I just did a livestream that tested the final, production version of Voultar’s “Edge Enhancer” mod for 2-CHIP SNES consoles. While I’ve tested many versions of this mod, I wanted to perform one final test on the exact boards and installation instructions you’ll be getting, once DIY kits open up for sale before the end of the year. I’ll post details below, but quality is equal to, or better than previous versions, Composite and S-Video are both retained and enhanced along with RGB….and the mod is easier to install than the first few prototypes I tested. This is a total win! The long, boring livestream of the whole thing is above, with a much shorter summary below. You can have Voultar install this mod for you right now, or wait for DIY kits to become available:
Voultar’s Products: https://voultar.com/
Here’s before and after pictures of the exact same SNES, using the RetroTINK 4K’s 10x sharp profile. Phase was confirmed on both before recording. Brightness levels were not set, as the focus of this analysis was the “2-chip smear” removal. Let’s start with the RGB captures…and click on all pictures for full-sized views:
That’s a big difference! And once again, these are taken without any of the RT4K auto-brightness calibration, meaning your end result on any display (BVM, PVM, TINK, OSSC, Etc) will be more color accurate. Let’s switch over to S-Video and see the difference there.
The improvement isn’t as drastic as with the RGB output, however you can still see less smearing. While I’d never suggest doing this mod only for S-Video enhancement, it’s nice to know that if you’re someone who utilizes all the different SNES signal outputs, you’ll get a performance boost across the board:
Now, of course, no mod will magically make composite video look like RGB. But there is room for improvement! Look inside the letters to see less noise and slightly less smearing. I think the most important fact is that all output signals are retained and benefit from the mod. Originally, it was thought near impossible to have such an upgrade with RGB, without completely disabling S-Video and Composite, so this is great news:
…and if you’d like lots more info on the differences between each SNES revision, plus some other cool facts, please check out this video I did awhile back:
