I was just able to borrow two MiSTer Multisystem 2’s from a friend who ordered them and wanted to test the analog video output, as well as take a look at the console itself. Overall though the design of one motherboard with both the DE-10 and 24-Bit I/O board integrated together really made it feel like an actual console and less science project-y. Since they weren’t at the mercy of using an existing dev kit, there were no messy wires inside, just a clean console that performs identical to a well-built MiSTer. The RGB video output from the HD15 (VGA) port was excellent and YPbPr component video output should be good as well, as long as your display is compatible (more on that later). Unfortunately, the MiniDIN’s RGB output wasn’t very good (details below). No big deal though, just pick up one of the SCART solutions linked below if you’re looking for great SCART output from the MMS2! More info after the links:
Pre-Order Here: https://shop.heber.co.uk/
Main Page: https://multisystem.uk/
RetroTINK HD15 to SCART: https://retrorgb.link/RetroTINKVGAtoSCART
HD15-2-SCART European Seller: https://retrorgb.link/hd152scart
HD15-2-SCART US Seller: https://retrorgb.link/hd15-2-scart
First, I need to thank Kuro for helping me test this in a livestream. While I’m super comfortable analyzing RGBs signals for safety, Kuro’s work testing MiSTer video output has been the community’s go-to reference and he was able to guide me through the Grey Ramp and YPbPr testing. Check out the interview we did awhile back to hear directly from him.
Okay, onto the testing – I went back and re-did the RGBs measurements with 75Ohm terminators on the scope (as opposed to using the PVM as termination) to remove any chance of interference. We also used the SNES core and both the HD Retrovision and 240p Test Suites to perform the measurements. Results will vary a bit depending on which core you use, but overall this was a solid test environment for both units.
Both MMS2’s performed exactly the same and very well! This is good, as it both shows consistency between units and because the RGBs voltages are exactly where they should be. Please note the higher voltage on the sync lines is correct – HD15 ports should have higher voltage than SCART, which is why all HD15 to SCART cables and adapters (like the ones linked above) have a resistor on the SCART line; Click on all pics for full-sized views:
Next, we tested IRE on all channels. All three colors matched for each reading (as proved above), so here’s just the Green line with 100, 50 and 20 IRE, showing all lining up pretty much exactly where they should:
We next tested the grey ramp, which also looked great. Here’s the Green line, however once again, they all matched within a mV or two:
After that, we edited the MiSTer.ini file for YPbPr output, then flipped the switch towards the HD15 port for Sync-On-Green and loaded the test patterns again. The video voltage looked good and matched what we saw with the RGB lines. The steps between luminance levels also appeared fine, however the sync voltage seemed very low, which could potentially cause compatibility issues with some CRT’s (although it worked perfectly on mine):
For reference, here’s just the MMS2’s component video sync voltage at just 44mV versus a Sega Nomad with HD Retrovision cables showing a more correct number of about 296mV. I even tried connecting HD Retrovision cables to the Genesis 2 MiniDIN and got correct levels, so I’m not sure what’s happening with the native output. And to confirm once again, yes, I had the SoG switch in the current postion:
Speaking of the Genesis 2-style MiniDIN, I don’t think anyone should use it. First, sync is only run to the composite video pin and no signal is wired at all to the csync pin. I verified myself, as well as checked the manual to confirm. I view this as a mistake, since almost all Genesis 2 RGB SCART cables from the main manufactures use the csync pin as sync. Also, in the scenario of a MMS2, there’s no chance of both signals being used at the same time, so they could have easily just bridged the two together. You can do this yourself if you’d like, but you might not want to…
The voltages on both MMS2’s MiniDIN port are 100mV lower than the HD15 port, which isn’t very good – Both units outputted 584mV on the RGB lines and about 175mV on sync. That means the image will be significantly dimmer than the VGA output. And if you’re connecting multiple consoles to your CRT, when you switch from an original console to the MMS2, you’ll definitely notice a brightness drop. The voltages are all consistent though, so the quality itself isn’t “bad”, just dim…however the low sync voltage might cause compatibility issues with more sensitive CRT’s:
There also didn’t seem to be any composite video circuit inside the MMS2, meaning you can’t use a cheap Genesis 2 composite cable for that as well. While this certainly isn’t something I’d expect to be standard, it kinda means the MiniDIN only really has one use case (in my opinion): People connecting the MMS2 directly to consumer-grade CRT’s with a SCART port that require voltage to enable RGB. In that scenario, just get a sync-on-composite RGB SCART cable from a reputable vendor and it’ll look okay – Just turn the brightness up a bit on your TV. And of course, if you already own a sync-on-csync cable like most of the reputable ones sold, you’ll have to jump the two pins on the bottom of the MiniDIN.
Other than that, the MiniDIN is essentially useless. For people with RGB monitors (or if you use a powered SCART switch with your PAL SCART CRT), just getting a RetroTINK SCART cable or HD15-2-SCART is a cheaper and higher quality way to get RGB SCART from the console.
My conclusions on the MMS2 haven’t changed at all based on the MiniDIN though – I think it’s the best overall MiSTer build I’ve seen yet and love everything else about it. We’ll need to wait for it to be in customers hands for a few months to confirm total compatibility with all cores and features, but overall it just seems awesome and seems to accomplish it’s goal of being the best I/O board, USB hub and DE-10 combined into one package! I’ll leave features and compatibility (which should be fine) to other reviewers though – This focus was just on analog video output.
If you’d like to check out the livestream we did, you can watch it here. This post summed the whole thing up nicely though, so feel free to skip it – There’s nothing in there that isn’t clarified in this post:
