Add pixel perfect HDMI to your PlayStation 1! PixelFX Retro Gem installation and demonstration
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ก.ย. 2023
- The PS1 is an iconic gaming console from the late 90s that led the transition from 2d to 3d-based polygon games. The video output of the PS1 can be challenging to view on a modern display, with some games alternating between 240p and 480i. On this week's Fix it Friday, we upgrade the PS1 with PixelFX's latest mod, the Retro Gem! This mod provides the best possible video and audio from the PS1 through HDMI, with resolutions as high as 1440p.
Check out 1uprestorations.com/ for more video game console repairs and mods!
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Parts:
Retro Gem: www.pixelfx.co/product-page/r...
XStation: stoneagegamer.com/xstation-pl...
SD card mount: www.laserbear.net/products/ps...
Install docs: docs.pixelfx.co/GEM-PS1-Insta...
Jumper settings: docs.pixelfx.co/fxdigital-con...
Music:
Cho Ren Sha (Sharp X68000)
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Don't agree with the pay to unlock features already on the board
Yeah, I can understand that being controversial. Not really an issue for me personally, as I would purchase the shiny edition. The price of the shiny is the same as their older PS1Digital mod
That’s why you buy just the base version. They were originally just going to charge 200 for the full thing, now you have a cheaper option instead ;)
@@triforcelink or not
I don't buy video games with dlc already on the disc that you have to pay for
So I'm afraid it's no to this as well
I would love to see this installed on a fat PS2
@@Spardin Yep, and $100 for a few chips and a couple ribbons, I'm good on that, myself.
Watching George Work it’s like therapy to me. nice bro 🤙
Hi George and Joel. Thank you for all the get videos you guys do. It would be super awesome if you could do a side-by-side video comparison of this mod vs. standard composite. This way we can see the actual difference. Thanks again!
Very informative, thank you. When you figure in a shiny Retro Gem plus the X-station costs, not to mention the skill level and equipment needed to install it all, it's quite cost prohibitive unless you REAALLLLY gotta play on original hardware. Then again it beats trying to collect the whole library of PS1 games by many miles. Thank you for the video!
Very fair assessment of the situation, but personally I think it’s worth it. But of course I’m one of those guys that really enjoys using original hardware! Glad you enjoyed the video!
50 bucks for tv and console and 10 bucks for cd 50x pack for that collection.
I really suck at soldering things to the ground plane. My Turbonanza install is garbage and I ended up using glue to keep the s-video port anchored down lol. It works, thankfully. I think if I ever did one of these I'd just use a bunch of kapton tape to keep the ribbons in place.
just the video I needed. I just received my kit and your video made my life easier. only one question in mind did you install the thermal pad on the FPGA? because it was mentioned in the documentation on the PixelFx website but didn't see you apply it.
Yes I did install the thermal pad at the end. Sorry about forgetting to film that!
I really wish the external HDMI was full size.
I get that, although personally I have never had issues with the smaller hdmi port failure
@@LIRetroGaming might just be a new adapter board away, not sure how much of a difference there is in length/depth of the full vs the mini. Well at least it's not micro those just break if you look at them wrong.
Fix it Friday!!
What's the best technique for removing those capacitors? That step was done in fast forward and it was hard to tell what was being done.
Nice Mod fella, looks easy for someone experienced in soldering. BTW does your microscope have an SD card slot so you can record the close up? As I'd loved to have seen a closer view on the pin soldering. Great work
Sadly my microscope doesn’t have an sd card, and eventually I should get a binocular scope with video capture
Do you always pre-tin the gpu flex on these or was that to make it easier to solder on camera?
Lately I’ve been pretinning the flex cables to make the installation easier. And it definitely makes things easier on camera because I can’t use my binocular microscope
Are points 6,7, and 8 on the intermediate board for testing shorts?
A mini hdmi instead of the regular one like before? Thats a minor downgrade.
...and an absolutely petty thing to complain about. mini-HDMI to full-size HDMI adapters are under $3 if it bothers you so much.
@@MrRobarinoNo complaints on my end, just pointing it out.
Can you elaborate on the crystal oscillator/clock stuff? Will the console still be cycle-accurate?
Yes the console is still accurate with the clock mod, but the difference is that it is now region free. If you play a European game with the clock mod, it uses the 50hz frequency used in PAL regions, whereas a faster clock is used for usa and Japan games
@@LIRetroGaming i have a dfo installed (from console unleashed), do you know if the gem is compatable? my pu 18 pal motherboard dfo is located on the underside of the board, on the right side (next to where the cable from the xstation goes to). looking at my photos it didnt have a normal looking crystal in the area you have on the board in this video, no silver block, maybe it just looks different on the pal boards. a 220ohm resister has to be removed to isolate the original clock (whereever that is) to make the dfo work. wondering how the gem would get on with this mod installed.
Yeah the gem should be compatible but the best way to confirm is to ask on the pixelfx discord
Hi, thanks for the video! I noticed there is some garbage on the screen which appears after namco logo and just before FMV sequence. Did you manage to understand the source of that? I installed the kit on my console and do see this thing all the time with different games. Thanks!
Yes that happens when there is a resolution change from 480i to 240p or vice versa. Try using triple buffered mode and you should also make sure you are on the latest version of the software as well
@@LIRetroGaming Yeah, you're right it happens exactly on the resolution change. Actually, I created a topic on the support stream in Discord on this subject. And it was told there that it is expected behaviour, so it's not a problem. You mentioned triple buffer, where is it located, I can't find this option?
I don't suppose you would know what resistor needs removing on PAL version of the console?
I believe it’s the same one actually. The only difference between a PAL and NTSC install is that there are jumpers that need to be set for PAL
If you like Japanese Anime and fighters check out Evil Zone, it has an awesome soundtrack as well.
Nice! I’ll check that one out
@LIRetroGaming I've played it since I was 7 or 8 iirc. I played it so much that the disc split in half.
In 2010, I discovered emulators and then modchips, kinda in the reverse order. I made sure to emulate and replay it again.
All from doing a disc image of my laptop hard drive, I thought if I could create a bit for bit image of my hard drive, why not these cds and dvds?
I recommend the Japanese version as it has the original intro music and also Erel's Level Theme track: "Be Fight - But I'm the Heroine!" An interesting note is the OST disc is Masami Okui singing it as opposed to Erel's VA from the game. So the game is the only version to have Erel's VA singing it.
Amyways, I'm kinda rambling. My highest survival mode record is 36 or 32 iirc.
Have a good day!
I guess this install process is the same across all supported models?
Yes, although there are more models expected to be compatible in the future. I’m assuming the install will be slightly different for those versions
Those blank copper pads by the the GPU flex, one of them tore off… are they just ground plains?
Are you talking about the ones near the gpu? Those are not used by anything so it’s ok
@@LIRetroGaming I was referring to the one specifically that the arm of the gpu flex gets soldered to. I was running through my capture card for testing and it was working but I had no audio. Ran the test and I had all hearts. Checked the little audio flex, touched up the solder. Not getting any picture again but the little red light turns on on the mini hdmi board and the blue light turns on for the hdmi input so it’s getting signal
I’m running the capture card through OBS Studio, thinking I may need to change some settings in there possibly. Not sure though
Do you have to have all that digital crap in it for this to work? If I had this done I’d rather use the disc itself also I would just play resident evil, tomb raider and twisted metal.
You can totally just use the hdmi mod and keep the laser to play games from original media
When the system supports RGB output without needing any mods, and with the existence of the RAD2X (Playstation version) which can convert the RGB signal to HDMI and upscale to 480p, HDMI modding the Playstation doesn't seem worth it IMO, unless you want to do it yourself maybe.
What would be the benefit of having the gem take over on the clock
It would allow 50hz European games to run at the correct speed on a USA console for example, or vice versa
do you wiil make a video installing the retro gem on ps2?
Yeah as soon as possible
Does this mod work on a Sega Saturn, Master System, Genesis and 32X as well?
Not yet but it might be added to those consoles in the future
how does this compare to ps1 games on the ps3?
Personally, I think it looks better than what the PS3 can offer. There have been comparisons between the older PS1Digital and the ps3, I think digital foundry has a video on it
Wouldn't it be easier to just use some tape instead of soldering a nut to the board?
It would be easier, but it would also be far less secure
I mean, I suppose you could do that. But I followed the official install instructions.
The mini hdmi is a huge dealbreaker for me. Not too keen on getting rid of the serial port but I could live with it and lastly, I don't understand why they didn't etch a PCB for the connector portion. Too many of these projects rely on this cheap-o ribbon crap these days. Also, seeing there is a "pay to unlock features". Pfft, yeah, fuck that. At $100, they can piss off with that nonsense.
I've been shouting this since the "sku approach" was announced.
THERE IS NO PAYWALL. There is a stripped down version which is capable of slightly less, but is also upgradable.
People lose their minds over it. I don't know why.
The original PS1Digital was what, $160? The "Digital" products were at or approaching $200 before the "GEM" line was ever announced. That was due to increases in raw material costs. So the "full cost" version is no different, or no more expensive, than it's predecessor would have been. But now that we have a "lite" option, people shit all over it and call the "shiny" (read regular edition) version a paywall scam and shout that pixelfx is greedy.
It's nonsense. A well known person in the video game community actually went so far as to say they were EXCITED for the fact we were going to have more options. Then, after launch (and some other things happening) that same person now criticizes the approach and is calling the same foul that so many others are about "greed" and "paywalls". Give me a break.
@@brandonkick You're buying the hardware, they're limiting you on what you can use. It's like buying a game, they release DLC you didn't purchase but they take up 20 gigabytes on your harddrive regardless. Fuck 'em. I'm not buying this shit.
@@brandonkick I have all the older 'Digital' products and never scoffed at price. But I highly disagree with the new pricing model. The hardware you get for basic and shiny is identical. That's the problem people have with it. It makes it pretty clear that the shiny version could be offered at a lower cost but they chose not to and charge extra for software enabled features. There is nothing more premium about it other than flipping a couple bits. You can argue that there is a cost to R&D and thats true, but that work is already done whether you buy the shiny version or not. I really hope they reverse course on this. It is not a consumer friendly practice in my opinion. I dont think anyone would see an issue if the shiny version hardware was somehow superior, but it isnt.
@@burgermeyer I see it like this, sure they "COULD" sell at it the basic edition price... but they designed it and they are selling it.
We buy mop buckets every day for a few bucks at the dollar store, yet they cost probably pennies to manufacture in terms of raw material.
We buy bottled water for a few bucks per bottle, when the water inside costs pennies.
Just my opinion, but I see it like this:
They are simply trying to offer a lower cost version at a discount.
All in all, I probably wouldn't have done it. The products were well received at the old price points, and I'm not sure the potential use cases and customer value was worth the potential backlash. Of course, hindsight being 20/20 here.
mini-HDMI to full-size HDMI adapters are under $3 if it bothers you so much. Etching a PCB that is that thin and flexible is not even realistic or feasible, especially for all the solder points to the side of chips. Instead of coming up with these stupid complaints, just admit you don't know what you're doing or how to solder to them. At least then it would be a respectable excuse instead of these petty ones you're coming up with.
Does it still output rgb if you want to play light gun games.
Yes it does so that’s totally possible
@LIRetroGaming cool. Thank you. Definitely worth considering for me then. One more thing does this make using an upscaler like mclassic pointless or could you improve image quality even more if you used one with this mod? Thanks.
Please do PS2 fat
I certainly will! As soon as I can get one of those in hand
Can you make me one and how much you would charge
Sure, I can do this for you. You can reach me at 1uprestorations.com and I can install it
Will it work on a Super Nintendo?
Not yet but hopefully soon
I wanna see this done on a ps2 phat
I will once I get one in hand
i miss the mic
It will be back, I needed new batteries
Why install in a PS1 when you already have a PS1Digital modded console? A PS2 installation video would be much more interesting
I installed this for a customer. As you said I already own a PS1Digital in my personal collection. I plan on installing as ps2 retro gem but I’m waiting for the flex cables to be finished and shipped out
@@LIRetroGamingPretty sure the PS2 cables are out already
I actually would prefer to send my console to get modded for this. I know that if try to this on my own I will lose money and the console 😂
Totally understand that. You can reach me at my website and I can install this if you’re interested
@@LIRetroGaming How much would you charge?
Ps1 digital is a much better looking board.
Who cares? Since when is the appearance of the board more important then then it's function? Especially since nobody is going to see it once the cover is screwed back on.
Jesus Pixel FX stuff is always such a massive ball ache to install. They could design things better than they do.
I don’t think there’s any way around it unfortunately. Direct access to the digital video usually means you need to solder directly to a chip. If you look at the n64 hdmi mods from different companies, they all work the same way
First!
Like hell.
@@androxilogin k thx