I'm searching to see what current solutions exist to upscaler video. Specifically to take the outputs from retro systems, upscale them to at least 720p, and output them via HDMI.
XRGB
The famous gaming upscaler, the XRGB 3 and mini, have now ended production and no longer available. It's sad to see such a great project not continue development.
It did always have the issue of being Japanese only so needed importing, which increased the price. Its remote was only in Japanese which didn't help, as well as the onscreen UI, but the firmware couple be upgraded to an English version. You also needed a spacial SCART cable to convert the port to EURO SCART because it was wired differentibg in Japan.
RetroTINK https://www.retrotink.com/
Retrotink make a number of products that are more affordable then many alternatives and are basically scan doublers so you can get an image from retro systems onto a modern display. I think the 2x devices also have scanline generators but I might be wrong.
The first commercial release was the x2 and that's all it did. Take an image and double it.
They also have devices such as the 2X-SCART which is still based on the 2x but takes an RGB SCART input and transcodes it and outputs it to HDMI. And another dedicated to component.
The current top end product is the 5X-Pro, which is very similar in design and function to the old XRGB Products. It has a lot of different inputs and can be configured a lot using it's included remote. But this isn't cheap. To get one in the UK including import duty would cost you about £360. It is AFAIK the current best solution for a retro gaming scandoubler though.
mClassic https://marseilleinc.com/products/buy-mclassic
This is a questionable device, especially for the money. It takes an HDMI input and outputs an HDMI output. Confused?
Looking at the product I'm guessing it was original developed for the Nintendo Switch to take its 720p output and scandouble it to 1080p. My question is, what's the point? The site states "Enjoy the visuals of a higher resolution and improved graphics on any screen". If its just a scandoubler how are the graphics improved?
Personally I can't see a point to this. All current TVs have upscaling built in that will handle 720p and display it fine. In fact most TVs will even take 480p and do a pretty good job.
The site also states "The mClassic graphics processor enhances every pixel on the fly with no lag time. It will up-scale gameplay from 480p up to 1440p60 on supported monitors. Our anti-aliasing algorithm delivers amazing results without causing a known blurring effect in graphics, especially on the sharp edges and small textures."
Therefore it can upscale from 480p to 1440p (2K). Not all TVs support 2K resolution so you might need to use 1080p. The problem is this device only accepts an HDMI input,, so for retro systems you would also need another device to transcode from its native output to HDMI. So that begs thy question, why use this over a RetroTINK 2x device?
This to me is more of a solution for anyone wanting to use a monitor, rather then a TV, a they don't have the upscaling technology built in like most TVs. But even so I can't really see a point to it.
I need to see if anyone has reviewed this. I hate the idea of needing to daisy chain devices because that will always degrade the image quality when it's originating as an analogue source, and multiple converters in series will always increase latency and lag.
Other Devices
I will add more upscalers as I think of or discover them.
If you know of any please post them.
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