Framemeister Review
Posted: February 11th, 2018, 10:38 pm
My Video Game Room (VGR) is complete. I have two comfortable chairs, surround-sound, a 4K Samsung, with another HD Samsung next to it so that I can watch sports as I play. Every system I could possibly want. Flash carts for the NES, SNES, with one for the N64 coming either Monday or Tuesday.
You, know it's ironic that I spend $500 to get a modern 4K TV, then I spend $350 to make it look like an old CRT. But you know what? It's worth it. As much as I love me a good CRT, I don't have room for two VGRs. And some games, such as Ocarina of Time and Metroid Prime really benefit from the surround sound. I like to have all my games in one place. So the next best thing I could do is the Framemeister.
The unfortunate truth is that you can't take a 240p signal, and magically make it 1080p. That's not to say that the Framemeister can't do a lot to vastly improve the picture over just a normal input into a flatscreen. These older systems were designed for older TVs, and those older CRTs had something called scanlines. The Framemeister can simulate those, and believe it or not, it makes the picture much better. You see it, and remember that this is exactly how it looked when were were kids:
Those pictures don't really do it justice, it looks far better. Also, you can adjust the overscan level so that the pixels line up better. 480x2 is 960, and 960/1080=90.7. So I have the overscan set at 90%, and even though the picture is a little smaller, the games look a lot better, since 480 is not a factor of 1080, and thus that contributes to why older games look like crap on an HD TV.
How does the N64 look? A lot better. As in it's not this fuzzy pixelated mess that you see without the Framemeister:
The games look a lot better, even without the scanlines. So if you don't like them, don't think you have to use them. But I like that good old-fashioned TV look, and the Framemeister delivers on that.
Overall, nothing beats a good old-fashioned CRT. But I've had all sorts of problems with buying them used that ranged from the sheer weight (I swore the whole thing was made out of a solid block of lead!), to the TV smelling like curry when it was on for awhile, and the heat would bring out that smell. Let me tell you, the Framemeister makes your older games a lot better, and it doesn't weigh much, nor does it smell like curry.
I think I'm going to get my money's worth out of this thing!
You, know it's ironic that I spend $500 to get a modern 4K TV, then I spend $350 to make it look like an old CRT. But you know what? It's worth it. As much as I love me a good CRT, I don't have room for two VGRs. And some games, such as Ocarina of Time and Metroid Prime really benefit from the surround sound. I like to have all my games in one place. So the next best thing I could do is the Framemeister.
The unfortunate truth is that you can't take a 240p signal, and magically make it 1080p. That's not to say that the Framemeister can't do a lot to vastly improve the picture over just a normal input into a flatscreen. These older systems were designed for older TVs, and those older CRTs had something called scanlines. The Framemeister can simulate those, and believe it or not, it makes the picture much better. You see it, and remember that this is exactly how it looked when were were kids:
Those pictures don't really do it justice, it looks far better. Also, you can adjust the overscan level so that the pixels line up better. 480x2 is 960, and 960/1080=90.7. So I have the overscan set at 90%, and even though the picture is a little smaller, the games look a lot better, since 480 is not a factor of 1080, and thus that contributes to why older games look like crap on an HD TV.
How does the N64 look? A lot better. As in it's not this fuzzy pixelated mess that you see without the Framemeister:
The games look a lot better, even without the scanlines. So if you don't like them, don't think you have to use them. But I like that good old-fashioned TV look, and the Framemeister delivers on that.
Overall, nothing beats a good old-fashioned CRT. But I've had all sorts of problems with buying them used that ranged from the sheer weight (I swore the whole thing was made out of a solid block of lead!), to the TV smelling like curry when it was on for awhile, and the heat would bring out that smell. Let me tell you, the Framemeister makes your older games a lot better, and it doesn't weigh much, nor does it smell like curry.
I think I'm going to get my money's worth out of this thing!