As I related in my Video Primer article, ever since I tried out my Dreamcast with its VGA Adapter I've been looking for a device that would enable me to use my other consoles with the Nokia 445xi 21" monitor I acquired specifically for use with Sega's regrettably discontinued product. In the course of that search I have tried TVOne's VGA Theater, Redant's PS2 VGA Adapter and finally Micomsoft's XRGB-2 Upscan Converter. All have been solutions to the problem, varying considerably in capabilities, cost, and value for money, but the best of the lot was Micomsoft's. At $225 it was also the most expensive, but I considered it money well spent.
Articles I have written on the subject lead to fairly regular emails regarding consoles and VGA monitors, and it was one of these queries that awakened me to the unavailability of the Micomsoft XRGB-2. A visit to Micomsoft's website (http://www.micomsoft.co.jp) revealed that the most likely reason for this was a new and improved version of the XRGB-2 called, appropriately, the XRGB-2 plus, and it looked like it would be a considerably more capable unit than its predecessor. This was later confirmed by emails around the internet.
A fortuitous series of emails between the online import company Upstate Games (http://www.upstategames.com) and myself resulted in their sending me one of the new units for review shortly after the first shipment arrived in the country. Courtesy of the US Post Office's Priority Mail service the package arrived intact in three working days.
Opening up the surprisingly small package revealed a very professional looking piece of hardware. Its heft is reassuring, and it seems to be of good construction quality. It weighs around two pounds, and is jet black in color. In terms of dimensions, it is surprisingly small, even cute. Turning to the ruler on my trusty Victorinox multi-tool, I find that it measures 23cm x 13cm x 4cm, and will sit very nicely atop a PlayStation 2.
It is accompanied by a neat little power supply, and a positive plethora of cables and peripherals including a tiny remote control, a stereo cable, and two sets of RCA audio cables, one terminated by a headphone socket, the other by the standard red and white composite connectors. There are two very interesting sets of video cables. Both accept component video inputs, but one converts the signal to the Japanese D-Terminal standard and the other converts it to the 21 pin SCART look-alike familiar to European and Australian users of audio/video equipment. It may look like a SCART plug, but it isn't. It is wired quite differently, though I understand it is possible to re-wire it to SCART standards.
A VGA pass-through cable is also provided, but past experience forces me to recommend that you not use it. It is intended to allow you to connect your computer to the XRGB-2 Plus, but unless you run your PC at low resolution, it is not up to the task. At resolutions higher than 640x480 you will experience ghosting of the video image. Invest in a good quality coax VGA cable, and the problem will be resolved.
Finally, a fairly substantial manual is included with the unit, but most purchasers will find it completely useless because it is written entirely in Japanese. Remember, this piece of equipment was never intended for use outside of Japan, and it is only available in the United States from a couple of online importers like Upstate Games. Fortunately getting your equipment connected is a painless experience.
The front and back of the XRGB-2 Plus are completely occupied by ports and switches. Taking the front first, and going from left to right you will find a D-Terminal connector accompanied by left and right audio inputs. Immediately above that is the power switch and the video select switch, the latter being used to toggle between the various video inputs. Then you have five small plastic buttons that have a nice positive click when pressed. These are labeled Status, Gamma, Brightness and Menu. The Status button pops up the current refresh rate and horizontal scan frequency. The Gamma button pops up a slider which allows you, using the Brightness buttons, to change the degree of gamma correction. If, instead of pressing Gamma, you press one of the two brightness buttons, you can change the brightness. The Menu button brings up the extensive on-screen menu, about which more later. Finally, there is one more socket on the far right. This one is for the large 21 pin Japanese RGB plug. It is labeled Game In. This signal standard includes audio, incidentally.
Below the five switches described above are a series of five LED's labeled Standby, Power, Input 47kHz and 31kHz. Standby and Power are obvious enough, the Input LED lights up when a video signal is being processed, and the 47kHz and 31kHz indicate what horizontal scan frequency is being output. 47kHz indicates a resolution of 1024x768, also known as XGA, and 31kHz indicates a resolution of 640x480, which is the original VGA resolution. Refresh rates are always 60hz.
You may have noticed that the labeling is in English, as are the on-screen displays including the menu. The amount of English the Japanese use has always been a source of curiosity to me, and indeed there are video games for the Japanese market that make exclusive use of the English language. I gather that the Japanese find the English language "cool". From our perspective the extensive use of English for labeling certainly assists connecting everything.
Now for the rear of the XRGB-2 Plus. Again going from left to right, there is a composite video port complete with its own audio inputs. Next to that there is an S-Video socket, and it too has its own audio inputs. This is a welcome change from the original XRGB-2 which had only one set of audio ports shared by the composite and S-Video sockets. I do wish they hadn't included composite video. I would far rather they had had component video input instead. I would willingly have sacrificed both S-Video and composite video for one set of component video inputs. Still, I like to run a TV signal through the composite input so it has its uses.
Moving on there is an audio line-out port that you can connect your PC speakers to. I have a set of Benwin flat panel speakers connected myself. Right next to that is an audio line-in socket for passing through whatever audio source you want to use when the XRGB-2 Plus is switched off. Mine is occupied by a stereo cable coming from the line out port on my original XRGB-2. Almost finished. Next to the line in/out sockets is the VGA pass-through socket into which you will plug your computer. The monitor plugs into the VGA socket next to that. Finally there is the power socket.
The top of the box details all the wiring diagrams you will ever need, rendering the manual largely useless. I have tried all of my consoles with both the original XRGB-2 and the new XRGB-2 Plus. That means my Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, GameCube and XBox have all been given a work-out with the intent of determining the improvement, if any, in image quality. Let me state at the outset that the Dreamcast VGA box is the yardstick by which image quality is judged on a console. Unfortunately the Micomsoft products do not achieve that high degree of quality, though they do get fairly close. Close enough, certainly, to show up any deficiencies in each consoles anti-aliasing.
Of course the image quality is far better than the image I get from my Samsung GXTV Gaming TV, which features, according to the official specifications, video enhancing circuitry. From another source I learned that the cathode ray tube of this television was a part originally intended for use with a VGA monitor, though the veracity of that claim I cannot comment on. Certainly it gave a better image than my original 20" Panasonic.
Quantifying improvements in image quality is rather difficult. However I can tell you that PSOne games played on a PlayStation 2 have the worst jaggies you will ever see courtesy of that console's complete lack of anti-aliasing. These are rarely obvious on a TV screen because the poor quality of the display actually performs a crude form of full-screen anti-aliasing by displaying a fuzzier image than a VGA monitor. The improvement is sufficient, for example, to allow you to clearly discern individual pixels with some text.
Some surprises may be in store for the new XRGB-2 Plus owner. Much was made of the anti-aliasing problems of the PlayStation 2 even before it was released. Certainly they were present, but I never found them to be as bad as all that. On games like Smuggler's Run, one of my favorites, the problem was only really apparent when features like hilltops were highlighted against the sky. So it was much to my surprise when I acquired a Nintendo GameCube and ran its video signal through the S-Video port of my original XRGB-2. The anti-aliasing problems were very apparent with both Wave Race: Blue Storm, and Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II.
They weren't terrible, and certainly didn't detract from the games in question, but they were just as bad as anything I had ever seen on my PlayStation 2. I had the opportunity to compare the PlayStation 2 and GameCube versions of XGIII: Extreme G Racing, and frankly there was no graphical difference between the two. The same jaggies appeared on the backgrounds in the same place. If anti-aliasing is so hard to perform on the PlayStation 2, it appears equally challenging on the GameCube.
Even the much-lauded XBox isn't free from criticism. While Halo is a superb game, with graphics that I do think are currently beyond the capabilities of the PlayStation 2, nonetheless there are jaggies aplenty, though were it not for the fuss the gaming media focussed on the PlayStation 2, I wouldn't actually find them worthwhile mentioning. Curiously, a comparison between Max Payne on the two consoles reveals that it is virtually impossible to differentiate between the two. They look almost exactly the same, with only differences in the Menu System to making it possible to readily tell them apart. In the game-play itself, the only times you might notice a difference are during bullet time and the cinematic last kills when the bullets themselves are clearer on the XBox version, and when, on a few occasions, the PlayStation 2 version suffered a little from minor slowdown. That appears to be completely missing from the XBox.
All these comments apply equally to the XRGB-2 and the subject of this review, the XRGB-2 Plus. I am afraid I cannot tell the difference between the to pieces of equipment with respect to individual image quality, with the possible exception of the composite video signal when you run the output from a TV through the two boxes. I have to say I much prefer the XRGB-2 Plus for that purpose. The only direct improvement in video quality appears to be when switching to the latter product's XGA mode. A feature not present in the original, the XRGB-2 can take your 640x480 resolution, and output it at 1024x768, though the improvement is minor to say the least.
This is, actually, the only feature that I have not been able to set using the remote control that comes with the product. It's about the same size as a credit card, though somewhat thicker, and equipped with a membrane keyboard. Power is supplied by a 3 volt Lithium battery, CR2025 made by Toshiba and included as standard. I really didn't need another remote, but I find myself using it almost exclusively.
However I was mentioning that you can't use it to switch between video resolutions, wasn't I? This is something that occurs at power up. You press the Status button and then the Power button to activate 1024x768 resolution, and the Gamma button and then the Power button to activate 640x480 resolution. The unit must be powered down in standby mode before you do this.
The on-screen menu is quite extensive, and gives you a tremendous degree of control over the color quality and other features. Unfortunately the on-screen text is rather shimmery, though not to an unusable degree. Menu options available to you are as follows, though I should warn you that some of them are a complete mystery to me due to my not understanding the Japanese manual.
VOLUME: Allows you to change the audio-out volume.
BRIGHTNESS: Change the brightness.
BLACK: Change the darkness.
H_POS: Change the horizontal screen position.
V_POS: Change the vertical screen position.
GAMMA: Changes the gamma correction. What is gamma correction you may ask? Well Gamma correction controls the overall brightness of an image. Images which are not properly corrected can look either bleached out, or too dark. Trying to reproduce colors accurately also requires some knowledge of gamma. Varying the amount of gamma correction changes not only the brightness, but also the ratios of red to green to blue. These can also be set individually.
SHARP: Changes the relative sharpness of the image. Worth experimenting with.
V_LINE: Adds black lines on the screen to reduce the jaggies on low resolution games such as those being output from the PSOne. It can be surprisingly effective. It doesn't work with 1024x768 resolution.
OPTION: Enables or disables the menu options below.
DTC_TYP: Allows you to switch between NTSC, PS or USER. NTSC is, of course, the standard US and Japanese video signal output from a console in various formats, but what the purpose of PS is I have no idea. USER is clearly user defined, and when selected allows you to change the setting below, but the advantages or otherwise of this are beyond me.
USR_DTC: Used in conjunction with the above.
GAMMA_R:
GAMMA_G:
GAMMA_B:
These three settings allow you to change the gamma correction for each color.
RED:
GREEN:
BLUE:
Changes the level of red, green or blue, of course.
MASK: Two settings, ON and OFF. It makes minimal changes to the size of the margin around the screen.
POWERON: Two settings again, ON and OFF. When set to ON you cannot switch off the XRGB-2 Plus.
CRTSYNC: Four settings, it appears to make minor modifications to the synchronization signal going to the VGA monitor. It can make a marginal difference to the image quality.
TERM: Two settings, ON and OFF. I can make no sense of it.
VD_LOCK: See above.
GAME_IN: Ah, an interesting one this is. It you are using the component to Japanese RGB adapter, you must switch this from RGB to YPBPR to get the cable to work properly.
MUTE: Turns the volume ON/OFF.
If you have the signal input switched over to the Composite or S-Video, you get an extra menu option entitled:
C_MODE: Two settings, YPBPR or YUV. The first is one of the names used for component video, and the last is a video format widely used by PAL televisions. It is another form of component video, but uses slightly formulae to derive the luminance (Y) and chrominance (U & V) signals. The purpose of this menu option is lost on me.
Such a huge array of options allows you to fiddle with the video and color settings to your heart's content and adds greatly to the value of the product. However there are a couple of caveats to bear in mind when considering the purchase of this product.
While it will work with all of the current generation of consoles, it will not support the progressive scan video options of the GameCube and XBox. If you want to benefit from progressive scan and a VGA monitor, you will need one of the Key Digital or Audio Authority component to VGA transcoders. The image quality is extremely close to that of VGA. Unfortunately games incapable of outputting progressive scan will not function at all with a VGA monitor, making products like the Micomsoft XRGB-2 Plus necessary if you want a generic and all-encompassing solution.
The second issue is the cost. The cheapest I have been able to find the product on the internet has been from those who supplied my review units, Upstate Games (http://www.upstategames.com). From them it will set you back $239.99, under-cutting the competition by $10.01. Frankly I considered the $225 I spend on the original XRGB-2 money well spent, and the added plethora of features provided by its successor make the extra $14.99 entirely worthwhile.
In conclusion, I highly recommend the Micomsoft XRGB-2 Plus. It offers a tremendous improvement in image quality over a television set, especially when used with the S-Video and Japanese RGB inputs. I can't comment at the moment on the D-Terminal input, but given that it is component video by another name with a differently shaped socket, I fully expect it to be the best solution for the GameCube.
Now this isn't the last I will be writing on the subject of this product. The PlayStation 2, XBox and GameCube all have different connection options and issues, justifying separate articles covering each console. For the PlayStation 2 I will discuss using S-Video, component and Japanese RGB cables and some issues to do with DVD playback. With the XBox I'll look at the benefits of S-Video and Component video and any problems encountered with DVD playback. The GameCube article will examine just S-Video and D-Terminal inputs. Component video is also a possibility, but frankly given the presence of the D-Terminal, it's a redundant option.
Here are our links to articles specific to a particular game system and its use with the XRGB-2 PLUS:
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