Best review so far. I love the sound comparison. It sounds like the AVS is virtually identical (maybe increase the exp audio volume up one more notch) to the original Famicom. It's just more clear due to 44.1KHz audio. A firmware update is coming for 48Khz which supposedly makes it sound even better.
You deserve more subscribers than you have. I especially like how you took the time to check out the Famicom part of the system and do the audio and visual comparisons.
Great review. I've been following the development of the AVS since I first played my newly purchased copy of Chojin Sentai Jetman on the prototype system at the 2013 Portland Retro Gaming Expo. I already have my pre-order in! Thanks for stepping through all the details you covered. Akumaju Dracula 3 is one of my all time favorite NES/Famicom games, and I am very excited to have such an accurate experience on the AVS.
Just got mine in today, and i'm absolutely loving it. Using the Custom colour setting is an absolute must(Normal and smooth have dessaturated colours by comparison), and i'm finding the second notch/point with the Scan lines depth slider to look the most authentic. The scanline slider is HIGH quality(10/10), compared to the half baked junk you get with most emulation compilations too. My only nit picks is that there's no CRT softness depth slider(This is where the RetroTINK4K comes into play), no way to turn the console on or off with a controller button combination, and the AVS itself grips the carts a little too tight. The AVS looks soooo much better with the lid removed, since it exposes the game carts box art!
Hard to believe this was 5 years ago! I wish Brian would release at least one last firmware update, which would ditch the Scoreboard (unused) part, clear up some LE's, for the option to output a 240p signal, so we could connect an HDMI to component cable and possibly a way to access the menu without resetting the game. This makes it easier to test out different settings and color palettes. Also, a fix for the 2017 RetroUSB 8-BIT XMAS cart (the one with the LCD screen), would be great. I've been asking for this for 4 years now. Around once, a year, for XMAS. :P A RetroUSB cart should really work on a RetroUSB AVS.
Cool video! FYI I don't know if you knew this but there is a sound test option in CV3! Hold A+B and press start at the title screen. I only recently learned this.
Thank you for doing the comparison of the expansion audio. You are the first person I have seen do that. BTW - "A large audio screeching sound" does not sound good.
Nice! I hope RetroUSB improves on the firmware, the one benefit of FPGA is that it can do stuff the original hardware can't. If that gets implemented in some interesting way maybe that would make me want to buy one.
Great review for a product I have already ordered. I live in Japan so I paid a lot for shipping, but I am looking forward to it! Here is a noob question: at what point do CRT TVs cease to have scanlines?
That's a pretty good question actually. I think they'll always be noticeable, but scanlines the way retro gamers remember them are 240p only. 480p still has them, but they're thinner. 720 /1080 barely has very thin ones that resemble pixels on a flat-screen more than "scanlines" as retro-gamers are used to.
Thanks for the sound comparisons on the expansion audio, that definitely helps. Have you tried it with expansion audio on games ran on flash carts? When upscaled to 1080p, is there any noticeable added input lag?
Yes and it's the usual differences between the original cart and Everdrive. The 720p to 1080p conversion depends on your TV. My Panasonic plasma has about 2.5 frames of lag, regardless of the resolution. Some TV's add more lag at different resolutions.
3:57 "...it has the code for Contra in there..." My 11 year-old self is screaming!!! "You mean you don't have to enter The Code?!?!" We had the NES Advantage joysticks when I was a kid, and while they were great to play the game with, they were nearly impossible to enter The Code with. To this day, I don't know if the NES had hot-swappable controllers, but that's how we rolled...
This is really good. I'd have loved a side by side comparison with the NES, in terms of size. I think this is a good alternative if anyone wants to give their kids an NES as a new console (so that they dont destroy the original one).
I plan on getting one to preserve my original nes I want the nt mini analogue but it's too expensive this Is the next best system to get it similar even kevtris praised the system the guy who help build the super nt analogue and mega sg he made the hardware he had some things he didn't like but overall liked it and that's saying something from a computer engineer/programmer
This is awesome, I would totally get it if I didn't already have a NESRGB setup. One question though: When you convert the signal for you CRT, does it support light guns?
PSA I bought pre ordered one and waited several months for it to arrive. From the very start it was having major issues playing games but I just assumed it was bad carts. I'm not much of a NES gamer so I didn't put it through a detailed quality control test until recently. All the carts work fine on an original NES and HD Retron and I've updated the firmware as well. The customer service is horrible. I'm wanting to return the console but simply getting the guy to respond takes several days. Be warned, it's a great product IF it works. Amazing response time and visual fidelity for games but if you get one with a factory defect the positives don't really matter if you can't get a consistent performance.
A lot of people don't understand that CRT's are the the best way to play classic game consoles. I love my av modded toploader. That said, this thing is still awesome. Just placed my order for one.
I've got a question if you don't mind answering. I hope you have a PAL game to test this out for me :p Seeing as I mainly have PAL games in my collection, I was wondering if you have to switch to the PAL setting each and every time you turn on the AVS. Or maybe does it autodetect?
Settings remember where they were last and are persistent so if you set it to PAL it'll remember it's in PAL even if you power it off or reset the AVS.
I have mixed feelings about the AVS. I just tried a few stacks of my NES games earlier, and hardly any of them would play. Most just kept getting all glitched up, and some just went to a black screen. And even with the games that DID work, I kept having to insert them two or three times before they would work. I'm going to wear this console out having to do that. My games might need cleaning. One of the games I couldn't get to work (Bible Adventures) worked great after cleaning it. I just wish the console wasn't so touchy about dirty games. I have a CRAPLOAD of game cleaning to do. And I thought I had already cleaned them. I sure hope it's not really the console acting up. After all, the box arrived crushed when I received it.
It's impressive and probably the best way for people who don't want to go with a modded Famicom or NES with an XRGB-Mini, but that's about it. Odd shape, no controllers included, FDS RAM card doesn't fit well and why on earth did they use with a front loading system? Did they do this because it hides the NES cart? Well OK, but then it looses it's purpose with Famicom games then because it looks butt ugly with the cart playing peekaboo. They should have put the Famicom slot on top or better yet, put both slots on top, doing so could have made the system slimmer from left to right by having the ports all next to each other.. There's really no reason why this should be bigger than an AV Famicom.
Honestly, the main market for this is people that already have collections. I'd rather not have to pay extra for it having controller(s) included. If they did, they'd either have to source 3rd party controllers, include originals and refurbish them, or create their own new ones. All would add to the cost and time. I think the shape is fine tbh, I like it. I do agree that it could have been designed with both slots on the top though. Not sure why they didn't do that.
ArtOfCamelot But if you already have an NES or Famicom, an HDMI mod could be cheaper, and you'd be running on original hardware that has stood the test of time,
It's nice to see clone systems improving, but flash carts are awful for the NES and SNES. I'm tempted to argue that with those two systems, the console itself is only half a system... the rest is contained in chips on the cartridge. The SNES especially. Flash cart manufacturers have, unfortunately, not been as diligent in trying to replicate chips as people designing clone consoles. They're probably used to systems that run the entire game using their own hardware, and only having to manage the trick of loading it into memory... when confronted with any more significant challenge, they tend to shrug their shoulders and tell you to use a real cartridge for that game. And guess what? The games that use the special chips tend to fetch a higher price, and are more likely to be faked for scams, precisely because they know people can't use flash carts for them.
Great review. I am thinking of getting a Famicom disk system for my AVS. The AVS is a very capable clone and RetroUSB did a good job with it.
Best review so far. I love the sound comparison. It sounds like the AVS is virtually identical (maybe increase the exp audio volume up one more notch) to the original Famicom. It's just more clear due to 44.1KHz audio. A firmware update is coming for 48Khz which supposedly makes it sound even better.
Mine arrived yesterday. Doing the firmware update was not easy but got it done. New color palette choices are fantastic. System looks great.
I ordered one last week. I just looked and it shipped today. can't wait.
This thing looks and sounds great. September can't arrive soon enough..
You deserve more subscribers than you have. I especially like how you took the time to check out the Famicom part of the system and do the audio and visual comparisons.
Thank you so much for showing off some games that used the expansion audio. That was one of the things I was most curious about.
Great review. I've been following the development of the AVS since I first played my newly purchased copy of Chojin Sentai Jetman on the prototype system at the 2013 Portland Retro Gaming Expo. I already have my pre-order in!
Thanks for stepping through all the details you covered. Akumaju Dracula 3 is one of my all time favorite NES/Famicom games, and I am very excited to have such an accurate experience on the AVS.
Just got mine in today, and i'm absolutely loving it. Using the Custom colour setting is an absolute must(Normal and smooth have dessaturated colours by comparison), and i'm finding the second notch/point with the Scan lines depth slider to look the most authentic. The scanline slider is HIGH quality(10/10), compared to the half baked junk you get with most emulation compilations too.
My only nit picks is that there's no CRT softness depth slider(This is where the RetroTINK4K comes into play), no way to turn the console on or off with a controller button combination, and the AVS itself grips the carts a little too tight. The AVS looks soooo much better with the lid removed, since it exposes the game carts box art!
Hard to believe this was 5 years ago! I wish Brian would release at least one last firmware update, which would ditch the Scoreboard (unused) part, clear up some LE's, for the option to output a 240p signal, so we could connect an HDMI to component cable and possibly a way to access the menu without resetting the game. This makes it easier to test out different settings and color palettes. Also, a fix for the 2017 RetroUSB 8-BIT XMAS cart (the one with the LCD screen), would be great. I've been asking for this for 4 years now. Around once, a year, for XMAS. :P A RetroUSB cart should really work on a RetroUSB AVS.
A way to output as 240p or even 480i would be so great to use it through HDMI TO component….
Very cool! I'm looking forward to getting mine.
Awesome audio comparison! 👍
Cool video! FYI I don't know if you knew this but there is a sound test option in CV3! Hold A+B and press start at the title screen. I only recently learned this.
This is a very awesome and informative review, thanks!
Thank you for doing the comparison of the expansion audio. You are the first person I have seen do that. BTW - "A large audio screeching sound" does not sound good.
No problem, a more in-depth audio comparison is coming soon (eventually). Also the audio was fixed with the latest firmware.
Nice review, don't think i've seen anyone say a bad thing yet about the AVS, aside from the morons that think it's an overpriced Retron.
Great review! I'd love to have the WAVs :)
Wav's are now linked on the review page under the expansion audio section.
Nice! I hope RetroUSB improves on the firmware, the one benefit of FPGA is that it can do stuff the original hardware can't. If that gets implemented in some interesting way maybe that would make me want to buy one.
I'm gonna snag one of these sometime. Gonna give all my carts a super cleaning before they get anywhere near it, of course.
Great review! this thing seems awesome!
new sub. great review. I'm very happy I found your channel.
Great review for a product I have already ordered. I live in Japan so I paid a lot for shipping, but I am looking forward to it! Here is a noob question: at what point do CRT TVs cease to have scanlines?
That's a pretty good question actually. I think they'll always be noticeable, but scanlines the way retro gamers remember them are 240p only. 480p still has them, but they're thinner. 720 /1080 barely has very thin ones that resemble pixels on a flat-screen more than "scanlines" as retro-gamers are used to.
That usb hahah ¡i love it! Great video men ¡thank you!
Thanks for the sound comparisons on the expansion audio, that definitely helps. Have you tried it with expansion audio on games ran on flash carts? When upscaled to 1080p, is there any noticeable added input lag?
Yes and it's the usual differences between the original cart and Everdrive. The 720p to 1080p conversion depends on your TV. My Panasonic plasma has about 2.5 frames of lag, regardless of the resolution. Some TV's add more lag at different resolutions.
No emulator has ever gotten the sound in punch-out when king hippo falls
to the ground right. How does the AVS do there if you compare?
3:57 "...it has the code for Contra in there..."
My 11 year-old self is screaming!!! "You mean you don't have to enter The Code?!?!"
We had the NES Advantage joysticks when I was a kid, and while they were great to play the game with, they were nearly impossible to enter The Code with. To this day, I don't know if the NES had hot-swappable controllers, but that's how we rolled...
This is really good. I'd have loved a side by side comparison with the NES, in terms of size. I think this is a good alternative if anyone wants to give their kids an NES as a new console (so that they dont destroy the original one).
I plan on getting one to preserve my original nes I want the nt mini analogue but it's too expensive this Is the next best system to get it similar even kevtris praised the system the guy who help build the super nt analogue and mega sg he made the hardware he had some things he didn't like but overall liked it and that's saying something from a computer engineer/programmer
This is awesome, I would totally get it if I didn't already have a NESRGB setup. One question though:
When you convert the signal for you CRT, does it support light guns?
I tried that and no, sadly it does not. I should have added that to the video...
PSA
I bought pre ordered one and waited several months for it to arrive. From the very start it was having major issues playing games but I just assumed it was bad carts. I'm not much of a NES gamer so I didn't put it through a detailed quality control test until recently. All the carts work fine on an original NES and HD Retron and I've updated the firmware as well. The customer service is horrible. I'm wanting to return the console but simply getting the guy to respond takes several days.
Be warned, it's a great product IF it works. Amazing response time and visual fidelity for games but if you get one with a factory defect the positives don't really matter if you can't get a consistent performance.
The AVS is now on Amazon for those who want that option.
Cool
While the Hi-Def NES outputs really nice video, it kind of sucks a bit in sound. I wonder what it would be like if you played a game on the AV Famicom
Where can I get an AVS console? I'm actually interested in it now despite having a NES console already.
www.retrousb.com/
Amazon, or directly from the AVS at www.retrousb.com
Does the cartridge connector have a death grip on the carts like other clones? Or does it feel smooth like the original NES or snes
Seemed fine to me.
If it had RGB out I would get one.
I think RGB out is a fair request given it's audience.
Peter M
Not sure what is funny about my comment
A lot of people don't understand that CRT's are the the best way to play classic game consoles. I love my av modded toploader. That said, this thing is still awesome. Just placed my order for one.
I've got a question if you don't mind answering. I hope you have a PAL game to test this out for me :p Seeing as I mainly have PAL games in my collection, I was wondering if you have to switch to the PAL setting each and every time you turn on the AVS. Or maybe does it autodetect?
Settings remember where they were last and are persistent so if you set it to PAL it'll remember it's in PAL even if you power it off or reset the AVS.
Awesome! Thank you.
So to sum up, the AVS does stereo audio through HDMI by default. Can sound levels be adjusted in the menus?
No, it doesn't do stereo at all.
You wanted to elaborate on the aspect ratio differences in this video, but then you forgot. ^^ Would have found that interesting.
Ah crap, really? Maybe it's time for a "NES on flat-screen" video that covers all the options...
I have mixed feelings about the AVS. I just tried a few stacks of my NES games earlier, and hardly any of them would play. Most just kept getting all glitched up, and some just went to a black screen. And even with the games that DID work, I kept having to insert them two or three times before they would work. I'm going to wear this console out having to do that. My games might need cleaning. One of the games I couldn't get to work (Bible Adventures) worked great after cleaning it. I just wish the console wasn't so touchy about dirty games. I have a CRAPLOAD of game cleaning to do. And I thought I had already cleaned them. I sure hope it's not really the console acting up. After all, the box arrived crushed when I received it.
Did you contact the company? It should work with all games.
RGB the WORLD!!!
...How do we get composite video going with these?
There's HDMI to Component converters on Amazon. I can't see it not working on the AVS.
does it work with an Everdrive?
Yes
yes it will.
Did you notice any input lag?
+retrorgb
Zero
how does this one hold up compared to the NT mini?
There's more features on the NT Mini, but this one has no issues at all. It's really a great 720p HDMI solution.
What is the specific output on the USB adapter? XXvolts XXAmps?
It's the same as USB. The PSU it came with is 5v 1000mA
Thanks Bob, I have like 5 different USB power adapters with different amperages. They are for single board computers like the Raspberry Pi.
did not come a joystick?
No, it's console-only.
How much does it cost?
dose the light gun work when you use a crt
No, it doesn't. I forgot to put that in the video (stupid mistake, I know), but I added it to the main review page on the site.
*****
THAT A SHAME it shocking no one made a gun for nes that work with hdtv
Given the placement of the Famicom connector, would the Disk System work with this too?
Yes, it's shown in the video at 7:38 and on the review page: www.retrorgb.com/nesavs.html
Yeah, i wrote that before i finished watching..
Why does it look so yellow. lol It's a shame they didn't make it crispy white instead of that nasty off color.
It's probably the lighting in the room and the table it was photographed on. It doesn't look yellow at all in person.
👍
They need to hire a graphic designer for their packaging. lol That box art kinda sucks.
I really liked the packaging. To each his own I guess...
***** Yeah. I'm a design student tho so it's a pet peeve of mine. A once you see it you can't unsee it kind of deal. LOL
LOL, oh I get it...like when I see a non-1CHIP SNES :)
It's impressive and probably the best way for people who don't want to go with a modded Famicom or NES with an XRGB-Mini, but that's about it.
Odd shape, no controllers included, FDS RAM card doesn't fit well and why on earth did they use with a front loading system? Did they do this because it hides the NES cart? Well OK, but then it looses it's purpose with Famicom games then because it looks butt ugly with the cart playing peekaboo. They should have put the Famicom slot on top or better yet, put both slots on top, doing so could have made the system slimmer from left to right by having the ports all next to each other.. There's really no reason why this should be bigger than an AV Famicom.
Honestly, the main market for this is people that already have collections. I'd rather not have to pay extra for it having controller(s) included. If they did, they'd either have to source 3rd party controllers, include originals and refurbish them, or create their own new ones. All would add to the cost and time. I think the shape is fine tbh, I like it. I do agree that it could have been designed with both slots on the top though. Not sure why they didn't do that.
ArtOfCamelot But if you already have an NES or Famicom, an HDMI mod could be cheaper, and you'd be running on original hardware that has stood the test of time,
That depends on the pricing, which from what I can understand, it'll probably be a bit more expensive as oppose to the AVS.
The original Famicom has a muddier sound than the highdef nes and the AVS.
It's nice to see clone systems improving, but flash carts are awful for the NES and SNES. I'm tempted to argue that with those two systems, the console itself is only half a system... the rest is contained in chips on the cartridge. The SNES especially. Flash cart manufacturers have, unfortunately, not been as diligent in trying to replicate chips as people designing clone consoles. They're probably used to systems that run the entire game using their own hardware, and only having to manage the trick of loading it into memory... when confronted with any more significant challenge, they tend to shrug their shoulders and tell you to use a real cartridge for that game. And guess what? The games that use the special chips tend to fetch a higher price, and are more likely to be faked for scams, precisely because they know people can't use flash carts for them.