Retron 5 Runs Castlevania III, Coming in december

Well said! ALL filters look like crap IMO. Proper scanlines are all you need.

 

Gotta say that after reading the details on it I'm interested. I won't be getting it right away. I'll wait until someone does a review before deciding and may still wait for custom modded OS and firmware options before taking the plunge. Of course now I need to get a HD set. My little 11.6 inch lapdock screen isn't gonna cut it here despite being able to do 720p...

 

Actual carts, and it plugs into the TV and you don't have to bother with a PC.

it does have a built in scanliner.

 

But how do they look?

 

The problem with this, is that the Toaster Western NES's ZIF cart connector design totally sucks. And makes getting some games a pain to play even with the lockout disabled. (+ you gotta RGB mod it, which with current mods isn't totally perfect).

Using the Retron 5 you can use your original controllers and games upscaled basically pixel perfect in RGB probably.


I actually am very interested in the Retron 5 for NES games alone.

But i'd like to see how the emulation stacks up. Since it's android based I bet it can't be super accurate..



Don't get me wrong though, I DO plan on buying a XRGB Mini (Hopefully from you) in the next 6 months when I have the money for many consoles.




But also: Scanlines a CRT does not make alone. Even if they are nice looking like on scalers like the XRGB's. Scanlines are only one small part of what defines the CRT look.

The Filters on the Retron are selectable AFIK. So everyone should be able to play how they like. Pixel perfect , filtered, scanlines, whatever.

 

Most android NES emulators are pretty spot on IMO...I wonder which emulators they're going to use per console

 

I know I use a free one for the GBA. Don't remember the name of it off the top of my head but it's pretty good and stupid simple to set up. Nothing like playing Sonic Battle on a 720p screen. (Extremely powerful Android PC stick on Motorola lapdock with 11.6" 1366 x 768 screen for those wondering.)

 

Just bought my lady the same model hdmi crt I have for retro stuff this will be great for her since she's not so tech savy.
As for me ill stick to pcs/laptops with calibration software.

 

One thing too, PC Gamers piss me off so much I don't even want to emulate on a PC anymore.
So things like this are a god send.

 

3. reasons that I prefer pc emulation.

1.Atrise lutcurve (which i use) its professional display calibration software.

Pros: cheap. portable gets the job done. gives you the best picture possible. gets rid of the need for a sony pvm. Tons of settings.
Cons: takes time to learn. Complete calibration takes a long time.

http://atrise.com/lutcurve/

2.Xrite i1display

Pros: easy to use. Gives the best display possible. Gets rid of the need for a sony pvm.
Cons: not portable. Pricey.


http://www.xrite.com/i1display-pro

3. Hdmi output

If you couple these with a crt with hdmi or a nice flat screen with the framemiester pretty much set.

 

EEEEEEEEH still not convinced The Retron 5 also still allows for the joy of collecting I've founding have a hard drive full of Roms is less sastifying than finding and buying the games yourself.

 

Agreed the filter does look rubbish though I could see it having its uses, I have all my consoles set up in the living room, I could have this set up in the bedroom as a nice space saver. Blue tooth controllers would be handy playing super famicom games whilst lying In bed

 

Yeah, this is going in the family room. I have a nice plasma there with a nice sound system and my new consoles. It'll be nice for parties and such!

 

their was talk on this topic about filters and i agree they are invalid with the right equipment (sorry about the blur and lines phones not good for CRT pictures.

here is some pictures of filters being used on a native resolution image.

the first is native res, the second is native res with hqx3 filter.look how the words and numbers get distorted with the filter. some games the filters will actually clip the image.

Another subject mentioned was RGB for the NES which im down for id also like the option to use 256x224 or 256x240 because some games like megaman series have the screen cut at 256x224 the 3rd picture will explain what i mean.

Native: http://i.imgur.com/A5HYC6E.jpg

Filter: http://i.imgur.com/pNIh4Wa.jpg

Megaman ntsc/pal comparisons plus NTSC with 256x240 with RGB:
http://i.imgur.com/SMB36jp.jpg

 

They might allow Overscan cropping for games. Would be pretty neat.


It's a good thing the audio enhancements can be turned off, because they sound pretty awful IMO.


Also: From their videos, SNES audio sounds somewhat Aliased without the "enhancement"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jit2XlZ_fZg&feature=share&list=UUvPHJP6EnHEjyMi9Rf1jYMw

But it could just be from a poor audio bitrate in video encoding



The filter looks pretty great with a simplistic looking game like Zelda 1 IMO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW-8MNPfXCw&feature=share&list=UUvPHJP6EnHEjyMi9Rf1jYMw

 

PC gamers piss you off that you don't want to emulate games on PC? How does that make any sense at all? This device is a small embedded/mini pc.

Playing on an emulator is alot less satisfying than using the original console. Infact isn't part of the appeal of emulation that you can just download all the games you can't find or afford anyway?

 

The only reason I even like emulation is in some cases the video quality is cleaner, you can get special cheats and tools for custom stuff like comedy videos and TAS, you can have several machines in a small package, and it's a hell of a lot cheaper than getting all the consoles and such.

I only use emulation when on the go or too lazy to get out of bed and go to the couch.

 

Can we ignore that this is running emulation? It's not being advertised as an emulation machine - it's designed as the ultimate replacement for those NES/SNES, NES/GENESIS, etc combos. Instead of using the NOAC again with it's compatibility issues it's using an emulator. Just drop that it's running emulators - if it did it with hardware we wouldn't be having this conversation.

 

I'm extremely glad for the hdmi port though an added componant video port and rgb(for euro or arcade monitors) would help those that have crt without hdmi. I absolutely can not stand YUV video it looks terrible and the interlacing freaks my eye balls out and leaves me with a lingering head ache.

I think the ability to overclock is a GREAT IDEA since even most emulators outside of mess which is by no means easy to setup don't have this option (this is coming from a guy that makes his own CHDs) I would absolutly love to play some overclocked snes or GBA. I guess I will be getting a unit for myself as well thier goes 200 $ lol

 

The retron is in no way an "ultimate" machine; a hardware clone would be infinitely more interesting than an android device that emulates 5 systems. The only way I could see this as a good idea is for a relatively cheap system you could let the kids bang around instead of destroying original hardware.