DCHDMI review: Dreamcast gets a digital video upgrade - and it's stunning

Sega's Dreamcast broke the mould by introducing 480p rendering to consoles, backing it with the legendary VGA box. Modern 480p options are available but none have the same pure digital quality as the brilliant DCHDMI. John Linneman tests out the mod and ranks it up against the analogue-to-digital alternatives.

[Fist4achin]

Sega should just come out with another console already. I'd support it.

[bouzebbal]

I won't.. Ex Sega fan, they are dead for me.. Nothing is left all their franchises look ridiculous right now

[Ricegum]

Yakuza is hardly ridiculous.

[bouzebbal]

Ok but think of the big picture.. How many would buy next Sega console for Yakuza? Not many..

[Ricegum]

That's true.

[MadMax]

God, are you an ignorant one.

[bluebenjamin]

Me Too Sega were innovators!

[KillZallthebeast]

good or bad without a massive financial push that would break them a new console wouldn't work

[fathertime4464]

Sega and Nintendo should just partner up on Nintendo next system. Both are excellent companies and I could definitely get behind a console that had all their combined ip's

[xVOLTx]

Unfortunately Sega isn't the same company nor employees the same folks from back in the day. It wouldn't be the same.

[KillZallthebeast]

They're a great game company. Not sure they need to get back into consoles

[KillZallthebeast]

Some things just work as they are. Sega found its place.

[Angyobangyo]

That’s is a very big risk for them. Personally you might love them and support it but it think the sentiment won’t be shared by a large enough gaming crowd that has Sega nostalgia. I grew up playing on the master system, mega drive, Saturn and Dreamcast, so I would love a new system but I don’t think Sega has the money and I’d rather they not risk it.

They do publish some great titles like mentioned above but I can’t see them suddenly making them exclusive if they decide to release another system. That would just piss off those games’ fanbases.

[Fist4achin]

I get what youre saying and it would be interesting to see where they would be today if they survived as a console maker. I too was a huge sega fan and continue to enjoy most of their games they develop even today. Well, we could be two of their sales if they ever did release another console!!!

[Imortus_san]

If they ever made a Console (or someone does an FPGA) that looks like a Sega Saturn and it runs all CD's games from Sega CD, Saturn, Dreamcast, and all the carts from Master System, Mega Drive and 32X, then Yes I would buy it.

[ILostMyMind]

I'd support it if it run legacy Sega games. All of them.

[william_cade]

Stunning is an odd choice

[pcz]

I always used the RGB (scart) cable for dreamcast. to my eyes it produced a crystal clear image.

nowadays it would probably look a blurry mess.

I dont know why sega dont just make a dreamcast mini and give it a hdmi it so you can play it hd without having to reverse engineer an ancient dreamcast.

[Concertoine]

Honestly playing DC with a VGA cable still looks insanely clean on my HD tv. It looks way better than my PS2 connected via component even if the textures aren’t as good on the DC.

[septemberindecember]

Actually, the Nintendo 64 offered 640x480 rendering before the Dreamcast. I think the PS1 did too.

Edit: oh, nevermind. They are talking progressive scan.

[septemberindecember]

Jeez, why did I get hit with disagrees?

[KillZallthebeast]

I didn't disagree

[septemberindecember]

Lol this is my problem with this place. Nobody ever explains why they give disagree votes. All they do is hit the disagree button. Pathetic.

[KillZallthebeast]

Keep beimg drunk. I need a handler

[Loktai]

Random anecdote about DREAMCAST. Originally Matrox were the ones slated to produce the chip for the system, And the G400 series graphics chip was the product of the venture. Of course it would not have been clocked like the warm-running G400 MAX but the hardware T&L the chip could do was a first.

SEGA was absolutely moronic at the time and after Matrox announced the partnership without Segas permission they scrapped the contract and went with a PowerVR chip, which actually was a downgrade in many aspects (outside maybe the hardware texture compression) from the Matrox solution.

I still wonder what the DC may have been with that chip in it, given that the G400 was not only a very advanced chip and could have moved a good bit more geometry bringing it closer to PS2 output, but also Matrox is famous for its extremely clear video quality.

[Concertoine]

With that chipset could it have hit that legendary $199 at launch though? I think the relatively cheap price is a big reason the DC saw such early success.

[meganick]

A Dreamcast classic mini console with all the classics would be awesome.

[deno]

Dreamcast is the one system that will always find room on my entertainment center. It was a pure arcade powerhouse machine. From that orange glow, to the disk drive reading sound, the amazing swirl logo, great controller. Colors popped on that thing, sound was amazing and so many games ran at 60fps.

[mark_parch]

totally agree, it actually did a lot of games better than the arcade. soul calibur was simply stunning for the time and still holds up well today. I actually started collecting retro consoles and games recently and dreamcast is next on my list, most games are pretty cheap.

[deno]

Yeah, exactly. Marvel vs capcom, soul caliber, powers tone, street fighter 3rd strike ran better then arcade I believe. If you want some excellent dreamcast gamesi would look into, Cosmic Smash, rainbow cotton, ikaruga, fighting vipers 2. These are some Japanese games. Boy are they amazing.

[mark_parch]

@deno
Thanks, i'll check them out. Want to get all the games I had originally first like house of the dead 2, sega rally, jet set radio, resident evil code veronica, sega bass/marine fishing, Shenmue, crazy taxi, virtual tennis, legacy of kain. wow makes me realise how amazing this console was, hard to believe it finished sega off

[Segata]

I've had a HDMI box for years that scales them to 1080P and they look great.

[adonisisfree]

But didn’t the OG Xbox offer 720p? Heck it even offered 1080 interlaced. How is this “breaking the mold”?

[Imortus_san]

Better to use the console with a VGA cable to the OSSC, it's almost the same price, the scanlines on OSSC are better, and the OSSC can be used with a ton of consoles not just one.

[deno]

It looks amazing in VGA. That's how I run it also.

[Imortus_san]

At 2x = 960p with 2m away from the 55 Oled I can barelly see the scanlines and only if they are 100 black, but normaly I use 18~40% and it looks gorgeous, the Mega Drive at 5x you can see the scanlines at 2m away even if they are 100%, OSSC is on another level for gaming.

[ILostMyMind]

Nice! Too bad it didn't play Saturn and Sega CD games.