$12 composite to HDMI upconverter review

7-24-2020

I have heard a lot of mixed opinions on these cheap composite to HDMI upconverters. So when I saw one on eBay for $12 shipped I thought I might give it a shot. Turns out I was pleasantly surprised. It's not a f18a by any means but it does do a good job of clearing up the picture on flat screen monitors.

here's a picture of the TI title screen with just composite>

It's not a great picture but you can see how the letters are slightly distorted, also the colors are bleeding over each other in the color bar. here is a picture with the HDMI upcoverter.

the letters are much more truer to size and there is less bleeding between the colors. what doesn't come through on the two pictures is the artifacing of the letters is much less pronounced on the HDMI screen than on the composite screen.

the colors on both the screens are about the same with the HDMI being a bit truer in the blue and greens with the composite a bit truer with the reds. 

Now there was some concern about if there is a delay and I can say i have felt no delay while playing Parsec or any of the other games. if there is a delay it's in the milliseconds and my response time just ain't that good.

As you can see in the top picture it is a bit of a mess of  wires. 2 or 3 composite in, HDMI out and a +5 power source. I'm going to hide it all behind the desk so it doesn't matter but it's still something to take into consideration.

Now, should you buy it? for ~$12, I say yes. It does increase the picture quality a bit and if you have a TV without composite, well, it's a must then. I wouldn't call it a necessary but it does help for just $12. The only point I say no is if you plan to purchase an f18a in the future. The picture on the f18a is near perfect quality this is just a close approximation.