Can The mClassic Really 'Upgrade' Your Switch?

The mClassic is an upscaler designed to work primarily with any game console that outputs video using HDMI. The marketing for the product even goes as far as to mention that the results can make it look like you've upgraded your system to a 'Switch Pro', but are the results actually that impressive?

HDMI 2K (1440p) Adapter:

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💻 CHAPTERS 💻
00:00 - Introduction
01:47 - How Does It Work?
03:46 - Switch Footage Comparisons
06:24 - How The mClassic Handles Different Resolutions
08:29 - Testing 720p & 900p
10:53 - PS3 Footage Comparisons
13:24 - Xbox 360 Footage Comparisons
14:53 - Wii U Footage Comparisons
16:11 - Retro Console Footage Comparisons
18:15 - How To Use The mClassic With Retro Consoles
19:59 - Conclusion

#mclassic #nintendoswitch #retrogaming

[meILM]

I wish there was a mode that had the processing but didnt mess with the contrast

[FrostyBrows]

To prevent darkening on ps3 and 360, you must change colour range to “limited” since it will crush your black levels if the source device is using “full” or extended RGB range.

[kwok]

I’m a very satisfied mclassic owner but I use it mostly to upscale Nintendo Switch to 1440p on my desktop monitor (sitting very close to the screen). I have also used it for Nintendo Wii and PS2 consoles with budget hdmi dongles, which works great for the price (sitting much further away from the screen). I think these are the best use cases for the mclassic. I wouldn’t bother using it with my switch on my living room tv.

[pokepress]

In general, the logic used by the mClassic works best when it has access to the output of the console at the native rendering resolution. You can really see this by using it with a GameCube at 480p via a digital out adapter (I know you wanted to use just the mClassic, but the uplift is really worth it in this case).

As for the contrast issues, it does appear that the mClassic does occasionally misidentify limited vs full range RGB, and you may have to fiddle with the settings occasionally. This obviously makes it less simple, but that seems to be the only real way to deal with it.

[TheZoenGaming]

I ordered a mClassic back in 2020 for my Switch and Wii U, and I love it. Xenoblade Chronicles X benefitted a lot. Of course, back then, it didn't come with an extension cable, but I didn't need one since I'd done a portable dock swap. When I bought a Switch OLED, I had to get a cable for it.
As far as the X360, it was only applying sharpening and anti-aliasing to the images, which was more noticable in ODST, although a couple of colors looked better in Dead Rising.

[PixelShade]

I would say that the darkness on the X360 could just be a mismatch between Limited RGB and Full RGB. If you send Limited RGB from the X360, and the mclassic treats that signal as Full RGB, you will get a much darker image.

[smdba]

One thing to note is that the MClassic does not support interlaced resolutions— I think that is why certain systems didn’t look different with it on (because it wasn’t actually on). I discovered this when trying to get it to work with my Wii, and realized it was outputting 480i. When I switched to 480p it was a night and day difference.

[MikuCobraCole]

I'm a mClassic owner and I would advise everyone to avoid it.

- It would make your games a bit less blurrier applying some AA and upscaling (not in a proper way, I'll get into that later) your image, that's all for the pros.

Now for the cons, it will (and I swear it) crush the blacks and whites, they advertise it as an enhancement, like "more vivid and colorful image", bullsh*t, this thing can't do a proper scaling and that's why it crush everything. The mClassic will break the contrast on every system you plug it in, on Switch you should turn color range to limited on system settings if you want to have a decent experience, on older systems this will be even worse lacking any settings at all.

Finally, not all the TVs can handle the way it works, you will have your screen flickering on and off with the mClassic changing resolutions on the go, and that's another problem, some older games that uses workarounds like dynamic resolutions (re2 on 64) are totally incompatible with this thing, I can't stress it enough, please, do you a favor and save some money, it's not worth a single buck.

[ClearLampOil]

I almost chocked after hearing the calmest person in England tell me this thing cost approximately 400 freddos.

[Killertamagotchi]

The video signals look more colorful depending on the game and in some cases darker because the adapter is not able to process full range RGB but only limited range RGB
However, consoles with HDMI usually output full range RGB as standard.
If you set the output of the consoles to Limited Range RGB, the signals are no longer dark, but the colors are the same as if you connected them normally.
The loading screen on MK8 is what happens when full range RGB comes in but only limited range RGB is processed

for context
full range RGB = 0-255
limited range RGB = 16-235
With limited range RGB, black is not really black and white is not really white

[theespers]

I vaguely remember that Microsoft introduced a software upscaler to the 360 at some point, so even though the vast majority of titles run at 720p or lower, the signal received by the mClassic is technically 1080p. My guess is the device sees that and says "Ope. There's nothing to bother with here."

Edit: I said "the Microsoft"

[Sirkingx]

the LG C3 AI Upscaler does a really great job all by itself with the switch. Glad I decided to fork up the money.

[AndrewCoyte]

For me, it looks like it’s just blowing out the contrast and sharpness values to make the “image” look more vivid to “show” its doing something, hence losing the Mario kart load screen background.

As others have said, you can just adjust the brightness and contrast through the TV itself.

[thenintendude]

Speaking from my own experiences, I will say that the mClassic DOES deliver on an impressive upscaled look for Switch! My setup is unlike most others who play their Switch, being hooked up to something more extreme with my Apple Pro Display XDR and using the recently released Elgato HD 60X hooked up with Elgato's own 4K HDMI cable and sitting a matter of about a meter or two away. (I'm also doing this on my iPad, which is something that, until recently with iPadOS 17 would've been crazy to even think about!)I have my capture settings set to 1440p 60 fps and I can see more detail in the picture with less jagged edges, which makes for an overall cleaner look! Even for games like F Zero 99, things looked a little more vibrant and sharp, despite maintaining SNES graphics to keep that retro feel.

I recently just got this for this setup, but I've been an owner of mClassic for a couple of years, using this on my LG 4K OLED display and, even from farther away, I can STILL see an improvement, again maintaining the 1440p output settings. I do agree with Retro Dodo that games like Mario Kart don't see as much of an improvement, but it's still there nonetheless. And, when you do play games that take advantage of the upscaling, the difference justifies the cost!

My own take: As mentioned in this review, if you have the TV that can display a 1440p signal or higher, make your Switch look its best and get a taste of what a more powerful Switch Pro-like console would be like until Nintendo finally update their aging current lineup! I can't wait to see how other games look like with this, like Smash and Super Mario RPG!

[sogero]

I have only used mine with Nintendo Switch, and I concur the color was a little darker in some cases. Colorful games like Mario stuff seem to benefit the most. I'm playing on a 75" 4k tv, so I can see pixels very well up close, and I have flipped the switch on the mClassic to switch between passthrough and back to see the enhancement. It doesn't always live up to the claims on the box, but it generally looks better and less jaggy, or else it appears about the same. No, it's not as good as a $350 scaler like retrotink 5x, but I'm satisfied with this for Switch use for less than 1/3 of that. I'm sure if one could "tune" it, it would make for better picture quality, but this is effortless without anything to configure. Definitely a different product with a different purpose. Also, I found a neat trick with Shin Megami Tensei V to get better framerate: Set the docked resolution to 720p to get an improved framerate (still dips at times) and the mClassic will clean up the picture enough that (to me) it feels like an upgrade instead of a tradeoff for fps at lower resolution.

[Yipper]

ive been using the Mclassic for a while now and I think its great! It works really good for games that have graphics with heavy outlines, like the Kirby Return to Dreamland Deluxue remake, but also as said here, is very good at upscaling things from a lower resolution to HD. Very good with my wii games.
I also have a TV that takes 1440P signals so I see a difference in most games.

[kulilin]

The mClassic works extremely well on the output of my HD 1080p reciever. I have all of my retro conoles hooked up to the composit/component inputs on it. I see a huge uplift on my Wii connected to the reciever via component and set to 480p. Especially when playing Gamecube games through it.

[mrchiledonut]

The raw 1080p image looks better than the 720p mClassic as it's a cleaner, less muddled image as you can see with the lettering on the MKTV truck in the background. The one thing it improves is anti-aliasing, especially to shadows.

[OwOLink]

can't wait to stumble across one at a thrift store in 20 years

[KhoaNguyen-dgyp]

most of switch games always look hazy & dreamy