Why 1080p 5x Scaling Is Often Best

Playing retro game consoles on a flat-panel TV or capture card, always requires some kind of scaling for the signal to look right. While there’s many basic scalers out there that do a great job, there's some more advanced scalers or mods becoming available that provide you with a lot more control over the signal. One of the more common features, is the option to scale the original signal from your game console to five times its original height, in a 1080p window. This often results in some of the image getting cut off, but in almost every case, that’s a good thing. Check out the video to find out why!

Here's more videos, if you're interested in why a scaler is needed at all, how much lag each add and why you shouldn't use scalers designed for TV signals in video games - Remember, 5x isn't 'needed', I just recommend using it if your scaler or mod has the option:

00:00 Intro
01:38 1x - 5x Scaling Demo
05:27 Console Examples
09:16 When is 5x NOT a good choice
11:39 Final Thoughts

[RetroRGB]

If you know of any other game from the pre-HD era (anything BEFORE GC, DC, PS3, Xbox) that cuts off gameplay in 5x mode, please list that game here. To be clear, I'm talking about GAMEPLAY!!! I'm NOT talking about title screens, or menu's, unless the menu is completely unusable in 5x mode. Also, the specific problem I'm looking for are games that are cut off withOUT adjusting the height. Yes, I realize it's kind of a pain on the OSSC, but it's possible...and it's super easy on the MiSTer, GBS-C, CPSHDMI and pretty much all scalers coming out this year.

All comments not related to this will be deleted, just to keep things flowing (sorry). Also, for the millionth time, the ONLY concern is GAMEPLAY, like I demoed with the arcade game towards the end of this video! Example: Cutting into a few pixels of a lifebar - but you can still see your life status - is something I've always run into with CRT's and is NOT an example of gameplay being affected.

[MysticMage]

Thank you Bob for all the hard work you put into making these videos. Information is POWER! Love the retro community. <3

[RedArremer]

Bob has now forced me to start using 5x scale mode.

[nearvanaman]

This video could be titled "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Scaling But Were Afraid to Ask".

[zark]

Great video Bro.
This is exactly why I buy "PDP" panels ( Public display panels)
They are mainly used in commercial premises like theatres, Cinemas, Fast food stores etc.
They give the opportunity to scale the image in much finer increments than the standard consumer variants found on the market.
It really aggravates Me that modern consumer flat panels sold in most stores never have the opportunity to do this.
The pre fixed aspect ratio zooms on them suck
PDP panels are awesome as you can tailor the height and width to your exact requirements.

[bradcarlson]

Great video! Been using 5x mode at 1200p ivia OSSC on my 4k TCL set for a while, and use the TV's built in zoom to fill the screen a bit more. Looks fantastic!

[LusRetroSource]

Great video! Using 5x scale on MiSTer is awesome!

[MrMegaManFan]

Perfect explanation. On Analogue products I’m still a sucker for 4.5X though thanks to the excellent interpolation built in. No tearing, no shimmer, no info lost. You can crop borders on the fly in any resolution too.

[jeremyharshe]

Once again, top notch video Bob👍🏻 a great help to everyone in the community.

[TheChooseAName]

Thank you. I've been advocating this for some time. (also added it to bsnes-hd, just with really bad naming)

[Cory_]

I have a CRT which means I have no reason to watch this but I like the videos anyway. Good content.

[limited.timestruggle]

Pure quality on this channel! Another banger video!

[Spaghettaboutit]

OMG RETRO RGB ROBERT! Look man I don't watch your in depth pixel scale technical analysis for technical analysis; I watch it for explosions, loud sounds, and shiny colors!

[ArikIkirA]

Akchually **insert here example so specific about a single game with a single type of tv in a single country** 🤓

lol

As usual super educative! Keep it coming man!

[Xanduur]

While this information may not be useful to me because I don’t play retro games anymore, the information is very clearly explained, and even someone with a simple brain like mine could understand it. Good video.

[RyanDeLaTorre]

Great explanation! The only thing that stood out as missing to me was no mention of scanlines. The main reason I've stuck with a 3x (720p) scale is because scanlines looked pretty bad at 5x on both the Framemeister and the OSSC (though interestingly, 5x scanlines don't actually look too bad on the MiSTer).

[TheRetroChannel]

I think the most confusing thing about scalers is removing the link in my brain that says 5x240=1200 therefore the scaler will output 1200p. Obviously this is not true, yes for a 240p signal the scaler is going to 1200p in 5x mode, but it's only sending 1080 of the horizontal lines to the display and not a 1200p signal.

[KYBlueJedi]

7:55 Cutting the coin counter? What do you mean?
I thought Sonic only had rings...

[methanoid]

Nice new titles. Glad you kept the awesome 8bot version of your guitar piece 👍

[stephenparlin]

Thanks so much for all the info you provide. Love it!