OSSC, Monitor, MiSTer or AGA?

[Flimbo]

A review of the D520 needs its own thread, Jope. Apologies if this is already the case ha ha. I own an OSSC, which I justified purchasing as it would be used for multiple platforms. However, being a lay person, I have struggled with the settings. Though I have managed to get it to work fine for the Amiga, I have this niggling doubt that I have still not got the best settings. The fact that it is relative to each individual monitor, makes getting advice/support difficult.

[rsn8887]

Originally Posted by Jope

Unfortunately scrollers jerk occasionally because of the exact 50Hz output modes. :-(

If it doesn't scroll smoothly, I'd say it is useless.

That's one of the things I love about MiSTer: If you set vsync_adjust=2 in the .ini file, you get exact refresh rates like original hardware, but via HDMI. Perfect buttersmooth scrolling.

I read some information online about OSSC, but the reviewers mostly don't know what they are talking about. Does OSSC scroll smooth, supports all refresh rates even 72 Hz, 49 Hz etc.? Does it even output 1080p? All monitors nowadays are at least 1080p. If it only outputs 720p, then the monitor will do some ugly scaling, potentially with lag. Why does OSSC require so much fine tuning? And why doesn't it come with a proper box? The enclosure is a half open circuit board, it seems. Can it be controlled without the weird TV-Style remote that comes with it? Does it even handle interlace gracefully?

EDIT: I found this wiki which seems to have a ton of info about ossc: http://junkerhq.net/xrgb/ It seems to say that there is a 1080p mode but only with crop, it doesn't seem to do 1080p without crop. It looks like ossc cannot do non-integer scaling at all, and it cannot do filtering either, no bilinear, no sharp-bilinear etc, only scanlines options, nothing else.

[Retro-Nerd]

Does OSSC scroll smooth, supports all refresh rates even 72 Hz, 49 Hz etc

The OSSC outputs exactly what the machines were designed to output. It scrolls silky smooth if you have a decent PC monitor or TV (LG OLED e.g.)

The OSSC is a lag-free line doubler up to Line 5x, and no flickerfixer or scaler.

Finetuning depends on the used displays. Most LCD TV have problems anyway with none exact Hz rates and none-standard resolutions (which results in a black screen or if it works in stutter). A freesync capable monitor or something like the mentioned LG OLEDs (freesyn/VRR capable) are usually a good choice. Mostly it works fine out of the box in any Line mode with these devices. Finetuning includes the size or screen position, which can be different dependig on the machines, monitors/TVs or used cables. I really like the remote control, works perfectly fine with the OSD. Yes, for exact 1080p Amiga PAL output you have to crop it a bit. 270 vertical x 4x Linemode = 1080p. Not much Amiga software uses a higher vertical resolution.

It looks like ossc cannot do non-integer scaling, and no filtering either, only scanlines on/off.

As i said, it's NOT a video scaler. It doubles the resolution, or up to 5x (in combination with the sample rate). The scanlines option is very advanced with a lot of settings to tinker. Also a lowpass filter is available to minimize the analogue noise which is more promiment on LCD devices, compared to CRT.


If you want scaling (which means video processing = Input Lag) and proper de-interlacing (non BOB) you have to wait for the OSSC Pro, or the Retro-Tink 5x Pro. Both will be probably very expensive though.

[acidbottle]

Originally Posted by ubermick

Keeping my eye on this. Having a PAL Amiga (or any Amiga, lets be honest) over in America has been an absolute nightmare to get a clear image. I've tried the Indivision AGA Mk2, and was never able to get to grips with the software - I really just want something that's plug and play, and this seems like it. (Currently using an OSSC after it was recommended by several people and again, a bit like the Indivision, I'm not enough of an "enthusiast" to be able to get a decent picture out of it yet. (And it doesn't like interlace, since its not a flicker fixer)

The OSSC has a lot of features though it isnt entirely straightforward to use.

I happily use this connected up to a 1200, in high res laced. In x2 there is flicker on the workbench. However, when i punch in the output options and change one of them to passthru, the flicker is gone!

I'm pretty sure its not my TV's (Samsung) built in picture options doing this since I can run the Scart straight to TV and still get the flicker. I'm still unsure why this works but it does.

[ubermick]

Top job, Acid. The benefit (I suppose!) of my setup is that the OSSC won't be moving and is tied to one display (Dell U2410, another of my 34,048 monitors that's supposed to work on 15khz natively but never seems to!) so I'll just have to put in the time tinkering with the settings to get it where it needs to be. (In otherwords, I need to RTFM)

[rsn8887]

I see. Thanks for the explanation. I agree not many Amiga games use more than 270 lines. Babeanoid is an example it uses 279.