RetroTINK 4K Review - Mixed Opinions Until They're Not!
Вставка
- Опубліковано 5 сер 2024
- Half my review was invalidated by new firmware updates while I was still in the process of editing the footage after recording it. The RetroTINK 4K is getting nearly daily updates, and has been totally amazing, mostly!
My Custom RetroTINK 4K Profiles:
github.com/circuitrewind/retr...
RetroTINK 5X and 4K Infrared Remote Code for Flipper Zero:
github.com/Lucaslhm/Flipper-I...
RetroTINK 4K Sales Page:
www.retrotink.com/product-pag...
RetroTINK 4K Wiki:
consolemods.org/wiki/AV:Retro...
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00:00 - Intro
00:51 - What Is An Upscaler
02:51 - The Quick Cheap Route
03:16 - Scaler Comparisons
07:20 - The Car Analogy
08:43 - Remote Control
13:03 - Logistics Issues
16:05 - Unreal Tournament (UT99)
18:08 - Diablo 2 (3DFX Glide)
19:28 - Wipeout XL (Extra FAST!)
20:09 - DOOM 95
20:32 - Chocobo World
21:18 - Sky Roads (MS-DOS)
22:07 - Power Consumption (Unreal Gold)
23:00 - Sailor Moon S (3DO)
23:41 - Super Mario All Stars (Super Famicom RGB)
24:12 - F-Zero GX (GameCube HDMI)
25:22 - HDHomeRun (PS3 HDMI)
25:48 - My Little Pony DECIMATED (PS3 HDMI)
26:41 - Who's Line DECIMATED (PS3 HDMI)
27:05 - Tetris 99 DECIMATED (Switch HDMI)
28:05 - S-Video Comparison (2X, 5X, 4K)
29:37 - Eating My Words ...
30:26 - TV Calibration
31:03 - Wiring Overview
33:41 - Should You Buy The RetroTINK 4k?
36:54 - Final Thoughts
37:54 - Nothing To See Here, Move Along! - Наука та технологія
4k is the selling point for me personally as 2X and 5x are still blurry on my tv. I want the ultimate crystal clear clarity to match my 4k display. If it wasn’t better than the previous model than it would have never been made. Resolution must match resolution to get the best possible results and of course the retrotink 4k has other better options and features too. Thanks for addressing these issues.
@kamarrawlings6285 You need proper cables to match with it as well! And a good calibrated tv game setting. Universal all around
@@maxgc6413 Well spoken
You could just use the 5k on a non 4k TV...lol. I have a 4k TV and I have a Sony Bravia 1080p LCD. One of the best TV sets from 2008. The 5x would probably make everything look amazing on it.
R you buying one? And you have still blurry screen on retrothink 4K?
You probably have never seen Mike chi’s video where he compared both of them. The is almost no difference and I’m very picky (Panasonic OLED user)
Great video! thanks a lot!
Back in stock!! ahh so awesome
Out of stock in second day
As I know, to enjoy Enhanced S-video we need the RetroTINK 4k DB15 to S-Video and CVBS Adapter, have you used it? is there any improvement in the front S-Video input? Thanks in advance.
Yes, the Enhanced S-Video is what I reference later in this video where Mike released it right before I hit "publish" on this video. The E-S-Video is significantly better, and other than pixel peeping, looks almost identical to RGB video from systems that do both (such as N64). The sharpness is virtually the same, the only issue is a very minor amount of color bleeding with E-S-Video that won't exist on proper RGB.
In my setup, I'm using a VGA Matrix Switcher with an output going to the RT4k, and a DE-15 to RCA cable from that Matrix into a patch panel for quick access, and another one going to a gComp. This allows a lot of flexibility and I can have multiple S-Video devices wired up at once. There are S-Video to RCA adapters on eBay right now, which is what I'm using, and then using RCA for the rest of the chain basically.
Is it possible to hook up either the retroUSB 'AVS' or Analogue Duo to the RetroTINK4K via' HDMI, and gain the CRT scanline/softness features provided by RT4K, including the HDR brightness boost trick that neither the Duo or AVS have on their own?
YEAH! Totally! The RetroTINK 4K will accept any HDMI signal that is 1080p/60 or lower. And from there you can downscale the incoming signal, apply the Tink processing, and then re-upscale it back to 4K w/ the pseudo HDR mode and scanlines.
Is it true that TINK4K uses dual strobe black frame insertion to work with 24 & 30fps content, be it Movies & TV shows? I was told that it reduces motion blur based on the hz of your TV. So with 120hz OLED TV's, it will cut down 50%(8.3ms persistence) of motion blur @1080p, and then around 60%(6.94ms persistence) for 144hz QD-OLED's, also @1080p. That's a big improvement, and if true, will give QD-OLED plasma tier motion clarity.
Is there a night and day difference between a PS2 game for example running at 1080p and 4K? The highest resolution originally for Tekken 4 was 480p, so does the Retrotink 4k really produce a sharper image than the 5X if the maximum resolution of the game is 480p? I imagine that there wouldn't be much of a difference at all, but I would really like to hear your thoughts. Thanks
That just depends on if you like your TV's bilinear or bicubic scaling it does from 1080p to 4k. Whatever input the TV gets, it needs to scale up to its native resolution (4K, for modern TVs). That's why the RT4k is so nice, since it is sending a 4K TV, the TV itself does zero scaling, and just displays the image "as is" - giving you full control over -how- it is scaled. For the common user, most wont care and that's why I mention the RetroTINK 2K for most, the 5X Pro for those that want a better analog-to-digital experience, and then the 4K for those that want "the best of the best"
Hi Vince, I am a new subscriber to your channel and I enjoyed watching this video. I am in the process of converting and digitizing VHS and High eight videotapes. I have a thunderbolt based black magic digitizer that I run into a Mac laptop. do you think it’s a good idea to run the tapes through the retro Tink 4K and then running its output into the digitizer?
Its certainly a good idea to test. There are a bunch of features in the RT4k specifically designed for VHS. I've yet to try them out myself, however, as oddly enough, a VHS player is something currently not in my collection.
If you weren't aware, for Doom your could have used the auto crop to 4:3 feature by pressing the AUX2 button.
Because the RetroTINK 4K is confused about the resolution, this doesn't entirely work. Using auto-crop, it simply takes the squished image, and then centers it while remaining squished. It still requires going into the scaling/cropping menu and manually dialing in free-form pixel scaling, as all others are still confused about what the source image aspect ratio is.
To upscale the ps3 with the 5x, since it has no hdmi input, would using component cables work? Im curious if component cables with ps3 into the 5x would create a better image than just using a direct hdmi 720p connection. Ive never used component cables with my ps3 before lol
Yes, component cables are good for 720p and 1080i resolutions. Make sure they are made by a reputable company as analogue cables are susceptible to visual noise
what's the speed class and speed on the failing included sd cards? ill buy just a slower durable one made for medical equipment to replace it just so it works reliably 24/7 if speed dont matter on the retrotink 4k the one i will get for it is class 10 U1 .
As time has passed, we've learned more. The only SD cards to fail were exclusive to Batch 1. There is now the "Stealth Drop" Batch, and Batch 2, and there has been zero reported SD card failures in these batches. Mike swapped to a different supply after the first batch and the number of issues that popped up. As far as speed is concerned, slow as hell! The RT4k accesses the SD card at kilobyte level speeds. I'm personally using a Samsung Industrial TLC Micro SD card (in a generic adapter), and its basically perfect.
About to snag the TINK4K in the couple of months. Just a quick question, if i were to run a game at 120fps on PC or PS5 for example, would the TINK4K offer 120hz BFI options to reduce motion blur ever further?
The Tink probably wouldn't even accept the input signal. It'll accept 1080p/60 input, or 720p/120, tho I've not gotten the latter reliable yet (I can do 720p/100 fine tho). As the name implies, its designed mostly for retro consoles, even though it does have HDMI in.
@@circuitrewind
Ah i see. So it's best just to settle for native 120fps-144fps games, and let your OLED TV cut down 50%-60% of the motion blur without messing with the tink4k. Modern OLED TV's no longer support 120hz BFI settings, which is a shame. I was hoping tink4K would of addressed this, even at 1080p + 120hz bfi.
As long as the TINK4K's 60hz BFI supports games running at 4K+60fps. I wonder how many nits of brightness you gain by using the HDR SDR Brightness boosting trick setting after losing 50% brightness from the 60hz BFI setting.
I'm specifically buying this for 8-16 bit retro consoles with a smaller QD-OLED, but I'd like to buy another for my Switch & PS5, with games running at 60fps so i can cut down the motion blur by 50%.
Wow ! You're a real Pro ! I have a Sony Oled 4K and a PS2 , what should I get ? Thanks
Is there a big difference in image quality and motion smoothness beteeen the 5X and 4K? Specifically for higher resolution systems such as the PS2 and the Dreamcast?
The 4K provides a number of features for that. First off, the obvious, the 4K resolution! But beyond that, it has support for black-frame-insertion (at lower resolutions) to help with motion clarity, and it also has a number of different filtering algorithms when upscaling, such as bilinear-sharp, Lanczos, xBR, and others. It all comes down to personal preference and individual games for what'll look best. A lot of this wasn't available when my video was recorded, so I may do an updated video at some point going more in-depth on the specifics of the upscaling and filtering options.
Thank you for your reply :)
Is there a night and day difference between a PS2 game for example running at 1080p and 4K? The highest resolution originally for Tekken 4 was 480p, so does the Retrotink 4k really produce a sharper image than the 5X if the maximum resolution of the game is 480p? I imagine that there wouldn't be much of a difference at all, but I would really like to hear your thoughts. Thanks again
Hopefully by the end of the year I’ll snag one. But it’s not a deal breaker. 5x with proper cables, calibrated tv game setting too and it looks fantastic for me.
yeah, totally! for 240p gaming content, the 5X is fantastic! I still absolutely love it. The main thing I wanted the 4K for wasn't for the resolution, but instead for the VGA port. While the OSSC works, its a pain in the royal ass to actually dial in settings on it, vs the 4K which is almost fully automatic.
I have rgb modded all my consoles and have HD Retrovision cables (neo geo, ps1, ps2, ps3, HDMI Gamecube, Saturn, TG16, HDMI Dreamcast, NES, SNES, xbox, xbox 360 ect ect. I also have a 4k LG C3 OLED...The TINK4k was made for me right?
maybe... just maybe... you MIGHT benefit from its capabilities! ;)
Can you show how to use a universal remote for this there’s a ge usb c remote
I personally don't have a universal remote setup right now. But good ones will have a "learning" feature where you point an existing remote at it, and it'll clone the iR codes it sees.
Can you share the link to the power meter that you bought. It's cool that it has an on-screen graph that indicates the power usage of the device. I would love to buy one. Thank you and great video! I watched till the end.
This is what I'm using. I'll probably do a "Quick Bug Report" on this device at some point, because it wasn't exactly easy to find the software and get it fully setup on a PC. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BJ253W31/
@@circuitrewind Thank you!! I subbed! :)
I got my RT4K in the second batch. The website worked just fine, and supposedly it took 90-120 minutes to sell out.
Sounds like the next set will be available soon and maybe this will get all those that want them NOW a RT4K and the NEXT next batch could maybe be in stock until they sell. And hopefully he'll start getting stock he can send to retro console stores. Hopefully.
Id love some more guides on how to setup settings! so confusing to me.
Watching the video.
That bad? watching show at 26:40
Is it downscaled or something? For crt?
Buddy is asking about hooking it up to a c1 4k TV. $800 better be better then that?
I describe what is going on while showing menus only a few seconds prior to that. This is called "decimation", where it takes a signal, and processes it at a lower resolution intentionally. The main reason this exists is for things like the Nintendo Classic Consoles that output a 1080p HDMI signal for things like the SNES, being able to down-scale those back to their original 240p version, then re-upscale them using this device. But since the feature exists, why not play with it in unintended ways? :D
@@circuitrewind ok that's downscaling.
I am just hooking to 4k TV.
I can't even find even 720p anymore.
Whatever.
It's pretty much sold out.
Ill see if i can grab one next year or when there available. May take another year. IDK.
@@Deltax5 it isn't "downscaling" in the sense that it is outputting a lower resolution. It is still outputting to 4K, which is why the menu stays in-tact. Decimation is a little different in that it will pull every-Nth pixel and use that, while throwing the rest away. Downscaling usually uses a pixel merging algorithm like bilinear or bicubic. The point of the effect, at least the way I'm using it, is to turn modern/smooth content into something that looks more retro/pixelated. It can still be combined with the high resolution CRT emulation filters after the decimation is applied.
I guess considering I use the MiSTer for everything it supports, and cables for 6gen+ aren't that as expensive, it's not a huge investment for me.
If that's your use case, then yeah, HDMI all the way! I have 14 HDMI based consoles wired up via a 16-port switcher right now for this very purpose, that then routes through the RT4k. Its nice having that crispier upscaling!
@@circuitrewind well, I don't have any hdmi modded consoles, so I'll still use vga for dreamcast, s-video for gamecube, component for wii and xbox, etc etc 😄
but yeah at least I don't have to worry about expensive scart cables or hd retrovision cables.
Like the idea of this, but I would like support for at least 4k 120fps.
For 750$, I'm going to wait until a new version supports higher frame rates
There wont be 4k/120 FPS. That requires increasing costs significantly for a device like this. HDMI 2.0 and 2.1, despite being close in version number, are entirely different signalling standards, and a device would need to be able to support both.There is also very little benefit to that much bandwidth anyways, since old consoles are 60FPS, sending that to the TV but at double the refresh rate does very little to the end experience. Its a lot of cost with little to no return.
Ya it's too bad it can't do BFI at 4K, that's a major downside but I can live with that for now
You get a like and a Subscribe simply for saying UT is one of your favourite games, and showing footage of it. Back in the day, I was The_Emperor[Empire] clan, and my best friend was Darth_Maul[Empire] clan. I still remember fighting legendary players like 'Crimson_Tide'. At one point, I was in the top 10 in the world for a few days/weeks. I'll never forget how unbelievably immersive that game was. For the first time ever as a gamer, I really felt the potential of high resolution, creamy smooth, real-time, multiplayer pounding combat action with broadband internet connecting me to a dozen other human players experiencing the same thing. It was one of those 'threshold' moments in my gaming life, a life that goes all the way back to the Atari 2600 in 1978, when I was 9 years old.
Kinda laughable how ppl want the very best but play on a Samsung or (uncalibrated) LG OLED tv
TVS AV ou HDMI ruim porblemo jogos coisas LED HDR UHD LCD SDR feios pior Composite FAIL Ruin só fraco difícil feios viu não gosto 👎 (cego on)
TVS RGB PASS Off AV bem verdade rápido ganhar Jogos AV Luz limpar ótimo limpar RGB CRT até gosto bonitos muito Super Nintendo AV 240p👌CRT👌 limpar só Off ganhar 4.3 é 16.9 deixar 👌😘👍
$750 pior roubar Retro Tink 4k🤦♂️😡
R$3.500.00 🙎♂️🤦♂️😡
AV2HDMI bem Ruin composite pior
ON cego pablema R$45.00 até
Retro Scaler 2x On limpar bem 😂 AV ou HDMI R$100.00
😂Scaler 2x😂
I rather get my groceries with a lambo 😅
I'm right there with ya buddy, that's why I got the RT4k ;)
I’m sure you turned on my little pony because no other cartoon would suffice. Hmm sus. Lol 😂
You can sus all ya want. ;) I think its a fantastic show! That's why I have DJ Pon-3 sitting above my desk :)