RetroTink 4K Review! From Arcade Boards to Retro Gaming Consoles! A Brand New 4K Scaler
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- Опубликовано: 2 янв 2024
- It's RetroTink 4K review time! Because all the hot talk in the retro gaming sphere has been about the RetroTink 4K lately; is RetroTink 4K Worth it? Is RetroTink 4K the CRT tv killer? Is there a RetroTink 4K setup guide and tutorial? Well let's talk about it already from a retro games perspective...from rare arcade games to consoles like Nintendo 64, Sega Genesis and PS3...from RGB gaming to HDMI scaling and SCART! Because it's RetroTink 4K review and settings guide time! plus it works with MiSTer FPGA! MiSTer FPGA Works with RetroTink 4K...what a marriage of fun!
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There are a ton of video scalers for retro gaming; the RetroTink 2X, the RetroTink 5X, the RetroTink 4K, the OSSC and OSSC Pro and of course the long old but still powerful XRGB Framemeister...which is what I made the channel on up to today! But the RetroTink 4K is here to try and be the end all be all of retro gaming scalers! It's a powerful video scaler for every generation of console that ISNT modern gen...and we are going to put it through it's paces!
Systems tested in this video: Hyper Neo Geo 64, MiSTer FPGA, 3DO M2, PlayStation 2, IGS PGM, PS3, Sega Genesis and Sega CD...and more!
but let's answer the questions about RetroTink 4K!
Questions? Comments? Just leave them below and I will do my best to answer each and every one of them!
/ videogameesoterica
You can follow us at IG : ChicagoGameCollector , or join our Discord Server : / discord
VGE
#retrogaming #sega #misterfpga #retrogamer #retrogames #arcade #arcadegaming #arcadegame #arcadegames #retrotink #ps3 #playstation #playstation2 #neogeo 
Игры
This is the best review of the RetroTink 4K I’ve seen. AND it’s the one I trust the most because you spent your own money on it! 😊
Aww thanks. Appreciate it
This was enjoyable! I'm happy to see all the use cases!
I was so looking forward to this review! Awesome work!
Glad you enjoyed. It was a fun one to make!
You got one too! Congrats! I just got mine today :D
Good timing!
Waiting for the mister review. Thanks for your hardwork!
Barring any issues next week I’ll have the MiSTer in 4K review
Great Video. Really looking forward to see the capture from RT4K in future videos of the channel. I got lucky and was able to get one that didn't arrived yet (Jan 8th) and I'm going to use mainly with Mister
It won’t be EVERY video but it’ll be a lot. Hard drive space is a killer. I don’t make that much on the channel / patreon lol
Hey, I noticed you haven’t mentioned auto gain and auto phase (not that I remember). I highly recommend both… especially auto gain for those games you mentioned were looking a bit dark. It will bump up the brightness. For inputs without proper RGB you can bump up brightness too via the ADC button (as far as I remember it’s via ADC). Thanks!
I showed it manually. Just because that’s how I liked doing it. But I’ll mention auto gain in a future vid
Great initial review! I'm definitely interested in upgrading from my 2Xpro.
Def worth it RSP I’d you need 4K
that pronunciation of video game esoterica in the beginning was mad!
It happens
Loved this review, thank you. 100% trust your judgement on this stuff
Glad you enjoyed and glad my thoughts carry weight :)
Great video as usual. Have you tried Gamecube at 480p? Curious if it looks good on the RT4K
I have. It just didn’t make the video. If this and the MiSTer video do well I’m gonna make some console specific videos
I tink this device is fascinating!
It’s a good time for sure
@35:17 The RT4K firmware update that adds support for MiSTer direct video metadata was released right in time with this video :D It requires a recent nightly build of the MiSTer binary and works best with cores that have been updated with auto cropping information. So far there are updated cores for SNES, Megadrive and TG16.
I don’t see new Tink4K firmware, do you mean a Mister update? Just run update all? I kinda wanna try out my mister with this thing tonight.
Yep! I was chatting with Mike about it
It’s on the retrotink discord under updates
I remember you told me you will upgrade from Framemeister to this 😊 was waiting for your video to decide if I get it 😊💯
And now it’s here :)
@@VideoGameEsoterica Hi, I too have a framemeister and have a friend that wants to buy it if i get the Tink 4K. So in your opinion... is there any reason whatsoever to keep my framemeister after getting the 4K?
No reason to keep it
I'm here before you blow up as the new RUclipsr KING.
Haha I wish. Well I’m hopeful
I have a couple of Jamma boards. I was curious if u can provide what kind of cables you use to connec it to the 4k
I use SCART from my supergun. It’s a SCART cable I purchased and attenuated the signal on myself since my supergun is a bit stupid and doesn’t do a good job of it. So it all depends what supergun you are using?
I wasn’t going to get one, but I got one as a gift. Very lucky. It’s been amazing so far with my PGM shooters, and my Analogue consoles. Haven’t tried many of my actual consoles and boards, but this thing really is special. The only real issue I ran into was that I was getting audio dropouts with my Onkyo AVR. I have an audio extractor on the way that may remedy that…
One hell of a gift!
@@VideoGameEsoterica I am a lucky guy for sure.
Someone likes you lol
@@VideoGameEsoterica I don’t mean to be annoying, and I think you said there’s maybe a Mister with Tink4K how to video coming perhaps? Im a fan of Mister, but I feel like my implementation of scan lines and prescaling and what not for any of the arcade cores might not be totally…accurate. Was wondering if you will do a Mister + Tink 4K basics video? I’m a massive fan of the incredible wealth of awesome Mister offers and would love to throw some scan lines over some Truxton so I can be brutally humbled on a big old modern TV. Also just wanted to say…about having both CRT and Tink 4K modern retro gaming at the same time, i fully agree. I honestly love both right now.
That video will be here soon :)
Great review and great product. I'm planning to buy this upscaler for my retro consoles, because I saw what retroarch on the PC can do. This emulator also has CRT emulation (CRT HDR shaders) and I get even better quality than on my real SD CRT. I have never seen 240p / 480p looking that good, not even on CRT monitor. Real CRTs still have unsurpassed motion quality (1ms persistent blur, equivalent to 1000Hz LCD), but I'm still happy how my 170Hz LCD and 120Hz OLED TV handles motion. Even without BFI on, I dont even notice blur during motion, like on my old 60Hz LCD.
Glad you enjoyed the review
I bought a 4k specifically for VGA and it works beautifully. I've tried a number of VGA capture solution and the 4k is the only one that actually works. Well worth the $ IMO.
Yes the VGA input has been epic. I really needed it for my setup
the streets of rage cone is supposed to be appear transparent; which you can achieve on the tink 4k by turning on bilinear soft on the horizontal axis and/or the horizontal blur function
It’s a good example of how you can change the look so quickly
Does anyone know if it supports matching odd ball refresh rates on the output if using a VRR monitor?
Can you feed the tink an arcade board with non-standard sync like mortal kombat at 53hz and have it upscalled and output at the same 53hz to a vrr monitor with smooth scrolling and no tearing?
That I’d have to look into (what the hdmi out will allow for signals)
Thanks for the review! I would buy it but it's expensive AF...
It’s not cheap but for what it does it has value. Easiest way to look at it
Great job on the review! Im hoping i can jump in on the 2nd run. Id be curious how this does with ps2. Lots of uggo 480i on that console. Ibara is the one I really want to see someone test. Cave shooter 480i with a nasty filter.
I will touch on PS2 in a later vid
@@VideoGameEsotericais this video out now?
Not yet
I'm ready to buy but don't want to get into those exhausting situations where you're competing to get one. Lots of stress. It's a bit like trying to win an Ebay auction in the last 20 seconds. So, I'll wait until it gets more orderly. I'm still going to make a moderate effort to get one at the end of January.
Yes the demand broke the server
Would it be possible to do a ps2 deinterlacing comparison against the Framemeister? Wondering how it holds up against old faithful lol
I could but I can tell you right now it’s night and day better than the Framemeister
All i need to know. Thanks 🙂@@VideoGameEsoterica
My Framemeister is retiring to my bedroom so I can play upscaled retro hardware on my projector. I’m gonna do a vid on it
Good product. I like the RetroTink VGE. The great team that developed this piece did a fantastic job on doing so. 8^)
Anthony..
It’s a bang up job for sure
It does look impressive I have to say!!
One problem I’ve always had is on my pc densha titles!
So they typically offered 640x480-1024x768 and most panels wouldn’t or couldn’t scale these signal to full screen.
Odd thought here….
Could I plug my old pc into the retrotink and scale it correctly full screen to a normal tv panel?
More for my own satisfaction, could you output from the tink to the slightly odd lgdualup and use the tink to scale it full screen??
The dualup res is 2560 x 2880?
Probably shouldn’t be asking here but I know you’ll be deep diving into this device a lot VGE.👍
You could plug in your old PC yep. And it would scale the signal
I feel the situation is very similar to MISTer. It's a lot of money and people get reluctant. But, I spent similar money on that and my arcade cabinet and they were probably the two best gaming purchases I made. The PS5 wasn't that much less in price. At least it was about $600 when demand was high.
Any niche product will have people saying it’s not worth it just to say it’s too expensive. It’s just a lot of technology in the box to start and then you put work hours in and $750 comes out the other end
At least you're able to play games with MiSTer, this only allows you to play on crappy flat screens. For 750$ you're able to buy a 15KHz PVM and a 31KHz fine dot pitch monitor, why waste it on an upscaler for an inferior experience?
Not everyone has the room for CRTs
@@partirbukaderaBecause sometimes you just want to play retro games on a 65-85” screen and not have it look like ass
Will it look pixelated on a PS1 and a 65inch Tv?
The pixels will be bigger due to the size vs like a 20” CRT but the Tink doesn’t make it any more pixelated
looking forward to the mister hdmi to tink 4k video as thats how i do all my retro stuff these days .
Next week hopefully
Does it make the Mister output any better? Haven't finished watching the video yet.
Edit: I see you covered that, nice
So my new question is do you think this makes a significant difference for the Mister or would it not really be worth it?
I am working on MiSTer now but prelim…worth it
Yes you will need 4K to see any benefit
I’m not sure on that one. I went from Framemeister to Tink 4K
Don’t threaten me with a good time lol
Intrigued by the best scanlines in the world. Or fake aperture grille/shadow mask. I don’t have a CRT, don’t really have space for one, but I miss them. Hoping MiSTer/Pocket + Tink 4K will give me something good enough to make me happy.
Excited for the next video!
I use this thing for my switch and aw3423dw monitor and it's glorious. So many updates came out already and fixed any problem I had with the system.
Man you are talking SO fast.
It does so much in such a small sized box
@@VideoGameEsoterica it really does.
Ive had the 5x for 4 months now..... 4k is available this Saturday, ive already decided im gonna buy it
Worth it
@VideoGameEsoterica do you power the Tink4k the same way as the 5x? Or does it require more power? I just use the USB on my Surge protector which I believe is 3amp
I is an iPad charger. Has been fine
What Supergun are you using?
RetroElektronik Pro. It’s not made any more. It’s decent but not amazing
I live my 5x huge upgrade from the Framemiester it just doesn't have a VGA in so I Settled on S-Video for Dreamcast and it still looks Amazing.
I don't see the need to upgrade yet I'm still on a 1080p Screen
Yes you want a 4K screen for this or else it’s worth waiting to upgrade
Mike Chi is a wizard though
I'm using an insurrection industries S-video cable, and the 5x's motion adaptive interlacing. Looks almost as good as what you're getting through the Toro.
N64 with an insurrection industries cable is near perfection.
I do hope some of the scanline features can make it over to the 5x. They're good on the 5x but there isn't a good one for 480i.
Yes he def knows what he’s doing with scalers
Micomsoft has been oddly radio silent while the new king has taken his throne.
So has DVDO their scalers were godlike too
I’m surprised they don’t get back in the scaler game
Anyone know how well the tink performs with games that switch their resolution on the fly, such as Resident Evil 2?
Exceedingly well. Near instantaneous. You won’t find a faster device than Tink for that
@@VideoGameEsoterica Thanks for the reply! It appears to be the perfect device to play retro games on modern displays, might not have to search for a large PVM anymore.
It def is as perfect as you can get. I give it my seal of approval for whatever that’s worth
How do you hook up an arcade board to it?
I use SCART out of a supergun. But depending on the supergun there are multiple ways
What did you use to capture footage? Tink4k isn't working with my elgato
What elgato?
@VideoGameEsoterica 4k60, I think the second variant if I remember correctly. It will capture a black image, and flash an image of whatever the tink4k is displaying every now and then.
What are you trying to capture? PS3 on? Sounds like HDCP but I’d need to know what system you are trying to capture
@@VideoGameEsoterica I tried it on my Wii Dual, Mister FPGA, PS2, PS5, and switch and they all had the same problem (I think PS5 I did monkey with the HDCP cause it was causing extra problems)
Very odd. That should be working fine. I’d try updating / reinstalling the Elgato drivers. I know they say it’s DRIVERLESS but that’s not true. Mine wouldn’t work for crap til I added them and updated them
Ro-ta-te is my favourite feature so far not tried pgm yet. But have been messing around with my seta ssv multi board. For shmups it's crazy fun 🥂
It’s a hell of a lot nicer than turning the tv on real arcade boards
@@VideoGameEsoterica This option comes super useful also for those (like myself) who use pivotable PC gaming monitors. The majority of them only rotates in one direction, which is usually the opposite of what is allowed in early shmups ports on console (PlayStation and Saturn era). Being able to readjust the image via the RT4K is pretty huge.
Definitely looking forward to buying one in 2024.
Yes it’s a nice bonus feature
some PC monitors are like middle rangle BVM, high range PVM's, i had a Mitsubishi diamondtron that goes to 2K of resolution, crazy! Now im just waiting for my RT4K and since i sold my PVM i have a widwscreen SD 60hz crt left.-
I have a Sony trinitron VGA monitor and it’s legit gold
You should try setting the ps3 resolution to 720p then letting tink scale it to 4K. Doesn’t the ps3 render games in 720p? Would be great to see the comparison
The games are running in 720p. It shows on screen when res changes quickly
I've spoken with folks about scaling DCDigital to 4K and they recommend allowing the retrotink 4K to do all the scaling. So, instead of setting DCDigital to 1080p and having the retrotink scale that, use the 'passthrough' or 'direct' mode (depending on DCDigital hw revision) and passthrough 480p (or 240p in select games) directly to the retrotink to handle.
Yes that way you get a singular scale I’d presume
1st off really great video. Any info I find on this comes from a standpoint that the viewer has been ready for this and understands every facet of what it will do, which for casuals like me is far from the truth. I need people even nerdier than myself to make me understand why I want this and now I do. A video I wouldn’t mind seeing is how this upscaler compares to other top tier video scalers at much cheaper price points, and what you’re getting for $375 more than something like the 5x. For a casual gamer not capturing footage, is 4K going to be magnitudes more noticeable on my 4K OLED than the highest resolution’s offered by others to justify the extra money and unavailability of this product? A video like that might be a fun arm twist for people like me to feel better about spending the loot and hunting this thing down.
Haha so I’m nerdy eh? WOW 🤣 (kidding obv)
@@VideoGameEsoterica hey I said more nerdy than me which implies I must also be a nerd in this scenario. I think the cutoff for the next echelon of nerdiness is a deep understanding of concepts such as de-interlacing😂. I aspire to be at your level.
I really want the retrotink 4k for stream my game play on twitch but i have to be patient
It should restock end of Jan I believe
@@VideoGameEsoterica i hope so lol but hope they have plenty of stock
After the first few rounds the people who want them will have them. This isn’t a massive market
I actually just got rid of my CRT when I got my RetroTink 4K. I know, I love my Lightgun games, but my setup was a mess and haven't had the CRT fully setup in years anyways. So the Retrotink4K was the push I needed to finally admit I would rather have a cleaner, easier setup with just a 4K tv. (and my CRT was only OK anyways, wasn't a PVM or anything).
I have to keep mine around. I love them too much
@@VideoGameEsoterica I know, I'm a fake retro fan :p But just don't have the energy to get a setup I would like. Thinking of getting a Sinden eventually as a consolation prize for myself
Lol it’s ok. Everyone gets to decide what’s right for them
Perfect timing! I finally got my tracking number for mine 🎉
I’ll have a MiSTer specific vid soon too
@@VideoGameEsoterica Perfect! You read my mind. That's going to be a big part of my setup. Can't wait to see it!!
Hopefully next week but these take a WHILE to make
Excellent video but i think i will stick with retropie, we enjoy it very much 🙂
That’s fair. Everyone gets a choice
Who know? Maybe, once I get enough money, I'll buy one of these in the future.
It’s def worth the asking price if you need what it offers
I've reached the point where I've heard your disembodied voice in so many videos that seeing footage of you talking would be insanely surreal and unsettling
Haha I do appear now and again
I wonder if TINK4K's Black frame insertion offers less latency than the internal BFI on lets say a Samsung QD-OLED TV. The latter has a whopping 29ms of latency when using BFI for 60fps games. That's too much....The goal for me would be 16ms or less, while using TINK4K's HDR brightness trick for SDR when using BFI to regain the 50% brightness loss.
I haven’t measured latency on BFI yet as it’s not really a look I love
I wish I had done well enough in life to slap down $750 and say the price doesn't matter. That's a spicy meat-a-ball!
I get that. But for me and production equipment this seems near to cheap
Better getting this and a big tv on Amazon..
or
Very high line og tv with all the inputs already built in Im thinking bang and olufsen 40” plus maybe on second hand market with vga component
Def not a common tv in the US. Wish it was
I’ve seen dozens of Tink4 reviews but yet to see someone upscale PSP games through a Vita TV. Who will be first?
I almost put it in but cut it. Maybe next time
@@VideoGameEsoterica thanks. And remember. Not through a PSP. I’m talking specifically about PSP games through Vita TV.
Yep. I have one :)
when you compare the5x pro and the 4K to all of the HDMI mods that people spend a ton of money for each console then the Retrotink scalers are a no brainer. It is much better, plug and play and guaranteed to save a few consoles every year. Total up the cost of HDMI mods of all the various consoles and you will see the difference
It def makes things a lot easier
Oh boy 😮
Haha it’s a long one
@@VideoGameEsoterica 👏
I thought we had agreed my title would be "Maple Syrup Homeboy Extraordinaire"
You are lucky you didn’t get “impotent NEK hermit”
@@VideoGameEsoterica are we arguing about what I am or what my title is I’m confused now
Both
Is that a rabbit as a logo? Just started watching the video now.
Yep!
looks about the size of a VHS cassette (for the GenX'ers in here, lol)
Haha you are pretty close
I think that last one was scaled.
Can I have a noprize?
I’ll tell everyone prolly tomorrow
@@VideoGameEsoterica I also say prolly ... word.
Haha I reply to so many comments I shorten where I can p
Holy shit TATE mode comes from the word rotate?!😂 I’ll have a comment with some questions soon but I just had to pause as my simple mind has just been blown.
😂
Ill probably get one in the new year but they are too expensive
It’s worth it for what it does
As cool as I think those are I know how expensive they are and I thought was I was going overboard getting a rad2x for my Saturn haha that's nothing compared to that
It’s not cheap but it’s worth it imo
I felt like a gambling man and preordered the Morph 4K. I’d love to grab a Tink4K, but don’t think I’d take full advantage of it for the price. Thanks for the review.
I’m curious to see what Morph can do too
Id love this but I’m holding out for a mars
I don’t see MARS coming any time soon
@@VideoGameEsoterica Me either but its a big chunk of money so I’m saving now 😀
Save now. Save often.
Thanks for the video. I really wish Mike Chi would make a HDMI only for 4K upscaler device that could couple with the output of original retro tink 5X pro so that you wouldn’t have to buy a whole new expensive device .
Then you’d be double scaling through two image processors. You’d be chaining lag
Well it’s my wish, improbable i know. I pretty much won’t ever get the retrotink 4k because of cost. Unless my 5k crumps out which is also improbable. 😜
And that’s fair. Everyone gets to make their own buying decisions
I dont like the bfi. I managed to get to work on my lgc1 by turning on 24 dehudder and 1080p scale. Lc1 does bfi very well on its own. Everything else is great.
That’s fair. BFI is a specific look. Some people may not love it. On Tink or anywhere else it can be done
Gotta make time to hate watch this like the jealous panda I am. I am sure it will be a wonderful video though.
Pandas can’t hate. I’ve seen the videos. Just goofy little accidents waiting to happen
The mini-DIN is my least favorite thing about the Framemeister. I hated it so much.
It was an odd choice. I wish they’d just made the Framemeister bigger to accommodate full sized ports
Why didn't you buy an HDMI Splitter so you could capture PS3 over HDMI?
I wanted to show the analog off
@@VideoGameEsoterica But why though? The main selling point of the Tink4K for PS3 owners is surely the HDMI input? We've seen the PS3 through analogue video on the Retrotink5X, OSSC, Framemeister etc
I wanted to talk about component input. I’m planning console exclusive vids and there I’ll bypass HDCP and go HDMI in
@@VideoGameEsotericaAwesome
Or just get a free CRT monitor and TV.
I thought the same thing, but man games look amazing on my 4K tv. Playing SNES bomber-man with the whole family is a blast!
weeeee
😂
great work, man. hopefully it will work, just as well, with the misterfpga@@VideoGameEsoterica
Talk faster, mumble more
I’ll see what I can do
priced itself out of the market
I'll wait for the knockoff
I don’t care about the price. I care about what it does for the price. And for that fact I think it’s a value. But that’s me
Yeah so expensive it sold out in a half hour. No demand, dead product.
Good luck waiting for a clone product.
Haha yes the demand was there
One of the most overpriced things that I have seen.
What's a good price for this considering it has a $300+ FPGA in it?
It really isn’t
Plus the rest of the design and production.
@@VideoGameEsoterica I have mine and love it.
@@rentoptional1524I don't think the price is too much for a physical item, but instead paying so much just for 4k. If I did RUclips like VGE here, then yeah worth it. But it's a bit much for just resolution, considering I'm doing fine without. No shade being thrown on the design and hours put in it