Recommend an upscaler

[yusuo]

I've always had an interest in gaming, like most of you here but now i'm at the age where i can actually invest in it. Im looking to get a decent upscaler for retro consoles, I know i should invest in an old crt but I dont have the space for a large one living in a one bedroom flat so I'm looking for something that will fit into either my 32" or 50" tv via HDMI

I want to start collecting consoles and games and to be able to play the old classics without a form of emulation, I want to play them how they were supposed to be played.

Can anyone recommend an upscaler that does the job nicely, looking at spending £80 tops and will support SNES, Mega Drive etc etc. Looked on amazon but I trust you guys more

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

I've always had an interest in gaming, like most of you here but now i'm at the age where i can actually invest in it. Im looking to get a decent upscaler for retro consoles, I know i should invest in an old crt but I dont have the space for a large one living in a one bedroom flat so I'm looking for something that will fit into either my 32" or 50" tv via HDMI

I want to start collecting consoles and games and to be able to play the old classics without a form of emulation, I want to play them how they were supposed to be played.

Can anyone recommend an upscaler that does the job nicely, looking at spending £80 tops and will support SNES, Mega Drive etc etc. Looked on amazon but I trust you guys more

Well there some people who record videos, maybe you can ask on youtube or something. I personally would use a moderen console with support for classic games Like vitural console, PS3 ps2 and ps1 support or something like that since they all suppor least 720P or 480P.

But i mean hardcore classic consoles that don't even have componet cables? That is hard. You can least use a PS2 for ps1 games a game cube with gameboy player and a xbox hdmi converter but very old? VC would work, or retron 5 maybe.

But you want authentic. I hear something about a framemister which is used with a capture card should maybe help

 

[yusuo]

£270 is a bit out of budget area, although i did see that one before

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Unfortunately, good upscalers for retro consoles are very very expensive. For £80, you won't find anything that will make retro games look "good". The xRGB Mini posted by Sonic above is a whopping ~$350.

If you're adamant about not finding an old CRT, then instead you should look into console mods that add things like RGB to older consoles which help improve quality. http://retrorgb.com/systems.html < this page gives in-depth info on various mods you can do to consoles (as well as comparisons so you can see what you'll get). This is probably the second cheapest way to make your retro games look good without emulation, #1 simply being buying a CRT TV.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

£270 is a bit out of budget area, although i did see that one before

You can't do much better than the Framemeister, if you are serious about retro gaming then it would be worth the investment. If you're not willing to get that, then you may as well stick to just plugging them directly into the TV (or into a splitter), as far as I know the other offerings are not really worth the money and your TV's built in upscaler probably does just as well.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Well i didn't know about that site that Tom mentioned. It looks very well done.

But me personally, i don't see why emulation is something most people avoid. It was made to do exactly what it supposed to, play the game. I mean i know emulation is still a developement thing that isn't perfect like console, but then again, consoles didn't always have track record of perfect either. I mean all those enhancements needed to make a game work? it was impressive and maybe cheaper alternative to just releasing a super beef up console you had to buy again like Sea CD or 32X but once again the lesson is the quality of the games. If you had a idea for a game that the system isn't natrually supporting to do yet like the Super fx, or SA1 or whatever chips, it would have maybe been better to save for a next gen console than try to work within limitations. Then we won't have games like Starfox zero, or earth bound zero or beggings, or even cancelling projects.

I know emulation isn't perfect compared to actual console but it does have improved display over the original, and developers continusly try to find ways to preserve the past games into moderen times. Some i can do with out, i don't need the same 8 Pixel 1985 Super mario bros game for every console with nintendo on it. Super mario all stars was okay but i mean something like remake the games levels in new super mario bros graphics seem like more effort.

A retron 5 for NES SNES GEN GBA games is a decent choice even though i appears as console is actually emulator which is why it works well in 720P output with shaders and filters. Only problem is the game with anti piracy patches that you may come across. But moderen concoles with backwards compatibility support is not so bad, is as close you can get with things without it looking like emulation. Like i said, PS2 can use componet cables for 480P or PS3 with 720P HDMI. A wii also has componet cabels for 480P But is limited by is available Virtual console library, and not all injections work. Also i think PS2 compatibility on PS3 is minor for most titles just like xbox 360, so i mean is a option to consider.