Were the N64's graphics not that hot or am I upscaling it wrong?

For now anyway I've resolved my issue, and the answer was Scanlines, Add Scanlines.

But without scanlines my N64 through my Framemiester looks like somebody took Vaseline and smeared it all over my screen, unless I turn the sharpness up, then it looks like somebody took fecal matter and smeared it all over my screen.

I see You Tube video of N64 games looking nice and crisp and wonder how they got it looking like that. I'm starting to guess though an Emulator. While the jaggies still show it still looks better than the smeared Vaseline I'm getting on the Framemiester.

I don't have 20 years with the N64, I bought mine in 2012 ironically on Wii U launch day. Bought a few games at first then let it collect dust. Now I'm collecting for it and playing it again. Besides adding scanlines I just can't make my N64 look that great. It's going through my Framemiester with S-video, it's not RGB Modded. Most of the settings I try I use video for Scale mode rather than Game mode. Black is jakked way up, Sharpness is off,
saturation is at whatever the default is. The Picture modes I'm using are either Miester, Picture or Normal. The other mode I usually have everything at is Under X2. Without Scanlines I've manged to get it looking just Ok.
I've been using Kirby 64 as my litmus test. Before that I was callibrating everything with Starfox 64.

I'm not sure it's even that I'm doing this wrong. I'm starting to think the N64 graphics just weren't that great to begin with. They weren't looking so hot on my old CRT either.

 

If you're using anything but a CRT for the N64 you're doing it wrong. And yes the N64 is very blurry.
Actually it looks better with S-Video and worse with RGB because the sharper the image the more you notice the bad texture quality.

 

That explains why scanlines are the only thing making the N64 look decent.

 

Scanlines also partially solve another issues the N64 has: huge amounts of dithering. This image is taken from a pixel perfect N64 emulator called cen64 and it really shows the ugly dithering present in every other line. With a sharp RGB mod on a modern display they become quite obnoxious:

 

Early on in my tinkering I learned F-Zero X probably isn't the game I should be tinkering with.

These images are a little dark as I didn't want the flash to interfere with the detail, but this is the ABSOLUTE BEST I could get the N64 looking without scanlines.

 

Here is what it looks like on my Sony BVM 20F1E CRT:

But in my opinion a CRT where the scanlines are not as pronounced as with a Sony BVM should be even better.

 

Not an Easy Picture to get since both my phone and Camera couldn't pick up the scanlines. But here's what it looks like with scanlines on.

Maybe it's too close up. Looks much better in person.

 

When you think about it, the N64 actually made good use of the TV is was meant to be played on in order to make the image look good at reduced performance cost.

 

This guy got it ALL wrong



Color Bleeding? I've had tons of issues but color bleeding hasn't been one of them.

Gonna see if the My Life in Gaming video can help me figure this out.

 

speaking of some youtube videos looking chrisp, they could be using the AMAZING UltraHDMI mod.

 

I wanted to do that Mod, but the cost was insanely high and it seemed the Mod didn't do anything the Framemiester didn't already.

Then I ran my N64 through the Framemiester and this thread came to be.

 

i saved the cash to purchase it and install myself, Kind of a reverse situation for me, FM being WAY too expensive to import.

 

I was going to get a DVDO VP30 but the bidding war made me yeild and just get a Framemeister. It was expensive but it was really the only option I had. The OSSC isn't even close to being ready for Primetime and other line doublers didn't have the features I needed.

I half feel like I wasted money but Every Super Famicom result I've gotten indeicates other wise and once I get that RGB cable for my Saturn I think I'll feel like it was money well spent.

If only the N64 didn't look like complete ass hope I don't have this same problem with the Japanese PS1.

 

The OSSC is my favorite tool in my box of upscalers/line doubles. But you are right, to get the most out of it you need other tools. I run the OSSC through a crystalio II and VP50 Pro still.

 

Some supposed engineers got in my friend's head the Framemiester is outdated snake oil. The common argument from people who don't own one. The only issue the Framemiester has is sync issue with resolution switches.

 

The mini's internal processing is 4:2:2 YCbCr. I consider that an issue. As I'm trying to get the best possible picture.

 

The battle of decent output for N64 is a long hard one, which depends on the version board you have and whether you have the option for rgb, hdmi, or whatever. In the end, get it to a point where it looks good enough, and just be happy that you have the console lol.

Here's how mine looks now, using Tim's RGB board. I have a consumer grade CRT TV, so no PVM quality for me yet ( ) .. but still
https://imgur.com/a/DcV6n

 

My N64 looks pretty darn good using S Video on my HD CRT TV

 

Composite on my HAD CRT was slightly better than what was getting before scanlines.

How is it a problem? my Super Famicom looks amazing.

 

It does actually look very good on your CRT @AtomizerZero. You can tell it's their target display.