Nice video. I'm loving my Speccy! I grew up with an Amstrad CPC 464 Plus which i loved but this Speccy is absolutely amazing. I hope Retro Games Ltd add more frames eventually. 🙂
There are no horizontal black bars on menu screen but the machine always adds black bars on left and right once game launches to keep aspect ration right. Unfortunately on a 4:3 CRT, these added vertical bars makes the output narrower than it should be. AFAIK there’s no option to stretch the image out properly for a 4:3 output. It’s more of a zoom feature. Spectrum already has borders but vertical black bars make these even bigger on the sides.
Mate this is an awesome vid. You get better and better mate. Out of interest, is there a 4:3 setting on the Spectrum itself? If yes, that should give you an even better result as I do note the image is squished. This is because it's outputting in 16:9. Hopefully it has a 4:3 setting to match the screen. Awesome work mate. Love it.
Cheers mate im giving this channel a bit more love its been neglected lately lol I dont think there is a setting for 4.3 but ill have a look later ill look more at that screen adjustment menu aswell Thanks for watching matey glad you enjoyed it
to look decent it needs to be able to output 288p@50hz, it looks like it's outputting 480i@60hz which is interlaced, and the wrong aspect ratio and refresh rate
@@tooheystechgaming1977 doesn't look good, looks interlaced and not the right aspect, it's too vertically stretched, also it's running at 60hz which means iyou won't get smooth vsync
I’ve got the same Sony TV hooked up to my Amiga A1200 via SCART with excellent results. I play emulated Speccy games on my Amiga and still think games like Jet Pac are very playable today! I might pick up The Spectrum at some point having once owned pretty much all the models growing up, the ‘Spectrum +3’ being my favourite. I still have the manuals from the 48k original. Excellent stuff :) BTW there is a service menu on the Sony that adjusts geometry etc. but I guess you probably knew that.
@@tommik1283 I tend to output audio via the headphone socket to my hifi which makes a lot of difference. I will check again but headphone output seems to be in stereo?
I take it the borders on the sides and squished horizontal image during the games because the hdmi thinks it’s outputting to a 16:9 or was just the aspect ratio on the specky? I think on the a500 mini there was options to change how much games filled the screen ? love to see you playing some a500 mini games on the crt at some point
I think that was the aspecr ratio on the speccy always dead centre Ahh yeh i remember them.options now i havent booted the mini up for a while I have done a vid.somewhere with the A500 mini plugged into a crt Thanks for watching btw
Wow, the games look superb - so much more authentic on the CRT. It'll be interesting to see them on CRT's with higher quality video inputs - such as SCART, RGB component video, or S-Video ... or even VGA, on an old CRT VGA monitor
Im surprised how good they look even on this really cheap adapter as you mentioned imagine the picture on higher quality although i do have a hdmi to scart convertor somewhere so ill prob give that a try aswell Thanks for watching btw
I appreciate your fair opinion. But wanting an emulation box to give you the same rendition and feeling as the real hardware on a CRT TV like back in the day, well... is as weird as the other people complaining and wishing this an that. It's only an emulation box and a cheap one like the Speccy was back in the day. I bought mine only to have it in my collection and for comparaison. It has a lot of limitations and downsides and I think the retro games are exploiting the nostalgia trend with this product. Personally, for daily driver that came as close as possible to the real ting, nothing beats the XBerry Pi, a Spectrum NEXT clone which is as cheap as the "spectrum".
You can say that, but I have a real spectrum and it is getting a bit long in the tooth now. I always worry about breaking it, as they would break so easy back in the day. So having the spectrum take the place of my actual spectrum on display and play is a good option. Also I have seen inside the spectrum and yes there is not much to it but it does actually use the keyboard ribbons to connect to the main board, which was a nice touch (makes me wonder if it is possible to connect the spectrum keyboard with an actual spectrum keyboard or the other way around). Another really nice touch is it little dedication to sir Clive sinclair in there.
@@lestat1uk You can connect a classic 48K membrane to this new spectrum emulation box but you need to create an adapter as you can see they are not placed the same, and vice versa. If they are using the recreated zx spectrum bluetooth keyboard membrane, then it's more durable as it lays on a fine PCB for the bottom layer. The classic 48K rubber Speccy is a sturdy machine, thick plastic and never saw one cracked. I replaced on mines the membrane with a 48K-KLDX micro switches PCB one and the face plate and I got a clicky keyboard that will practically never die. But I digress, this emulation box is intended to quick plus and play on a modern TV of the classic Spectrum catalogue. Other use than that will get you disappointed as the machine wasn't made for that. Nice the dedication for sir Clive Sinclair, but you have to open it to see it. Would they put it on the back than it were more useful.
@Florin76 I have one now, and when I was a kid and it broke a lot. I would not want a clicky keyboard on an original speccy as it would not be the speccy I grew up with. I would rather ware down something that cost me £90 then keep having to buy parts and repairs on my originaln spectrum. Yes you can emulate the spectrum on a pi or whatever, but it would not give me the same level of nostalgia as this the spectrum would do. I think there are a place in the emulator scene for 1/1 replicas.
@@lestat1uk Everybody complains about the Spectrum's 48K rubber keyboard. That was a missed opportunity to make something improved. At least they could been used a standard membrane, not this ZX81 format. The Spectrum always had a problem with the keyboards. Even the Spectrum NEXT the keyboard is not great, they screw it up! But hey, if you like it like this, then another happy customer!
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
Nice video. I'm loving my Speccy! I grew up with an Amstrad CPC 464 Plus which i loved but this Speccy is absolutely amazing. I hope Retro Games Ltd add more frames eventually.
🙂
Thanks for watching glad you liked the video
Ive got 3 in the loft which are probably staying there while i now use the retro games speccy lol
Putting a CRT filter on a CRT is like entering Google into Google!
Did you have any lag over the HDMI?
There are no horizontal black bars on menu screen but the machine always adds black bars on left and right once game launches to keep aspect ration right. Unfortunately on a 4:3 CRT, these added vertical bars makes the output narrower than it should be. AFAIK there’s no option to stretch the image out properly for a 4:3 output. It’s more of a zoom feature. Spectrum already has borders but vertical black bars make these even bigger on the sides.
Cool cheers for the info ill have another look later
Mate this is an awesome vid. You get better and better mate. Out of interest, is there a 4:3 setting on the Spectrum itself? If yes, that should give you an even better result as I do note the image is squished. This is because it's outputting in 16:9. Hopefully it has a 4:3 setting to match the screen. Awesome work mate. Love it.
Cheers mate im giving this channel a bit more love its been neglected lately lol
I dont think there is a setting for 4.3 but ill have a look later ill look more at that screen adjustment menu aswell
Thanks for watching matey glad you enjoyed it
Another good video mate i think i may buy one of these new spectrums cheers george
Thanks for watching glad you enjoyed it
to look decent it needs to be able to output 288p@50hz, it looks like it's outputting 480i@60hz which is interlaced, and the wrong aspect ratio and refresh rate
I did think it was 480p as my mate mentioned it last night still looks bloody good though imo
@@tooheystechgaming1977 doesn't look good, looks interlaced and not the right aspect, it's too vertically stretched, also it's running at 60hz which means iyou won't get smooth vsync
@@tooheystechgaming1977 480i, a CRT doesn't support 480p
@filevans it actually looks better in person the camera made it look a bit soft
Yep. Same as the original Xbox. 480i is not what you want when playing Spectrum on CRT. But this machine is built for HDMI not for CRT really.
I think I'll stick to my OSSC pro and will downscale to 240p 😅, the image quality should be excellent
Nice one
I’ve got the same Sony TV hooked up to my Amiga A1200 via SCART with excellent results. I play emulated Speccy games on my Amiga and still think games like Jet Pac are very playable today! I might pick up The Spectrum at some point having once owned pretty much all the models growing up, the ‘Spectrum +3’ being my favourite. I still have the manuals from the 48k original. Excellent stuff :)
BTW there is a service menu on the Sony that adjusts geometry etc. but I guess you probably knew that.
Hi thanks for watching and the info i dont think ive seen a service menu on this tv ill have another look later when o get home
@ it’s a series of key presses on the remote control. If you Google ‘service menu’ for the model of the TV there are a some tutorial videos out there.
@wkdarchaeology5653 cool cheers ill look that up
That TV looks nice but it seems to be mono only. Not the best option for 16-bit games IMO.
@@tommik1283 I tend to output audio via the headphone socket to my hifi which makes a lot of difference. I will check again but headphone output seems to be in stereo?
I take it the borders on the sides and squished horizontal image during the games because the hdmi thinks it’s outputting to a 16:9 or was just the aspect ratio on the specky? I think on the a500 mini there was options to change how much games filled the screen ? love to see you playing some a500 mini games on the crt at some point
I think that was the aspecr ratio on the speccy always dead centre
Ahh yeh i remember them.options now i havent booted the mini up for a while
I have done a vid.somewhere with the A500 mini plugged into a crt
Thanks for watching btw
Wow, the games look superb - so much more authentic on the CRT. It'll be interesting to see them on CRT's with higher quality video inputs - such as SCART, RGB component video, or S-Video ... or even VGA, on an old CRT VGA monitor
Im surprised how good they look even on this really cheap adapter as you mentioned imagine the picture on higher quality although i do have a hdmi to scart convertor somewhere so ill prob give that a try aswell
Thanks for watching btw
check out the game Vampire Vengeance (released in 2020) for the Spectrum and the C64 ... ..it's brilliant
Will do cheers
Would like to set one up on my android Yoga tab via the cheap Amazon capture card and usb camera pro app.
Go for it
I appreciate your fair opinion. But wanting an emulation box to give you the same rendition and feeling as the real hardware on a CRT TV like back in the day, well... is as weird as the other people complaining and wishing this an that. It's only an emulation box and a cheap one like the Speccy was back in the day. I bought mine only to have it in my collection and for comparaison. It has a lot of limitations and downsides and I think the retro games are exploiting the nostalgia trend with this product. Personally, for daily driver that came as close as possible to the real ting, nothing beats the XBerry Pi, a Spectrum NEXT clone which is as cheap as the "spectrum".
You can say that, but I have a real spectrum and it is getting a bit long in the tooth now. I always worry about breaking it, as they would break so easy back in the day. So having the spectrum take the place of my actual spectrum on display and play is a good option. Also I have seen inside the spectrum and yes there is not much to it but it does actually use the keyboard ribbons to connect to the main board, which was a nice touch (makes me wonder if it is possible to connect the spectrum keyboard with an actual spectrum keyboard or the other way around). Another really nice touch is it little dedication to sir Clive sinclair in there.
@@lestat1uk You can connect a classic 48K membrane to this new spectrum emulation box but you need to create an adapter as you can see they are not placed the same, and vice versa. If they are using the recreated zx spectrum bluetooth keyboard membrane, then it's more durable as it lays on a fine PCB for the bottom layer. The classic 48K rubber Speccy is a sturdy machine, thick plastic and never saw one cracked. I replaced on mines the membrane with a 48K-KLDX micro switches PCB one and the face plate and I got a clicky keyboard that will practically never die. But I digress, this emulation box is intended to quick plus and play on a modern TV of the classic Spectrum catalogue. Other use than that will get you disappointed as the machine wasn't made for that. Nice the dedication for sir Clive Sinclair, but you have to open it to see it. Would they put it on the back than it were more useful.
@Florin76 I have one now, and when I was a kid and it broke a lot. I would not want a clicky keyboard on an original speccy as it would not be the speccy I grew up with. I would rather ware down something that cost me £90 then keep having to buy parts and repairs on my originaln spectrum. Yes you can emulate the spectrum on a pi or whatever, but it would not give me the same level of nostalgia as this the spectrum would do. I think there are a place in the emulator scene for 1/1 replicas.
@@lestat1uk Everybody complains about the Spectrum's 48K rubber keyboard. That was a missed opportunity to make something improved. At least they could been used a standard membrane, not this ZX81 format. The Spectrum always had a problem with the keyboards. Even the Spectrum NEXT the keyboard is not great, they screw it up! But hey, if you like it like this, then another happy customer!