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HDMI cords that improve visual quality for gaming.

Deleted member 1413

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,617
Ok, so Xenoblade's weird brightness shift is mostly solved. Raised the in game brightness up a bit making that darkening of the screen pretty rare.
Not sure if Splatoon is fixable.
It's probably mostly just for splatfest, but it's a bummer
 

Deleted member 1413

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,617
Inuhanyou said:
so the issue is relegated to splatoon?
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Issue is solely on the mCable.
With the in-game brightness/gamma low it would trigger whenever I looked at a dark surface making the white UI go gray. I raised the gamma so the input being fed to the cable is brighter overall.
In Splatoon Splatfest is held at night to contrast the glowing neon ink.
Since most of the scene is dark it gets darker.
There's a splatfest specific stage that's in octovalley with a black/dark sky.
If I'm looking at the glowing neon ink the game retains its natural color, if I look up in the sky the game dims.

Splatfest is over so I tested it out and it looks good.

So it'll continue to work fine for most games, but the issue is specific sections in games can suffer and there are games were it'll flat out look worse with this >$100 cable (like Sonic Mania)
 
Militaratus

Militaratus

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
1,212
Got my hands on an mCable Gaming Edition.

Currently used it in 2 instances. Bully, a PS2 on PS4 game, which is upscaled by the emulator to 1080p from 896p. The cable didn't add much needed AA to the image and image wasn't upscaled to 4K.

Second use was on Duke Nukem Forever, a PS3 game, which runs in 720p. The cable did upscale the image to 1080p, but the CXAA didn't seem to be very effective as the screen still had the same amount of jaggies.
 

Deleted member 12317

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Cartridge Games said:
Issue is solely on the mCable.
With the in-game brightness/gamma low it would trigger whenever I looked at a dark surface making the white UI go gray. I raised the gamma so the input being fed to the cable is brighter overall.
In Splatoon Splatfest is held at night to contrast the glowing neon ink.
Since most of the scene is dark it gets darker.
There's a splatfest specific stage that's in octovalley with a black/dark sky.
If I'm looking at the glowing neon ink the game retains its natural color, if I look up in the sky the game dims.

Splatfest is over so I tested it out and it looks good.

So it'll continue to work fine for most games, but the issue is specific sections in games can suffer and there are games were it'll flat out look worse with this >$100 cable (like Sonic Mania)
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I've got the mCable Gaming Edition and I never noticed gamma or brightness shift.
Is there a game and level where I can check what you are encountering ?

In Splatoon 2 I tried going to the 5th area of the campain as it's at night and the UI brightness is still the same.

What you described sound like TV dynamic brightness, even during dark loading screens white stays white on my screen with this cable (loading Switch games for example).
 

Deleted member 1413

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,617
GSY Miguel said:
I've got the mCable Gaming Edition and I never noticed gamma or brightness shift.
Is there a game and level where I can check what you are encountering ?

In Splatoon 2 I tried going to the 5th area of the campain as it's at night and the UI brightness is still the same.

What you described sound like TV dynamic brightness, even during dark loading screens white stays white on my screen with this cable (loading Switch games for example).
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I never had that issue before. I also checked the single player stage and it didn't have a notable impact.

Doing a few tests:
Changing from Samsung Standard mode to dynamic or movie seems to fix it.
But it makes the quality look worse so that's not a fix for me.

On standard mode with a normal HDMI cable it does not have the same effect.
The USB is connected to the Switch, I don't imagine that's causing the issue since it wouldn't be replicated by looking at a dark spot in Splatoon.

So it seems to a mix of both my TV and the cable?
 
gingerbeardman

gingerbeardman

Moai Master
Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,027
Cornwall, UK
Cartridge Games said:
Changing my TV brightness seems to have worked, jumped on Splatoon's Splatfest and with the nighttime visuals it looks abhorrent.
There's a stage that has a black sky, if I look upwards the screen darkens.

I had noticed some people mentioning that it messed with black levels, but I don't think anyone mentioned it did it depending on what was on screen. I'm not sure I can return it, but a cable I can only use on some games to have a marginal benefit doesn't seem worth buying.
Asked the company on twitter for feedback, but the account seems inactive
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What account? I've had responses by DM from @marseilleinc on twitter and by email from [email protected]
 

Deleted member 1413

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,617
Marseille never replied, but I messed around with my settings and managed to fix it.
With the generic HDMI it didn't cause these issues to happen, so the mCable was responsible but it might depend on the TV.
I can't use game mode anymore and I need to switch from Samsung's standard mode to movie mode.

So it's annoying but not nearly as broken as I first thought. Likely won't apply if you don't have a Samsung monitor
 
Militaratus

Militaratus

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
1,212
I made another attempt with the mCable on the PS3 with Dead Space, and yes the image got upscaled from 720p to 1080p, but strangely the CXAA finally decided to kick in and cleaned up the image. Sure there are jaggies here and there, but Isaac looks better than before.

If only I could turn off the HDCP on PS3 I could make some proper captures to put side by side.
 

Alo81

Member
Oct 27, 2017
547
Cartridge Games said:
Updated impressions; keeps changing the brightness automatically?
Or maybe it's the black levels? Dunno, either way I can't say I like that at all.
In xenoblade if I move the camera to a dark spot the whole screen gets darker including the UI.
Xenoblade already had a bit of an issue with brightness so that doesn't help.

Managed to fix it by upping the brightness by 10, but it really shouldn't do that. Starting to regret the purchase despite being pretty excited for it
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You sure thats an HDMI cable thing? Sounds like an auto backlight adjusting setting that some TV's have.
 
MadraptorMan

MadraptorMan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
947
Niigata, Japan
Got the gaming edition for Christmas. Plugged everything in and fired up BotW, but I'm really having a hard time seeing the difference. I think Link looks cleaner but there is still plenty of aliasing going on on edges in the environment, especially in the distance. My TV is a regular 1080p set...is there some easy way to check if everything is working? Maybe PS4 Pro would be an easier test?
 
marc^o^

marc^o^

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,205
Paris, France
MadraptorMan said:
Got the gaming edition for Christmas. Plugged everything in and fired up BotW, but I'm really having a hard time seeing the difference. I think Link looks cleaner but there is still plenty of aliasing going on on edges in the environment, especially in the distance. My TV is a regular 1080p set...is there some easy way to check if everything is working? Maybe PS4 Pro would be an easier test?
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The cable is more suited to a 4K TV. If you have Mario Kart or Fifa 18, try it instead of Botw (Zelda shows little gain indeed).
 
Vashetti

Vashetti

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,552
MadraptorMan said:
Got the gaming edition for Christmas. Plugged everything in and fired up BotW, but I'm really having a hard time seeing the difference. I think Link looks cleaner but there is still plenty of aliasing going on on edges in the environment, especially in the distance. My TV is a regular 1080p set...is there some easy way to check if everything is working? Maybe PS4 Pro would be an easier test?
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Is your TV properly calibrated? If you have Sharpness, Dynamic Contrast, Brightness, etc. out of the wazoo, then you're probably not going to be seeing anything because you're already destroying your IQ.
 
whiskeyjack-YT

whiskeyjack-YT

Member
Nov 25, 2017
671
Finland
I'm very happy with my mCable Gaming. It does wonders for Zelda BoTW and I wouldn't play the game without it anymore. The only thing I don't like is the "enhanced dynamics" in colour grading, but its not that bad.

Haven't really tried the thing with anything else really.

MadraptorMan said:
Got the gaming edition for Christmas. Plugged everything in and fired up BotW, but I'm really having a hard time seeing the difference. I think Link looks cleaner but there is still plenty of aliasing going on on edges in the environment, especially in the distance. My TV is a regular 1080p set...is there some easy way to check if everything is working? Maybe PS4 Pro would be an easier test?
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Turn off all image enhancements the TV might have on. They're poop.77

Can you easily switch between the old HDMI and the new cable? Should be apparent then if you're not able to spot it. Also, if you sit "too far" the AA might be near negligible.
 
Wolfgunblood

Wolfgunblood

Member
Dec 1, 2017
2,748
The Land
I just got an mCable Gaming and I'm impressed. The most startling improvement so far is Dragon Quest Heroes 2 on PS4 (1080p TV). That game has no AA at all, so it's a great test for the cable. It works as advertised, there is a bit of sharpening and the AA works well (edges are smoothed almost to where the game graphics more closely resemble the pre-rendered cutscenes). The image also looks more 'glued' together if that makes any sense. For the money this is a really neat upgrade.
 

Deleted member 1413

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,617
MadraptorMan said:
Got the gaming edition for Christmas. Plugged everything in and fired up BotW, but I'm really having a hard time seeing the difference. I think Link looks cleaner but there is still plenty of aliasing going on on edges in the environment, especially in the distance. My TV is a regular 1080p set...is there some easy way to check if everything is working? Maybe PS4 Pro would be an easier test?
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Yeah, it works really well on Link but not the surroundings. It's weird it's not consistent.
Wolfgunblood said:
I just got an mCable Gaming and I'm impressed. The most startling improvement so far is Dragon Quest Heroes 2 on PS4 (1080p TV). That game has no AA at all, so it's a great test for the cable. It works as advertised, there is a bit of sharpening and the AA works well (edges are smoothed almost to where the game graphics more closely resemble the pre-rendered cutscenes). The image also looks more 'glued' together if that makes any sense. For the money this is a really neat upgrade.
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DQ Heroes has a demo on Switch and also lacks AA. It and Spelunker are good showcases
 
BlueManifest

BlueManifest

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Oct 25, 2017
15,320
GSY Miguel said:
You only need to set your console to 720p if the game runs in 720 AND is aliased (Rocket League for example) for the cable AA to be efficient.

On 900p games it's quite good as seen in Zelda.

But some games don't really benefit from it like Mario Odyssey except on some edges (mostly on Mario itself).

It works better on games running in 1080p without AA, but leave your console in 1080p unless you play Rocket League, or you might lose some details (but have better AA) if games render at a higher resolution than 720p.

Take a look at my 1080p screens : https://www.resetera.com/posts/611591/
It works pretty well on Zelda.
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I forgot and I'm not by my switch atm, but does it have an automatic setting for resolution? Would setting it to automatic allow the system to change back and forth from 1080p to 720p on its own depending on the game without you needing to change it everytime for the cable?
 

Deleted member 12317

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BlueManifest said:
I forgot and I'm not by my switch atm, but does it have an automatic setting for resolution? Would setting it to automatic allow the system to change back and forth from 1080p to 720p on its own depending on the game without you needing to change it everytime for the cable?
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I think the automatic setting is only there to detect what the TV/monitor is able to support, I don't think games can force a system-wide resolution.
 
BlueManifest

BlueManifest

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Oct 25, 2017
15,320
GSY Miguel said:
I think the automatic setting is only there to detect what the TV/monitor is able to support, I don't think games can force a system-wide resolution.
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I'm confused at why it would help 900p when the console is set to 1080p but not help 720p when console is set to 1080p. So is there 0 improvement to 720p at 1080p or does it just not help as much?

That would be annoying to have to change the system resolution with every game that's 720p that's the only thing stopping me from thinking about buying it, although there's really not that many switch games that are 720p docked
 
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Deleted member 12317

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BlueManifest said:
I'm confused at why it would help 900p when the console is set to 1080p but not help 720p when console is set to 1080p. So is there 0 improvement to 720p at 1080p or does it just not help as much?

That would be annoying to have to change the system resolution with every game that's 720p that's the only thing stopping me from thinking about buying it, although there's really not that many switch games that are 720p docked
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It helps 900p when the console is set to 1080p, but it's not as effective as 1080p on 1080p nor 720p on 720p.
720p on 1080p is almost not affected by the cable because of the way the algorithm works.

It looks for aliased edges from pixel to pixel, an image rendered at native output resolution gets the best filtering option as every pixel matches the output 1 by 1. So the cable is most effective on 1080p games displayed in 1080p, and games rendering in 720p if the output is set to 720p.

900p is not perfectly filtered as some pixels get blurry because of the 900p to 1080p upscale, it works on most edges but not all.
720p is too far from 1080p (too blurry because of the upscale) so the algorithm does not catch every aliased edges, so it's far less effective on 720p games displayed in 1080p. It works a bit and the slight sharpening effect helps a bit.

I don't know if my explanations are clear but I did my best :D
 
BlueManifest

BlueManifest

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Oct 25, 2017
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GSY Miguel said:
It helps 900p when the console is set to 1080p, but it's not as effective as 1080p on 1080p nor 720p on 720p.
720p on 1080p is almost not affected by the cable because of the way the algorithm works.

It looks for aliased edges from pixel to pixel, an image rendered at native output resolution gets the best filtering option as every pixel matches the output 1 by 1. So the cable is most effective on 1080p games displayed in 1080p, and games rendering in 720p if the output is set to 720p.

900p is not perfectly filtered as some pixels get blurry because of the 900p to 1080p upscale, it works on most edges but not all.
720p is too far from 1080p (too blurry because of the upscale) so the algorithm does not catch every aliased edges, so it's far less effective on 720p games displayed in 1080p. It works a bit and the slight sharpening effect helps a bit.

I don't know if my explanations are clear but I did my best :D
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K I'm going to come up with some random estimated guesses then you can just say which is more accurate

720p on 720p = 100% improvement
720p on 1080p = 15% improvement
900p on 1080p = 60% improvement
1080p on 1080p = 100% improvement

Or this one

720p on 1080p = 0% improvement
900p on 1080p = 50% improvement
1080p on 1080p = 100% improvement
 

Deleted member 12317

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Oct 27, 2017
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BlueManifest I'd say the first one, there's still some improvement on 720p games displayed in 1080p, but the anti-aliasing is not as effective as expected since the algorithm is having a blurrier image to work with.
 
SliChillax

SliChillax

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Oct 30, 2017
2,144
Tirana, Albania
For PS4 games with no Pro patches like Uncharted Collection, is it better to use this cable and set your tv to 1080p or is it better to upscale the image at 4k (using a normal HDMI cable)?
 
BlueManifest

BlueManifest

One Winged Slayer
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Oct 25, 2017
15,320
Inuhanyou said:
no. only this company has cables that actually WORK. seiki has one, but its just because its a super old iteration of the chip in these cables, and because its older, it has almost zero amount of the features present
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I wonder if I should wait for version 2 since I saw some where in this thread that it's releasing this year? Hopefully by summer because i really want one now
 
OP
OP
Inuhanyou

Inuhanyou

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Oct 25, 2017
14,214
New Jersey
This is actually version 4 of the cable from this company, but the first version to have a version focused on gaming specifically. the cinema version of this cable is the evolution of the other 3 cables....version 5 will likey be more expensive than this cable because it will support 4K support and HDR
 
BlueManifest

BlueManifest

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Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,320
Inuhanyou said:
This is actually version 4 of the cable from this company, but the first version to have a version focused on gaming specifically. the cinema version of this cable is the evolution of the other 3 cables....version 5 will likey be more expensive than this cable because it will support 4K support and HDR
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Version 2 of the gaming cable then, the way they talked about it made it seem like it could improve the AA even further
 
BlueManifest

BlueManifest

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Inuhanyou said:
yeah, but that investment in technology doesnt come cheap. i would suggest hoping for a price drop for this version and buying it up when the new one comes out....cause that's a pretty hefty fee
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Do you know when the first one released so I can make an estimated guess of version 2 release date, I see some videos on YouTube going back to June and July
 
Militaratus

Militaratus

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
1,212
I managed to capture some footage on the PS3 and made an amateur comparison video comparing the game footage with a normal HDMI cable and the mCable Gaming Edition. The TLDW is the mCable footage is 1080p and looks cleaner than the Normal 720p footage, but it's nowhere near Pro Enhanced 1080p quality.

 
SleepSmasher

SleepSmasher

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,094
Australia
Proud owner of a mCable for 6 months now. Sometimes I'm playing a game on my Pro and I go back to the Switch and it's so much easier on the eyes to adapt to a the downgrade in IQ. Absolutely worth the price.
 
Barneystuta

Barneystuta

Member
Nov 4, 2017
1,637
Digital Foundry have done a review of the mCable.

https://youtu.be/ANIlyANoFxI

A summary:

- does help for 1080p or lower resolutions
- No benefits if you are playing at 4k i.e on a One X or Pro
- Barely any additional input lag of 1ms
- Works best on Switch titles
- Is ''expensive" but worth it if you want to sharpen iQ of games where AA is limit
 
Al3x1s

Al3x1s

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Nov 13, 2017
2,824
Greece
Militaratus said:
I managed to capture some footage on the PS3 and made an amateur comparison video comparing the game footage with a normal HDMI cable and the mCable Gaming Edition. The TLDW is the mCable footage is 1080p and looks cleaner than the Normal 720p footage, but it's nowhere near Pro Enhanced 1080p quality.

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I'm not seeing any difference whatsoever here, maybe it's this game that just can't be fixed with their AA solution or something was set up wrong? I could see the difference easily in other examples but here it's an aliased mess regardless. I tried to make sure I check the easier to discern situations like when some horizontal aliased object is halfway through the screen so it shows on both sides in the same angle and it looked just as aliased in both cases to me.
 
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Wowfunhappy

Wowfunhappy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,102
I will wish this was a box instead of a cable that let you turn it on and off via an IR remote of some kind. I would buy such a product.
 
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