Bob

RetroTINK 5x / 4K Smooth 240p/480i Handling

Posted on by Bob

Mike Chi has just released a beta (experimental) firmware for both the RetroTINK 5x and the RetroTINK 4K CE/Pro scalers that adds a unique feature:  Both 240p and 480i are simply treated as 15KHz signals, exactly like analog equipment such as CRT’s would see it.  That means if you’re playing games that have both resolutions, there will be zero dropouts when those resolutions change; Check out the example at the bottom of this post to see it in action.  While this is a beta firmware, it won’t void your warranty in any way and you can always switch back to any previous firmwares.  There’s actually a lot to discuss about this, so I’ll include it all after the links:

Purchase RetroTINK Products:  https://www.retrorgb.com/retrotink.html
RT4K Experimental Firmware:  https://retrotink-llc.github.io/firmware/4k-experimental.html
RT5x Experimental Firmware:  https://retrotink-llc.github.io/firmware/5x-experimental.html

Enabling this feature is as easy as going into the Interpolation menu on the RT5x, or the Deinterlacer menu on the RT4K and turning on “Smooth IP”.  This will set the TINK’s into a “15KHz input” mode and allow it to seamlessly switch between 240p and 480i (or 288p and 576i for PAL users).  There’s also a new HDMI output mode called “TBC”, which acts similar to a Time Base Corrector to help keep the fields in order.  Try this out along with Smooth IP and see what happens – If you don’t get any audio issues, it’s a great combination.  If you get audio issues, you can try switching to Genlock mode…or just to Triple Buffer.

As a note, the 5x/4K’s were previously able to perform a mostly smooth transition when in Triple Buffer mode, however that was at the tradeoff of blanking some of the fields, as well as some garbage data shown during the transition.  Enabling Smooth IP in Triple Buffer mode gets you the smooth transitions, but at the cost of a few ms of lag, so it’s always recommended to try TBC or Genlock modes first; Most TV’s should handle this just fine, but for whatever reason, capture cards don’t.

Just a reminder:  If you’d like CRT-accurate scanlines with this mode, set the deinterlacer to “Bob” and turn on “CRT-sim”.  That, combined with this Smooth IP function and the vertical mask of your choice should get you the closest look to a CRT possible with today’s hardware.

While this is still a beta firmware, I think everyone who plays games with resolution switches should try this out.  The absolute worse case scenario, would be it has some adverse effects on your game and you can just go back to the previous firmware you’re on.  There’s really nothing to worry about for video games…

…but home movie / video capture users should hold off a bit.  I’m still deep-dive testing this new feature and while it has the potential for even less dropouts then with the current firmware, there’s some things to note.  First, Smooth IP with the new TBC mode should allow for perfect recording of fields, however you may get audio dropouts.  This isn’t a big deal for most people, as you can simply unplug the audio cables from your RetroTINK, connect them to your PC and set VDub to record audio from a separate device.  In fact, pedantic nerds like myself will probably do this anyway and run audio into something like a MOTU M4 for some of the best quality analog audio recording that’s possible.  You can set the TINK to Triple Buffer mode to fix the audio dropouts, but you’ll occasionally get field issues when recovering from damaged tape dropouts – This isn’t a big deal, but we’re always aiming for the best capture possible and I want to continue to test every possible scenario to make sure there isn’t a workaround.

After this hits a public release, I’ll probably do a “RetroTINK VHS Capture Update” video bringing everyone up to speed with these new features and some extra tidbits I’ve discovered since their release.  DON’T WORRY! – Everything in those videos is still 100% “good practice” and anything in the upcoming videos would just add to what’s already there.  Definitely no need to re-capture any tapes, unless you have tons of duplicated frames or glitches in your current transfers.

…but once again, if your use case is video games, give this a try right away!  Here’s some videos of it in action:

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