGA to DVI Scaler Plus the picture is (nearly) flawlessly* converted to DVI / HDMI. The scaling engine of the Gefen handles the simulated scanlines of the XRGB quite well without any moire patterns as long as you keep the output resolution at either the original 480p or at XGA or higher. Just like the VGA to DVI Scaler Plus the Gefen HD Mate (or High-Def Scaler) is a nice choice to add a VGA input to a LCD or Plasma TV set without an integrated VGA input. I also tested the transcoding quality from 480p component to the VGA output (again through DVI-A). While the results were ok (with only little chroma delay visible), the direct comparison to the Burosch or Micomsoft XSelect transcoder shows that the picture is a bit on the soft side.

Conclusion: a good way to add a VGA input to HDMI-only TV sets. Excellent quality and lagfree. I would not recommend to use the component inputs though (at least not for a Playstation 2).

Denon DVP-602CI

Denon entered the video processor market in 2008 with the DVP-602CI. This "high-end" upscaler (introduced at $2500) is very similar to the  CYP Instant HQV. It's design is also based on the HQV Realta standard evaluation design. The menus and inputs are very similar to what you get on the Instant HQV or on the Algolith Dragonfly. The processor misses many standard functions (like overscan correction or manual zoom), but puts it's focus on easy operation instead. The DVP-602CI is basically identically to the integrated video processor functions Denon offers in their high-end AV receiver lineup. In early 2010 the processor was offered at $700 to AVS board members and later on the last of Denon's stock was blown out at $300. Cheap enough to give the processor a little test run.

While the Denon performs "ok" on video material and framerate conversion (e.g. from 480p60 to 1080p24) it really doesn't shine on video game material. The Denon's input work with 240p input, but the upscaling lacks sharpness and I have a hard time to see where the Denon outperforms my display's integrated scaler. In addition the processing lag is very high. I haven't measured it up, but it's among the highest I've every experienced, likely in the 80ms range.

Conclusion: nothing for us vintage gamers. High processing lag and sub-par deinterlacing and scaling.

Sony Playstation 3

If your vintage gaming needs are limited to PS1 and/or PS2 games you might want to consider getting a PS3 and playing your PS1 and PS2 games on this one. Only the older 60gb PS3 models did have a hardware PS2 emulator integrated, the newer PS3 models are only able to play PS1 games (and PAL models never had hardware compatibility).

PS1 games are rendered in software and can be output in any resolution you want. If you set your output to 480p you get a PS1 picture very similar to what the good videoprocessors will do. Being emulated, there are no deinterlacing artefacts at all. If you set the output to 1080p the picture gets a bit too sharp. Every single pixel is dead-on with this setting. The only (small) downside to playing PS1 games is that you're limited to the region of your PS3  (e.g. only US PS1 games on your US PS3) and that there's a small delay of about 1.5 frames.

PS2 games are rendered in hardware (in 480p) and the output is scaled afterwards if you decide to set your output to 1080p or another HDTV resolution. With 480p HDMI output the picture's a bit on the soft side, but that be be adjusted on the TV's side. You get proper 240p handling (drop shadows are fine) and the usual deinterlacing errors on 480i material (e.g. artefacts in the shadows). When you choose 1080p output you get really bad background scaling and panning in addition. As a plus you get nearly artefact-free drop shadows in 480i games - don't ask me why... There's also a 2-frame delay for all PS2 240p/480i titles.

MSX: best picture a deinterlacer can achieve, since it's software rendered

ESP: soft picture, but good 240p handling, errors on 480i mode

WOT: the PS3 is limited to Playstation games of course

Pros: if you got PS3 already, use it for PS1 games, it's nice and the lag is acceptable

Cons: only the old PS3 models had a PS2 mode. 2-frame delay on PS2 games, soft picture, weird 1080p scaling, pricey just for PS1 games.

Conclusion: with the PS3 Slim available for some time now, who would think about getting an old 60GB model anymore ? It was nice while it lasted. The PS3 outperforms every other processor on PS1 games (with the XRGB-3 being the only one to come close), for PS2 games it wasn't groundbreaking...

Asus EEE Box (B202, EB1501)

Well, instead of playing on the real hardware, there's always emulation. Asus introduced the Eee Box based on the Intel Atom 1.6GHz CPU in 2008 for a $349 price tag including a Windows XP license. I got of those, hooked it up to my 52" Bravia LCD, got a my Sega USB Pad out of the locker and gave it a try.

So far I had only little time to test it thorougly, but SNES, Mega Drive, Neo Geo and MAME are already running like a charm. The 1.6GHz 2 Watt comsumption processor is powerful enough to run all the vintage systems and you don't have to worry about improper deinterlacing anymore. Emulation is pretty fast when it comes to lags introduced. You can expect a 1-frame lag from a well setup system which is pretty ok considering that standalone deinterlacers can take up to 3 frames (50ms).

A nice addition are the filters available in the emulator settings. Next to a XRGB2+ (which is too sharp compared to a CRT) you can achieve the perfect CRT-look by adding scanline filtering to the picture. Below's a SNES Screenshot.

I definitely have to say that picture-wise emulation has surpassed playing on the real hardware by now. The very best videoprocessors get somewhat close but lack the options you get by using an emulator (like scanline emulation). If you got the right hardware (The EEE's a very nice little setup) and the right controllers (Sega USB Pad, Hori Real Arcade Pro USB etc...) you're ready to go.

Hardware-wise the Eee's featuring a 1080p HDMI output for Full HD LCD Sets and a VGA output which you can use to connect it to TriSync Arcade monitors when placing it into a cab.

Note: The Asus EEE Box is just one example of walking the emulation road. There's also emulation of videogame systems on other systems. The old Xbox is probably the best example. Once modded, there's a truckload of good emulators. The Wii with installed homebrew channel is also a nice alternative. The only downside to both solutions is that you're either stuck to the system's controllers or need to buy PS2 converters and you only get analogue component output. While there are TV sets which handle progressive component rather fine, VGA (available from all PC systems) and HDMI (available from a new system like the EEE Box) usually get you a better picture.

Conclusion: in 2010 I switched to the new EeeBox 1501 (with Dual Core Atom CPU and slot-in DVD drive). It has VGA and HDMI and is still one of the greatest emulations rigs you can get. Price is still around the $350 area including a Windows 7 (32-bit) license. Love it!

Extron Super Emotia & Burosch Con-1 Transcoder unit

Two machines not neccessarily linked to deinterlacing, but good to have nevertheless are an Extron Emotia scan converter and a transcoder like the Burosch Con-1. I have written plenty on the Extron machines before which you can read by following this link. The Emotia is the exact opposite of a Deinterlacer. It takes a VGA signal and converts it into a 240p video signal.

In the context of this page it can be used to get the scanline emulation of the XRGB2+ working with 480i content. You just need two deinterlacing devices, e.g. two XRGB2(+) units. You connect your system to the first deinterlacer (apply no scanline emulation), connect the output to the Emotia and the RGBS output of the Emotia to the 2nd XRGB2+. Then you set the switch on the Emotia to non-interlaced output and enable the scanline emulation on the 2nd XRGB2+. Works like a charm. Dragon Blaze (480i) is full glory with emulated scanlines.

A bit overkill - maybe, but the Emotia machines are cheap and the XRGB2 units nearly lagfree, so there's hardly any reason not to try it.

2011 update: a SLG3000 enables scanlines on 480i titles through a XRGB-3 as well, so no more need for an Emotia.

A transcoder like the Burosch Con-1 (there a lots of units on the market, Key Digital and Kramer produce some as well) can be used to take a progressive YUV signal (e.g. from a Wii system or from a PS2 with a game which supports it, like OutRun2SP) and turn it into a VGA signal. The reason why you want to do this is that most TVs apply less processing on the VGA input than on the componentn inputs. Oftentimes there's also less lag on the VGA input than on the component inputs. I have crosschecked the Burosch Con-1 with every processor on this page and the picture quality (PS2 with OutRun2SP to the transcoder to the TV) is better than ANY other solution. Even a $3000 machine like the VP50Pro (when set to VGA output) does just a mediocre job on 480p transcoding. My setup will include a YUV Matrix switch shortly, so I can route the PS2's signal to the XRGB2+, to the VP50Pro and the Burosch Con-1 whenever I like without switching cables.

Conclusion: the Emotia units are still one of a kind. If you're a scanline addict, you need one. Transcoders like the Burosch Con-1 usually have better quality than built in transcoders (e.g. in other videoprocessors), but to include them in your setup, you usually need a lot more of hardware (e.g. a YUV and or VGA matrix).

Crescendo Systems RTC 2200

Every once in a while I get the question what's the best component to VGA transcoder out there. My standard answer then is "Burosch Con-1", but unfortunately the Burosch is extremely hard to find over here and next to to impossible to get in the USA. Curt Palme (in the USA) offers the Crescendo Systems transcoders. While not very cheap ($180 for the RTC2200), it's ok for the delivered quality. I got myself a RTC2200 and was pleased to see that the Crescendo Systems transcoder actually performs on a real reference level. The unit offers a number of dips and dial settings to adjust geometry (e.g. horizontal image shift). It also offers a function called Gamma Boost which can be used to lighten up dark IRE areas and to counter black crush on actual video material. I don't really think that you'll need this on video game material, but as usual it's good to have.

Contrary to the Burosch unit, the Crescendo Systems transcoder also accepts 15khz YUV signals in order to output 15khz RGBHV signals. Nothing you'll need anytime soon, but hey, you never know...

Conclusion: a real reference quality component to VGA transcoder and it's easily available in the USA (at a price).

Gefen VGA to DVI Scaler Plus

VGA to DVI - wtf ? Does anybody need this ? Actually yes, it's very nice to have. This box is what the progressive YUV to VGA transcoders were several years ago. If you have read this page you know that the Burosch Con-1 still delivers an excellent picture when fed with progressive component from a PS2 for example. Though this little Gefen box is called VGA to DVI Scaler, it actually accepts progressive component as well (and VGA of course). The DVI output can be connected to the HDMI input of your TV Set and you can choose (via onscreen menu) if you want scaling (e.g. to 1080p) or not.

The quality of the A/D conversion is excellent and the scaling is very sharp as well. I would not use it for movies, but it's an excellent little helper for gaming needs. If your TV does not have a VGA input, but just HDMI, this is something for you. Dreamcast via HDMI - not a problem at all. XRGB via HDMI - as easy as it gets. The A/D conversion and scaling is completely lag-free and once set up this is basically a "setup once and forget about it" box which can easily be stored away under the hi-fi rack.

The suggested retail is at $329 which is a bit steep (well actually it's ok, but it's expensive for gaming stuff). I got mine for 100 EUR on eBay and I couldn't be any happier. I need a VGA Gender changer adapter to crosscheck the quality with the Burosch Con-1 (which I will do once the adapter arrives), but so so far the Gefen qualifies as a must have toolbox.

The essence: you'll love it, if your TV does not have a VGA input and you want to use any of the VGA only devices on this page, if your TV has mediocre upscaling for progressive inputs

Note: just like the Burosch Con-1 (and other YUV to VGA transcoders) this one cannot be used to uscale 240p (works with 480i content though). It's basically built for content which is progressive already.

Update 1: got my Gender changer adapter and have to report this: The Gefen box will even accept 480i and deinterlace plus upscale it to anything you want. 240p is *not* accepted though. When fed with Component 480p instead of VGA the picture remains solid, but is no longer as good as before. Slight chroma delay is visible and the picture is lacking defition. I tested it with Fantasy Zone and OutRun2SP (PS2 with component directly into the Gefen box) and both looked worse than going the PS2 -> Burosch transcoder -> Gefen -> TV way.

Update 2: Gefen by now has a VGA plus Audio to HDMI converter available as well which should perform in the same way. I haven't tested this on yet though.

Conclusion: if you need it, it's a great little device which performs greatly on already progressive VGA material. It's the best and most convenient way to add a VGA port to your TV if you've got none (unfortunately more and more TV manufacturers see VGA as obsolete nowadays).

Micomsoft XSelect-D4 (Cross-Transcoder and perfect XRGB-3 add-on)

Most of what can be said about this wonderful device, has been said here already. Take the time and read through Lawrence's extensive review of the XSelect-D4. And while the XSelect-D4 has been in every day use in my setup for years now, I wanted to mention it on this page, because it's such a great companion to the XRGB-3.

What the XSelect basically does is transcode between RGB and Component Video. In both ways (RGB to Component and Component to RGB) and for both SD (15khz) and ED/HD (31khz+) signals. In other words, input whatever you want and get out whatever you want. Without an XRGB-3 next to it, the two most obvious choices for cabling would be 480p YUV input -> VGA output (e.g. for a PS2 or Wii to your TV set) and RGBs input -> YUV output (e.g. for a PCE or Saturn connection to your RGB-less TV). All those jobs are managed on a real reference level, no visible image degradation whatsoever.

In conjunction with a XRGB-3 this unit becomes an amazing add-on. By connecting the DSub15 output of the XSelect-D4 to the DSub15 input on the XRGB-3 all the XSelect's inputs can be directly passed on to the XRGB-3 for further processing. This means you gain two real Component inputs (without the need for D-Terminal adapters), a second RGB Scart input, three addititonal D-Terminal inputs plus full RCA audio switching for every input.

But not only the number of inputs increases, but also the processing quality. If there's one thing that's really bad on the XRGB-3, that's the filtering of the analogue inputs. Visible noise in the picture is one of the results. The analogue filtering on the XSelect on the other hand is top notch. Take a progressive 480p YUV signal from the PS2 for example. Grey backgrounds get really noisy on the XRGB and the LPF (low pass filter) can't be used on progressive signals. Once the PS2 signal is routed through the XSelect, the picture is clean and steady. Another example is the PC Engine. Depending on the RGB amp in use it can be hard to get a stable at all on the XRGB-3. By inputting RGBs from a PCE and running it through the integrated sync cleaner and sync splitter of the XSelect (the output's RGBHV at 15khz), the PCE's signal gets pretty useable.

Conclusion: already a great SD/ED/HD transcoder, but together with the XRGB-3, this is Micomsoft's ultimate dream team ! Unfortunately very hard to find and note exactly cheap (expect $200 for a used unit).

Extron Crosspoint 128 RGBHV Switch

From time to time I get asked how to get all those processors and systems into a single setup. The answer is obviously to use good quality switches and distributors. If you check the usual websites (HDTVSupply.com is a huge supplier for all kinds of switches in the USA) you will notice that the prices can easily hit the $1000 mark, especially if you want more than 4 inputs/outputs.

Well, as said many times before, try to get older broadcast class equipment instead. For a little over 100 Euro I was able to snatch a mighty RGBHV matrix switch from Extron. It offers 12 sets on inputs, 8 sets of inputs, fully equipped with stereo audio for in- and outputs. Matrix switch actually means that you can route any input to any output, using all outputs at the same time. On my unit this means any 8 source to any 8 outputs at any given time. Very, very convenient... The Extron supports VGA, RGBHV, RGBs and Component video - basically everything you can throw at it as long as you're using BNC plugs (with RCA to BNC adapters available for a few cents). With a whopping 100 BNC connectors on the backside, it's a sight to behold - truly wonderful :)

The Crosspoint series is available in different configurations with the 12/8 version being the largest one available at a reasonable price point. Sometimes not all the input or output ports are used and it's sold as a 8/4 or 12/4 version then. Just find whatever fits your needs.

Conclusion: the best quality RGBHV matrix switches out there. Some years old by now, but built to last and quite affordable by now!

SLG3000 Scanline Generator

2011 has hardly even started yet and we've already got a winner for the greatest retrogaming gadget of the year! The SLG3000 in a tiny PCB developed by Winfried Ellenbeck and Jochen Zurborg in Germany. It takes in VGA signals (31khz and higher) and outputs the same signal WITH emulated scanlines. The project was announced in autumn of 2010 and the first PCBs have been available for purchase since mid january 2011.

The SLG3000 is extremely easy to use. Just connect the input to a VGA source of your choice (this can either be a native VGA source like a XBox360 or a Dreamcast) or a deinterlaced or upscaled 240p or 480i signal from any vintage system of your choice. No matter what's the source, the SLG3000 will add pixel perfect scanlines to the picture, just like the XRGB-3 does with 240p input signals. By adjusting a potentiometer the scanline density can by adjusted and by shortening two pins on the board (the blue screw terminals shown on the photo) the scanline effect can be turned off without removing the PCB from the signal path. Due to the use of low power components, the SLG3000 doesn't need it's own power supply. It's completely powered by the VGA output of the source.

The following screenshots show a 480i title (Metal Slug 3 running on a PS2 through an XRGB-3), a 240p title (Fantasy Zone II DX running on a PS2 through a Videon Omega HDP linedoubler and two 480p titles (Death Smiles and ESPGaluda II running on a XBox360).

The SLG3000 is wonderful (and affordable) gadget for anyone who likes scanlines. It's aimed at gamers with either VGA CRTs, LCDs or Plasma displays. You're ready to use the SLG3000 as long as the final connection before your display is VGA. You can directly connect a XBox360 or Dreamcast and you need a linedoubler (anything you see on this page) to connect vintage systems like a SNES or PC Engine.

The SLG3000 can be ordered at arcadeforge.de for 49 Euro plus shipping. A german discussion thread can be found here (at arcadezentrum.de) and an english thread can be found here (on shmups.com).

Note: if you want to add the SLG3000 to a processor with HDMI out only (e.g. the DVDO Edge or a XRGB-Mini or a PS3) you have to add a HDMI to VGA converter (HDCP killer) like the HDFury (starting at $100). Tests have shown the the HDFury 1 and 3 are compatible, while the HDFury 2 it troubling because of the wrong sync polarity on it's output.

Conclusion: *THE* must-have gadget for any serious vintage gamer of 2011. Technically not a linedoubler, but a great add-on to turn any upscaler into a well-performing vintage gaming processor. No more need to buy a XRGB-3 to get scanlines !!

Display Recommendations:

Unfortunately it's getting harder and harder to find real good displays for low-latency gaming. While many manufacturer argue that 2 frames inputlag are hardly noticeable by most gamers  (and I agree with that to a certain level), the problem rises with the added delays of the whole processing chain. A display with 2-frame lag driven by a 2-frame videoprocessor results in a 4-frame lag already. There are a few near lagfree TN displays out there, but I won't recommend such a display based on the color and viewing angle performance. If you want to pivot your display (e.g. playing Shoot'em ups in Tate mode), you need a monitor with rock solid viewing angles. And this can only be achieved by using monitors with IPS or VA panels.

While a few years back it was actually quite easy to find good displays, the added picture processing causes most displays to perform poorly nowadays in regard to low gaming latency. Sony's crown achievements were the XBR5 LCD (which I used for most test on this page up to late 2010) and the european Z4500 model, both TVs which managed to have input lags below 1 frame in their respective game modes. Both models are discontinued today.

Important note: if you like scanlines and want to use a XRGB or SLG3000, make sure to use a 1080p television set. HDReady sets with a native resolution of 1366*768 most often have a hard time upscaling the 480p scanlines and produce ugly moire patterns or unevenly scaled scanlines (in short, it will look like shit.)

Available resources for information on current models include:

- AV Science Thread: Input lag wars! (with information on TV sets, both Plasma and LCD)

- TFT Central (review site for monitors)

- PRAD (review site for monitors in german language)

- HDTV Test UK (review site for TV sets, both Plasma and LCD)

Based on the information on those sites, my personal experience and hundreds of hours spent on various gaming websites, the current recommendations (as of early 2012) include Panasonics Full HD Plasma sets in 42", 46" and 50" on the TV side and the following affordable IPS PC displays: Nec EA231 (23" 16:9), Dell 2412 (24", 16:10), HP ZR24W (24" 16:10), LG W2600HP (26" 16:10) and the Eizo Foris FX2431 (24" 16:10) on the more expensive side. The new star (as of late 2011) is the Dell U2312 (23", 16:9) with basically ZERO lag; if you need a bigger 4:3 area take the US2412 (24", 16:10) with an average delay of 9ms. Both are nice displays at very affordable prices. Of course there are too many variables on which you could choose a proper display, but with the above information, models and links you have a good chance on finding a suitable display on your own.

My own setup:

Since I got a few requests, here's a little overview what my system currently looks like.

Display(s):
- Sony HX905 LCD/LED (52") for videogames and movies
- 3x Nec LCD2180UX (21,3") at my workstation. (obviously needed to Play Darius II properly, see here.)

Videoprocessor(s):
- ABT iScan VP50Pro (connected via HDMI to the Sony LCD)
- ABT iScan VP30 with ABT102 upgrade card (in storage)
- Lumagen Radiance XE (for color correction)
- Micomsoft XRGB-Mini Framemeister (HDMI to the Sony LCD)
- Optoma HD3000 (Gennum VXP) (connected via HDMI to the Sony LCD)
- Videon Omega HDP (fed through the XSelect-D4 and output connected to the Sony via VGA)
- Vigatec FX2+ (in storage)
- Algolith Mosquito (Denoiser) (somewhere between my HDD recorder and my capture device)

Video Source(s):
- Sony DVP-999ES SDI DVD Player (SDI to VP50Pro)
- Pioneer HLD-X9 HiVision LD Player (S-Video to VP50Pro)
- Pioneer DVR-LX70D HDD/DVD Recorder (HDMI to VP50Pro)
- Oppo BDP-93 (codefree) Blu-Ray Player
- HDI Dune Smart B1 (Network Media Player with Blu-Ray)

Active Gaming:
- PS2 (connected via component to XRGB-Mini)
- PS3 (HDMI to VP50Pro)
- XBox360 (HDMI to VP50Pro)
- Saturn (RGBs to XRGB-Mini)
- PC Engine (RGBs to XRGB-Mini)
- Dreamcast (VGA into Gefen VGA/DVI converter)
- Mega Drive (RGBs to XRGB-Mini)
- PSP 2000 and PSP Go (via component into XRGB-Mini)
- EeeBox EB1501 (for Doujin titles and some emus)

Connectivity helpers:
- Micomsoft XSelect-D4 (includes a RGBs to YUV transcoder)
- 4x4 HDMI Matrix with integrated HDCP killer
- Burosch Con-1 (component to VGA transcoder, studio quality)
- Crescendo Systems RTC 2200 (component to VGA transcoder with gamma correction)
- Kramer FC-14 (VGA to component transcoder)
- HDFury III (HDMI to VGA and component converter)
- Gefen VGA to DVI Scaler Plus (grey version, fw 4.9.0)
- Extron 203xi RGB Interface (3x1 switch) and Extron 164xi RGB Interface (1x2 distributor)
- Arcadeforge SLG3000 and Sync Strike
- Capture Device: BMD Multibridge Pro2 (HD-SDI, Component and HDMI inputs, SD/HD uncompressed capture)

Links:

- my blog (in german language)

- AVS videoprocessor forum

- Shmups.com hardware section

- Scanlines demystified (a page of mine about the Emotia scan converters)

- Yokotate - a Holo Xperiment (another page of mine focusing on the Holo3DGraph PCI deinterlacers)

(C) Tobias "Fudoh" Reich, 2008~2012
last updated on April 12th, 2012

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