Output 240p (instead of 480i) on composite RCA

Rion · 1 Mar 2017, 22:44

@Dochartaigh @maxriptide @tekn0 @dankcushions @jgsieve @t0nito @starquake @edmaul69 @davej

@popcornmix recently released a test firmware for the Raspberry Pi to support 240p over composite.

Just wanted to let you guys know 😀

mediamogul · 3 Jan 2017, 22:58

Very nice! currently, my Wii is the only emulation device I own capable of 240p. This would be a big step forward for purists looking to emulate on CRT televisions.

IcyFever · 1 Mar 2017, 23:40

Great news, any recommendations on a theme that scales well using this?

dankcushions · 2 Mar 2017, 10:43

really awesome! i want a CRT now...

@IcyFever said in Output 240p (instead of 480i) on composite RCA:

Great news, any recommendations on a theme that scales well using this?

@Rookervik created some that look like they'd work really well. i'm not sure if this is the latest link to them: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/post/31620 - i have a feeling there was another theme also?

maxriptide · 2 Mar 2017, 14:59

That's nice! I have to try it out

tekn0 · 7 Mar 2017, 17:37

@Rion Yeps, I'm on the GitHub thread. Seems to be working well for everyone. My issue personally was with HDMI to Component converter.

edmaul69 · 3 Aug 2017, 03:18

@dankcushions me too. I want to get a apple color monitor iie for my apple raspberry pi iie. I modified an apple ii green phosphor monitor to an lcd but i would like to have a color crt monitor as well, but the color monitor iie are so few and so expensive on ebay. I wish i kept my apple iie but sold it with the color monitor ii and a disk drive duo in 95 for $50. :(

ohmycommodore · 13 Mar 2017, 18:21

Been looking at this, as I realized I had an unused "special" video camera cable that does indeed work to connect my Pi3 to my Commodore 64 monitor, via the Pi 3.5mm jack.

Since I'm not on GitHub I'd appreciate anybody else playing with this commenting here. I may give that beta firmware tweak a try, if it's as simple as backing up some original files and trying out some new ones for a bit... I think I can give that a go.

Currently, I've figured out the overscan change in config.txt. As well, my Pi will boot to HDMI or to composite, depending on which one is plugged in, without any config changes. I may have to leave the overscan settings where I have them now, as I don't think I want to keep changing back and forth. My Commodore monitor certainly needed the image tightened in a bit, and over HDMI I don't think I'll mind things being a bit smaller if they are on a large LCD TV.

So yes, next step I may try the 240p firmware and see what that does to the image on my Commodore monitor.

ohmycommodore · 13 Mar 2017, 18:23

One question though, if there's a way to include one "auto-detecting" overscan setup for HDMI and another for composite... I'd be up for hearing it :)

Rion · 13 Mar 2017, 18:42

@ohmycommodore Register for a github account is as easy as registering here. 😀

ohmycommodore · 9 Jul 2017, 02:37

True enough, but I'll stick here for now.

I can confirm this 240p thing does something. I definitely notice a difference in games, but any text in the RetroPie menu system certainly goes out the window, and even more so the command line is pretty much unusable. I suppose the eventual goal might be to establish a 240p tweak for the games for composite out, while maintaining 480p or similar for the menus to keep them sharper.

Regardless, the steps I followed were:

Download and copy over to my Pi the test firmware files noted here: https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/issues/683#issuecomment-283179792

Then:
sudo apt-get install rpi-update
Followed by:
sudo rpi-update

And finally, adding this to the end of my config.txt and rebooting:
sdtv_mode=16
(according to the GitHub thread the earlier command sdtv_progressive_scan=1 has now been supplanted by this sdtv_mode one)

Well, I think I followed everything correctly at least. I certainly noticed the change on cue, and entertained myself for a morning :)

nitrogen_widget · 16 Mar 2017, 18:26

I'm liking this.
no more flickering screens.
an update came out to allow higher res. for front ends then change res. for game.
you can do it with these options.
I'm testing out a 320x240 on front ends to simplify everything and make it readable.

tvservice -c "PAL 4:3 P" ; fbset -depth 8 ; fbset -depth 32; tvservice -s
Powering on SDTV with explicit settings (mode:18 aspect:1)
state 0x80001 [PAL 4:3], 720x576 @ 50.00Hz, progressive
$ tvservice -c "NTSC 4:3" ; fbset -depth 8 ; fbset -depth 32; tvservice -s
Powering on SDTV with explicit settings (mode:0 aspect:1)
state 0x40001 [NTSC 4:3], 720x480 @ 60.00Hz, interlaced
$ tvservice -c "NTSC 4:3 P" ; fbset -depth 8 ; fbset -depth 32; tvservice -s
Powering on SDTV with explicit settings (mode:16 aspect:1)
state 0x40001 [NTSC 4:3], 720x480 @ 60.00Hz, progressive

ohmycommodore · 16 Mar 2017, 19:33

@nitrogen_widget
I'm in NTSC land. So you need to add one of these tvservice lines to the end of config.txt? What are the actual lines you need to add? It seems like some of those are just comments, and of course some for PAL, etc.

Would I add all this, for example?

$ tvservice -c "NTSC 4:3 P" ; fbset -depth 8 ; fbset -depth 32; tvservice -s
Powering on SDTV with explicit settings (mode:16 aspect:1)
state 0x40001 [NTSC 4:3], 720x480 @ 60.00Hz, progressive

And in this case does the original "sdtv_mode=16" line need to be removed, or modified?

nitrogen_widget · 16 Mar 2017, 23:47

Hi,
the $ means command prompt.
so you would run the command as part of a script or when you ran the emulator
I havn't tested it yet but this is what the developer said to do.

edit: ok, verified running:
tvservice -c "NTSC 4:3 P" ; fbset -depth 8 ; fbset -depth 32; tvservice -s
at command prompt gives you 240p for emulator.

throwing out: tvservice -c "NTSC 4:3" ; fbset -depth 8 ; fbset -depth 32; tvservice -s
put you back to interlaced mode for your front end.

so you have to call the commands at run time and run end of emulator.

I'm just going to use a 320x240 res theme. :)

Turgon · 20 Mar 2017, 07:39

@nitrogen_widget
Do you have any suggestions regarding themes for 240p? Most of them don't work very well: metadata can't be read, snapshots cut across the screen, layout messed up...

nitrogen_widget · 21 Mar 2017, 00:50

@Turgon
I'm using this one for now.
https://github.com/keilmillerjr/flavors-layout

Very simple layout that works well.

Turgon · 21 Mar 2017, 23:23

@nitrogen_widget
Thank you. I'm going to try it too.

bifelix89 · 10 May 2017, 10:43

Hello! Where this command line should be inserted to interlace the signal ???

Thank you! :-)

$ Tvservice -c "NTSC 4: 3 P"; Fbset -depth 8; Fbset -depth 32; Tvservice -s

morpie · 19 Jun 2017, 02:41

I am just wondering, does this firmware still need to be downloaded from the google docs link, or is the original pi-firmware on board with 240p over composite now? I have updated my pi and wonder if I need to reinstall firmware for 240p. Thanks

matchaman · 9 Jul 2017, 02:37

@ohmycommodore said in Output 240p (instead of 480i) on composite RCA:

I suppose the eventual goal might be to establish a 240p tweak for the games for composite out, while maintaining 480p or similar for the menus to keep them sharper.

Excellent idea, I'd love to see that. 240p on a CRT TV still remains much better than any shader possible.