SweetSpot Video Processor

[RGB32E]

I have placed an order for the SweetSpot Video Processor.  It looks like a great alternative to the Micomsoft XRGB units.  Also, it has the advantage of taking screenshots and recording movies using component video and RGB(S).

Unfortunately, the price with shipping in USD is around $240.     I'm planning to create some real-time image processing plug-ins for the DScaler program (if possible) or write my own program that tailors to video game consoles and their characteristics.  

I'm interested in hearing from any of you out there who have used this card to know in advance any issues that can arise.

[NFG]

Considering that pixel-perfect RGB normally requires a $1400 card I think this is a bargain.  I definitel look forward to your review.

[Akir]

technically speaking, the XRGB products are more scan converters, and that's a capture card. there's not much of a differance. Your card is basically the same as a scan converter, but with your computer acting as the MIddleman.

And I'd like to make a point that there is no Digital inputs, so this card really worth all of the money....

(another interesting fact: The features include you being able to watch SKY on your computer. A run through the ancronym finder tells you that one of those are "So Kill Yourself,")

[Tobio]

I have one of these cards myself and I am very impressed with it, I almost feel sad to spoil the mood with two (minor) down points that I have with it, but I will start with the good stuff :-)

I already used to use Dscaler with a �30 capture card - PCTV rave, svideo and composite only. I was pretty happy with the picture I got from that, but I wanted to be able to play my Neogeo MVS and any other jamma boards I may purchase in the future, I figured from the specs that this was the card for me, was slightly worried about the lack of independent reviews, but splashed out the �150 for it.  (at this point let me say, I am in the UK and bought it from pluggedin.tv, if you are in the USA I would check pmsvideo.com - the card is a PMS PDI Deluxe card with a different name)

For next gen consoles I am very impressed.  I play my gamecube through it with the nintendo component leads, and It looks very nice and sharp indeed.  being in the UK I don't have too many US import games to try out progressive scan (the card itself DOES NOT do progressive scan, I have a component to VGA adapter thing from www.lik-sang.com) and comparing games like resident evil 4, and Metroid prime, i.e. comparing 480i through Dscaler and 480p direct to monitor I find it very hard to tell the difference.  The picture is very very sharp.  The progressive image is marginally better, but not in a way that would make me go and sell all my PAL games and buy the US versions of them, as I originally thought I would be doing.

My neo-geo MVS works great too.  very good picture overall, and a great thing about using this card and dscaler for this type of project, which will be of interest to many readers of this site, is that you can adjust controls for individual levels and things, so if you had a console or board with too weak or strong signals somewhere, you could probably adjust the many settings to fix the colours and get a good picture.  I have not had to ever do that though, so sorry if it sounded vague.

For older consoles the picture is still good, but see my issue at the end...

All in all I think it was well worth the �150 I payed for it.  mostly because I can play jamma boards on my monitor (I don't have a television at the moment, and because of this card I now don't need to get one) but I do have a couple of gripes with the card, just to put things into balance.

gripe #1  When I played my Sega Saturn - both with RGB and the composite cable, I get a really bad flickery picture.  On further investigation this flickering was only happening on the even scanlines.  turning dscaler onto "odd scanlines only" gave me a perfect picture, having it on any of the deinteralced modes gave me the messed up picture again.  with a bit more investigation I have found that this only happens on certain video-modes.  as an example in panzer dragoon 2, the title screen, and option menus are all perfect - these are in a "high res" video mode.  the gameplay itself displays the video problem.  also from memory virtua figher 2 was fine during gameplay and the title screens, but the character select screens had the video issue.

I compared this to my old PCTV rave card in the same PC with the same software and settings, and the rave handled the same parts of gameplay just fine, so it is definately the card.  I have not yet tried installing the WDM drivers, or using different software, or contacting support or anything yet... so this problem might be fixable, but If you were purchasing this card just to play your sega saturn, I'd be annoyed.

minor gripe #2  There is a jumper switch on the card to swap between sync on green (usual for Y Pb Pr) cables and seperate sync (for ordinary RGB)  I guess the target audience for this card would set the jumper for whatever matches their equipment and never have to worry about it again. well I use a similar number of RGB and Component machines and find myself having to change modes quite a lot.  the solution I have come up with is to wire a switch out of the back of my PC, so that I can flip over from one mode to the other.  This is probably quite dangerous, but my PC hasn't blown up yet, and has never shown signs of not liking this kind of treatment.

minor gripe #2a  In order to get the sync in for RGB, you need to get it into the S-Video1 connector.  I had to solder together a 2 phono to svideo plug, and I know that a lot of people hate soldering svideo plugs as they are so small.

So it's not without its faults, but the overall quality of the card easily makes me forgive them.  I apologise for making this post way too long, but I wanted to make sure I covered all my points.

Now I am going to probably regret this, but...  would anyone like some screenshots or photos, and what sort?

[davidleeroth]

would anyone like some screenshots or photos, and what sort?

Yes. Pretty pretty please. I'd love to see an input comparison gallery. And thanks for the info, very helpful. I think I've put off buying this card long enough.

[Tobio]

The first page is up, more to come I promise. link.

I have started a new thread about it, so if anyone has any requests of what sort of things they would like to see, post it in there and I will see what I can do.

http://nfg.2y.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=1678

Now after all that hard work I think i deserve a nice cold one :-)