Bob

MegaswitchHD: “Palette Blending” Added

Posted on by Bob

Developer Stanislav Parhomovich has just released a new firmware of the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive HDMI mod, called the Megaswitch HD.  This update adds a Palette blending option generates intermediate shades for smooth animation – This, along with the already included Dither Blending makes things like the waterfalls in Sonic seem even more like a “water” effect, even via the sharp HDMI output.  More info after the link, including follow-up testing on the previously announced SMS Add-on board:

Firmware Update:  https://www.megaswitchhd.com/megaswitch-hd/firmware
Main Site:  https://www.megaswitchhd.com/
Genesis / Mega Drive Clear Shells:  https://retrorgb.link/cleargenesis
MegaSwitch I/O Cover:  https://www.retrorgb.com/i-o-cover-for-megaswitch-hd-retro-game-restore-shell.html

I just did a livestream that was meant to focus on SMS testing, however Stanislav himself popped into the chat to let me know about the firmware update.  The timing was perfect, as I was able to test everything on stream, including showing a demo of how easy the firmware update itself actually is!  The firmware update happened around the 37 minute mark and the examples of the new Palette Blending started right after, around the 41 minute mark.  I actually continued to test both blending options through the rest of the stream.

The initially planned Sega Master System testing went well too!  Seeing SMS games crystal clear with zero jailbars at all was impressive to see.  And throughout the stream, I toggled between the analog output of the same console via the RetroTINK 4K, just to show the difference the HDMI made on an unmodded console.  And while Genesis video mods can make the console look excellent, the SMS modes are often still messy even in RGB.

Another very cool bonus of the mod, is it enables support for SG-1000 video output.  The Genesis’ video chip only contains Genesis and SMS modes, so if you try to load SG-1000 games (or F-16 Fighting Falcon via the Power Base Converter), you’ll get audio, but not video through the analog video outputs.  But since this mod recreates the SMS’ video output via FPGA, Stanislav included the SG-1000 modes, allowing you to play those games via the HDMI-out!

So overall, I still love this mod.  It’s not cheap or easy, but if you love the Genesis & SMS…or those are simply the only retro console you’d want to connect to a flat-panel, this is the best choice for you!

…and while I love the MegaSwitchHD, there are a few things I’d like to see added.  The creator mentioned the FPGA is almost full, so none of this might be possible.  Or in order to fit all this, there might have to be two separate firmwares – NTSC and PAL (or something).  But I’d love to see two changes:

  • A “240p” mode.
    This would allow the perfectly clean, all digital signal to be sent to either HDMI to YPbPr or RGB converters for an amazing picture on CRT’s, or even have it sent to scalers like the RetroTINK 4K, to allow 4K scaling and all the CRT mask emulation.  If that’s not possible, no big deal.

 

  • Proper Aspect Ratio handling.
    At the moment, it looks like the MegaSwitchHD scales via square pixels.  Which isn’t too bad for games with a 320 pixel width (and you end up with a round moon ;p), but it’s not proper 4:3.  It’s not great for games that are 256 pixels wide.
    I would love for there to be two options:  4:3 (Sq Pixels) and 4:3 (PAR).  And if I had to choose one, I’d definitely want PAR.  In fact, since the MegaSwitchHD already has interpolation added, the PAR would be shimmer-free.
    Here’s some examples of the MegaSwitchHD under RetroTINK 4K captures in 1080p 4.5x and 5x scaling modes, so you can see the difference yourself; Note that you’re referencing the actual gameplay area, not the blue overscan areas (click for full-sized):


UPDATE:  A small bug was found with the new palette blending option, but the developer already posted a fix:

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