This HDMI Mod Makes The PlayStation 2 Look Gorgeous! | PixelFX RetroGEM

foreign [Applause] this is it this is what we've been waiting for we can finally see the PS2 and glorious lack free crisp high definition over the past few years we've seen a lot of HDMI mods come to some of our favorite home consoles consoles like the Sega Dreamcast Nintendo GameCube and Microsoft's Xbox well it looks like the last of the sixth generation consoles is getting the HD treatment with an all-new HDMI mod from the folks over at pixel FX called the Retro gem let's take a look [Music] hey everyone how's it going my name is Tito and welcome to another episode of retro renew today I am super excited to show you a brand new mod for the PlayStation 2 and one that I've personally been waiting for for a long time this is the Retro gem a mod created by the folks over at pixel FX that allows you to connect your PS2 to any modern television outputting a beautiful lag free and lossless Digital Image resulting in just stunning video quality I'm sure by now you've heard of the company pixel effects they're the same folks responsible for other fantastic HDMI mods for consoles like the Nintendo 64 Sega Dreamcast and the original PlayStation I've covered all their kits on this channel so definitely check them out I'll have them linked down below now the Retro gem is actually quite a bit different from the previous HDMI mods that pixel of X has released instead of being a dedicated mod tied to a specific console the Retro gem is actually compatible with many consoles specifically Nintendo 64 the original PlayStation and of course now both the fat and slim model PS2 which I'll be covering in this video and in the future it'll also be compatible with the GameCube and the OG Xbox all with this single board so the Retro gem will have extensive coverage when it comes to HDMI modding your consoles which is a very cool concept now some of you may be asking what's the big deal with all these HDMI mods well to sum it up briefly it allows you to connect these older consoles to your modern HDTV with proper scaling and without introducing any lag amongst many other things the Retro gem comes in two flavors basic and shiny Hardware wise they are identical but shiny adds a few more cool features which I'll dive into later on alright so in this video I'm going to show you what comes with the Retro gem kit then I'll demonstrate how to install it into a slim model PS2 I'll go over its major features take a close look at the quality of its video output review the pros and cons and of course provide you with my overall thoughts so the first and most important part of the kit is the Retro gem board itself again like I mentioned previously this same board will be used in all current and future HDMI mods for different consoles which is a very cool concept now depending on the console you're modding you'll get a set of flex ribbon cables specific to that console these here are of course for the slim model PS2 you'll also receive some mounting hardware like this set of screws as well as a 3D printed shroud to go around the HDMI port to give the mod a refined look when complete and lastly you'll receive a Wi-Fi antenna because just like previous pixel effects HDMI kits the Retro gem will be able to connect to your home network and receive firmware updates over the air which is just a fantastic feature now the PS2 model I'll be modifying for this video is a SCP h7012 this actually has a port around back for a 56k modem that we'll need to remove and the HDMI port for the Retro gem will actually go right there in that opening so no trimming of the shell is required for this specific model pretty neat alright so now that we're familiar with the Retro gem kit I'm going to show you how to install it into a slim model PS2 which actually brings me to the sponsor of today's video iFixit if you've been watching my channel over the years you've probably noticed that I used the same screwdriver set pretty much since the start of my channel this is the iFixit Macco driver kit one of the many iFixit products that I use all the time iFixit has an array of tools available that make my life easier when repairing and modding consoles such as the eye opener which I use to remove the LCD on my switch light when swapping the shell in addition to their amazing tools they have replacement parts for an array of electronic devices such as video game consoles like the Nintendo switch all the way to the steam deck so for all your repairing and tool needs definitely check out iFixit using the link in the description below and again a huge thank you to iFixit for sponsoring this video all right anyway now let's go ahead and start modding this PS2 okay you know the drill we gotta first tear down this PS2 now Sony made quite a few PS2 slim revisions so your disassembly may be different from mine iFixit actually has some pretty good teardown articles on their website which could be a good reference to check out [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you now when taking the DVD assembly out you'll want to make sure that the laser pickup is all the way towards the back so you have enough slack to remove the ribbon cable now this model has a 56k modem in addition to the ethernet port it's a modular component so it comes out super easy installing the Retro gem to slim ps2s with a modem can be easier since you don't have to trim the shell for the HDMI port foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] great so now that we've isolated the motherboard we need to locate the digital to analog converter chip or DAC for short on my PS2 it's right here next to the emotion engine processor on the top portion of the motherboard the first thing we'll need to do to prep the chip is remove six small capacitors and one resistor around the chip this will help the ribbon cable sit flush of the motherboard and make soldering easier to remove the small components I flood the tip of my iron with solder and gently lift them off as shown now please note for this entire install I am using lead free solder and that's because that's what's used on PS2 consoles and mixing leaded with lead-free solder could potentially cause issues down the road [Music] foreign foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so once all the small caps have been removed I cleaned up any leftover solder with some Wick now we're going to install our first ribbon be sure to check out the pixel effects instructions to ensure proper orientation once all the pins are lined up you can use some capped on tape like I do to help keep it in position and secure to the board anyway now it's time for the rubber to hit the road add some flux and then with the tiniest Mount of solder on the tip of your iron begin to tack in all the pins definitely take your time when doing the step I first hack in all the pins and then come back later to make the joints more solid foreign [Music] foreign making all the connections around the chip [Music] now on this part of the chip here there are four legs that are all right next to each other and connected to ground it may be hard to get some good looking welds here and they may become bridged but don't worry that's not a problem because they're all connected to ground anyway here you can see the foreground pins the solder here is a bit more difficult to manage since it does require more heat but again if these four pins are bridged it's okay anyway once done this is what the ribbon cable should look like when it's all soldered in and if you want to be extra vigilant you can use a Multimeter to ensure that there isn't any bridging and that the welds have a solid connection next I added some cathon tape to the top of the Chip And that's because I'll be folding the ribbon over on top as shown this will protect the chip when soldering to the pads great now let's go ahead and Tin up all the pads [Music] foreign our first connection is for pulling 5 volts which will come from this leg here [Music] the other calculated Edge is for 3.3 volts this is connected to a small via which you may need to scrape off some of the solder mask in order to get a good connection [Music] crate so now that our power wires are connected let's go ahead and start working on the bottom of the motherboard here I'm going to connect the other Flex ribbon cable to some of the controller Port 1 pins which will allow us to access the Retro gems on-screen menu with the controller we'll First Connect these two pins to the corresponding calculated edges on the flex [Music] foreign once those are in we'll need to do a bit of flex cable origami bend the cable at a 90 degree angle as shown it's a bit tricky but take your time and go slow your goal is to end up with something that looks like this because we'll need to connect the ribbon to these three points here so once you're happy with the placement go ahead and solder them all in and this is what the final result should look like now we can move to the other end of the ribbon cable we'll again need to do some origami so that we can connect the ribbon cable to this chip here line up the three calculated edges to these three pins on the audio chip as usual first tack them in then finish them off with a solid weld give the ribbon a slight Bend so that it can lay relatively flat against the motherboard awesome now we need to locate the pad for reset functionality which is located right here solder a long wire to it with the other end go into the reset pad on the controller ribbon cable we just installed we can use some kapton tape to help route the wire which will help prevent it from being close to any of the many screw holes on the motherboard now we need to connect the two ribbon cables on both sides of the motherboard together here you'll see me using individual wires but the final kit will have an additional ribbon cable that'll make this a whole lot easier so you won't need to use individual wires like me [Music] foreign great now the two ribbon cables are connected to each other next we'll need to trim the RF Shield so that the ribbon cable can pass through it depending on what model PSU you have this process will differ and since the DAC on my model PS2 is on top of the motherboard this is how I need to cut the RF Shield please note that if your PS2 has the deck on the bottom of the board you won't need to do all this trimming to the RF Shield anyway after making your Cuts you'll definitely want to file down the Burrs and sharp edges with a file and for the extra cautious like yours truly you'll also want to wrap the edges in capped on tape to further protect the ribbon cable as it passes through and next we need to drill a hole for mounting the Retro gem since my model slim PS2 came with a modem I'm able to reuse one of the existing screw holes which makes this whole process a lot easier since I don't need to worry about making sure that the Retro gem is properly aligned [Music] now a clever trick is to actually solder the nut of the screw to the RF Shield this will make installing the retrogen board a lot easier later on I then trimmed this area of the RF Shield so that the Retro gem will be able to sit flush [Music] the last bit of trimming that I need to do is to the bottom RF shield and that's because it was interfering with these wires here I just used some pliers to fatigue It Off and now it's just perfect great we can start to reassemble the PS2 starting by reinstalling the RF Shield foreign cable is fed through the top RF Shield now we just need to be aware of this area here because the heatsink does have some pretty sharp edges and the ribbon cable gets pretty close to it [Music] all right now let's prep the Retro gem it's super simple because retro gem is compatible with many consoles you'll need to consult the pixel effects documentation to bridge the correct pads since this is for a Playstation 2 we need to bridge pads c d and e here in this cluster and then here we just need to bridge J and this is how the retrogem should look when it's set up for PS2 next let's go ahead and install the HDMI extension board and the 3D printed shroud [Music] before fully securing the screws with nuts apply the included insulating film there are holes on the film that match up with the holes on the Retro gem make sure that they're aligned [Music] now we can go ahead and screw on the nuts to fully secure the Shroud and HDMI extension to the Retro gem and then go ahead and fasten the Retro gem assembly to the RF Shield now we can connect the flex ribbon cable to the Retro gem board then continue putting the PS2 back together [Music] [Music] Also let's not forget to connect the Wi-Fi antenna to the Retro Gem and mount it I put it right here on top of the fan [Music] [Music] and lastly install this stopper here which prevents the DVD lid from opening too much without this the lid could potentially impact the HDMI cable and there you have it the Retro gem for the PS2 fully installed the PlayStation 2 is one of my all-time favorite consoles it has such a deep library with a ton of Classics and being able to enjoy them all in glorious high definition is a real treat anyway with the retro gym installed in our PS2 let's take a look at what PS2 models it's currently compatible with as of right now the retro gym is compatible with all fat model ps2s that are SCP h35000 and newer it is also compatible with all slim models except for the SCP H 79000 and 90 000 although pixel FX is working on supporting those slim models so we should see them added to the list very soon regardless you should always check the pixel effects documentation to ensure that your console is indeed compatible with retrogen before you make your purchase of a link in the description below so you can check for yourself alright so when it comes to Features if you currently have or ever used any of the pixel FX products before then you should feel right at home as all those features in those Legacy kits like the N64 digital and the PS1 digital have imported over to the retrogen ecosystem now you'll find all the features other retro gem through the on-screen menu system which is open by simply pressing L1 R1 right on the d-pad and the circle button all at the same time with the menu open we can see four main categories presets video system and reset I'm going to skip presets for now so let's take a look at the video menu here we can see an array of settings that we can tweak at the top of the list we have scalar which allows you to adjust things like the amount of zoom and the aspect ratio amongst many other things going back we can see that we have multiple de-interlacing methods such as motion adaptive Bob and weave I find that the motion adaptive and the weave setting work great on the PS2 especially for certain outputs like the menu screen on Dragon Quest 8 which can look a bit jittery with the standard Bob D interlacing anyway next up is retro effects which is another great place to tweak video output by adding effects like scan lines filters and Gamma level adjustments now slot mask is another really awesome tool that allows you to make your very own custom Shadow mask you can do this straight through the Retro gem menu or you can even do it through retro gems web UI yeah that's right there is even a web UI that allows you to control the Retro gem over Wi-Fi creating a shadow mask effect is probably a bit easier using the web UI so for those that want to make their own custom Shadow mask using the web UI is the way to go anyway back to the Retro gem menu the last thing I want to go over under the video setting is output resolution with the shiny Edition you can output a resolution all the way up to 1440p however with the basic you're capped at 720p I typically use 1080p which is also not available on the basic version but here you can see a comparison with 720P anyway as you can see there is a slew of settings that you can tweak within the video menu to get the exact video output that you want which is just fantastic but with so many options it can quickly become very overwhelming and for someone like me who just loves the convenience of having HDMI output but doesn't like spending a ton of time tweaking all the different settings pixel effects has made the presets option so what are presets well every single setting that can be adjusted within the video menu can be saved as a preset and the folks over at pixel FX has already made some pretty cool presets that you can very easily apply when talking to some of the folks over at pixel FX I was told that one of their goals is to have the ability for anyone to upload their own custom made presets to a central repository which will allow anyone to download them I think that would be really awesome and hope that this does come to fruition additionally there will also be a feature that allows you to apply different video settings to different games so you can get a unique video output on a per game basis while this feature is included in the launch firmware the current version of opl does not support game ID transmission to Retro gem this is currently in the works and should hopefully be available soon also currently game ID doesn't work when playing actual game discs but I've heard that this too is in the works now this actually brings me to the next topic which is the system menu here you'll find a setting called game ID by toggling this from Global to per game allows you to save settings on a per game basis Global on the other hand applies your current settings to all games once opl has the ability to transmit game ID I think this will become a very powerful feature anyway the other system settings are pretty self-explanatory and if you've used pixel FX products before they should be familiar to you some of the notable items are Wi-Fi which is where you can go and join your local network and firmware which allows you to check and update to the latest firmware over the air Additionally the debug menu is great for checking to ensure you've installed the ribbon cable for the retrogen properly seeing all Hearts means that you're good to go another thing that I thought was pretty cool was that they included a mini game within the menu yes the folks over at pixel effects have included the game Snake within retro gems menu how crazy is that now the last item to discuss is reset here you can reset the console turn the console off or simply reset the Retro gem itself so in general those are kind of what I found to be the major features that stuck out to me but I really just scratched the surface of what retrogen can do now like I've mentioned previously there are two versions of retro gym the one I showcased is the more expensive shiny Edition but there is also a less expensive basic version on screen you'll see the difference between basic and shiny and for me the most notable ones are the output resolution and the de-interlacing modes weave and adaptive motion de-interlacing I found to be the most useful especially for the PS2 so having just Bob available in the basic version is a bit of a bummer and the other difference being output resolution may turn off some people who wish that the basic version had at least up to 1080p now I think it's important to understand who these two different kids are for when looking purely at Price the shiny edition of retro gem is right on par with pretty much all of pixel fx's previous kits however for those that have an external scaling device or plan to purchase one in the future like the upcoming retro Tink 4K or the pixel effects morph purchasing a basic retro gem makes quite a bit more sense additionally Hardware wise the two versions are identical meaning if you do start off with the basic version you can always upgrade it later this allows you to test out whether the basic version has what you're looking for or not all right so now we have a sense of some of the features of retro gem as well as the difference between the two versions let me show you how the output compares to composite and component now both the composite and component are being run through my retro tank 2x Pro of course we've all seen what composite looks like but seeing it next to the output of retrogen is pretty incredible I'll let you be the judge of the difference but to me it is night and day also as you already know the PS2 is backwards compatible meaning your PS1 games look fantastic as well installing the Retro gem in a PS2 is just amazing because of that backwards compatibility it's almost like you're getting a two for one deal you get the same great features as the Legacy PS1 digital but now it's in a single system that's pretty awesome okay so now that we've gone over some of the key features of retrogen as well as the comparison of its output quality let's go over the pros and cons starting with the pros I just love the ability to Simply connect my PS2 to an HDTV and be able to play my games with fantastic video quality honestly the image just looks beautiful and for me I'm perfectly happy without any filters or scan lines applied I think that the basic option is fantastic for those that already have a quality scaler and want to save some money now of course on the other hand if you don't want a separate scaler you can opt for the more expensive and feature-rich shiny version I just I just great that we have options now price is another area that I think is also a pro and hear me out yes the fully loaded shiny Edition is very expensive at around 190 dollars but that is pretty much in line with previous pixel FX products like the N64 digital and the PS1 digital with the introduction of the basic version of retro gem more people are able to afford a quality lagless HDMI mod and like I mentioned previously if this is paired with a scaler then you really don't need the shiny version anyway the basic retro gem tops out at 720p which looks great and having the ability to upgrade the Retro gem anytime in the future is also very convenient as an option that will be available to you all right so those are the pros but now let's get into the cons probably the biggest con is the difficulty of the install as I've always said these types of mods which require you to solder a flex to a chip are definitely amongst the most difficult with that said I would strongly caution anyone from attempting this mod unless you are very comfortable with soldering my advice would be to have one of the many pixel effects recommended installers do the mod for you it'll be much cheaper and less frustrating for you in the end another con is the amount of trimming required while I did showcase a lot of trimming to the RF Shield that is thankfully only required on PS2 slim models with the deck on the top of the motherboard mostly models have the DAC on the bottom and only require you to trim the shell for the HDMI port the next con I want to discuss is that there is currently no support for games that output at 1080i here you can see me attempting to change the resolution of Gran Turismo 4 to 1080i and I get a bunch of gobbledygook I spoke to the folks over at pixel effects and currently they're working on adding the ability to pass through the 1080i signal so that it will display properly on the screen my understanding is that the retrogem hardware is unable to process the 1080i signal thankfully there aren't many games that support 1080i I looked it up real quick and it looks like that there are only four games that support it so if any of these games are one of your favorites and you want to play it in 1080i this may be a pretty big con for you and the last con is price yes while I did say the price was a pro there's no denying that this is an expensive kit at 190 dollars for the shiny and 120 for the basic this is by no means a cheap mod plus if you're having someone install it for you there's the cost of the installation and shipping it back and forth the cost can quickly add up but regardless there's no denying that this is a fantastic mod for the PlayStation 2. it's honestly one of the mods I've been waiting for for the longest time and I'm really glad that the folks over at pixel FX were able to deliver such a fantastic kit well there you have it the Retro gem HDMI kit an incredible mod that provides beautiful crisp HD video output for the PlayStation 2. anyway if you enjoyed this video I really think you'll like this one here so check it out and as always thank you so much for watching and I'll see you again very soon [Music]

Channel: Macho Nacho Productions

Views: 430,214

Keywords: macho nacho productions, macho nacho, n64 hdmi mod, playstation 2, pixelfx ps2, pixelfx ps2 hdmi, pixel fx morph, pixelfx ps2 digital, pixelfx morph 4k, pixelfx retrogem, retrogem, retrogem ps2, pixelfx retro gem ps2, playstation 2 hdmi mod, pixelfx ps2 hdmi mod, macho nacho tito, tito macho nacho, retro renew, ps2 hdmi mod pixel fx, ps2 hdmi mod citrus3000psi, ps2 hdmi mod kit, ps2 internal hdmi mod, ps2 digital hdmi mod

Id: boDpJ4gwtZ0

Length: 28min 34sec (1714 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 14 2023