Issue: 2x Multi – 480p passthrough unstable/not working (firmware 1.5-1.8)

[mrlb]

Is this issue isolated to me or are others experiencing it? I find it had to believe 480p pass-through wouldn’t be working when it’s essentially the primary reason this product exists. I have tested on two 2x-Multi units and all versions of firmware.

480p pass-though: Worst cases, no signal at all for but every 10 seconds for 0.5 second the screen will flash. Best case 5 seconds of signal with 0.5 second drop of signal. Seemed to be game dependent possibly.

480p pass-though is working for firmware versions 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4

480p pass-though is not working for firmware versions 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8

720p pass-through seems not affected but only tested briefly as I don’t have any 720p content.

Testing environment.
Tested on two identical 2x Multi’s
PS2 480p pass-through res from game/GSM, component cables.
Issue does not exist when connected to TV direct with component or vi component-to-hdmi adapter.

[hugox64]

so 480p passthru worked fine untill the firmware was updated beyond 1.4 and both TINKs behave the same? It’s curious the older firmware is better for you. Is this PAL or NTSC?

480p passthru works well with my 2xPro-M. I use it with PAL Nintendo Wii and component cable.

I do have problems with interlaced input signal particulary 576i/50Hz over component cable and get image loss which varies from being annoying to making a game unplayable.

[mrlb]

Thanks for the reply @hugox64

so 480p passthru worked fine until the firmware was updated beyond 1.4 and both TINKs behave the same? It’s curious the older firmware is better for you. Is this PAL or NTSC?

Yes I just triple checked again today and gathered a few additional details 🙂
I have a PAL PS2 however running an open loader to play NTSC games. So the content/signal being sent is NTSC/480i/480p.

480p pass-through working case scenario.
Firmware 1.1 – 1.4. Signal detected as 480p @ 60Hz (Purple LED on 2x-M)

480p pass-through NOT working case scenario.
Firmware 1.5c – 1.8
No Signal detected as 480p @ 60Hz (Purple LED on 2x-M)

An interesting observation is:
When pressing the other inputs I get sound only and a bluescreen (I also get this with earlier firmware versions.)
576p @ 50Hz (Blue LED on 2x-M)
480p @ 50Hz (Green LED on 2x-M)

Yet 480p / component gives no signal and not even sound like the other inputs.

480p passthru works well with my 2xPro-M. I use it with PAL Nintendo Wii and component cable.

Interesting. Which version of firmware are you on? Is this 480p @ 60Hz ? What colour is your LED, purple?

I do have problems with interlaced input signal particulary 576i/50Hz over component cable and get image loss which varies from being annoying to making a game unplayable.

I’ll try source some 576i content and see what results I get.

[mrlb]

I’m lucky I have two units to test with side by side with different firmware. Hopefully the developer see this post and find it useful for troubleshooting/fixing.

When I compare the firmwares closely there are subtle differences. I have noted the behavior of troubled firmwares:

1.5c
Signal: Constant “No signal” on TV.

1.6 to 1.7
Signal: TV Displays “No Signal” however this is not constant. The message seems to flash in and out to a blank black screen. Almost like its getting fragments of a signal however no signal information is record on the TV. Purple LED on 2x-M. (If i press ‘Input’ button the LED changes to Blue but the signal behavior is the same.)

Sound: No sound.
Picture: No picture.

1.8
Signal: TV Displays 480p@60Hz on screen with a black screen. Blue LED (I think this is a bug/glitch) on 2x-M (If i press ‘Input’ button the LED stays Blue and doesn’t go purple)
Sound: Randomly every 5 seconds or so sound will chop in for a split second enough to hear one sound.
Picture: Rarely, over the course of 10 minutes, a picture has flashed up again for a split second. Maybe twice in 10 minutes?

[pkatsa]

Did you try on different TVs/monitors? I m saying cause this was the case with mine RT2X Scart. Does not work right on my new 4K LG TV, works on every other I tried

coping here from the manual page:

Troubleshooting
Q: Some consoles work but other consoles show a black screen on the TV
A: Retro-consoles deviate from standard video refresh rates and timing. The 2X is a low-latency line doubler and thus, does not alter these off-spec timings. It is likely your TV does not like the output rate of a specific console. Try another TV or monitor

see my post here also

[mrlb]

Appreciate the suggestions/information @pkatsa.
I have a older 4k TV. The console works really well directly connected to the TV via the component cables with 480p. 480i de-interlacing on the TV direct isn’t great (washed out and combing artifacts) hence why I bite the bullet and purchased the 2x-M. As you mentioned the 2X doesn’t alter the game timings. So this the issue is related to something else within the 2X-M. The issue is definitely firmware related as 480p pass-through worked for the first 4 firmware revisions and then stopped working after that. I wish there was a way to gather debug or output dump from the microUSB connector.

[harvort]

Are you using cheap component cables? I had almost same problem and when i got better quality component cables it started working perfectly.

[mrlb]

Yep they relatively cheap component cables. However they have ben flawless connecting direct to TV, component-to-hdmi adapter, and RTX2m versions less then 1.5.

BUT I will grab a better pair of component cables and try that too!

[harvort]

My cheap component cables worked great when i plugged them direct to tv. With tink-m it started losing signal on 480p resolution. However 720p and 480i worked good with tink-m and cheap cable. But now with better component cable, 480p also works.

[mrlb]

480i isn’t an issue for me. But I’ll test 720p on all firmware versions.
What component cable you using? Official or HD retrovision.

Would you be willing to flash firmware v1.4 and test the tink-m with cheap cables and confirm it works without drop outs?

[harvort]

I have tested all firmwares with cheap cable and it loses signal on every versions. I think v1.4 was working best but still was unplayable(480p). 480i is working on every cable and firmware version.

Im using these for Ps2. Link They are cheap also but works for me and better quality. And for OG Xbox i have modified official Xbox360 component cable to work with OG Xbox.

[mrlb]

I have tested all firmwares with cheap cable and it loses signal on every versions. I think v1.4 was working best but still was unplayable(480p). 480i is working on every cable and firmware version.

That’s interesting! And definitely different outcome. 480p passthrough works flawlessly between 1.1-1.4. But I get horrible interference so have been meaning to get better cables (The official Ps3 component and HD retrovision cables can be difficult and $$$ to sort!)

How do you find those component cables with the ps2? I’ve seen them before, they are like the expensive cheap cables. I notice they look thicker – You would hope they were better shielded but difficult to know without cutting in half. Do you get much interference?

[harvort]

I bought those ps2 cables when they were available, couple of months ago. I don’t know about interference but the picture quality seems little better. And yes they feel thicker than my old cheap component cables.

[mrlb]

Thanks @havort I will try some better cables soon and test 480p pass-through.

But I tested 720p with the cheap cables and pass-through worked fine. I noted from the release notes “the 720p support relies on overclocking the system.” not sure if that has any relevance to the success with the cheap cables.

[mrlb]

So it took me 12 months to get HD Retrovision PS2/PS3 cables!! Damn covid!

I can say that 480p pass-through now works for firmware versions 1.5-1.8.

BUT for firmware versions 1.8 there seems to be a bug where only HIGH-RES 444 MODE (BLUE LED INDICATOR) – you know the 480p line doubling mode that gives you a 960p pixelated picture? It doesn’t give me the normal 480p pass-through. I posted more details here.

2X MULTI (Firmware 1.8) – Stuck on high-res 444 mode (Blue LED indicator)

@harvort @leshingnought I’m guessing you guys never experienced this?

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