Framemeister XRGB Mini Unboxing - Nintendo, Atari, Sega Upscaler (VintageGamer com)

This is the Micomsoft XRGB-mini Framemeister. As the photo indicates, it is an upscaler. It is designed to upscale the video image of classic consoles from 240p and 480i/p to HD resolutions like 720p and 1080p. It and the other products Micomsoft produces are unique because they are the only video scalers designed to work with classic video game consoles. This comes at a steep price, the unit retails for just over $300 USD. A friend lent me a unit to test, so here I will give my impressions of the unit.

The Framemeister outputs only via HDMI with a standard cable. It has multiple inputs, composite video, S-video, analog RGB, D-Terminal (carries component video, adapters available to use RCA-style component cables) and two HDMI. In addition to the buttons, it comes with a remote that makes selecting options from the on-screen menu much easier. The Framemeister requires you to select the input you are going to use, and the remote has a button for each input. If you do not select the correct signal, you will see nothing.

Micomsoft a Japanese company, and while the company's page is not English-friendly, there is a large amount of information out there to help the new user out on various forums. The firmware is upgradeable with a micro-SD card. In addition, the micro-SD card can store the user's image settings, but the unit itself will remember stored settings.

With analog video, RGB (15.75kHz horizontal scan rate, 240p) the Framemeister provides the best possible output quality available today. Alternatively, component video also provides nearly identical video output quality but also supports 480p whereas RGB is limited to 480i. A third alternative is VGA, which is essentially 480p or better RGB (31.5kHz horizontal scan rate). Below this tier is S-Video, then comes composite video and finally RF modulation.

The RGB input uses a mini-DIN 9 connector, and Micomsoft provides a mini-DIN 9 to JP-21 adapter with the Framemeister unit. Higher end European TVs had a SCART connector to accept an RGB signal and Japanese TVs used a physically identical but electrically incompatible JP-21 connector to do the same. Micomsoft ships a Japanese JP-21 adapter, but there are European SCART adapters. If you are using the Japanese SNES RGB cable, you need the JP-21 adapter, and if you use the European SNES RGB cable, you need a SCART adapter.

The Framemeister can do a superb job upscaling RGB video to HDTVs. It does not seem to matter if your RGB output is using composite sync or composite video for the sync signals, the device supports both. In fact, you can approach the picture quality that you would get if you were displaying the output from an emulator on the screen. The unit can output to standard HDMI resolutions like 720p, 1080i or 1080p. I obviously recommend using a progressive resolution where possible. It also supports DVI computer monitor resolutions if the display is DVI capable (and most are).

With S-Video, my SNES looked almost as good as the RGB output. With composite video the image was nowhere near the quality of either. Composite video is far, far more easier on the eyes on a CRT than any LCD, even as upscaled by the Framemeister. I do not have a D-Terminal to Component adapter, but my HDTVs still support component input, so I cannot tell whether the Framemeister would be an improvement. However, I doubt my TVs support 240p over component video, which is technically outside the standard.

Other than image quality, the other reason to consider a Framemeister is to decrease the lag involved in upscaling and processing the low-resolution console video to HD video. At a 60Hz refresh rate, a console is generating frames every 16.66 milliseconds. It has been stated that the Framemeister adds 1 frame or 20 milliseconds of lag compared to the unprocessed output (i.e. being connected to a CRT). TVs upscale and process all video to its native resolution before displaying it, so in this regard the Framemesiter is superior to just about any TV. LCD TVs tend to have input processing delays of tens of milliseconds, and some sets can go over 100 milliseconds. While one to three frames of lag may be imperceptible, how about five or ten? By outputting to the panel's native resolution, one major source of lag is eliminated.

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