Pandoras Box DX Upgrade w/ The mClassic!

RetroRalph·video·8m 14s·analyzed·Apr 24, 2020

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.020

TL;DR

mClassic HDMI scaler fixes Pandora's Box aspect ratio stretch, upscales to Quad HD with retro filters.

Summary

RetroRalph reviews the mClassic, an HDMI scaler device that corrects the aspect ratio issue on Pandora's Box arcade emulation cabinets. The mClassic's Retro Mode converts stretched 16:9 output to proper 4:3 aspect ratio while upscaling to Quad HD (2560x1440), offering optional scan lines and pixel smoothing. Though priced at ~$100 and not mandatory, it significantly improves the visual presentation of retro arcade games on these devices.

Key Claims

Pandora's Box emulation devices output 720p in 16:9 aspect ratio, stretching arcade games incorrectly
high confidence · Demonstrated on-screen with multiple Pandora's Box units throughout the video
mClassic Retro Mode converts stretched 16:9 signal to proper 4:3 aspect ratio at Quad HD (2560x1440) resolution
high confidence · Explicitly stated and shown through direct before/after comparison on Final Fight and TMNT
mClassic retails for approximately $100
high confidence · Stated directly in final thoughts section
Pandora's Box can display 4:3 through VGA but downgrades to 640x480 resolution, making mClassic HDMI upscaling preferable
high confidence · Explained during main menu discussion as technical limitation discussion
mClassic device features three modes switchable by toggle: processing off (white LED), processing on (green LED), and Retro Mode (blue LED)
high confidence · Demonstrated and explained during device hardware walkthrough

Notable Quotes

“There's one thing that bothers you... it stretches your games. It does not present them the right aspect ratio.”
RetroRalph@ 0:08 — Identifies the core problem statement the video addresses
“So the cool thing about this sort of mClassic solution is that you can upscale the image and get it back to its original aspect ratio.”
RetroRalph@ 6:15 — Summarizes the primary benefit of the mClassic over VGA alternative
“It is a bit pricey though... It's about $100. This is by no means a mandatory thing. If you're happy with the 16:9 and with it stretched out, that's fine.”
RetroRalph@ 6:41 — Provides balanced final assessment acknowledging cost versus optional utility
“So it's not a perfect solution anyway, but this does help improve it and it even upscales the image so it looks even nicer.”
RetroRalph@ 6:56 — Acknowledges Pandora's Box emulation limitations while positioning mClassic as improvement

Entities

RetroRalphpersonmClassicproductPandora's BoxproductElgatocompanyTeenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesgameFinal Fightgame

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.025

0:00

Okay, so you love your Pandora's Box. You love it! But there's one thing that bothers you. There's one thing that you can't get over, and it's the fact that it stretches your games. It does not present them in the right aspect ratio. So how can we get those games to be displayed in the right aspect ratio via HDMI on this Pandora's Box? Well, stick around, and I'll show you how. Okay, on the table we have four Pandora's Box boards. four of them output via HDMI 720p, and all four of them stretch the image and display the games in 16.9 aspect ratio. So how can we correct this? Well, there's a device called the mClassic, which we're going to check out today, and it has a mode called Retro Mode, where it claims that it can take a 16.9 image and scale it down to 4.3 to make it look correct for the way a retro game should be displayed. Now we're going to call out the Pandora's Box DX today, although the solution would apply to any of these Pandora's boxes on the table. All right, let's take a closer look at the M Classic itself. So this is an HDMI dongle. So really, one end goes into your console, the other end goes out to your TV. You will notice there is a micro USB here. That is actually for power, and so there's a power cord that it comes with. And then you'll notice there's a little switch on the side. So this thing is pretty simple. There's a switch with three actual options. There's the top one, which is processing off. There's the middle one, which is processing on. And there's another one that's called the retro mode. And that's the mode we're going to want to be in for 4 by 3 aspect ratio. So there is also something on the back that indicates a couple different things. When you're in the processing off mode, the LED indicator is white. When you're in the processing on, it's green. And when you're in retro mode, it's blue. So let's hook it up and check it out. All right, to hook this up is fairly simple. So we're just going to apply the power to it. And then we're going to plug this end into our Pandora's box. When that plugged into the Pandora box you just going to want to plug in your HDMI to your TV or whatever your output is and that it and box the axe battle continue okay so the system is all booted up on the Pandora's box DX so what I'm going to do really quick is I'm going to show you Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as it's presented with the m classic turned off So it's gonna go 720p and it's also gonna output 16 9. So let's check that out

3:07

All right, so what you saw there is you saw the Elgato sort of reset because we're sending it a different signal. Now we're actually sending it a 4x3 signal, so it looks a lot better than it did before, right? Because now it's being presented in the aspect ratio you'd expect. Now, there are a couple little things you can enable on the Pandora's Box DX should you want to do that. There's scan lines, and then there's sort of pixel optimization, and that sort of just smooths the pixels over. I don't personally like that, but I'll show you what that looks like real quick. So let's exit back out to the main menu, and we'll go to the settings. Okay, so we're in the settings menu, and under system configuration, you can actually turn on what's called quality optimization. Like I said, that's pixel smoothing, and we can turn on scanning line or scan lines. I don't know why they called it scanning line. So we can turn that on too. Now what we do, we just back out a menu and then we can say save settings and then it will actually reboot the system. Okay, so we're back to the main menu and we have those two settings on the quality optimization and scan lines Now you may ask yourself what actual resolution is this mClassic outputting Now it 4x3 aspect ratio but it presenting it in what called Quad HD So it's 2560x1440. So it's not quite 4K, but it looks really, really good. So let's go into a different game this time. Let's do Final Fight and see what that looks like. All right, so now you can kind of see if you really pay close attention to the image, you can kind of see that there's scan lines now enabled. But you'll also notice there is sort of this like smoothing effect, which sort of makes the game look a little bit more modern, in my opinion. I don't necessarily like that, but a lot of people do. But I think the game overall, the image and stuff looks really good. Now, with these Pandora's box boards, sometimes you'll get like a tiny bit of screen tearing and stuff like that. But that's kind of par for the course for these, but I don't see a whole lot of it in this particular game. But you can see, I mean, the image looks really good. It looks a lot better than what it looked like, you know, prior. So, you know, not all stretched out and stuff. Now, if you want to see what it would look like stretched out, we can go back to that. We can go and flip the switch back to no optimization, which is going to put us back to 720p, and you're going to see the image completely stretched out. So yeah, I mean, some people don't realize there's a huge difference in the gameplay as far as how it looks. It just doesn't look right, you know, and so a lot of people really don't like that. And this is a solution so you can get rid of that. So I'm going to go back to 4x3 and you guys can see the difference really fast.

5:51

All right, let's go back to the main menu real fast. So I want to talk to you about a couple things. So really quick, you can actually get this board to display 4.3, but you have to use VGA. And when you use VGA it downgrades the signal to 640 by 480 And maybe you don want to use VGA or the monitor you using doesn even have VGA So a lot of times VGA is not an option And plus why would you want to go to 480p So the cool thing about this sort of mClassic solution is that you can upscale the image and get it back to its original aspect ratio. Well, I think it is time for final thoughts. So let's do it. All right, guys, it's final thoughts time. So what do I think about the mClassic as an option to restore the aspect ratio of your Pandora's box of 4.3. I actually think it's really cool. It is a bit pricey though. We didn't talk about price. It's about $100. I will have a link in the description below. This is by no means a mandatory thing. If you're happy with the 16.9 and with it stretched out, that's fine. But if you're really looking for that original experience, this kind of helps restore that to the Pandora's box. Now we all know the Pandora's box is not perfect. There's a lot of emulation problems and hiccups along the way. So it's not a perfect solution anyway, but this does help improve it and it even upscales the image so it looks even nicer you know with a device like this and keep in mind the m classic you could use for all sorts of other devices too so it's not just limited to your pandora's box or a pandora's box you know of some kind so that's all i really have if you enjoyed this please give us a thumbs up uh consider subscribing to the channel if you enjoy the content put your comments below is this something that you'd consider if you already own a pandora's box or is this something you're going to pass on and that's it for now guys we will see you on the next one. The Wicked Gamer and Collector!