There’s a cheaper Retrotink-4K upgrade coming if you don’t have the money – Destructoid

If you’re someone who loves retro gaming using the original hardware while still getting the best image quality, RetroTink 4K is the best way to go right now. However, it’s expensive, so if you’re not willing to pay for such an enthusiast device, the cheaper version is for you. On her way.

Before you get too excited, this is still an expensive proposition. The RetroTink-4K CE (the cheapest version?) will still run you $475. That’s a little cheaper than $750 Retrotink-4K Probut it’s still expensive. Considering that you can get a Nintendo Switch for cheaper, you can see how this device is only for enthusiasts.

For a second backup, the RetroTink-4K is one kind of device that upgrades the video output of older devices. Your TV technically already does this, but for anything less than 720p, it’s undoubtedly doing a really bad job. If you want to make your old consoles look like something you’d see from an emulator, you can run it through one of these devices. It’s a pretty deep hole if you want the best video quality ever, and certainly not for the faint of heart.

The RetroTink-4K CE still does a lot of what the Pro version does, including, you know, upscaling to 4K. It also has all the inputs, with the only external difference being the colour. It’s compatible with the same profiles that the regular model supports. For most people, this will be more than good enough.

The downside is… well, okay, I’ll paste what Mike Chi wrote, as he can do a better job of explaining it:

• No rotation support
• Input width limits: The maximum horizontal width of the input source is limited to 2048 pixels. (This does not affect MiSTer or other ultra-resolution sources that have been downsampled to a lower effective resolution.)
• Remove tangles: Linear motion adaptive deinterlacing only without advanced sensitivity controls; There are no adjustments to the bob field offset, and no adaptive edge interpolation. First-order field differences only, enhanced motion detection using second-order field differences is not possible.
• Inverse telecommunications: No support for reverse 3:2 ratio for deinterlacing broadcast TV content or rebuilding 24fps sources from 60i and 60p. There’s no support for inverse 2:2 ratio for PAL content and reconstruction of game output at 30fps in 480i.
• No IIR Blur support: Horizontal softening can still be achieved using cubic, Lanczos, or bilinear soft interpolation filters.
• Our country for food industries:BFI basic input for full black frames only. There is no alpha bending or color input.
• S video: No Enhanced S-video support. Regular SDP decoder only.
• XBR smoothing: Not included.
• NTSC composite video: No 3D comb filter. Notch and 2D modes only.
• Automatic phase adjustmentNT: Continuous background auto-phase is not available (auto-controller sample rate detection is still included, but users will need to calibrate the phase and save it to their profile during first use). Automatic phase on demand (by pressing the button) is still supported.
• OSD color depth: The color depth of the banner image has been reduced from 11 to 6 bits.

A lot of it makes sense. I think losing the motion-adaptive interlacing feature would be the biggest downside for me. The lack of enhanced S-Video may be annoying to others, but since my setup is almost entirely SCART and HDMI, it doesn’t affect me much. However, it’s a reasonable set of trade-offs that ensure it’s still a great set.

I purchased the RetroTink-4K Pro on something like my third production run to replace my old Framemeister. These may not be the most rational investments I’ve ever made, but I can’t say I’ve really gotten much out of them. I’m not the most technical user when it comes to video equipment, but over time, I’ve learned how to take greater advantage of its features. It’s something that takes tinkering, so if you haven’t dipped your toes into upgrading, maybe don’t do it. Have you considered a decent CRT tracker? It may be cheaper. I like the sharp pixels, though. Speaking of which, it’s time for another series of updates.

The RetroTink-4K CE will be released soon for $475 USD. According to Mike Chee, “the earliest possible sale date will likely be late February or March.”