It became apparent after I uploaded the review of citrus3000psi and chriz2600's internal Dreamcast mod - the DCHDMI - that the footage included in the video was actually throttled to 25fps due to the introductory part of the video (the bit with my hands). Naturally, this caused quite the drama in the comments section on YouTube. And so, as a result of the ensuing cold sweats, night terrors and feeling like a total twunt; I decided to rectify said issues by recording a load of gameplay direct from the DCHDMI, eschewing an intro, and slapping the results on YouTube.
So here, for your enjoyment, is 18 minutes of pure gameplay. Recorded in 1080p mode (which is 960p windowed...which is itself 480p doubled by the FPGA on the board) at full speed 60 frames per second where applicable. I haven't altered anything, just recorded some gameplay from a range of titles. Here you go:
The full list of games in the video is:
Ferrari F355 Challenge
Sonic Adventure
Shutokou Battle 2
Dead or Alive 2
Sturmwind
Daytona USA 2001
Virtua Striker 2
Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves
Le Mans 24hrs
Quake III: Arena
V-Rally 2: Expert Edition
Virtua Tennis
Crazy Taxi
Marvel Vs Capcom 2
Metropolis Street Racer
Sega Rally 2
Soul Calibur
I apologise for how shit I am in some of the footage but I'm sure you can see that the DCHDMI is pumping out some seriously sharp images. I'm anticipating that people will still complain in the comments section (on YouTube) about something...but hey. What can you do?
Will you be getting involved in the DCHDMI? If you'd like a closer look we'll be showing it off at Play Expo Blackpool at the end of October. Let us know in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter. If you want to leave a negative comment on YouTube, please feel free to join the other 367,000,000 people doing that daily. Cheers!
Playing older games in higher resolutions than they were ever intended to be played in is all the rage these days. Be it through emulation, or via the relatively recent trend of the remaster, getting titles of yesteryear to play on modern display screens in the best possible quality is a prize many are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to attain.
The Dreamcast CD player in 1080p (960p bordered)
Here in our little corner of the gaming sphere, things are no different. There are some people who will never plug their Dreamcasts into anything but a CRT television through an RGB SCART connection. Others champion the clarity of a good old fashioned CRT computer monitor and a VGA box. And for those who simply don't have the space for the luxury of a proper old television or monitor, there's the HDMI passthrough boxes from Beharbros and Pound Technology.
The Akura and Gekko are both well built, high quality devices
The limitations of these HMDI boxes and cables are well documented, but for those with either limited space or on a budget, simply connecting a Dreamcast to a flat panel HD display and enjoying their favourite games in 480p is a perfectly acceptable and affordable way to continue gaming on Sega's old warhorse in the modern era.
Of course, what the Pound and Berharbros adapters do is simply take the VGA signal from the Dreamcast and spit it out through a HDMI cable. There's no upscaling at all, and the larger the screen, the poorer the image. It isn't really true high definition gaming, in all honesty. Things are about to change though, as a new contender has entered the ring: DCHDMI.
The DCHDMI board is an internal mod replete with an onboard FPGA
The DCHDMI is an internal board that is slotted into the Dreamcast shell, beneath the main board and is connected directly to the Dreamcast's GPU. What this means is that a digital signal is taken directly from from the GPU and is output in true HDMI through a mini HDMI port on the back of the console. The results are truly staggering, and as we'll see in this review, outside of emulation, the image quality and clarity afforded by the DCHDMI is leagues ahead of anything ever seen before from a Dreamcast console...
Gekko is the latest device from self-styled artisanal retro-modders Beharbros. It takes the baton from the earlier Akura and delivers a simple method for connecting a Dreamcast to a modern HD television. Featuring the hallmark high build quality and hand-made aesthetic of the rest of the Beharbros product lineup, the Gekko represents a more pocket-friendly solution that offers similar functionality at a budget price point.
The BBS Akura (left) and Gekko (right)
In terms of form factor, the Gekko is very similar to the earlier Akura HDMI adapter, but has several features stripped out, meaning that this is a pretty painless device to set up. As with all of the boxes and cables in this category (see our reviews of both the BBS Akura and Pound HD Link), the Gekko simply takes the VGA output signal from the Dreamcast and converts it so that it can be fed through a standard HDMI connection and into your television or monitor.
As with the aforementioned devices, there is no upscaling; the VGA 480p picture is simply passed through the internal gubbins and projected onto your screen, and if you're using a huge 4K television, the image quality will be much worse than on a 22" HD television. If you really want to get the full benefits of a device like the Gekko (or any of the others on the market), then a dedicated upscaler is what you'll need. But then, this type of device probably isn't aimed at the gamers who inhabit that end of the spectrum. If you own a Framemeister, OSSC or other similar device, then you'll likely not need something like the Gekko as your current awesome set up probably won't really benefit from the inclusion of a VGA to HDMI pass through device.
That point aside, if you are in the market for something that will allow you to connect your Dreamcast to a modern flat screen display, then the Gekko could be right up your street; and not least because it offers an interesting extra function not seen in the recently released Pound HD Link. First though, let's take a look at the physical design of the Gekko...
In the recent past we've seen a number of solutions come to market that allow Dreamcast gamers to use a contemporary HDMI-enabled display. The most high profile of these is arguably the superb Akura from Bebarbros; but for many the high price of said artisanal display adapter is prohibitive (the upcoming Gekko may put paid to that, though). Enter Pound Technology, a California based firm specialising in new display cables for retro systems.
The latest release from Pound is the HD Link - Dreamcast, and while the name is a little misleading (it isn't a system link cable, and it doesn't magically make Dreamcast games 'HD'), there's little to fault with the unit's design, operation...or price. As stated, one of the major complaints with Beharbros' Akura was that it cost upwards of $80 (or $200 if you look at scalper prices on eBay). Granted, the Akura is way more than a signal pass-through cable, as it offers features such as a scanline generator amongst others. The HD Link - Dreamcast is very bare bones in comparison to the Akura, but this isn't a bad thing. Far from it, as the simplicity of the cable's design and singular feature set make it affordable and less likely to fail after prolonged use.
The HD Link - Dreamcast is a professionally manufactured cable that slots into the A/V aperture on the rear of the Dreamcast and which acts like a VGA cable. The VGA signal travels along the cable, to the box in the middle, which then converts it to output via a HMDI connection. It's as simple as that. There is no upscaling here - the signal is the native 480p VGA image from the Dreamcast which is in turn spat out onto your display. If you're using a HD TV that's bigger than say 22" then the image - while decent - will be blown up and may look a little pixelated. However, with many modern TVs unable to even accept a composite or SCART connection, something like the HD Link - Dreamcast is a perfect solution.
The Dreamcast famously supports many different types of display cable (check out our guide here), and the ability to spit out a VGA signal has afforded contemporary hardware developers the opportunity to adapt the Dreamcast's aging internal guts to work with the latest display technology.
While the Dreamcast will always be best matched with a decent CRT television through RGB SCART or a VGA computer monitor via a suitable cable or box, the fact of the matter is that not everyone has the space for a hulking great cathode ray powered television or monitor, and so flat panel monitors are the only option. With this in mind, Pound Technology is the latest hardware manufacturer to take advantage of the Dreamcast's VGA option and have recently released the 'HD Link - Dreamcast.'
Following in the footsteps of outfits like Beharbros (check out our review of the AKURA HDMI box here), Pound Technology have created a fairly robust looking pass-through cable that takes the VGA signal from the Dreamcast and projects it through a HDMI cable onto the screen of any compatible monitor or TV set. Unlike the AKURA, the HD Link - Dreamcast doesn't offer any additional display modes or a scanline generator, but it does trump the AKURA in terms of cost, weighing in at just $29.99 at the time of writing.
The only negative we can see so far is that the HD Link - Dreamcast is currently only available in the United States due to Amazon's rules on new products passing internal review for international shipping. Rest assured that as soon as Amazon have approved the cable, we'll be putting it up against the AKURA to see how it fares. Update: Amazon is now shipping worldwide.
While we here at the Junkyard pore over the minutiae of Dreamcast collecting and the more obscure side of the console's paraphernalia, it has become increasingly apparent that the Dreamcast is attracting a whole new audience as intrigued gamers start collecting for the system. The Dreamcast has been undergoing something of a renaissance for a couple of years now, and as such we thought it was about time that we offered up some basic 'beginner's guides' to various aspects of the Dreamcast for those who aren't fully au fait with the many foibles of the hardware.
First up, we're going to look briefly at the various cables that will allow you to connect your Dreamcast to a tellybox or monitor doo-dah, and what the pros and cons are. As the name suggests, this really will be a quick reference guide, giving the bare minimum that you need to know if you're a bit clueless when it comes to cables and connections and don't know your SCART from your composite or your VGA from your RF. Hey - it's a minefield out there if you're new to the scene, but luckily old uncle Junkyard is here to guide you...like the blind leading the blind! Please remember that this is a beginner's guide and so I'm not really going to go into the science behind it all. I'll leave that to someone with far greater knowledge than I have.
OK, so the first thing to know is that there are a number of different cable variants for the Dreamcast and they all give a picture of varying quality and have differing connectors on the business end. The bit that goes into the Dreamcast's A/V port is pretty much identical though and it looks like this:
The underside of this connector does have a differing number of pins depending on the type, but physically at least, they look the same. The key thing to remember is that you shouldn't try to jab this end into your TV or monitor. If you do, at best you'll end up with a broken cable; at worst you'll end up electrocuting yourself and burning the house down. Probably. Right, on to the good stuff. There are 5 main connection types for the Dreamcast and these are they...
Beharbros have a pretty solid track record when it comes to releasing display adapters for the Dreamcast. In the past, the self-styled 'artisnal retromodders' have garnered critical acclaim with a range of hand made devices that continue to keep Dreamcasts turning and burning, regardless of how much display technology accelerates away from the natural abilities of the system. The Toro, Hanzo, Kuro, Kenzei and SLR boxes all have distinct features, and while they come at a premium, they all help Dreamcast gamers achieve optimal image quality, whatever their choice of display.
The Akura is Beharbros' latest release and while it retains the familiar aesthetic of the other boxes in the catalogue, it eschews SCART and VGA connections and instead offers an all in one option for gamers who want to hook their Dreamcast up to a HDMI-equipped display. Weighing in at $85 with free worldwide shipping, the Akura requires no external power supply and connects directly to the console's AV port, delivering a native 480p image via the use of an HDMI cable that goes directly from the box to the television or monitor.
Be aware though - the Akura is not an upscaler, it simply chucks out a 480p picture through a HDMI cable (more on this later), and a series of switches on the side of the device yield a number of interesting extra features. First though, before we delve into the more technical side of the Akura and whether this is the box for your needs, lets take a look at the physical design of Beharbros' latest adapter and just what those little switches on the side are all about...
Getting the best picture from a Dreamcast has always been a point of discussion in the Dreamcast community. The Dreamcast's ability to output a VGA signal has long been viewed (no pun intended) as the best way to get a crisp and clean image, and I'm not one to argue with that - indeed, when using an old-skool CRT monitor in conjunction with a VGA cable or box, the image quality is positively stunning. Not everybody has the space for a hulking great VGA CRT monitor though, and as time goes by they are becoming harder to find. Not only this, but finding HD or 4K televisions that have a VGA port is becoming more difficult as the standard falls further into the realms of obsolescence.
The options for getting a decent image out of a Dreamcast (and other older gaming systems) are getting narrower with every passing generation and the move away from analogue to digital signals means gamers are coming up with ever more ingenious ways of using classic consoles with newer televisions and monitors. However, the path to achieving a fantastic image is littered with pitfalls - I know first hand from my own recent experiences with VGA to HDMI signal converters just how frustrating it can be.
It appears that creators of the Toro, Kuro and Hanzo range of signal converters Beharbros feel the same way, and have recently unveiled the Akura VGA to HDMI converter for the Dreamcast.
In the second of a series of guest articles from our man in Japan Ross O'Reilly, we'll be looking at how you can pimp your Dreamcast to within an inch of it's life and enjoy most (well, some) of the lovely features a modern games system benefits from. HD output, bountiful storage and online capabilities are all things we take for granted these days and with a bit of knowledge and a fat wallet you can enjoy the same with a Dreamcast right now. Let it be known that I have neither of the aforementioned. Ross, over to you.
So, you want the so called 'Dreamcast 2' (don't get me started on that!), you want a HD Dreamcast, right? You want the ability to play Dreamcast games online? Download DC software and run it on original hardware? Play with a wireless DC controller?
Well, what if I were to tell you that all of those features are available to you right now, today. Yes, I apologise if I sound patronising to those of you who are regular readers and keep up with Dreamcast developments, but I'm here to tell you anyway, that all of those features and more are available to you already...just so long as you have deep enough pockets to shell out on the numerous devices required.
