Official Super Retro Trio Review & Preorder Thread

[stardust4ever]

Time to give this thread a bump. My Super Retro Trio is in the mails as I type this. I plan on doing unboxing and review videos.

[ViNGaDoRjr]

Time to give this thread a bump. My Super Retro Trio is in the mails as I type this. I plan on doing unboxing and review videos.

Please... post for us the quality of the NES games played through S-Video. It will be pointless to buy one if the quality is bad or if the company is using composite passthrough again. Thanks!

[SavagePencil]

I'm less interested in the video quality (although that will be nice) and more interested in the audio quality. Both Top Gear and UN Squadron have sounded like garbage with previous clone systems.

[stardust4ever]

I'm less interested in the video quality (although that will be nice) and more interested in the audio quality. Both Top Gear and UN Squadron have sounded like garbage with previous clone systems.

I was originally planning on doing my video review with a CRT (no S-video jack sorry), but...

My 2006 Sanyo HDTV has S-video jack. Unfortunately, the TV disables composite whenever something is plugged into the S-video jack regarless of whether signal is present or not, however this is beneficial for review purposes. I can just unplug/ replug the S-video jack without changing the input settings hot-swapping S-video and composite on the fly, and any changes reflected on the screen, for better or worse, will be duly noted. As Satoshi has elaborately explained, don't expect miracles to happen.

[stardust4ever]

I beat you Satoshi. Youtube video is currently uploading. DSL is slow as crap, sans any errors, my unboxing and Super Mario / Duck Hunt playtest video will be live in a few hours.

Came with a couple awesome retro stickers, and the duty cycles are not messed up!


Video link (pending successful upload):
http://youtu.be/Ll3LSMe1yUU

[Satoshi_Matrix]

For the record, Retro-Bit has gotten back to me and have mailed me my review unit. Full indepth review and engineering corrections in the forthcoming days. Next week should be exciting as I example this clone. I predict this will be another engineering oddity just like the Gen-X.

Please... post for us the quality of the NES games played through S-Video. It will be pointless to buy one if the quality is bad or if the company is using composite passthrough again. Thanks!

You obviously don't understand the engineering of Famiclones if that's something you're hoping for, so let me explain. In 1983, Nintendo commissioned chip producer Ricoh to produce many of the microprocessors used in their newest product, the Family Computer (NES). The Ricoh engineered PPU for this machine was called the RP2C02. It was capable of rendering 60Hz NTSC video through standard RF and even cleaner composite video, a brand new format at the time.

The Nintendo Famicom [NES] was first reverse engineered around 1989, using discrete clones of each chip, including the Ricoh RP2C02. This clone of the PPU had defects in it, often rendering incorrect pallets and that sort of thing. Over time, the RP2C02 clones would improve and gradually, these discrete hardware clones were replaced by much cheaper and smaller integrated glop-top circuits commonly called NOACs - Nintendo-On-A-Chip. So it has been for over 20 years now.

During the mid half of the 80's, Nintendo's games became very popular and so the company also branched out into arcades, using their same Famicom hardware. However, arcade monitors were at the time typically RGB based and could not use the RP2C02. Ricoh specifically engineered a new PPU for this purpose called the RC2C03B, which was only capable of RGB with a modified pallet.

Since NOACs were of course marketed for the home, at no point did they ever integrate the RC2C03B into their design. Since all NOACs are based on the original hardware and thus the RP2C02, they are capable of RF, and Composite. It is not possible for a NOAC to produce RGB, S-Video, or any other video format besides RF and Composite. Retro-Bit and other clone makers can funnel a composite video feed through the luminance signal so you don't get a black screen, but S-Video support is something that will never happen on a Famiclone unless someone was to produce a custom NOAC from scratch, and that's not exactly high on anyone's priorities.

Still, when I get my system from Retro-Bit, I of course will try this, but I suspect that it'll be the same composite passthrough with S-Video as the Retro-Duo. I predict the same with the SRA and the RetroGen.

[stardust4ever]

Still, when I get my system from Retro-Bit, I of course will try this, but I suspect that it'll be the same composite passthrough with S-Video as the Retro-Duo. I predict the same with the SRA and the RetroGen.

Satoshi, I think you are right. I have tested the Retrobit a little this morning and I have come to the conclusion that the stock S-Video cable that comes with the system is crap. On NES, the picture is flawless through the A/V on my HDTV, but when I plug the S-Video cable, the screen gets grainy with diagonal jailbars and a small amount of static. Obviously, the S-video cable is a very thin unshielded wire, so I replaced it with a known good premium shielded S-video cable.

Here's the real kicker: with the shielded S-Video cable, the reception gets even worse! More static, NTSC colors barely show up, and worse diagonal jailbarring. Genesis is not as bad, vertical jailbars using the stock S-video cable. Jailbars are even more pronounced using said premium S-video cable. Genesis audio is definitely cleaner than the A/V multi-out or RF output on my stock VA7 Model 1, but this revision in particular is known to have grungy sounding audio. Both NES and Genesis are bright and vibrant with no static or jailbars when using the regular A/V. SNES displays flawlessly through either cable.

But shy the bloody hell is the NES S-Video actually worse viewed through a premium shielded S-video cable than using the stock POS cable? I'll have to get a video of the craptastic effect later.

Also I tested the drum synth on the NES using track 7 (Money) of my MOON8 cart by Brad Smith (8-bit Pink Floyd DSOTM tribute). The sampled cash register sounds a little muted and doesn't ring right compared to the real NES or A/V Famicom. All in all, the slightly off samples aren't nearly as bad a deal breaker as the swapped duty cycles that plagued clone systems for years. Bass is definitely audible when played back on HiFi speakers, comparable to my NES and stronger than the A/V Famicom.

One more thing to add, Stereo separation is flawless on both the SNES and the Genesis. NES is dual mono, as it should be.

EDIT: Sorry for the triple post...

[SavagePencil]

Thanks for uploading the video. Do you have any recordings of audio for SNES?

Also: does anyone know where you can get the Trio + GBA adapter bundle, that was allegedly going to be cheaper?

Does the adapter require a separate set of RCA cables to run to the TV, or is it integrated into the video out?

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Thanks for uploading the video. Do you have any recordings of audio for SNES?

Also: does anyone know where you can get the Trio + GBA adapter bundle, that was allegedly going to be cheaper?

Does the adapter require a separate set of RCA cables to run to the TV, or is it integrated into the video out?

Hang on a few days. Once I get mine, I'm going to record a review and stress test of dozens of games.

The Super Advance Adapter does require it's own AV feed, but there's a chance it might passthrough the composite leads on the back. I'll confirm when I can.

[Leo_A]

The Super Advance Adapter does require it's own AV feed, but there's a chance it might passthrough the composite leads on the back. I'll confirm when I can.

You've said before that it does.

http://satoshimatrix.wordpress.com/?p=4895&preview=true

As is, the included cable is required when using an actual Super Nintendo or Super Famicom. However, this is only true of the original Nintendo hardware and older, non Retro-Bit clone consoles. Newer Retro-Bit clones such as the Retro Duo Portable and the upcoming Super Retro Trio will pass the video feed directly to it’s own video output jacks without the need of the additional cable.

[stardust4ever]

Thanks for uploading the video. Do you have any recordings of audio for SNES?

Also: does anyone know where you can get the Trio + GBA adapter bundle, that was allegedly going to be cheaper?

Does the adapter require a separate set of RCA cables to run to the TV, or is it integrated into the video out?

I'm going to be conducting audio/video tests for SNES and Genesis later. Right now, there are glaring issues with the NES controller port that need to be addressed.

Upload complete.......
http://youtu.be/VZdUgfTOHvQ

Sattoshi, I also did some continuity tests with the Retrobit clone. P1 D3 and D4 are not connected at all. Unless you're a huge fan of playing Chiller with dual lightguns, or select hombrews, this shouldn't matter as no other commercial game ever used those inputs. Famicom doesn't use these inputs either. P2 D3 and D4 bypass strait through to the clone board, which explains why the Zapper works perfectly. D0 channel appears to go through some type of switching apparatus. I have not confirmed this yet, but I believe the Gen / NES-SNES switch uses a logic converter to translate the signal when in Gen mode, and apparently uses logic to pass signal from the stock controllers for NES/SNES when not in Gen mode. NES ports cannot be used to play SNES games and SNES ports cannot be used to play NES, despite using nearly identical protocols. Something is getting messed up in translation between getting the signal from the NES P1 controller port (D0) to the clone board, because my NES controller is not behaving properly at all. The P1 port appears to be very loose, and the controller ports are glued into the Retro Trio housing preventing me from completely removing the PCB for more thorough troubleshooting.

[stardust4ever]

EPIC BUMP!

Got a video uploading to YT right now. I stuff three Everdrives into the Super Retro Trio, and they all work!

I hooked up the Famicom Everdrive through a Gyromite Adapter, and I got Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse running on it!!!

Link will be updated when the video is live...
http://youtu.be/Lud4z0_NYFM