Black borders (up and down) recalbox 8 + pi2scart + crt

[0zzy]

Hi. as you can see on the attached image, when i play console games (snes or megadrive) on recalbox 8 , are visible black borders on the top and bottom.

On ES menu i have tried to modify aspect ratio from auto to 4:3 but noting changed.

Neogeo games looks fine, and also mame.

I'm using recalbox 8 + pi2scart + pi4 + an old crt

Thanks for your suggestions

[Zing]

@0zzy

https://wiki.recalbox.com/en/tutorials/video/display-configuration

[0zzy]

Hi @zing i have read documentation, and tried to change global videmode but, unsucessfully, what' s wrong?

[Zing]

@0zzy

Hi @zing i have read documentation, and tried to change global videmode but, unsucessfully, what' s wrong?

Make sure you don't have a specific SNES setting as if you have a snesvideomode setting it will be prioritized.
Also check that you have set it up correctly as suggested in the documentation, and that the video mode you set up matches your TV.

Check in the advanced configuration of the emulator the aspect ratio that is configured, and confirm that the overscan ("perfect pixel") is not activated.

It is still possible to configure the screen aspect ratio in the config.txt file as described in the documentation, you can try....

[0zzy]

@zing said in Black borders (up and down) recalbox 8 + pi2scart + crt:

Make sure you don't have a specific SNES setting as if you have a snesvideomode setting it will be prioritized.
Also check that you have set it up correctly as suggested in the documentation, and that the video mode you set up matches your TV.
Check in the advanced configuration of the emulator the aspect ratio that is configured, and confirm that the overscan ("perfect pixel") is not activated.
It is still possible to configure the screen aspect ratio in the config.txt file as described in the documentation, you can try....

Hi, @Zing i have a fresh new installation of Recalbox8, i have modified only crt system > pi2scart with resolution 480i racommended.

I haven't edited snesvidemode, and overscan and pixel perfect are OFF

This black borders are present in some SNES or GENESIS games, not all games of this 2 consoles are affected by this.

[greenalex]

@0zzy
Hi,
If it happens only on a few games. It could come from the "zone" of the game (Pal/NTSC).
Could it be 50 hz ones ?

[Wizzard]

Have you tried it on Recalbox 7.2.2 too?

[0zzy]

Hi @greenalex i have done some test, i think you are right, i'm using a no-intro romset, european games have black borders top and bottom, USA not.
What can i do in this case?

[0zzy]

hi @wizzard sorry i don't remember, i have tried a lot of distro and romset recently

[0zzy]

@greenalex have i to edit system.txt like suggested here ?

The exemple is for ntsc games, what can i write for pal?

[Bkg2k]

@0zzy CRT timings are all sets in respect to the original Hardware timings. This means, the top/bottom bars are the same on the original hardware.

Since NTSC games use less horizontal lines than PAL games, you'll often get top/bottom bars.

[0zzy]

Hi @bkg2k , i have black bars on PAL games not on NTSC (pal image is also a little bit streched, we are talking about 3 cm video, not a few pixel lines)

I use the same romset on a PC with crtemudrivers and retroarch, PAL and NTSC games works both fine in a full screen CRT monitor

[digitaLumberjack]

@0zzy yop o/
Pal games are starting in PAL mode 50HZ like on the original pal hardware :
there was black bars on pal games, as the mode was 288p with 224 or 240 pixel height games.

We are working on a option to select the mode of pal games when starting it : PAL or NTSC.

Just not implemented yet.

If you search well in the wiki, you can override modes : https://wiki.recalbox.com/en/tutorials/video/crt/recalbox-on-crt-with-scart-dac

[0zzy]

@digitalumberjack said in Black borders (up and down) recalbox 8 + pi2scart + crt:

@0zzy yop o/
Pal games are starting in PAL mode 50HZ like on the original pal hardware :
there was black bars on pal games, as the mode was 288p with 224 or 240 pixel height games.

We are working on a option to select the mode of pal games when starting it : PAL or NTSC.

Just not implemented yet.

If you search well in the wiki, you can override modes : https://wiki.recalbox.com/en/tutorials/video/crt/recalbox-on-crt-with-scart-dac

Hi @digitaLumberjack, from all this, i have understand NTSC games are visualized correctly but not PAL games, right?

i have seen this link a few post above, but, i don't have clear... there is an exemple:

if i need to lets Recalbox load PAL games, i have to write on system.txt something like

snes,pal, ???, 0, 0

is it right? how recalbox recognize pal and ntsc games?

If we can use system.txt why are you working on a option to select the mode of pal games? I have a lot of confusion now..

[0zzy]

snes,pal,snes:nes:pal:240@50.0069,0,0

is it right for system.txt?

[0zzy]

Can someone explain me the meaning of the mode:

1920 1 80 184 312 224 1 9 3 24 0 0 0 60 0 39001717 1

[0zzy]

@digitaLumberjack can someone explain me why i can't play pal games on a pal tv, really i don't have clear this

[Wizzard]

@0zzy I have not a solution, I just noticed that I cannot play PAL games for Atari 7800, they just do not start, I dont know why.

About your question, you mean that you cannot play PAL games on full screen, right? I remember that some PAL Atari 2600 games are bad conversion that only use a part of the lines of PAL system, it means they are in NTSC resolution but displayed in PAL standard with higher resolution.

Do you have a problem with just few PAL games or all ?

[0zzy]

@wizzard said in Black borders (up and down) recalbox 8 + pi2scart + crt:

PAL games or all ?

Hi @Wizzard, yes i have this black borders on the top and bottom of the screen only on pal games.
As @Bkg2k and @digitaLumberjack say, the problem is the different refresh rate and resolution between pal and ntsc games, but i don't understand why this happen only on crt tv and not on lcd screen (on a normal lcd tv i can play both using batocara).
I was tryng to understand if i can manually bypass this, editing system.txt and a modes.txt, , so i can play pal games insted of ntsc, but i don't know how interpreter that mode line as i asked a few lines ago.

[Wizzard]

@0zzy OK, and does that problem occur on all PAL games or just a few PAL games? I am trying to understand, cause I will apparently have similar problem in a few days after I get my pi2scart.