フレームマイスター Framemister Xrgb mini/ English firmware/39000 yen shipped

Hmm, sounds like an issue with the SNES mini. I have the game too but I've never had any issues with it running on my SFC via RGB.

 

The other day I had an rgb modded pc-engine and I had the same issue with that, but for every game. Starting to think maybe it's the framemeister... I'll try my other snes again today. I'll try using the official cart and the sd2snes and report back.

 

Can you take a picture of the image when it starts to go odd? That will help in working out the issue.

 

I'll see if I can record a direct video feed of it, or via phone camera a little later.

 

So. I've recorded 3 street fighters. each one is being uploaded now, but they all have the same problems, including alpha 2. It didn't have the problem before though! This is a recent change. Once the videos are uploaded, i'll link them here.


youtube/Yw1BU4I1-dw deleted because video broken. sync issues ruined it entirely lol


EDIT: Ok, so you were right all along. It's my sync settings. It's now allowing me to drop the sync level even lower than it previously would? I could never go below 22 without it losing it... but now it's letting me go as low as 15?? Nothing in my set up has changed... I don't understand...

Regardless, it seems to be fine on around 19/20. So, problem solved! It's still good that I went through this on here, because at least now if someone else is experiencing similar issues, they can maybe use this as some help and advice.

 

Strange that you couldn't lower the sync setting below 22 in the past. I'm not sure why that happened but as Ithought it was a sync issue. My Dreamcast must be set to 19 while the Mega drive is 22. My SFC seems to be happy at any setting

 

I personally noticed that since I inserted an LM1881 in the "composite" scart line to get it cleaned the sync issues are way reduced.
I have no experience with cables with CSYNC or boosted CSYNC, but I can attest that if I turn off the LM1881 many of my consoles are very finicky, some would required a 1/2 increment, once the stripper is on instead it is smooth sailing.

[I wired the sync stripper to be always on, with a switch I simply select the original composite (or whatever the cable has wired there) or sync stripped version of that signal, that is how I can switch it on/off ... for example my AES seems to have mild issue without sync stripper, with it on is rock solid instead, one of my SMS would need 12.5 to work fine but with sync stripper on is all fine and dandy]

 

Someone over at sega-16 decided to add the lm-1881 directly inside the XRGB mini and took pictures of it.

http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showth...I-make-it-work&p=734630&viewfull=1#post734630

 

What is a lm-1881? I'm guessing from a quick look at the link it's some sort of timing chip or image stabilising chip?

 

It's a sync stripper:
http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lm1881.pdf

It is used to take a composite TV signal (PAL or NTSC) and throw away everything but keep the combined sync signal (HSYNC + VSYNC signal also called CSYNC or confusingly enough composite sync [because it carries both H & V]). Roughly it only keeps the information about when a frame starts and for each beginning and end of line info but nothing about the picture itself (no color, no luma info).
Back in Scart land RGB could be combined with composite to generate a full picture no matter what, if the TV only supported composite at the connector level then the RGB part was ignored but you still had a proper color image, if the TV supported RGB then out of the composite it "extracted" the sync signal. It was a back compat feature imho.
In pure RGB TV the composite per se is not needed at all and could just be "cleaned" upfront (at the source) so really only CSYNC was sometime sent from the console. A few consoles have both composite and CSYNC on their AV connector and there are variant of the Scart cable that may wire either of them in that one Scart pin.

By stripping away everything else the LM1881 cleans the signal so that when it is recombined with the rest (RGB only carries color info, you still need the rest to synchronize the image) it does not introduce noise. The composite out of both Sega MD and SMS is notoriously nasty and without cleaning when it is used for RGB it introduces heavy jailbars, also the NeoGeo is helped by the sync stripper generating a better signal. Funny thing is that you can't see how bad that is on a normal CRT via composite because the CRT tube itself does a lot of filtering smoothing out the noise somewhat, but the Mini makes sure it is kept

In the end it makes the signal used for synchronization much better/cleaner and it amplifies it so that fidgeting with the Mini "Sync Level" is not that hit or miss anymore (as I said earlier one of my SMS would require a 12.5 to work reliably).
If you are already using Scart/JP21 cables that tap CSYNC from the console (or boosted CSYNC in case it requires amplification) I am not sure the LM1881 adds anything but given the std Scart cables I was able to buy were all composite based it made a huge difference for me, that and some consoles simply do not have CSYNC available at all at the AV connector.

It's a sub 1$ piece that should have been there all along in the Mini. I could have done without the dual HDMI input no problem, but this one has proven to be a very nice addition indeed.

 

I've experienced similar sync issues with a Modded PC-Engine IFU-30A briefcase setup. By adjusting the sync value in xRGB you can get it to a reasonable level, but it still will have problems. After a bit of testing, I found out that it was being caused by my White (original - only RF out) PC-Engine unit. If you swapped it out for a PC-Engine Core 1 or Core 2, the picture comes in perfect without any fiddling around.

 

3 Questions: do you still have some XRGBs in stock with the D-terminal ? Do you also add the English overlay on the remotes? do you have the UE Scart to connector, if not where do I get that ? Thanks

 

I am interested in one of these, if they are still available! Please send me a PM and I will send over payment.

I may also have a few questions on the best accessories I need to buy to get the best RGB setup on my old consoles. I have been reading through these threads and checking out some videos on YouTube, but I still have not fully grasped everything.

Thanks so much!

 

Yep, I still have them in stock. I'll send you over a PM.

 

I also sent you a PM Yakumo.

 

Thanks, I'll check it out.

 

I sent you a message Yakima regarding ordering one sir

 

Thanks,

 

Just a quick question...I know the English firmware is installed, but does this also have all the latest software updates installed, or will I need to purchase an SD card, download the version from the official FM site, and then upload it onto the system? I apologize if this is somewhere in the thread and I missed it, there's a lot to navigate through! Not a big deal either way, just wanted to know if I should be purchasing an SD.

Thanks!

 

I'd like to know as well. Also, why would someone want to use a Hanzo or Toro VGA Device in conjuction with the RGB Mini Freimeister?