New offering from Lotharek

[TGB1718]

Just in case you didn't know, I just got an email from RetroLemon, Lothareks UK reseller

https://retrolemon.co.uk/audiovideo-devices/180-medusa-retro-scandoubler.html?mc_cid=5271be115f&mc_eid=0a0aea0aa0

 

Seem a bit pricey to me but thought I would post this anyway.

[youxia]

Deary me...pricey indeed. It says something about connecting to CRTs too, so I'm vaguely interested. But how is it better than the existing solutions? Lotharek's description is, as per usual, rather cryptic

[Atari8guy]

I like lothareks stuff but for that price I can get me some retro appropriate monitors.


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[youxia]

After some deliberation I figured what I could be interested in: could this thing take input from my RGB-less micros and output RGB signal for a CRT?

[+DjayBee]

9 hours ago, youxia said:

After some deliberation I figured what I could be interested in: could this thing take input from my RGB-less micros and output RGB signal for a CRT?

As far as I understand: Yes

 

The DVI-port is analog and digital but I am unsure if you need a VGA CRT or if 15 KHz can also be used.

[TGB1718]

There's a link to the Medusa site, here's a few extracts on what it can do:-

It does say it's output will be at least 31kHz

• The third problem is to double the horizontal refresh rate. To achieve that every line from input is put into a small memory block inside an FPGA chip and then emitted twice. This is why sometimes we call such devices "scan doublers". This is of course done only when necessary (input horizontal refresh rate is lower than 31kHz).

 

 

So what can Medusa do?

• Accept CVBS signal (Composite Video) on SCART (or JP21 - special JP21 version)
• Accept S-Video signal on SCART (or JP21)
• Accept RGB signal on SCART or VGA input (with more than 50 predefined settings for popular old computers; it can work not only with ST-mono, but also Viking card emulated by MIST - yes 1280x1024 !!!; more modes will be added with future firmware updates)
• Encode audio on DVI; this option can be switched on and (using DVI-HDMI adapter and HDMI capable display) audio signal from SCART (or 3.5mm jack) is digitised and mixed with video
• Allows user to change a lot of settings on the fly using OSD or built-in OLED display (settings such as contrast, brightness, X/Y picture shift etc.).
• Output signal analog and digital at the same time on DVI-I, so it can be connected both to old VGA monitors (also CRT ones) as well as modern HDMI monitors or TV's.
• Easy firmware update (no special device is needed - just connect Medusa via USB to a computer and run binary updater - available for Win,Linux,MacOS)

[youxia]

Yeah, I read that yesterday. If it's only 31 khz then it's probably not for me. Still, it'll be interesting to see where they take it. It might become a good alternative to OSSC and Retrotink, especially with further revisions and firmware updates.

[spicyjack]

He mentions the Framemeister and the OSSC boxes as his "target'.  The Framemeister is at least double the price of the Medusa, and the OSSC box is cheaper, but has less inputs.  Apparently the OSSC box also requires quite a bit of setup.

There's a good comparison of all of the currently purchasable scan-line doublers here, if you're curious as to what is out there: https://www.retrorgb.com/upscalers.html

 

Disclaimer, I have two RetroTinks, a 2X-Pro and a 2X-Mini, which right now I only use with my 8-bit Ataris.

 

The Medusa website does mention that there's an on-screen display, as well as having a bunch of retro hardware video modes "fingerprinted";

 

Quote

The second problem is to find the exact pixel clock for the input signal (for RGB signals). There are no ultimate solution for this. In Medusa you can always manually define number of pixels per line, but to achieve that more automatically we measure a specific signal "fingerprint" (based on synchro signals) and pick one from dozens of available pre-set options.

 

The other thing that may appeal to people is the ability to do live video capture of upscaled output, say if you stream your gameplay on Twitch or some other site for $$$.  The RetroTink website explicitly says that they will not support you if you try to do this with their hardware and it doesn't work... tough beans.  I'm not sure if the Medusa would work for streaming or not.

[Emwee]

Is anyone using Medusa with a VBXL/XE? If, how is it connected? Which cable do you use?