Hi-Def NES HDMI Adapter for the NES

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roadkill908
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Joined: Sat Jun 10, 2017 8:44 am

Re: Hi-Def NES HDMI Adapter for the NES

Post by roadkill908 »

Any word on a new update possibly coming out soon to address some minor bugs that came from the latest update? I know Kevtris really has his hands full right now, but I'd be very grateful if he can fix the bugs I've come across on the V3.01 update.

List of minor bugs:
FDS Metroid door opening sound effect is completely silent (in fact, all FDS expansion sound effects go temporarily silent while the door opens and also while it closes)
Duck Hunt (VS.) v1.61 Patched Home Edition freezes up with graphical glitches past the title screen on HDMI, doesn't work at all on analog output (however, it works just fine on V3.00 beta)
Duck Hunt (VS.) v2.1 Patched Home Edition works just fine on HDMI, but not on analog output (works just fine on V3.00 beta too)

Other weird minor bugs I've noticed but have been fixed on V3.01:
On V3.00 beta, SMB1 and SMB1+DH+T&F don't work on analog output, but work on HDMI output. SMB1+DH works fine on both HDMI and analog output

Edit: I wanted to add that I've been on V2.25 for well over a year now since I got the Hi-Def NES kit and stayed on it even long after the latest firmware updates came out. But I finally decided to take the trade off of having those minor bugs in exchange for the nice new color palettes along with better overall sounding audio that has more evenly mixed volume between the audio channels (props to Kevtris, I only wish these very minor bugs didn't come about from the major upgrades in the firmware). I've found that the bugs on V3.01 are actually worse than the ones on V3.00 beta.

Aside from all that, props to Kevtris for working day and night on also finishing the Super NT in a small timeframe!
Last edited by roadkill908 on Sun Apr 22, 2018 7:00 am, edited 16 times in total.
MNiceGuy
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Joined: Sun Sep 10, 2017 6:21 pm

Re: Hi-Def NES HDMI Adapter for the NES

Post by MNiceGuy »

rcdrone wrote:I dug a bit into the issue that teknix1 & bird333 have brought up about the wavy lines at the top of the screen. Using a capture card and stepping through frames, I can see the pattern is very consistent; the top three* game rows are offset exactly 1 game pixel to the left every other frame. I tested the following games on real carts (where applicable), and they all showed the same behavior.

240p test suite (PowerPak)
The Legend of Zelda (need to clip Link into the HUD)
Mega Man 6
The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants
Tetris

Conceptually, this should be easy to correct for if the behavior lines up with the PPU even/odd flag although I don't know if the missing pixels are recoverable. (Caveat: I don't program FPGAs or know much about the NES.) It would be nice if this was addressed.

*The viewport also seems to be shifted down by one game pixel. In other words, the top row has a black line inserted, the next three rows are jittery, and the bottom row is missing except in 1080p 4x mode. It's nice that the bottom row is visible in that mode since it suggests the other modes can be fixed.
I noticed this yesterday when testing out my Hi Def top loader. I saw it on:

SMB3
T&C Surf
WWF Wrestlemania

It's definitely a rapid, 1-pixel horizontal shift of the top-most 3 rows of pixels. I swapped in two alternate sets of CPU/PPU (all Rev-G) and can confirm the same behavior occurred on them.

When I attempted to reproduce on an untouched front-loader via composite/CRT I noticed those rows of the image were cut off by the bezel.

Is this a known/common thing with the NES? I was surprised how hard it was to find this thread when searching for information on the problem.
tepples
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Re: Hi-Def NES HDMI Adapter for the NES

Post by tepples »

The 1-pixel horizontal shift on the top few scanlines occurs on unmodified Famicom and NTSC NES consoles as well because they skip one pixel in the left overscan every other frame in order to align to the chroma subcarrier phase. This pixel lies between the pre-render line and the first picture line. It takes actual TVs a few lines to catch up with the change in hblank, and this discrepancy is hidden within the overscan area on home TVs. It's also not skipped if forced blanking is enabled, which means it's not skipped during gameplay in Battletoads (which uses forced blanking at the top of the screen). All this adds up to the skipped pixel being tricky to detect and correct for in real time, when developers assumed that graphics in the top 8 scanlines wouldn't be visible anyway.

Further reading: What's the reason for the missing PPU cycle on even frames?

On the NTSC Super NES, the skipped pixel was moved deeper into the vertical blanking period, and it does not appear in interlaced mode, though it still appears in forced blanking if I remember correctly. NES (PAL version) and Super NES (PAL version) do not have a skipped pixel. But the latter has a duplicated pixel in interlaced mode that has the same problem as the NTSC NES skipped pixel (source: Fullsnes) and is visibly worse because these consoles output letterboxed video on PAL. (Which PAL Super NES games actually use interlace?)
MNiceGuy
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Sep 10, 2017 6:21 pm

Re: Hi-Def NES HDMI Adapter for the NES

Post by MNiceGuy »

tepples wrote:The 1-pixel horizontal shift on the top few scanlines occurs on unmodified Famicom and NTSC NES consoles as well because they skip one pixel in the left overscan every other frame in order to align to the chroma subcarrier phase. This pixel lies between the pre-render line and the first picture line. It takes actual TVs a few lines to catch up with the change in hblank, and this discrepancy is hidden within the overscan area on home TVs. It's also not skipped if forced blanking is enabled, which means it's not skipped during gameplay in Battletoads (which uses forced blanking at the top of the screen). All this adds up to the skipped pixel being tricky to detect and correct for in real time, when developers assumed that graphics in the top 8 scanlines wouldn't be visible anyway.

Further reading: What's the reason for the missing PPU cycle on even frames?

On the NTSC Super NES, the skipped pixel was moved deeper into the vertical blanking period, and it does not appear in interlaced mode, though it still appears in forced blanking if I remember correctly. NES (PAL version) and Super NES (PAL version) do not have a skipped pixel. But the latter has a duplicated pixel in interlaced mode that has the same problem as the NTSC NES skipped pixel (source: Fullsnes) and is visibly worse because these consoles output letterboxed video on PAL. (Which PAL Super NES games actually use interlace?)
Thank you for the detail! That's fascinating.
rcdrone
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Dec 15, 2017 11:23 pm

Re: Hi-Def NES HDMI Adapter for the NES

Post by rcdrone »

I just tried Battletoads (PowerPak), and it seems to have the same artifact during the professor cutscene at the start of the game. I can't tell if it's happening during normal gameplay though because the top rows are black. A menu toggle for this might be nice to have if the behavior isn't universal and difficult to detect, but it does seem to be the norm rather than the exception.

I also use a different HDMI capture card these days, and the viewport still appears to be shifted down a bit, so that's probably not specific to my capture setup.

Another problem I've noticed since is that the emphasis bits might not be handled correctly. In Zelda 1, if you use a bomb in a dark dungeon room, the room isn't supposed to light up, but it does on Hi-Def NES. (I hear NESRGB has the same problem.)

Granted, all of these are pretty nit-picky, but they seem to be in the realm of fixable if kevtris decides he wants to revisit this project.
dsoriano
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Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2018 5:31 pm

Re: Hi-Def NES HDMI Adapter for the NES

Post by dsoriano »

Hi,

I just bought and installed a hi def nes and i'm loving it! Thank you Kevtris and Jason (please post videos more often).

I just want to know if i can update the hi def nes using a everdrive clone (jack diy to be more precise).

Did anyone try that? Can i brick my hi def nes?

PS. I also noticed the glitch in the first upper lines using the 3.1 firmware.

PS2. Using low profile ram heatsinks lowers the heat produced by the voltage regulators a lot.

Thank you all
roadkill908
Posts: 19
Joined: Sat Jun 10, 2017 8:44 am

Re: Hi-Def NES HDMI Adapter for the NES

Post by roadkill908 »

dsoriano wrote:Hi,

I just bought and installed a hi def nes and i'm loving it! Thank you Kevtris and Jason (please post videos more often).

I just want to know if i can update the hi def nes using a everdrive clone (jack diy to be more precise).

Did anyone try that? Can i brick my hi def nes?

PS. I also noticed the glitch in the first upper lines using the 3.1 firmware.

PS2. Using low profile ram heatsinks lowers the heat produced by the voltage regulators a lot.

Thank you all
You have the latest firmware already, unless you're looking to downgrade (I've noticed less bugs in V2.25 and V3.00 beta). I think it should be fine using the EverDrive clone for Hi-Def NES updates. It's got failsafes to check if the firmware is loaded up properly from the cartridge before it updates, this happened to me once. Turned out that having my EverDrive N8 in the down position on my Front Loader's ZIF connector didn't connect properly, so the update automatically cancelled itself before writing anything to the FPGA. I tried again in the up position and it worked out fine.
dsoriano
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2018 5:31 pm

Re: Hi-Def NES HDMI Adapter for the NES

Post by dsoriano »

Thank you!

I'll try with my everdrive clone.
Do you know if there's an official repository for the firmware, so i can try older versions?

Thanks again
roadkill908
Posts: 19
Joined: Sat Jun 10, 2017 8:44 am

Re: Hi-Def NES HDMI Adapter for the NES

Post by roadkill908 »

dsoriano wrote:Thank you!

I'll try with my everdrive clone.
Do you know if there's an official repository for the firmware, so i can try older versions?

Thanks again
Here's a link to 3 of the newest official firmware updates that I've gathered together onto a .zip archive for you.
https://mega.nz/#!Z3QQVYKQ!P3g1oha3jg4C ... h4fB52nBG8
dsoriano
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2018 5:31 pm

Re: Hi-Def NES HDMI Adapter for the NES

Post by dsoriano »

roadkill908 wrote:
dsoriano wrote:Thank you!

I'll try with my everdrive clone.
Do you know if there's an official repository for the firmware, so i can try older versions?

Thanks again
Here's a link to 3 of the newest official firmware updates that I've gathered together onto a .zip archive for you.
https://mega.nz/#!Z3QQVYKQ!P3g1oha3jg4C ... h4fB52nBG8

Thank you!
I've searched the gametech.us site but found links only on blog posts.
It would be great if there is a part of the site specific for the firmwares.
roadkill908
Posts: 19
Joined: Sat Jun 10, 2017 8:44 am

Re: Hi-Def NES HDMI Adapter for the NES

Post by roadkill908 »

dsoriano wrote: Thank you!
I've searched the gametech.us site but found links only on blog posts.
It would be great if there is a part of the site specific for the firmwares.
Your welcome! Yeah it took me a bit of looking around on Google to find all 3 of the updates that's in that .zip archive. I'll leave it up for anyone else who needs V2.25, V3.00 or V3.01.

I'm still hoping a new firmware update comes out eventually that fixes the door sound problem in the Famicom Disk System version of Metroid.
dsoriano
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2018 5:31 pm

Re: Hi-Def NES HDMI Adapter for the NES

Post by dsoriano »

roadkill908 wrote:
dsoriano wrote: Thank you!
I've searched the gametech.us site but found links only on blog posts.
It would be great if there is a part of the site specific for the firmwares.
Your welcome! Yeah it took me a bit of looking around on Google to find all 3 of the updates that's in that .zip archive. I'll leave it up for anyone else who needs V2.25, V3.00 or V3.01.

I'm still hoping a new firmware update comes out eventually that fixes the door sound problem in the Famicom Disk System version of Metroid.
Unfortunately none of the files works on my everdrive clone.
The rom loads, the message screen shows up, but when the hidef nes tries to update it fails.

I've tried about 10 times with all files, and tweaked the cartridge position, but no success..

I think the everdrive clone simply does not work.
Is there another method to update the firmware? (I'm asking for future versions).

Thanks again
roadkill908
Posts: 19
Joined: Sat Jun 10, 2017 8:44 am

Re: Hi-Def NES HDMI Adapter for the NES

Post by roadkill908 »

dsoriano wrote:
roadkill908 wrote:
dsoriano wrote: Thank you!
I've searched the gametech.us site but found links only on blog posts.
It would be great if there is a part of the site specific for the firmwares.
Your welcome! Yeah it took me a bit of looking around on Google to find all 3 of the updates that's in that .zip archive. I'll leave it up for anyone else who needs V2.25, V3.00 or V3.01.

I'm still hoping a new firmware update comes out eventually that fixes the door sound problem in the Famicom Disk System version of Metroid.
Unfortunately none of the files works on my everdrive clone.
The rom loads, the message screen shows up, but when the hidef nes tries to update it fails.

I've tried about 10 times with all files, and tweaked the cartridge position, but no success..

I think the everdrive clone simply does not work.
Is there another method to update the firmware? (I'm asking for future versions).

Thanks again
So that proves you can't use a Chinese EverDrive clone. Bummer. You have to get an official EverDrive then, or get a PowerPak from retrousb.com. You could also perhaps find someone that has an official EverDrive or a PowerPak and ask them to update/downgrade it for you.
Last edited by roadkill908 on Fri May 25, 2018 4:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
teknix1
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Re: Hi-Def NES HDMI Adapter for the NES

Post by teknix1 »

The issue with the missing pixel might be somewhat complicated to fix but I don't believe any of the emulators exhibit this. Perhaps it would be worthwhile looking at the code of any of the open source emulators. I totally understand this should normally be hidden under the overscan area but it would be such a nice addition I can't imagine it wouldn't make it in an eventual build.

On a side note, do we even know if kevtris will ever be back on this project at some point? Perhaps this could benefit becoming open source? It would be nice and reassuring to hear from him.
lidnariq
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Re: Hi-Def NES HDMI Adapter for the NES

Post by lidnariq »

teknix1 wrote:The issue with the missing pixel might be somewhat complicated to fix but I don't believe any of the emulators exhibit this.
Because emulators natively know when a pixel is present.
I totally understand this should normally be hidden under the overscan area but it would be such a nice addition I can't imagine it wouldn't make it in an eventual build.
That same top scanline is hidden on licensed PAL consoles entirely.
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