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Re: Framemeister Review

Posted: April 9th, 2018, 12:44 am
by Herschie
Rev wrote:So I got a Framemeister as well... Holy crap do you need a lot of plugs to get moving... As I started digging into this the more I have realized I had no idea what true RGB was... I seriously thought it was the same thing as composite video. Now I'm learning about SCART cables, that my SNES has bad picture quality, my Dreamcast is a pain in the butt to connect, and more. This is going to be a long process to get most of my consoles connected to my HDTV. I think I'm going to start with getting the majority of the cables, getting everything I need for my component cable consoles, and then slowly switching out my other consoles so they can play on the darn things. Also looking for switcher boxes that work well. Already have several in mind but who knows how long that will take.

Still, I'm excited to try this out... I should have the D-Terminal to component adapter in the next couple days meaning I can at least test out those consoles and see how they look.


You know what? I tried a "better" input for the N64, the S-video, and I thought it actually looked worse, and more pixelated than the composite. I think if you just get the settings right, you can use any cords. I have an 8-input composite switcher that I bought from Grainger, and I love how I can have all my systems at the ready, hooked up to the Framemeister.

Re: Framemeister Review

Posted: April 16th, 2018, 11:31 am
by Herschie
One other thing that helps is if you can use a signal splitter and have a CRT that you can use to compare the picture side by side. Both of which I happen to have:

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tmp_22276-rsz_1rsz_tmp_22276-20180415_13342211078024859832041462656938989774293641.jpg (83.97 KiB) Viewed 2188 times


That way you can really get the settings down to as much like a CRT as possible. Also I figured out how to make the scanlines a little less intense so that they're not as noticeable. Because we never really noticed them on a CRT.

Re: Framemeister Review

Posted: July 5th, 2018, 6:11 pm
by Rev
So I have pretty much converted all my consoles to my HDTV over the last 3-4 months (minus the PC Engine, waiting for a good modder who's available)... Very expensive and timely process.. However, I absolutely love SCART cables and seeing RGB through my tv. The framemeister has done wonders for me. I think it's worth the price. I am also happy to say that input lag is not an issue through the framemeister. There is a very slight input lag but that had always been a big deterrent from me switching my consoles over to the HDTV. The XRGB is one of my favorite gaming accessories.

Re: Framemeister Review

Posted: July 11th, 2018, 4:40 am
by Herschie
Rev wrote:The XRGB is one of my favorite gaming accessories.


Yes, this thing is quite nice if you don't have the space for a CRT, and you can get the picture looking fairly good. But it's never the same. My conclusion is that the best way to play is on a CRT, and the Framemeister is a distant second. Although I did try putting the games directly into the TV and saw just how much better they looked through the Framemeister. But CRT is still king.

I definitely get the warm feeling of nostalgia more on these, even if it means giving up my surround sound.
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Re: Framemeister Review

Posted: August 20th, 2018, 4:21 pm
by Herschie
But I did find quite the use for the Framemeister. So I'm playing MLB: The Show on one TV, while I have an old Cubs game from 1988 on YouTube on the other. I just couldn't shake how something always looked off with these videos. They didn't quite bring back the nostalgic feelings I remember listening to Harry Caray and Steve Stone as a kid.

Then I remembered how I felt exactly the same way when I played old video games on new TVs. Why? Because older TVs had scanlines, didn't they? So decided that I would try it and see what it looked like with scanlines.

This took some effort because obviously none of the older systems had a YouTube app. Fortunately, the Framemeister has HDMI inputs. Then, as it turns out, you can't add scanlines to anything over 480p. This was all overcome with the PS3, which has the option to set the resolution to 480p, plus the option to set the aspect ration to 4:3. And the YouTube App. And away we go!

Here is a video I took. You have to put it to fullscreen to see the effects of the scanlines, and even then, it looked a lot better in person:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw8GA1YEJOQ&t=258s

Those are just a few clips of some TV we might have seen back in the 80s from sit-coms to commercials, to an Emergency Broadcast test. And a game show. I thought this was kind of interesting, and it did a much better job bringing back the nostalgic feelings.

Re: Framemeister Review

Posted: May 5th, 2019, 10:21 pm
by Herschie
You know, after getting a bigger CRT, I have come to the conclusion that the Framemeister is quite a remarkable substitute, at least for 240p sources. I was playing on the CRT, and kept marveling at how much like the Framemeister it looked. Which is good, because that means I get to utilize the surround sound. Check it out:

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They look very similar. If you look really close, I suppose you could tell that the first image is the Framemeister while the second is a CRT. Now if you look REALLY close, it becomes very apparent:

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Obviously you can tell between the Framemeister using pixels, and the CRT using a shadow mask. Interesting to see what they look like up close though. So unless you plan on sitting 2 inches from the screen, I'd say that an old CRT and the Framemeister look basically identical.