The Sales Bin (updated 12/18/2009):

- Videon Omega HDP: Faroudja FLI-2200 based linedoubler with 2x YUV, HD-Passthrough, fantastic for 240p, 100 EUR
- Sony RM-VL600T programmable remote: new in box, asking 24 EUR incl. shipping within Germany
- Philips Prestigo 8008 programmable remote with little LCD display: new in box, asking 30 EUR incl. shipping within Germany
- Ultracade Universal Video Converter: VGA/XGA to 240p converter, see here , 150 EUR
- Limited Edition Hori Real Arcade Stick (HRAP):  Street Fighter IV design, only released in Japan, 120 EUR
- Stepping Controller for PS1/PS2 incl all 4 available games: very heavy, so ask for shipping, asking 70 EUR without shipping

Update Log:

December 18th, 2009: updated the sales bin on top...
December 2nd, 2009: reviewed the Lumagen Radiance XD (german version here) , not yet listed below...
October 5th, 2009: added the Algolith Dragonfly, a Silicon Optix Realta-based processor
September 23rd, 2009: added a Vigatec VC1280 old-school processor.
September 22nd, 2009: added the first 720p60 AVC video showcase (down in the Instant HQV mini review)
September 22nd, 2009: added a small CYP Instant HQV review along with a few screenshots
January 5th, 2009: added a Q&A page to my blog (scroll down way to the bottom to post & read).
January 2nd, 2009: updated the XRGB-3 section with a small guide on how to upgrade the firmware version.
December 25th, 2008: updated the XRGB-3 review with more screenshots and a hookup and user guide.
December 20th, 2008: added a section for the Optoma HD3000 videoprocessor (make sure to check it out !!)
December 19th, 2008: updated the DVDO Edge review slightly to include the latest firmware release.
December 19th, 2008: updated the HDBoxPro section slightly to include clones.
November 24th, 2008: updated the XRGB-3 review and the comparisons involving the XRGB-3 with a note about transcoding.
November 7th, 2008: added a shootout between the Edge, VP50Pro and the XRGB-3 (scroll down the Edge section).
November 6th, 2008: added a review for the new DVD Edge videoprocessor.
October 1st, 2008: small update to the Gefen VGA to DVI Scaler Plus section.
September 25th, 2008: added a section about my own setup at the very end.
September 25th, 2008: added the Gefen VGA to DVI Scaler Plus.
September 23rd, 2008: added section for the Pionner PDA-V100HD (added a devastating result).
September 17th, 2008: added a few comments to the VP50pro vs. XRGB-3 shootout.
September 16th, 2008: added the Spatz Barracuda to the overview
September 15th, 2008: special shootout between iScan VP50Pro ($3500 machine) & the XRGB3 ($350 unit) with Fantay Zone II Remake.
September 15th, 2008: I've got a XRGB-2plus for sale. EUR 155 incl. national shipping. It comes in it's original box. (sold)
September 13th, 2008: rewritten the Micomsoft section, added a deeper XRGB3 review, added XRGB2+/3 comparison, added XRGB3 screenshots at the bottom.

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.
flatpanel TV = anything LCD or Plasma with a resolution higher than 480 lines.

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.

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 Collection), 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 and have still to be "upconverted" to 480p (31khz).

Purpose of the page:

It's been 8 years now since I switched from my classic Sony CRT television (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 4 years ago I've switched to a LCD television and have upgraded twice since back then to better models (ending up with a 52" Sony XBR5). The videoprocessor (enhanced linedoubling device) has been a central part of my setup since back then.

While I own a XBox360 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:

To test the performance of the various videoprocessor machines I'm using the following software:

- 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.

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 as well. Nicer are DVI or HDMI outputs. The signal's 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->HDMI converter. Those thingies are pretty common, are about $50 on ebay from HK and work quite well.

- 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. LCD and Plasma TVs have a common delay caused by the deinterlacing, scaling and processing of the input signal of about 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 DDR, you won't be able to perform your combo moves in SF3:3rd Strike 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.

The candidates:

- HDBoxPro (around $50 new)

- Videon Omega One (around $150-200 used)

- Vigatec FX2 (around $200-250 used)

- Vigatec VC1280 (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*

- PixelMagicSystems Crystalio ($1500 used)

- Spatz Barracuda ($1600 new)

- Pioneer PDA-V100 HD ($200 new)

- iScan Pro (around $170 used)

- iScan Ultra (around $300 used)

- iScan HD/HD+ (around $400-500 used)

- iScan VP20/VP30 (around $600-1000)

- iScan VP50 ($1400), VP50Pro ($3000)

- DVDO Edge ($799)

- Optoma Themescene HD3000 (recently EUR 300 new)

- CYP Instant HQV (Realta) (EUR 900)

- Algolith Dragonfly (Silicon Optix Realta) (around EUR 500-750 used) *newly added*

- 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 ($60 used) for the fun of it (these are not deinterlacers)

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

HDBoxPro (and clones)

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

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

WOT: can't be tested since there's no RGB input, but sources tell me that the box will *not* handle vintage 240p, it works with 240p from a PStwo though, so nothing too serious considering it has YUV input only. (The arcade version (see info below) handles 240p fine).

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

The overall picture is to be considered good. It's not 100% as sharp as the XRGB2's output when the output is set to 480p, but it's comparable to the XRGB3 when scaling is performed. 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.

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 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. (left pic is the XCM box, right is the arcade pcb version).

Update, Sep.2009: More and more HDBox Clones are pouring in. One very interesting find is the HD Universal Converter from Coosis. It has a direct RGB Scart input and is - from what I hear - fully capable of handling our beloved vintage systems like Mega Drive, SNES or Saturn. At 90 british pounds, it's more expensive than the original HDBox Pro, but since there're hardly any Scart upscalers out there, check it out!

 

Videon Omega One and Vigatec FX2

The Videon Omega One has been introduced in 2001 at a price tag of $1500. It features the legendary Faroudja FLI2200 deinterlacer and was named one of the best linedoublers on the markt. 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.

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, can't be tested on the Omega One machine. Same clarity as MSX

These two machines can probably be considered the best deinterlacers for 240p material out there. The picture is somewhat not as sharp as on the competitors, but this gives the picture an 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. 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.

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 diagonale 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, delay of 2 frames, no zoom function

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 are upscaling to XGA and other resolutions and are still very fast (1-frame delay) and do 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

Micomsoft Family of video deinterlacers (XRGB and others)

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 videogames to their PC monitor. With the XRGB they introduced a RGB-capable linedoubling device back in the early 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 their 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 mid 2006 added scaling capabilities plus a DVI output. The DISPL-TV is basically a XRGB-2plus which an RF input instead of the RGB input (if you want to connect a japanese Pong machine to your PC display). 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. (and a friend of mine's living in Japan, so if you need any help getting one, email me).

The latest (and current) model, the XRGB-3 has two 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-2+ 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 the same.

The main annoyance of the 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 (low pass filter) 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 the same.

The following results are for the XRGB2, 2+ and 3 in B1 mode (linedoubling only):

MSX: excellent 240p mode, very sharp picture, but the XRGB-2 might exhibit the typical shaky vertical sync signal

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.

Q: Why are the XRGB units so fast ??? A: 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* 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" deinerlacing devices (and scalers) always take at least two successive fields and calculate a full frame 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 also does a rather 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 strong argument for buying a XRGB unit. The XRGB machines will do scanline emulation faithful to what it would 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 Displ-TV is tuned down version of the XRGB-2+, 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) 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.

Update, Sep. 2009: So, what's new on the XRGB-3 front ? Not too much. The recent firmware version (2.12) has finally fixed the scanline bug present on the B1 mode (the bug was there from 2.08 to 2.11). The VGA port on the back is confirmed to be fully 15khz RGB capable, which means you've got two RGBs inputs now. The only thing missing from the back port is the 75/220 Ohm termination switch, which means SuperGun systems are usually better connected to the front port. To enable RGB on the back port, set the D-Terminal 2 option (first menu entry under the 7th main menu point) to the 3rd option (there's a screenshot in the guide below).

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've still got a hard time finding the exact cause in the first place. I'm using original Sega Japan RGB cables (which use composite video instead of real sync).

I've also started to use the Audio Line Output on the back. The good news is that all the audio options in the menu do not affect this output, the bad news is that the output "plops" once in a while when a source is turned on or off. This can be potentially bad for your audio system, so better turn off the audio system first, before switching off your game system.

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' for about $1750 and can be found on eBay every once in a while for $1500. 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 23xx 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 3 frames (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.

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

Spatz Barracuda

The Barracuda is a brandnew 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 loved 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. 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 2-frames 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 for the Barracuda: damn expensive (more than double the price of the Edge), but in theory ace quality if Spatz would fix the two bugs (chroma delay and capability to accept 480p) and make DCDi switchable. Currently a letdown though. On the screenshot below you can see the chroma delay. It's the SNK boot logo from Metal Slug X (component 240p).

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 (9/23/2008) be found for a mere 148 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.

I've orderd my unit today and I'm looking forward to give an in-depth review as soon as it arrives. I'm not really interested in the upscaling features of the box, but more in the pure deinterlacing and linedoubling possibilites. At $600 I would hardly considered it, but at less than $200 for a brandnew videoprocessing machine, it's probably worth a shot.

What makes the machine very interesting for the gaming community is the RGB Scart input. This will provide optimum connectivity for PC Engine, Saturn, SNES and other vintage gaming systems. Since the machine has very limited user-controls I expect DCDi (diagonal enhancement) to be turned on all the time, but we'll see how this turns out.

Update: Got it, tested it, threw it back out. 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) and at the bottom I've added a screenshot of the Metal Slug X title screen.

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 $150-200 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.

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:

Don't overestimate the bug. Don't buy the uni 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 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 35-40ms.

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.

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.

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 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. The VP20 is running around $600-700 and the VP30 is available at about $800-900. 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 and 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 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 $150.

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 (1&2) for deinterlacing. Gamemode 1 is a field scaling mode, which means no deinterlacing is applied. This is actually very similar to what the XRGB2 does. The difference to the XRGB2 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 (10-15ms). 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 likely caused due 240p 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 GM1, deinterlacing artefacts in GM2.

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, probably not supported anymore

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 800 ($1200) 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 ($2800), 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 (bad!).

The downside of both processors is that they currently will *NOT* accept 240p signals from anything older than a PS2. This is a known bug and a fix has been made already, it's just not available for publicity via a firmware upgrade. Once done the 240p handling should be top-notch. I gave a lot of input to Anchor Bay / DVDO and they developed a 240p recognition which will allow 240p signals to be scaled directly instead of being processed by a deinterlacer first. I keep my fingers crossed!

MSX: proper 240p handling in GM1, but with massive interpolation, faulty shadows in GM2

ESP: proper 240p and 480i drop shadows in GM1, but deinterlacing errors in GM2.

WOT: not working at all right now (see above, firmware upgrade needed)

DB: proper drop shadows in GM1, deinterlacing artefacts in GM2

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

Cons: price of course, massive interpolation on 240p games in GM1, improper 240p handling, not able to process vintage 240p signals.

DVDO Edge

The DVDO Edge is a new videoprocessor introduced at the CEDIA in September 2008 with a suggested of retail of $799 (Eur 799). The most remarkable thing about it that it drives the whole videoprocessor market in a whole new direction. Last year (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.

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 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. 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 this 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's 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). This fact alone gives the Edge one major advantage over the 50pro (the later one with 1.04b firmware): the Edge is simply *working* with all those vintage system. There are no more sync breakups from a NES and no more black screens with a PC Engine (issues which the 50pro currently has).

On the current 1.0 retail firmware however 240p is not treated properly. While those vintage systems now work with the Edge and their input is properly recognized, the signal's still treated as 480i which means the input gets deinterlaced and diagonal enhancement is applied in Gamemode. The upcoming 1.1 retail firmware will change this (it's already been changed in the beta). On RGBs inputs (Neo Geo, modded PC Engine, PSOne) the signal's still treated as 480i, but at least they work (I would image that'll be fixed as well in the future).

I did extensive testing on various videogame sources for two evenings and the weirdest thing about it is that I got very different results on the two days . On the first evening, when checking various 240p inputs I basically encountered three problems:

a) surprisingly 240p inputs now exhibit the same unstable vertical sync as on the XRGB units. I double checked the source and there's of course zero wobbliness on my FLI2300 Yokotate setup or on my 50pro. It's never been visible on any previous DVDO processor and this includes everything from a $100 iScan Pro to a $3500 VP50Pro. You can download an XVID encoded AVI clip below, which shows the wobble effect (don't mind it if you don't see it...) - click the pic to download.

b) while the blockiness (the pixels) of 240p material is now retained even when the screen starts moving, the picture's definitely lacking sharpness. If you have a look at the usual MSX title shot which I added to the gallery at the bottom (the day 1 shot) you can see that the picture's placing itself somewhere between the 7-year old Faroudja units and my Sony LCD (without an external processor). The video you can download above also shows this day 1 fuzziness.

c) The sharpening tools (Edge Enhancement and Detail Enhancement) can be used to compensate the 240p picture's softness a bit, but - once again - when the Gamemode's turned on (to bring the delay down) the sharpening tools can't be used.

One the second day of testing problems a) and b) were practically gone. The wobbling effect on 240p input was gone and if I didn't make a video of it on day 1 and wouldn't even believe that it was ever there. Second the sharpness of 240p content was greatly improved. I wasn't sure at first, but I took another shot of the Metal Slug X title screen (labed day 2 shot in the gallery at the bottom) and please compare for yourself. Extremely weird I would say and I'll check again the next few days.

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 - that's a day 1 screenshot!)

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

WOT: handled as 480i (the same with all RGBs sources). Looks quite good though 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). On day 2 the results were very pleasing after all. The missing sharpness controls in Gamemode on progressive sources are not really a serious problem and on day 2 the Edge compared quite favorably to other processors. 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).

Attention: my whole review is based on NTSC sources (e.g. 240p and 480i videogames). The Edge has currently difficulties in processing the same material from PAL machines (288p, 576i). The issues have been reported to ABT and are likely to be fixed. My conclusion is purely based on the performance on NTSC content though ! Update (20 Dec. 2008): we're moving through new firmwares pretty fast. There've been about 10 beta firmwares since my review. 288p Material works fine now and RGBs inputs are treated like the component inputs. Last time I heard there've been a few problems with S-Video 288p material, but that's a minor issue if you can use RGBs.

Optoma ThemeScene HD3000

Update, Sep. 2009: The Optoma was recently discounted to 300 EUR which was a real bargain for that machine.

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. I wouldn't have considered it if the machine wasn't available for about EUR 800 brandnew (here in Germany) at the moment. At this price tag it costs about the same as the new DVDO Edge, so I wanted to do a little shootout between the two processors (which can be found in full length, but german language over here).

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). 480i deinterlacing is top-notch though and the main reason why I want to present the Optoma a little bit is the fantastic scaling engine compared to other resolutions.

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 breathtaking.

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 as a standalone machine. Used as an upscaler behind an XRGB-3 it's a gorgeous machine though. It's also perfect for uspcaling of progressive sources (XBox1, Wii, GameCube), but I doubt that anyone would consider spending 800 EUR ($1000) for this. I found it interesting nevertheless to show you how excellent an upscaling algorithm can be implemented. If we see a VP100 or an Edge 2 from DVDO DVDO iScan Duo (actually announced for September 2009) at some time in the future I really hope they revamp their scaling engine to match this.

If you can find the Optoma at 300 EUR get it. It's a wonderfully built machine with great upscaling!!

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 (but it's very well implemented).

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.

Follow this link to the Hifi-Forum.de for more full-size 1080p screenshots of the same test session. And by clicking on the following thumb you can download a 720p60 live capture from the Instant HQV's output. The video is 361MB in size and encoded in AVCHD, so it can be played back on a PC using the CoreAVC coded or a on a PS3 (or any other newer media player). Have fun!

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).

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).

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.

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.

Asus EEE Box (B202)

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 last month at 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.

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.

It 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.

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.

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 actually 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. XRGB2plus 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: 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.

Conclusion:

It's impossible to give the 100% correct recommendation when it comes to buying a deinterlacer for your vintage videogames systems, but since the DVDO Edge's release things have become pretty obvious, so let's see:

- buy a XRGB2+ if you want scanline emulation in real hardware and you're mainly 240p stuff and don't have the money for a XRGB-3

- buy a XRGB3 for the ultimate gaming solution. It has bugs and is japanese only, but it's so good at what it's supposed to do, so there hardly can be any other recommendation. It's not for movies or TV though and it's NTSC 60Hz only.

- from all the higher end videoprocessors the Edge is pretty much the best machine at the most affordable pricetag. If you want to deinterlace your DVDs or have your HD-DVDs converted from 1080i60 to 1080p24 and don't mind spending $600, get an Edge - really.

- buy a EEE Box if you're good with emulation and don't mind storing your real hardware away

- for little money you can get older linedoublers and deinterlaces (many reviewed above), a good choice would be a Faroudja-based unit, like a Videon Omega One or a Vigatec FX2.

- a Faroudja deinterlacer on a PCI card be found on the Holo3DGraphs. You can find my article about them here.

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

Screenshots (taken via Digicam from a Sony Bravia XBR5 LCD):

Think about what you want before looking at the screenshots.  The XRGB2+ screenshot (5th from top) is actually much sharper than the picture a 29" CRT will produce. In fact the Faroudja FLI2200 screenshot gives the most CRT-like picture in terms of sharpness and detail recreation (minus the scanlines on 240p material)

MSX without any external Deinterlacing on my Sony XBR5 via Composite Video (other LCDs look *much* worse) *pic below*

MSX without any external Deinterlacing on my Sony XBR5 via Component Video (excellent compared to all other LCDs I had before)

MSX on PS3 in 480p

MSX on PS3 in 1080p

MSX on PS2 in 240p via XRGB2+ (scanline emulation at setting 2)

MSX on PS2 in 240p via XRGB3 (B0 Mode, HDMI connection to TV, scaled to 1280x1024)

MSX on PS2 in 240p via XRGB3 (B1 Mode, VGA, scanline emulation at setting 175)

MSX on PS2 in 240p via VP50Pro in Gamemode 1

MSX on PS2 in 240p via VP50Pro in Gamemode 2 (note that once the screen moves it'll look like GM1)

MSX on PS2 in 240p via DVDO Edge in Gamemode (same as without) - day 1 test (note the day 2 test below)

MSX on PS2 in 240p via DVDO Edge in Gamemode (same as without) - day 2 test (note the day 1 test above)

MSX on PS2 in 240p via Optoma ThemeScene HD3000

MSX on PS2 in 240p via Vigatec FX2

MSX on PS2 in 240p via Spatz Barracuda

MSX on PS2 in 240p via Pioneer PDA-V100HD

MSX on PS2 in 240p via CYP Instant HQV (Realta) (digital screenshot)

My own setup:

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

Display(s):
- Sony XBR5 LCD (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 VP50Pro (connected via HDMI to the Sony LCD)
- Micomsoft XRGB-3 (VGA to the Sony LCD)
- Optoma HD3000 (Gennum VXP) (connected via HDMI to the Sony LCD)
- 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)
- XBox w/ XBMC (Component to VP50Pro)
- PS3 for Blu-Ray (HDMI into VP50Pro)
- Popcorn Hour C-200

Active Gaming:
- PS2 (connected via component to XRGB-3)
- PS3 (HDMI to VP50Pro)
- XBox360 (HDMI to VP50Pro)
- Saturn (RGBs to XRGB-3)

Inactive Gaming:
- PC Engine (RGBs to XRGB-3)
- Dreamcast (VGA into Gefen VGA/DVI converter)

Connectivity helpers:
- Micomsoft XSelect-D4 (includes a RGBs to YUV transcoder)
- Burosch Con-1 (component to VGA transcoder, studio quality)
- HDFury II (HDMI to VGA converter)
- Capture Device: BMD Multibridge Pro2 (HD-SDI, Component and HDMI inputs, SD/HD uncompressed capture)

Upcoming:
- Sony BDP-S5000ES Blu-Ray Player
- HDMI 4x4 Matrix switch

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, August 2008
last updated on December 18th, 2009

(this one's a combined counter for this site plus the scanlines page)