Sunday, September 25, 2016

RetroUSB AVS and Analogue Nt (Hi-Def NES) Palette Comparisons

With the recent release of the RetroUSB AVS along with beta v1.20 firmware the option to select pre-defined palettes is now available. While I really enjoy the new NES color palette provided by RetroUSB (aka "Original"), I can also see why some may like some alternatives including myself! Thankfully per my request to the creator of the AVS, my favorite NESRGB palette (FCEUX aka "Improved") was added to the new firmware. While it's a bit garish (not nearly bad as the Play Choice 10 palette), it had me wondering whether or not the FCEUX palette included by default with the Hi-Def NES was actually the FCEUX palette afterall!  I had noticed from the get go that the Hi-Def NES produced unfamiliar colors, despite the FCEUX name label.

After taking HDMI captures using a StarTech PEXHDCAP it appears that the "FCEUX" palette on the Hi-Def NES isn't acutally the FCEUX after all!  I used Loopy's PALTEST NES program (http://nesdev.com/paltest.zip) that uses HW tricks to display all of the NES colors on screen at once to capture the 7 palette choices available on the AVS and Hi-Def NES (4+3 respectively).

Here is the FCEUX palette comparison (AVS then Hi-Def NES). Notice how a number of colors are quite a bit different, especially in the red colors.

AVS FCEUX aka "Improved" Palette
Hi-Def NES "FCEUX's" Palette
Notice the darker reds along with de-saturated colors that do not match the original palette
I will be following up with "diff" pictures of the various palettes so that the differences between palettes can easily be consumed.  Stay tuned!