Please note that the production models have a much cooler case. Mine was a demo unit with a test case. Please see more about the Reflex RF here: misteraddons.com/collections/reflex/products/composite-to-rf-adapter
another thing that i remember in the early 00s was that in the house next to mine, there was a game console-café (lots of ps2 - ps1 and xbox there) which used lots of composite to RF converters for their old tvs, and i could catch the gameplay signal by using an antenna and putting channel 3 on my TV, what a way to watch gameplays before youtube.
I have one of the RadioShack ones with svideo and it's pretty good on the composite side and comparible to plugging av cables directly into a tv. The svideo input is a joke though.
Are you serious? You can find these for pennies in goodwill and similar places. They made tons of these when DVDs were introduced and completely lacked RF out like VCRs. They also marketed them heavily for game consoles that usually wanted you to buy their proprietary RF adaptors.
Great to have products like these available. Many VCRs are getting old or breaking. Your editing is looking good Steve, the camera work, added sound effects, and music all come together nicely.
That's weird you replace the VCR going in One direction touring composite into RF but not in the other direction turning RF in the composite which is much more needed.
This is a really slick and well-produced vid but still very approachable and not too over the top. Been a long time subscriber and I really like the direction you've taken your brand
An RF modulator that supports stereo sound is handy - there are a handful of consumer sets that supported MTS (multi-channel television sound) but didn't have A/V inputs. Most RF-only sets are just monaural, though.
The store page says that the Reflex will include a “Stereo to mono circuit”, so it sounds to be combining both audio channels rather than provide true stereo.
@willmatheson There is a modulator from Radio Shack _ (look for the specific model number *2525* , not 2026) that has a MTS encoder on board and can send stereo that way. I recently picked one up for an AI project and can verify it transmits stereo over RF.
How do they compare to the modulators you find on Amazon or Walmart for about 20$? I do like the fact it's USB-C and it's gonna be useful because ingot my girlfriend a Soild State Curtis Mathes and it only has 300ohm inputs
i still remember having an only -RF TV with a poly station console ( and barely being able to use it through channel 9 or something but without audio (i didn't have the converter box, i was a child), so i used to connect the audio to a small stereo system so i could play with sound.
I remember having to buy something like this for my mom’s vintage Magnavox from the early ‘90s, got it right from a hardware store like RadioShack. How better would these be compared to those?
These type products aren't for everyone, but the success of this short video shows there are quite a few people interested. Maybe the big "Point" is that we are getting new versions of old products, which is cool. Thrift stores are drying up too.
i grew up playing my xbox 360 on an rf only crt with a composite adapter back in like 2010-2015 when i was like 7-12 it was ok but the older it got the more staticy it became
Hi Steve, would this modulator work with Japanese market televisions? I understand that they operate on different frequencies than the US counterpart channels
@@GTAManRCR The standard Ch3-4 RF modulators won't work on JDM televisions because of the different channel frequencies. I ended up getting a full range RF modulator to fine tune and get the connection to work.
This is definitely the smallest RF Modulator I've seen. I've got an early 2000's RadioShack one in my closet. It's small but not this small. I also lent a friend my old one that could switch between 3 or 4 RCA and S-Video sources and put out RF.
It's interesting that he wouldn't have told you these haven't been in official production yet when he sent you a unit to test. Most of his stuff is done in small batches and sells out, so its always a matter of rolling stock anyway.
With all due respect, rf modulators have existed since TVs existed. Plus, this may have stereo connections but this isn’t true stereo, It’s still mono (It claims it is a stereo to mono circuit on their site). You need a really good modulator for stereo to be possible, and im sure those ones that do only work with UHF band channels (correct me if I’m wrong tho)
You are right. This is a new product and that is my main reason for highlighting it. I do have commercial quality RF equipment in the pipeline that is much better and offers a lot of features, but that is an out if production item.
Standalone RF modulators have been around for decades, and eBay is littered with them for $10-15. The fact that you didn't mention this in your video, and instead portrayed this as some kind of awesome new device to make use of otherwise useless RF-only televisions, is disappointing and misleading. No one needs to pay $40 for a RETRO GAMING spec RF modulator.
It feels extraordinarily disingenuous to not bring up other external RF modulators once in this video. Even bringing up VCRs but dismissing them as bulky despite the fact that modulators in a similar form factor to this one have existed for DECADES and as far as I can tell without any functional differences that would impact usage. I tried to give the benefit of the doubt going into this but after getting through the video I fail to see how this video wasn't intentionally omitting relevant information in favor of trying to speed up the retro gaming hype train to sell a device that has existed for a long time, just now with a gamery name and a $40 price tag.
@@RetroTechUSA That's not the point, it feels like throughout the video you would have had to intentionally go out of your way to have not brought up the fact that these devices already exist in the same form factor for a fraction of the cost. The fact you brought up VCRs just to say they're bulky and yet still didn't bring up the standalone devices which perform the same function and don't have that issue really makes it seem to me like you tiptoed around it, presumably to make the reflex look more attractive. I'm struggling to see another way to look at it. It goes beyond just innocently foregoing tangentially related information, it's extremely relevant.
Expertly dodging the subject. These things have been around for about 4 decades, many with the benefit of also having S-Video in. Getting people who haven’t done their due diligence into blowing nearly half a hundred dollars for something incredibly easy/cheap to manufacture… and have had ancestors with things like Svid in, ANT in, having multiple video inputs… it’s dirty of you to endorse this as some sort of groundbreaking convenience for ~CRT retro gamers~ and sidestep the fact that these have always been around & the only other mentioned device with this feature is a VCR which is ‘too big’.
@@MikeLindquist Definitely need to agree! Especially for a lot of the CRT groups on social media these days, everything is close up photos of how good that video quality is. The scan lines. The inputs on the rear of the television. BS in my opinion. You can have just as good of a video display off an RF set that is set up correctly. The same goes in regards of this video. I saw this when it was initially posted and said nothing because well, too many modern people coming back to old stuff being mis-informed and or altered thought of thinking based on what they see. I definitely agree one should pickup an older modulator from radioshack etc. That has the option of S vid. I have all my stuff connected to a 1987 Sharp Linytron 19" set. Including my Blu Ray player that is scaled down to put out 480 in 4:3. This set has blown the pants off some of the most claimed consumer sets to have Trinitron, D series, Toshiba AF etc. It's all in taste of what someone wants and or what the overall use for the set is. But the bottom line is it sucks in the end to see uniformed people throw their money away on tech that's been around for the better part of 30+ years.
No actually wouldn't because you would need a demodulator to do that to convert RF to Composite. And it looks like the reflex doesn't do that. I'd buy a R Reflex if it converts RF to composite if it were $40.
I think the product would have worked better in reverse, that is take RF only games like the Atari, the ColecoVision, the intellivision, ETC, and make those playable on TVs without RF jacks. Currently VCRs of breaking nowadays and these games will be lost to time if the VCRs get thrown away and there's no way to play aref only games on any new TV. (Or even semi-new TV like my Sony Wega CRT)
@@Code7UnltdNo they are not. I tried on Ebay. Rf Modulators that are smaller than a vcr are cheaper on ebay. Mr Add-Ons should have also made it the other way, to turn RF into conposite. I could use a small Colecovision Capture adapter
Actually there are not many demodulator devices that are that common separately. The easiest and cheapest way to get that is to find a VCR at a thrift store where the tape deck doesn't work ( it'll usually say "for parts") and just use the built-in tuner on the VCR. Actually when I look on eBay dedicated demodulators are very expensive like $100 You could make a lot of money If you reverse engineered the tuning circuit on VCRs and made a pocket demodulator for retro games. I disagree in your assessment that modulators are more in demand than the modulators I could find a modulator easily on eBay or Amazon but not so for demodulator.
First off, this was a prototype unit. The casing for for the device has been vastly improved on the final product. You can see that on the product web page. Second off, radio shack ain't making squat these days and they have no plans or desires to do so in the future. It's a good thing to have new products available to people who don't have the time to dive through junk bins at thrift stores every weekend praying they'll find a sturdy device to do this job.
@@RetroTechUSAyou need to admit yourself that $40 is a rip for that type of unit. It doesn't even have the S vid option. Like many have stated above it's far better to own a quality built product from 20-30 years ago even if it was from a company like RadioShack. You can't even claim "well they aren't in production anymore" think of all the stores across the nation there was. Then think of the production run of those products. Especially with the use of the internet these days I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult for someone to go onto an auction site and or eBay and buy that exact RadioShack Modulator for a 1/4 of the price of this and have more options from it and will probably last far longer down the road.
We've spent decades moving away from RF, known to be the worst quality for games, to crispy RGB and now we get sucked right back in..... Nostalgia, bleeding gamer wallets dry for decades :) Seriously, I see the reasoning people would love this. As long as it deals with interference better than stock RF adapters, then a win is a win.
Please note that the production models have a much cooler case. Mine was a demo unit with a test case. Please see more about the Reflex RF here: misteraddons.com/collections/reflex/products/composite-to-rf-adapter
another thing that i remember in the early 00s was that in the house next to mine, there was a game console-café (lots of ps2 - ps1 and xbox there) which used lots of composite to RF converters for their old tvs, and i could catch the gameplay signal by using an antenna and putting channel 3 on my TV, what a way to watch gameplays before youtube.
That sounds awesome haha
You have one of the best personalities in retro dude please dont stop making videos. Its a breath of fresh air.
Thanks!
No knock on this, but RF modulators have been around for decades, many decades.
Most are horrible. Especially from Amazon.
@@retrofan4life I have a bunch of nice ones from back in the day so I didn't really look.
I see name brands every time I browse a Goodwill.
I havent seen a single modulator at the thrift store i work at@@emmettturner9452
I have one of the RadioShack ones with svideo and it's pretty good on the composite side and comparible to plugging av cables directly into a tv.
The svideo input is a joke though.
got me a Radioshack RF adaptor that does S-Video also for $3 at goodwill, thrifting is a better option imo
Are you serious? You can find these for pennies in goodwill and similar places. They made tons of these when DVDs were introduced and completely lacked RF out like VCRs. They also marketed them heavily for game consoles that usually wanted you to buy their proprietary RF adaptors.
What are good brands for that
Looks nice, I'd pick one up if I didn't already have a nice RF modulator
Great to have products like these available. Many VCRs are getting old or breaking. Your editing is looking good Steve, the camera work, added sound effects, and music all come together nicely.
That's weird you replace the VCR going in One direction touring composite into RF but not in the other direction turning RF in the composite which is much more needed.
This is a really slick and well-produced vid but still very approachable and not too over the top. Been a long time subscriber and I really like the direction you've taken your brand
Thanks!
An RF modulator that supports stereo sound is handy - there are a handful of consumer sets that supported MTS (multi-channel television sound) but didn't have A/V inputs. Most RF-only sets are just monaural, though.
The store page says that the Reflex will include a “Stereo to mono circuit”, so it sounds to be combining both audio channels rather than provide true stereo.
I suppose for 99% of RF-only TVs it'll make no difference, though
@willmatheson There is a modulator from Radio Shack _ (look for the specific model number *2525* , not 2026) that has a MTS encoder on board and can send stereo that way. I recently picked one up for an AI project and can verify it transmits stereo over RF.
The Bunker is where it's at!! See you Monday Steve!
I'd love to see a video on that cool clear TV!
Thanks for the video❤ can't wait till orders open up again, love your channel and all the mister fpga projects
isn't this just an RF modulator?
Steve, you are great! Thank you!
How do they compare to the modulators you find on Amazon or Walmart for about 20$?
I do like the fact it's USB-C and it's gonna be useful because ingot my girlfriend a Soild State Curtis Mathes and it only has 300ohm inputs
This is is it for my 32 inch CRT TV to play my GameCube on!
Don’t waste your money, just buy a Nintendo brand RF adapter for SNES/N64/GameCube lol
@@MikeLindquist srsly why do people think this is a new thing?
i still remember having an only -RF TV with a poly station console ( and barely being able to use it through channel 9 or something but without audio (i didn't have the converter box, i was a child), so i used to connect the audio to a small stereo system so i could play with sound.
This seems awfully expensive when you can get an RF modulator at any thrift store for a couple bucks...
I remember having to buy something like this for my mom’s vintage Magnavox from the early ‘90s, got it right from a hardware store like RadioShack. How better would these be compared to those?
Now for the big question. Can this modulator do MTS Stereo?
gonna be buying this ! thanks for showing me :)
Maybe I’ll buy one and test it on PAL here in Australia I been looking for a small RF modulator
The retroTink VR extension looks amazing attached with that elegant clear tape. I wonder if I just glue it to my glasses will I see any better ? :)
Can I hook up a Mister Multisystem to this thing? I think I just have an HDMI and VGA output.
i don't see the point, thrift stores are littered with RF modulators
These type products aren't for everyone, but the success of this short video shows there are quite a few people interested. Maybe the big "Point" is that we are getting new versions of old products, which is cool. Thrift stores are drying up too.
Huh.... so, how's it compare to any random VHS player that might be laying about somewhere?
Nice video & product. Just wanted to add a clarification that the Reflex RF adapter has not gone on sale yet.
Does this unit also remove macrovision security?
i grew up playing my xbox 360 on an rf only crt with a composite adapter back in like 2010-2015 when i was like 7-12
it was ok but the older it got the more staticy it became
How's your heart doing? Hopefully you're 100% recovered!
Hi Steve, would this modulator work with Japanese market televisions? I understand that they operate on different frequencies than the US counterpart channels
NTSC-J is different than NTSC-U?
@@GTAManRCR The standard Ch3-4 RF modulators won't work on JDM televisions because of the different channel frequencies. I ended up getting a full range RF modulator to fine tune and get the connection to work.
Have you made a video on the regular reflex ?
What if you want to play PAL via RF from the MiSTer then?
AV TO RF white box from Aliexpress. Only supports BG, I, DK sound carriers but US channel 3 (EU VHF 4, Ireland / New Zealand VHF channel 3)
Ah-Ha!!! Now this I can relate to Steve. I just recently purchase one for my units and they work great bro. 8^)
Anthony..
Nice. The rf only crt is no longer obsolete
This is definitely the smallest RF Modulator I've seen. I've got an early 2000's RadioShack one in my closet. It's small but not this small. I also lent a friend my old one that could switch between 3 or 4 RCA and S-Video sources and put out RF.
It's interesting that he wouldn't have told you these haven't been in official production yet when he sent you a unit to test.
Most of his stuff is done in small batches and sells out, so its always a matter of rolling stock anyway.
With all due respect, rf modulators have existed since TVs existed. Plus, this may have stereo connections but this isn’t true stereo, It’s still mono (It claims it is a stereo to mono circuit on their site). You need a really good modulator for stereo to be possible, and im sure those ones that do only work with UHF band channels (correct me if I’m wrong tho)
You are right. This is a new product and that is my main reason for highlighting it. I do have commercial quality RF equipment in the pipeline that is much better and offers a lot of features, but that is an out if production item.
Sold out. Dang it!
oh my god I need this
Is the signal quality the same as composite if it were natively available?
No. It's still transmitted in RF. Though it's probably a really good signal.
It's pretty close to composite natively quality wise. Better than those rf boxes you'd get with video game consoles back in the day.
Standalone RF modulators have been around for decades, and eBay is littered with them for $10-15. The fact that you didn't mention this in your video, and instead portrayed this as some kind of awesome new device to make use of otherwise useless RF-only televisions, is disappointing and misleading. No one needs to pay $40 for a RETRO GAMING spec RF modulator.
Cool, unfortunately already sold out so onto email list when available
very cool
God i need this so bad
It feels extraordinarily disingenuous to not bring up other external RF modulators once in this video. Even bringing up VCRs but dismissing them as bulky despite the fact that modulators in a similar form factor to this one have existed for DECADES and as far as I can tell without any functional differences that would impact usage.
I tried to give the benefit of the doubt going into this but after getting through the video I fail to see how this video wasn't intentionally omitting relevant information in favor of trying to speed up the retro gaming hype train to sell a device that has existed for a long time, just now with a gamery name and a $40 price tag.
This video isn't about RF Modulators overall, just the Reflex.
@@RetroTechUSA That's not the point, it feels like throughout the video you would have had to intentionally go out of your way to have not brought up the fact that these devices already exist in the same form factor for a fraction of the cost. The fact you brought up VCRs just to say they're bulky and yet still didn't bring up the standalone devices which perform the same function and don't have that issue really makes it seem to me like you tiptoed around it, presumably to make the reflex look more attractive.
I'm struggling to see another way to look at it. It goes beyond just innocently foregoing tangentially related information, it's extremely relevant.
Expertly dodging the subject. These things have been around for about 4 decades, many with the benefit of also having S-Video in. Getting people who haven’t done their due diligence into blowing nearly half a hundred dollars for something incredibly easy/cheap to manufacture… and have had ancestors with things like Svid in, ANT in, having multiple video inputs… it’s dirty of you to endorse this as some sort of groundbreaking convenience for ~CRT retro gamers~ and sidestep the fact that these have always been around & the only other mentioned device with this feature is a VCR which is ‘too big’.
@@MikeLindquist the big "Point" is that we are getting new versions of old products, which is cool.
@@MikeLindquist
Definitely need to agree! Especially for a lot of the CRT groups on social media these days, everything is close up photos of how good that video quality is. The scan lines. The inputs on the rear of the television. BS in my opinion. You can have just as good of a video display off an RF set that is set up correctly.
The same goes in regards of this video. I saw this when it was initially posted and said nothing because well, too many modern people coming back to old stuff being mis-informed and or altered thought of thinking based on what they see. I definitely agree one should pickup an older modulator from radioshack etc. That has the option of S vid. I have all my stuff connected to a 1987 Sharp Linytron 19" set. Including my Blu Ray player that is scaled down to put out 480 in 4:3.
This set has blown the pants off some of the most claimed consumer sets to have Trinitron, D series, Toshiba AF etc.
It's all in taste of what someone wants and or what the overall use for the set is. But the bottom line is it sucks in the end to see uniformed people throw their money away on tech that's been around for the better part of 30+ years.
Lol back in the day I had one switcher by a company called intec did the same this thing does and you can even use s video to coaxial
This would also be useful for hooking up an Atari 2600 to a RetroTink.
No actually wouldn't because you would need a demodulator to do that to convert RF to Composite. And it looks like the reflex doesn't do that. I'd buy a R
Reflex if it converts RF to composite if it were $40.
Dude, this devices exist since my grandma was sexy...
214 Strosin Point
I think the product would have worked better in reverse, that is take RF only games like the Atari, the ColecoVision, the intellivision, ETC, and make those playable on TVs without RF jacks.
Currently VCRs of breaking nowadays and these games will be lost to time if the VCRs get thrown away and there's no way to play aref only games on any new TV. (Or even semi-new TV like my Sony Wega CRT)
That's a "demodulator". I'm sure those are plentiful since few people needed to demodulate instead of modulate composite/baseband video.
@@Code7UnltdNo they are not. I tried on Ebay. Rf Modulators that are smaller than a vcr are cheaper on ebay.
Mr Add-Ons should have also made it the other way, to turn RF into conposite.
I could use a small Colecovision Capture adapter
Actually there are not many demodulator devices that are that common separately.
The easiest and cheapest way to get that is to find a VCR at a thrift store where the tape deck doesn't work ( it'll usually say "for parts") and just use the built-in tuner on the VCR.
Actually when I look on eBay dedicated demodulators are very expensive like $100 You could make a lot of money If you reverse engineered the tuning circuit on VCRs and made a pocket demodulator for retro games.
I disagree in your assessment that modulators are more in demand than the modulators I could find a modulator easily on eBay or Amazon but not so for demodulator.
Retrotink 12X VR LOL
Thing looks extremely cheaply made. I’ll stick to my vintage Radio Shack Rf with s-video and built like a tank.
First off, this was a prototype unit. The casing for for the device has been vastly improved on the final product. You can see that on the product web page. Second off, radio shack ain't making squat these days and they have no plans or desires to do so in the future. It's a good thing to have new products available to people who don't have the time to dive through junk bins at thrift stores every weekend praying they'll find a sturdy device to do this job.
@@RetroTechUSA don't have the time to dive through junk bins 🤣🙉
@@RetroTechUSAyou need to admit yourself that $40 is a rip for that type of unit. It doesn't even have the S vid option.
Like many have stated above it's far better to own a quality built product from 20-30 years ago even if it was from a company like RadioShack. You can't even claim "well they aren't in production anymore" think of all the stores across the nation there was. Then think of the production run of those products. Especially with the use of the internet these days I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult for someone to go onto an auction site and or eBay and buy that exact RadioShack Modulator for a 1/4 of the price of this and have more options from it and will probably last far longer down the road.
We've spent decades moving away from RF, known to be the worst quality for games, to crispy RGB and now we get sucked right back in..... Nostalgia, bleeding gamer wallets dry for decades :) Seriously, I see the reasoning people would love this. As long as it deals with interference better than stock RF adapters, then a win is a win.
Sweet prison TV!