Has there been any compatibility tests of the new UpperGrafx? The SSDS3 has been tested with 100% game compatibility.
The DVI output is nice, but it mentions 1 frame of lag. Add that to whatever you TV has and that might be noticeable.
Also, the UpperGrafx still requires you to have all the system cards for whatever stuff you are playing. Actually, I don't think it emulates any Hucard system cards or games at all? The SSDS3 has that all built in. Supports all HU and CD stuffs.
And the instruction on the UpperGrafx website are cryptic as hell about what all features it has and what image formats it supports. It seems like you have to use their special tool to create the cd images.
Plus the thing is butt ugly compared to the Super SD System 3. But that's IMHO.
In my eyes, the only redeeming thing the UpperGrafx has is the DVI video output.
I would like to see a really good review on the UpperGrafx though. I looked and haven't seen anything yet.
Hey, man. Did you ever make a video about SSDSys3? I’ve been waiting for it to pop up but haven’t seen it even though I have seen vague references to “Todd’s review.”
Anyway, there isn’t much of any English info for UGX-02. GameTechUS has a UGX-01 back in 2016 and didn’t even mention that it was expected to be able to be an optical drive emulator (the makers long claimed UGX-01 had everything it needed but they weren’t sure about enabling the feature). Can’t even tell in the GameTechUS review if it had an SD card slot. UGX-02 has it enabled with an SD cart slot. Reading their machine-translated Japanese site, it may be that the only real difference is that the SD card slot is populated on the PCB, though their English section says that all components were populated for the feature on the original version (seems contradictory).
It looks like the SD card is accessed RAW without FAT or a standard file system so their tool is as much about reading and writing the SD cards as it is about adapting CD images. It probably isn’t too different than the tool used to prep ROMs for NeoSD.
It does support dumping HuCards though they claim that this functionality is unofficial. They probably don’t want to get in legal trouble (what are Japans laws regarding this?). Another thing it does that SSDSys3 does not is save digital snapshots/screen grabs.
For almost anyone with a Turbo Everdrive, the lack of HuCard and System Card functions isn’t such a big deal. Turbo ED can do any HuCard game and replicate all the system cards except the Arcade Card for those 8 or so titles. Most anyone who cares about them probably already has an Arcade Card or a better system for playing the same games... mostly SNK fighters and a couple Majong games, so just screw Majong and get a NeoGeo.
The SSDSys3 definitely gets a value advantage for anyone who doesn’t have a TurboED since that’s another $70+. Keeping my TurboED for the Turbo Express anyway so it might as well continue serving double duty as a Super System Card.
The single frame of lag thing is referring to a frame buffer that is used to maintain 60hz sync on a console that does not output exactly 60hz. You get the same issues with an SNES and an OSSC (some TVs won’t tolerate it). If it’s properly designed like the Analogue Super NT at original speed then it’s “up to” one frame of lag where it starts at 0ms latency and ever so slightly increases each frame until the system gets a full frame out of sync. From there, it drops back to 0ms and starts all over. That means it would average a half-frame of latency with a single frame maximum. My understanding is that the existing multi-out continues to work fine much like UltraHDMI. That means you can have the best of both worlds for capturing high-quality DVI/HDMI while playing with zero latency from analog outputs or existing RGB mods.
Yes, the only redeeming thing the UpperGrafx has in direct comparison is DVI/HDMI unless you’re some weirdo who decides based on the screenshot and HuCard dumping features, but that’s because DVI/HDMI is the primary feature. The UGX-01 didn’t do ODE at all though it supposedly is capable with some presumably small alteration (they entertained the idea of converting existing units but have not decided). Unfortunately for Terra Onion, more people are concerned with video quality than they were counting on and they gave it a huge boon by initially ignoring that aspect. Hopefully the revision fixes all of this, though I still think DVI/HDMI could be compelling.
The compatibility info regarding the UGX-02 doesn’t seem to have changed since before the SSDSys3 was even announced. I would hope that it has improved since they reported ~80% of CD titles worked several months ago. It definitely doesn’t sound as good as SSDSys3 in that regard.
I thought that the big problem with the Upper Grafx is that it essentially drops a frame?
So does the 60hz display. To avoid this you’d have to speed up or slow down the entire system to match when using DVI/HDMI because the display interface does not support out of spec or variable refresh rates. That’s how AVS, Hi-Def NES, Nt Mini, and Super Nt deal with it. An attachment can’t speed up or slow down the system. It can display the frames as they are generated. If they come too fast it will have to start buffering the next frame which will add a fraction of a frame of latency that increases with each frame all the way up to one frame of latency. At that point, it drops a frame and returns to zero latency. The only other way to avoid this on an original system running at original speed without adding adding that average half-frame of lag is to allow screen tearing.
The Analogue Super Nt, for example, has all three options: run system at exactly 60hz (0.08hz slower), drop a frame every 750 frames, or allow screen tearing. They may even offer a fourth option: analog adapter for CRTs at 60.08hz. I’m not sure what options UGX has, but dropping 1 frame every whatever frames would average to a half-frame of lag and would not be a deal-killer for me, especially if the other analog outputs continue working at zero latency.
How are people feeling about this device now with that 2nd version of the UpperGrafx out recently? It seems aside from hucards you have the same basic feature set but comes in clean clear modern HDMI.
The price of the UperGrafx is too high. If you factor in the cost of an Arcade Card and Everdrive (and DVI to HDMI adapter if you really want HDMI) to get the same capabilities already built-in to a SSD3, you could buy a SSD3 and nice upscaler and have a more compact system and an upscaler to use with other devices.
I’d agree except that most of us already have a Turbo ED that functions as a Super System Card. The SNK fighters and Majong games constitute more than half of the Arcade Card exclusives and there are superior platforms for that stuff anyway.
