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Should I sell my Hi-Def NES and NESRGB for Analog Nt Mini?


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I've purchased and installed both the Hi-Def NES and NESRGB (in different systems obviously) but I'm thinking about selling both of them for an Analog Nt Mini.

 

I don't have a CRT and really don't have any plans on purchasing one, so the NESRGB was used with my Framemeister until I received my Hi-Def NES. However, I wish the Hi-Def NES had 5x vertical scaling which is bothering me a little bit.

 

I do like the 'original' hardware (and nostalgia of my front-loader NES) but it seems more practical to use the 99 - 100% compatible FPGA Analog Nt Mini plus I can use all of the other cores.

 

Can anybody give me any advice? Has anybody else gone down this path?

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You're basically trading two expensive devices for one expensive device. That being said, it sounds like the Analogue NT Mini will be the only FPGA console option for a long time.

 

I'd at least wait until there are reports of how well the other game console cores work. THEN take the plunge if your favored systems are stable/compatible.

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Just my opinion but sell that what is it $300+ system and buy a $60 classic mini HDMI and mod it will the entire nes library except like that zapper games that will not work anyhow.

 

NES Mini is an emulation machine. FPGA systems give you a slightly better feel as they are real hardware - albeit hardware clone systems.

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The short answer is ... Yes. A Hi-Def Modded NES is like an Nt Mini Lite and the NESRGB modded system is doubly superfluous. Consider the advantages of consolidation, thanks to the jail break firmware those advantages are huge. Consider the elimination of Framemeister latency across those systems.

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This thing is $450. What advantage does this hold over a classic mini? Is RGB really that big of a deal? I mean this seems like a no brainer to me. $60 for a system that is HDMi and can be upgraded to have every nes game in it while using a Nintendo brand replica of the original controller. Or a $450 system w/no games.

 

I knew this mini if it could be hacked would destroy all the overpriced mods and systems people have been price gauging on.

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I sold my Hi-def nes to help pay for the nt mini. I can't give no final thoughts cause I haven't received the nt mini yet, but I've watch countless videos\reviews to help me make my decision and one big advantage is the extra cores from the jailbroken firmware.

 

@icemanxp300 the classic mini, isn't that using software emulation. In most cases software emulation either has too much lag and not fully accurate with alot of games. I'm sure most people buying something like the hi-def or nt mini are looking for accuracy and little as possible lag. oh btw the nt mini with the jailbroken firmware has a built in flashcart, and can play many different systems besides just the nes. I know for me the classic mini never even crossed my radar, my options were either

rgb\hidef\avs or the nt mini.

Edited by Thomas83Lin
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I looked, looked, and then looked some more before deciding on which to get. Analogue NT Mini was a perfect fit for me. I already have the Classic, and I have a nice little retro pi setup. Heck, I have a OG NES. The NT Mini has everything I wanted.

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NT can play on a CRT as well as a hidef set of course.. I mean come on..HDMI, RGB, Component, S-Video and Composite, all in one. That to me is the attraction. I prefer CRT myself! :) And having what will basically be a hardware clone of say.. the Bally Astrocade, that I can plug into an old TV via composite is attractive to me... knowing I can output to hidef without issue whenever I felt like it.

 

Like said above, the

This thing is $450. What advantage does this hold over a classic mini?

 

As said, Classic Mini is software emulation.. i.e. more or less on par with a Rpi3, modded Wii, original Xbox, or any other emulation platform out there. While they are not exactly perfect, they are perfectly acceptable. :) Whatever way you get your NES Contra :lol: Get what you like.

 

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NT can play on a CRT as well as a hidef set of course.. I mean come on..HDMI, RGB, Component, S-Video and Composite, all in one. That to me is the attraction. I prefer CRT myself! :) And having what will basically be a hardware clone of say.. the Bally Astrocade, that I can plug into an old TV via composite is attractive to me... knowing I can output to hidef without issue whenever I felt like it.

 

Like said above, the

 

As said, Classic Mini is software emulation.. i.e. more or less on par with a Rpi3, modded Wii, original Xbox, or any other emulation platform out there. While they are not exactly perfect, they are perfectly acceptable. :) Whatever way you get your NES Contra :lol: Get what you like.

 

This is the main reason I bought it.

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LOL This is like buying a racecar so you can drive 30 everywhere.

and don't forget.. can drive 150 if you wanted. :)

 

<edit> and that said.. video output is such a side item as far as I'm concerned (although most seem to focus on it). To me the big deal is the hardware duplication of the NES, SMS, Gameboy, etc., and whatever the heck else in the 8bit world that Kev has coming down the cores pipe.

 

If I can play Bally Astrocade.. a system I missed out on, on an accurate hardware reproduction, it doesn't matter to me if I took it to my living room and plugged it in via hdmi to the honkin' 75" lcd or took it to my office and shoved it in the 12" CRT with composhit. It's all good. :D

 

post-31-0-59620500-1488946951_thumb.jpg

Edited by NE146
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I was told the only reason people want these expensive systems is so they can get crt quality on newer TV's.

 

I sold a guy an nes yesterday and he asked me why his newer TV stretched the image on his N64. I honestly had no idea as I don't play on newer TV's but I told him probably because your TV is widescreen format and you need to try and change the format. I told him I assume it is because the older consoles where designed to be played on full screen and newer TV's are all wide screen format.

 

He then asked me if I could mod his n64 to output the video to widescreen lol. Sorry I'm not a magician haha,

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I've purchased and installed both the Hi-Def NES and NESRGB (in different systems obviously) but I'm thinking about selling both of them for an Analog Nt Mini.

 

I don't have a CRT and really don't have any plans on purchasing one, so the NESRGB was used with my Framemeister until I received my Hi-Def NES. However, I wish the Hi-Def NES had 5x vertical scaling which is bothering me a little bit.

 

I do like the 'original' hardware (and nostalgia of my front-loader NES) but it seems more practical to use the 99 - 100% compatible FPGA Analog Nt Mini plus I can use all of the other cores.

 

Can anybody give me any advice? Has anybody else gone down this path?

I'd recommend it. The hi-def NES has some issues like audio issues which could be fixed, but there are a few bugs that I don't think can be. The NES PPU outputs a random corrupted scanline every few seconds on half of the CPU-PPU alignments in a few very popular games, and on the other alignments you get "pixel speckling". The speckling is due to the special mode the ppu needs to run in in order to get the digital information out from what I can tell.

 

Worse still imo the kit drops a frame randomly on every reboot or hard cycle which means your monitor needs to refresh taking 3 seconds or more. This sometimes happened at very inopportune times for me, like Level 7 of Battletoads.

 

The RGB kit is pretty authentic in that it's much more minimal, but also suffers from a similar pixel speckling issue on some games from what I can tell, due to it using the same ppu mode.

 

There's also added features like the 6x by 5x scaling in 1080p. I absolutely love this feature and feel like I can't go back. It looks correctly stretched like a CRT to me yet takes up a big part of the picture. Sometimes info is cut off at the top and bottom but the vertical position feature makes this really easy to fix.

 

I've had the NT mini for a month and it has none of the issues I had with the hi-def NES, and plays a ton of other old consoles too. The NES core is extremely accurate. Some bugs were found and fixed so it's possible there are more, but I've tested many games, picked to test various parts of the system, and found nothing unexpected. It also helps that kevtris is really interested in these bugs and fixes them quickly.

 

Sure it's an FPGA but by installing a hi-def NES kit you aren't really getting a 100% "pure" experience anymore either. Just in the case of the NT mini, kevtris can update all of the hardware instead of being forced to work around bugs in the original NES silicon.

 

I really can't recommend it more.

Edited by rezb1t
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As said, Classic Mini is software emulation.. i.e. more or less on par with a Rpi3, modded Wii, original Xbox, or any other emulation platform out there. While they are not exactly perfect, they are perfectly acceptable. :) Whatever way you get your NES Contra :lol: Get what you like.

 

 

not even close to being on par. You're limited to like 300MB of storage, and interfacing with it is goofy. If you're picking it up strictly for modding to go the emulation route, those other options you listed are better.

Edited by keepdreamin
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What is pixel speckling?

Its corrupted pixels that give a speckle effect. rezb1t explained it pretty good. to see the problem yourself load up a game like iron tank, the problem shows itself not to far in the game.

 

I made a video showing it, be sure to watch it in 1080p full screen cause its really hard to see on a youtube video. I might be nitpicking but when you pay good money for upgraded video you don't want to see any problems like that. Its a problem with the ext pin on the ppu chip. normally this pin is grounded on a org nes but with the kits its used to output pixel data, its a fundamental problem and can't be fixed.

Edited by Thomas83Lin
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