Question for Framemeister users

Scott

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What's up guys. As a lon -time CRT-only user, I just purchased my first LED TV and I wanted to get a framemeister since everything looks like garbage through the TVs scaler. My question is about judder though. Are there any consoles specifically that have issues with smooth scrolling? I know everything has a different refresh rate, but I'll be using Genesis, SNES, PS1, Saturn, and CPS-2 and MVS through a supergun. I know there's a ton of info on this unit but I never really found the answer I was looking for. Thanks guys.
 

RAZO

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Do yourself a favor and just pick a small pvm or a cheap wega and you won't have to worry about judder. The framemeister is a neat device that does the job reasonably well but you will run into problems. It's far from perfect.
 

madman

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I've used my Genesis, Saturn and Neo CD through the Frameister without any issues, but yeah if you have the space for a CRT I'd probably recommend that. Personally i haven't seen any strange issues, other than having to adjust the xrgb for the Neo's video output for some reason. Looks fine, though.
 

Scott

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Thanks for the replies guys. I actually do have a few Sony CRTs I hoarded to somewhat future-proof myself, but I was just wondering if it was worth it to try the X-RGB to save some space for the time being. I can deal with the upscaled graphics as long as I can get scanlines, but jerky scrolling is the one thing I can't stand. Still trying to find a reasonably priced 20" PVM or better yet a BVM.
 

Jibbajaba

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I have both a CRT (Sony BVM) and an LED LCD w/ Framemeister hooked up in the same room. Ever since I got the Mini, I've been spending more time gaming on the flat screen than on the CRT. Not even considering getting rid of my CRT, but I also don't regret the Framemeister one bit.
 

Teddy KGB

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I've had my Frameister since early 2013 and I haven't had any problems. The latest firmware upgrade is supposed to be the bees knees but I haven't updated it. There is a Frameister thread with many pages around here somewhere Scott so give it a look if you get the chance. Similar to Jibbs, I have a PVM too but I love both.
 

codecrank

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once your xrgb is dialed in, it's perfect. I play it using scart, and out to a projector @ 1080p. scanlines , smooth scrolling, pixel perfect :D
 

MtothaJ

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Since the XRGB Mini has been out for a while now, any info if a new / updated version is in the pipeline to be released sometime soon?
 

madman

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Since the XRGB Mini has been out for a while now, any info if a new / updated version is in the pipeline to be released sometime soon?

I can't imagine what they'd change/add, although a rotate option would be sweet. The only scaler I've read about that does that costs way more than the xrgb alone. There have been firmware updates to add new features on the xrgb and the processing is already super fast, so I'm not sure what improvements could be made.
 

GohanX

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There's plenty of room for improvement. Better 1080p scanlines and improved scaling over composite and svideo inputs for one.
 

Scott

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I'd like to see faster switching between resolutions too. The most notable example is Symphony of the Night on Saturn when you switch between gameplay (240p) and menus (480i). It's a good 7 seconds, making it a real pain to play. Luckily, the Playstation version is 240p all the way and doesn't suffer this problem. There's other examples, but this is the only one I've encountered so far.
 

GohanX

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The Saturn is TERRIBLE about that kind of stuff, a lot of games switch resolutions.
 

madman

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Better 1080p scanlines and improved scaling over composite and svideo inputs for one.
I'll agree w/the 1080p scanlines, maybe something that can be done in firmware? I used my Saturn briefly over s-video and it seemed good, haven't tried composite yet.
 

glazball

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Not sure why you would get judder in the first place? From what I understand, judder happens when you try to display a 24Hz source (like a movie) on a monitor that can only display 30 or 60Hz (or some multiple of 30).

Fwiw, I've never had any problems with jerky scrolling through the FM. However, I have a plasma TV which can display 24Hz and/or any multiple of 30 (plus I don't watch movies through the FM).
 

Jibbajaba

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The mini generates scanlines by darkening every third line, right? That would make it look like a 240p picture because there would be 240 scanlines on the screen, so the spacing would be correct. 1080 is not divisible by 240, so what lines would you darken? You could darken either every 4th or every 5th to get the closest approximation, but then you'd have really skinny scanlines. You could darken 2 out of every 5 (so 2 dark, 3 normal, 2 dark, 3 normal, etc.) but then you'd have scanlines that were too fat. A 720p signal just lets the math work out perfectly, while 1080p doesn't. So I don't know how they're going to fix it.

Edit: I would much rather see them address the already-mentioned delay when the source switches between resolutions.
 

awbacon

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I've run AES/NGCD/SNES/Dreamcast/Saturn/Genesis/Duo-R/PC-FX/PS2/Wii all though the Framemeister, and I've never seen any noticeable issues. Yes 1080p scanlines are worthless, but for city living where having a spare CRT around becomes difficult, I have never regretted by Framemeister purchase
 

madman

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Somewhat related, 2.02 firmware came out earlier this month. Doesn't look like it added many new things, though. I upgraded without issue.
 

tacoguy

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I've heard that the performance of the frameister varies greatly from tv to tv. With that being said I do say that the device works fantastic with all my displays. The frameister was my first venture into rgb gaming and it did not disappoint. Though ever since I got my big crt it has been getting less and less use.
 

Scott

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I've heard that the performance of the frameister varies greatly from tv to tv. With that being said I do say that the device works fantastic with all my displays. The frameister was my first venture into rgb gaming and it did not disappoint. Though ever since I got my big crt it has been getting less and less use.

I've tried the unit with an Insignia LED and a Panasonic Plasma and got similar performance. The Plasma seems a lot better however due to the lack of motion blur and motion is a lot smoother, but that has nothing to do with the framemeister. Also, I can't get a perfect sync with either TV for my MVS. I know AES has a slightly different refresh rate, and maybe that will sync better. Whether I set Sync to 'auto' or 'off', I get a slight judder every 2 seconds or so.
 

kahel

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I've tried the unit with an Insignia LED and a Panasonic Plasma and got similar performance. The Plasma seems a lot better however due to the lack of motion blur and motion is a lot smoother, but that has nothing to do with the framemeister. Also, I can't get a perfect sync with either TV for my MVS. I know AES has a slightly different refresh rate, and maybe that will sync better. Whether I set Sync to 'auto' or 'off', I get a slight judder every 2 seconds or so.

Is your MVS an Omega? The Omega takes the Sync from the composite Video for the SCART cable so you need to play with your sync value to clean up the SYNC signal. SYNC to Manual and then you play with the SYNC_LEVEL till it stop and you get a perfectly sync picture ... I think my value was at 17 when i used the
Omega.
 

kahel

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I've heard that the performance of the frameister varies greatly from tv to tv. With that being said I do say that the device works fantastic with all my displays. The frameister was my first venture into rgb gaming and it did not disappoint. Though ever since I got my big crt it has been getting less and less use.

Most TV have a GAME mode that remove all the processing done by the TV , this greatly helps with the framemeister.
 

GohanX

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There is an option to adjust the sync level, you probably need to play with that a bit. It's been a while since I used my Mini so I don't remember exactly where it's buried in the menus.
 

Jibbajaba

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just in case someone does not know it, ver2x firmware allows for profiles save/loading and FBX has made a bunch of them with correct aspect ratio, pixel size etc: http://www.firebrandx.com/pixelpurist.html - look at the bottom of the page, it's an ongoing project.

Oh, shit. That dude is doing the lord's work. I need to go buy a microSD card so that I can do this.
 
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