Here’s an interview with Amine of Marseille Inc, the company that makes the mCable’s. It was really interesting to hear their origin story and I really appreciated the insight into their products. Definitely check this one out if you’re interested in their products; It’s available as a video and can be found on all major podcast services just by searching “RetroRGB Amine”. Also, I included some screenshot examples below:
mClassic: https://retrorgb.link/mclassic
mCable: https://retrorgb.link/mcable
New Adapters: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mclassic-rgb-collection#/
Main Page: https://marseilleinc.com/
1440p60 EDID Spoofer*: https://amzn.to/3Eo3t8i
While I included comparison shots in the video, I wanted to put some stills here for reference. Video examples are better – And really only accurate when viewing on the TV you’ll be using the adapter on – but since I took the time to record lossless captures, I figured I’d put together some .png’s so you can see them here without any of the compression video sharing services add. This is the exact method of capture I used (unless otherwise stated below), set to the native resolutions the adapters were outputting: https://www.retrorgb.com/how-to-get-4k60-lossless-captures.html
Let’s start with screenshots of Breath Of The Wild, as it’s 3D graphics can really show off the potential of these mDevices. I put the original mClassic’s “blue” mode last, as I think the other modes are best compared next to each other (click on all pics for a full-sized view):
This next comparison was meant to demonstrate how each adapter handles Sonic Mania’s sharp 2D graphics. I tried setting the Switch to both 480p and 1080p to verify how the scaling differs in the adapter handles both native and lower resolutions. Anything labeled “AR Fix” had to have the aspect ratio corrected in post, as the 4:3 mode tends to trip up my capture card; This was done with still photos, as to not soften the image in any way when “stretching” to correct:
Also, here’s the color bar screenshots I discussed. The source was a MiSTer FPGA running the Sega Genesis core at 1080p, with Artemio’s 240p Test Suite, going directly into the adapter:
Lastly, I was finally able to get 1440p working after the interview, by creating a custom EDID for the RT4K that lists 1440p as the only accepted resolution. Then, I used an EDID copier to save that EDID off the RT4K’s HDMI input. I then disconnected the TINK (no other scalers or devices were used in these tests) and connected the EDID copier to the mClassic.
Below are screenshots taken from the lossless video captures, with the mClassic set to Green mode for BotW and Blue for Sonic Mania. I simply stretched the 1080p versions in Photoshop (Ctrl-T) to match the size of the 1440p capture. I couldn’t tell a difference in detail, but there’s definitely a brightness difference:
I tried re-capturing multiple times, verified all capture settings, tried changing the colorspace in case 1440p had a different mode and tried TWO different EDID’s in my spoofer. I also left the EDID spoofer connected for the 1080p example, to verify it wasn’t causing any issues; I just pressed the button to change it back to it’s default 4K EDID, which the mClassic always seems to see as incompatible with 1440p and defaults to 1080p. And, as with all these comparisons, I simply paused the game, switched video modes, changed the capture resolution, then un-paused for the next screenshot. So if the brightness differences is game-related, it would have shown up in the above BotW comparisons as well. The brightness issue still might be a result of the 1440p EDID I created…but if people have to jump through THIS many hoops to get 1440p support, it’s not really relevant anyway. I’ve literally never once gotten it to work on any 4K display or capture card and can only assume it works on 1440p native displays.
*Update #1: An awesome person in the comment section confirmed that the issue was you need an EDID that’s exactly 1440p60. That’s why when I tried copying the EDID of a monitor that supported 1440p…but also at 120 and 144Hz, the mDevices wouldn’t switch into that mode. If you’d like to try, this is the exact spoofer they used, no
“programming” required: https://amzn.to/3Eo3t8i
**Update #2: Based on the new video from My Life In Gaming, my brightness mismatch issues might have been Limited / Full range RGB on the input side. Or, maybe they just look like that? I used the original (Red) mClassic for the 1440p tests, so the bug Marc talked about regarding flipping the switch after a reboot on the newer models wouldn’t have applied here, so it’s either Limited/Full, or just an odd way of processing the signal. I also realized I only tested two of the three modes on the new adapters, as there’s no passthrough mode on those. Please see their video for a much better analysis than I did, but my opinions and conclusions are still exactly the same: The “smoothing” of the original and Switch editions can be great in certain scenarios, but I don’t see a single use for the newer “Retro” version.
Anyway, here’s the videos I did proving the devices don’t add any lag, with the new MLiG video below:
