Framemeister - True CRT look?

[Atari Nut]

Can this device give the Atari image that cubic distortion, round corner look of an old CRT? Can it hide the overscan area like a CRT?

[GlowingGhoul]

No it can't do geometric distortion of the screen.

 

Yes it can add realistic scanlines.

 

Yes it can hide the overscan area.

[Bill Loguidice]

The Framemeister is a glorious device, particularly if you have multiple vintage systems. It's not meant to make these displays look "bad" like they used to back in the old days. It's meant to make these old devices look good on modern HDMI-enabled displays.

 

With the above in mind, it's not a miracle worker. If you have a composite signal, there's not much there for it to work with. If you have S-VIDEO or greater, than it truly does look spectacular. I especially like it for working with RGB signals, particularly with non-US systems.

[keepdreamin]

No it can't do geometric distortion of the screen.

 

Yes it can add realistic scanlines.

 

Yes it can hide the overscan area.

 

It doesn't really distort, but it does have a "retro" overlay that rounds the corners of the image while darkening the left and right sides a bit to give the illusion of rounded glass.

[Atari Nut]

The overlay sounds interesting. Are there any pict out there showing this?

 

I have both atari to s-video and atari to composite cables. The composite cables give me color in some games that the s-video doesn't. For the 800xl or 130xe, will there both these cables work?

[keepdreamin]

The overlay sounds interesting. Are there any pict out there showing this?

 

I have both atari to s-video and atari to composite cables. The composite cables give me color in some games that the s-video doesn't. For the 800xl or 130xe, will there both these cables work?

 

I don't use the retro mode, too be honest. I use custom profiles that have overscan perfectly removed.

 

The retro mode (found under "Special" in the main menu) has three settings. From what I can tell:

 

L1 - Rounds the corners of the overscan, pulls in the left and right sides a bit to hide a few rows of vertical pixels. Fades sides of image for glass illusion

L2 - Same as L1, but now obscures top and bottom horizontal rows a bit.

L3 - No overscan cover up, or rounded corners. Simply retains the faded glass effect.

The side fade effect is the same for all 3.

Scanlines are a separate option that can be toggled independently of retro mode. (scanlines are best suited for 720P setting)

 

Here's a video of scanlines with retro mode (L3 maybe) Make sure you open the link in a new window, blow up to full screen and set the resolution for the video to 720P so the scanlines render properly.

 

Also keep in mind, the SNES in the video is hooked up via RGB. so your atari over composite won't be that clean. S-Video should be close.

 

Edited August 5, 2017 by keepdreamin

[Atari Nut]

Thanks for the link and info. The scanlines look good. I just saw the price of this thing! WOW!

[keepdreamin]

Thanks for the link and info. The scanlines look good. I just saw the price of this thing! WOW!

 

You should have seen the price a few months ago on ebay while there was a production shortage. It's being discontinued as the scaler chip is no longer being made by Marvell. Micomsoft hasn't announced a successor.

 

Best place to buy it (looks to be in stock now)

https://solarisjapan.com/products/xrgb-mini-framemeister-compact-up-scaler-unit

[Atari Nut]

Thanks for the link!