The Worst Scaler In Retro Gaming

This video is meant to educate people on the reasons you'll want to avoid using scalers designed for TV signals for video games. It's also a warning against those awful companies that use those chips on purpose and sell them in cables "designed for video games". Please help spread this information and stop both the (accidental) misuse of TV scalers...and hopefully stop companies from making this junk in the future!

[RetroRGB]

A polite reminder: Every measurement taken can be verified by anyone who feels the need, simply by following the same procedures. Using the 240p Test Suite's MANUAL lag test is NOT a measurement though - That's basically a test of your reflexes. Also, listing a bunch of claims without measurements is just spreading misinformation; This video is a culmination of RESEARCH and the opinions I state are based off hard measurements, not guesses.

[RexBuyeo]

If there is anything to get mad about in this video, it's learning that eBay sellers are destroying retro consoles and stuffing them with garbage.

[telerobotic]

It's fascinating that Pound and Hyperkin are using the same generic devices as the no-names. Really tarnishes the brand...

[Larry]

As a question, When using an HDTV, how do we know when it's the cable that's causing the lag, rather than the television itself?

[goldenpp]

I know you don't get as much viewership as you should, but figured i'd add that i've learned a lot from both your site and this channel in the many years I've collected. Almost all my console mods, equipment and such that now hooks up about 40 devices at once came from learning on your site and it's much appreciated!

[kynrek]

This is the best explanation of display lag I have ever seen. I love the high speed camera footage that shows the frames being drawn, excellent job Bob!

[CanadianFuzzy]

I've always been a "why buy crap before getting the good thing? I'm just making my overall purchase more expensive" kind of guy. If I can't afford what I actually need then I wait instead of wasting money on crap.

[danmons]

Great work Bob. Scientific process and evidence always beat opinion. Videos like this should be the gold standard for equipment reviews.

[pandnh]

Well I like many others learn this the hard way with crappy scalars and poor performance before buying an ossc.

Thank you for taking the reigns and showing us how its done and WHY its done. Much appreciated.

[nesnioreh]

In some of the Facebook groups about retro gaming I frequent, people are always recommending those crappy "SCART to HDMI"-boxes. I always try and tell them to not waste their money, but they seldom listen.

[reagandow]

Hey Bob. You are putting out some really good and helpful videos lately. Thank You from the bottom of my heart.

[markbauermeister]

Word of warning: Avoid using that little HD upscaler box with a Sega Saturn.

At least with my unit it produces constant sync issues (it's fine for an N64 though. Will probably continue using it for that until I can get a transcoder or my Analogue 3D arrives).

[Azurantine]

Got to be honest, I've just recently got into the retro gaming scene and have become a PS2 collector. I fell for all this, started off buying these cheap, crappy scalers before finally realising I would have been better off investing that money elsewhere.

If only I had come across your videos prior to that, would have saved me a few quid :)

Great video, thanks

[JevousGaming]

Wow, not only a fantastic breakdown with side-by-side comparisons but also a great message at the end about treating each other in the retro game communities. You, my man, have received my permanent sub (for whatever that’s worth!)

[dilltaskermusic]

Came for the scaler video info, immediately got distracted by the Rust in Peace guitar in the background. It's a beauty.

[georgefrankly]

god bless Bob doing so much legwork on these things. RetroRGB feels like the only place that takes lag as seriously as I do.

[JustAnotherGamerUS]

I am really grateful to you, Bob, for making these sorts of videos. They are very informative, and I genuinely look forward to watching each and every one of them. They seriously brighten up my day. It’s amazing to have someone who knows their tech making videos to aid those of us who don’t have a proper grasp of it. Keep up the good work, man!

[emmettturner]

Thank you, Bob. We've needed an authoritative video on this for a long time. As it was, people wouldn't even believe me when I tell them that the cables and the boxes were the exact same things with the exact same problems. Way too many people thought the Hyperkin, Pound, LevelHike, Xtreme, etc cables were some kind of solution, even excitedly modding them to support other consoles (obviously thinking they were getting something better than the [analog]2HDMI boxes). The defensive arguments have been truly ridiculous. There's even a local who is supposed to come see me in person expecting to prove me wrong about his modded Hyperkin cables. :)

About the only thing I would change about this video is the part where it says these scalers were made for VCRs and stuff as opposed to videogames. They were actually made to be the support electronics inside a TV which digitize analog sources and connect to the LCD panel. That's why some have a HUD showing the input signal, an aspect ratio switch, etc. It's also why they have all the same problems with 240p as any other generic HDTV with analog inputs (proper 240p processing seems to be reserved for the scalers manufacturers use in their own sets instead of shopping around to other manufacturers... Sony, Samsung, etc won't share). These generic scalers literally just took the digitized output of a TV's internal scaler, intended to go to a panel, and routed it through an HDMI transmitter instead. It's decidedly worse than getting a digital TV with analog inputs because at least there's a chance it will support 240p and even if it doesn't the external scaler will double the latency. Boo!

[CGQuarterly]

This is a great video, dude. Hopefully it helps educate people.

[ConsoleKits]

Another fantastic video, packed with great info for both those new to the community but also those that have been around for awhile. Nice work!