New forum member & a few questions

[Garrett]

Hello to all forum members,


I have already used a Pandora several times (my friend has one) and overall am hugely impressed by what i have seen, didn't believe him when he told me it was the work of just a handfull of enthusiasts, until i visted this forum (which is great by the way, very informative & unusually welcoming).. pretty incredible really.


I have a few questions if i may before i commit, mostly regarding emulation (my main reason for buying) whilst i enjoyed the limited time i have had with the various games/emulators etc (my friend has now moved) i did find the ones i tried to be lacking in options/unoptimised or just a little too convoluted (at least for me) in particular there doesn't seem to be many/any options for screen scaling & graphical filters in the various emulators that you would find on the windows version or on other devices such as the PSP or smartphones.. are the emulators that exist currently finished or are they wip & if so would the features i describe be incorporated in future builds?


Also the N64 doesn't seem to support an awful lot of what (i would regard) as the essential games, at least at playable speeds.. i'm sure most people know the ones i mean.. will this ever improve?


How does the Pandora handle playback of Youtube videos.. is 480p (and above) supported, if not will it ever be?


Thanks for listening & to anyone taking the time to respond.

 

[sebt3]

We are a smaller community than the PSP one. let say the PSP scene have 10 times the numbers of dev we have here.


All the emulators are works in project, and most of them (if not all) are complely opensources. So all you need is that a dev agree that better filters/scallers are missing and think that it's the best thing he could possibly do with his spare time is to code them.


If we get the dsp codec working, minitube will use them (throw gstreamer) and 480p youtube playing will be there (as long as your internet connection keep up)

 

[Fworg64]

Well as far as emulation goes, im happy. I suppose there arent too many options for screen scaling (Snes9x4P does have a couple however, i think visual boy advance? not sure.) but most of them run almost all their games full speed, and if they dont they are constantly getting updates and getting better bit by bit.


Theres some cool info on the wiki Emulator list


I was gonna through in the N64 compatibility list as well but i cant find it right now the point is LOTS of n64 games run just fine at around 800Mhz and i hear PSX emulation is near perfection. Anything before those will almost be gaurenteed to run just fine.


Youtube videos stream fine at 240p, it doesnt look THAT bad either, it probably could go higher but not sure if its a wifi issue or something that could be sorted out when we finally getting around to using the DSP.


Oh, and Welcome to the Boards


EDIT:: ninja'd

 

[Nintendo]

Welcome and enjoy your stay.


Also, does your friend visit these forum boards?


Anyway, to answer your questions...


1. Most of them are still a wip, but to be honest they've come along way since first being ported.


2. As for features that you described being incorporated in future builds, I can't be 100% sure of it, but the devs always work tirelessly to make things easier for everyone by giving them more options.


3. Yes, it will definitely improve over time.


4. MiniTube is awesome, but I don't bother with YouTube, as anything above 240p is too slow for me.

 

[Disco Devil]

Welcome to the forum

 

[Garrett]

Many thanks to those that have replied,


Something i forgot to ask, is there a chance that any of my all time favourite game series (my avatar & name are a clue) could be ported & made to run on Pandora..?


Thanks.

 

[Prometheus]

Something i forgot to ask, is there a chance that any of my all time favourite game series (my avatar & name are a clue) could be ported & made to run on Pandora..?

The answer is in whether the source code is available or not. Unless something is open source, or has an open source engine-replacement, then it isn't possible to port it.


Welcome, by the way. I assume you're visiting your friend at this time?

 

[freamon]

Many thanks to those that have replied,


Something i forgot to ask, is there a chance that any of my all time favourite game series (my avatar & name are a clue) could be ported & made to run on Pandora..?


Thanks.

No mate. Specs to high; source code unavailable. Awesome games though.

 

[hakmanplayer]

Best portable emulator/pc out there.

 

[Caine]

Welcome to the community. Most of your questions seem to have been answered already.


We are a small community (less than 4000 units have shipped) and we lack developers. That said, what we lack in numbers we compensate with skill. Some of our devs are highly skilled in what they do.


Many people around here don't like any form of scaling which distorts the original aspect ratio and thus such modes are not high on the todo list. You do have a direct line of communication with the developers or porters here, so you can always request missing features. Do keep in mind that developers work on the software in their spare time.


Regarding 480p content (and above). This mainly depends on the codec which is being utilized. The Pandora lacks the processing power to decode H264 content on the CPU only. Perhaps some day in the future we will be able to utilize the DSP to do so however realistically you shouldn't expect that any time soon.


In terms of controls/battery/potential there isn't anything like the Pandora. As soon as production problems are solved (the board manufacturer has been doing a lousy job and is in the process of being replaced) and more Pandoras are being sold & shipped, then I expect the (already nice) software library to make great leaps forward.

 

[Disco Devil]

Many people around here don't like any form of scaling which distorts the original aspect ratio and thus such modes are not high on the todo list.

I don't mean to keep banging the same drum, but if this guy is at all representative of potential purchasers shouldn't scaling/filtering options at least be included in future emulator builds/ports & games, i know it's frowned upon for the sake of accuracy & the visual 'distortion' but it's never bothered me too much, and i'd like to bet i am not the only one.. am i missing something really obvious here? it just seems rather peculiar to me not to include a fullscreen 800x480 OPTION (let's not forget that's what it is) in all emulators/games etc where it is technically possible to do so.


Appeal to all devs.. PLEASE let people decide for themselves in future builds whether or not they want to 'ruin' the original aspect ratio, at the very least give people the choice.

 

[gadgetoid]

Many people around here don't like any form of scaling which distorts the original aspect ratio and thus such modes are not high on the todo list.

I don't mean to keep banging the same drum, but if this guy is at all representative of potential purchasers shouldn't scaling/filtering options at least be included in future emulator builds/ports & games, i know it's frowned upon for the sake of accuracy & the visual 'distortion' but it's never bothered me too much, and i'd like to bet i am not the only one.. am i missing something really obvious here? it just seems rather peculiar to me not to include a fullscreen 800x480 OPTION (let's not forget that's what it is) in all emulators/games etc where it is technically possible to do so.


Appeal to all devs.. PLEASE let people decide for themselves in future builds whether or not they want to 'ruin' the original aspect ratio, at the very least give people the choice.

You can all flame me for saying so, but I prefer my emulation output scaled.

 

[WizardStan]

I don't mean to keep banging the same drum, but if this guy is at all representative of potential purchasers shouldn't scaling/filtering options at least be included in future emulator builds/ports & games

I'll tell you a secret: integer scaling is easier than filtering. Rendering a pixel to a pixel, or doubling up one pixel to 2 pixels, is really easy. Non-integer scaling and filtering actually takes some work. Once all the emulation work is actually done, adding filtering is just another task, but it's non-critical: the emulator works, and looks pretty good, so ship now and add missing features later. Sometimes those features get added, sometimes the developer moves onto other projects and doesn't get around to it. That is why a lot of emulators don't have filters. It is rarely because they said "I don't want filters because I'm a purist" (which would be an entirely different argument on what it means to be "pure", but I digress) but more often because it's just a feature that was less important than just getting the bloody thing working.

 

[Prometheus]

Many people around here don't like any form of scaling which distorts the original aspect ratio and thus such modes are not high on the todo list.

I don't mean to keep banging the same drum, but if this guy is at all representative of potential purchasers shouldn't scaling/filtering options at least be included in future emulator builds/ports & games, i know it's frowned upon for the sake of accuracy & the visual 'distortion' but it's never bothered me too much, and i'd like to bet i am not the only one.. am i missing something really obvious here? it just seems rather peculiar to me not to include a fullscreen 800x480 OPTION (let's not forget that's what it is) in all emulators/games etc where it is technically possible to do so.


Appeal to all devs.. PLEASE let people decide for themselves in future builds whether or not they want to 'ruin' the original aspect ratio, at the very least give people the choice.

Do pardon me here, but I'd gotten the impression that he was your friend. :blink:


Anyway, I guess Stan's got you covered with the facts, here.

 

[Blue Protoman]

Am I the only one here who is not bothered that intensely by this issue? I myself would rather have integer scaling than blurry/pixelated scaling (with the exception of MAME, where most games are vertical). The only emulator that I long for another scaling option for is GPSP (but I know very well why there is no fullscreen).

 

[Exophase]

I'll tell you a secret: integer scaling is easier than filtering. Rendering a pixel to a pixel, or doubling up one pixel to 2 pixels, is really easy. Non-integer scaling and filtering actually takes some work. Once all the emulation work is actually done, adding filtering is just another task, but it's non-critical: the emulator works, and looks pretty good, so ship now and add missing features later. Sometimes those features get added, sometimes the developer moves onto other projects and doesn't get around to it. That is why a lot of emulators don't have filters. It is rarely because they said "I don't want filters because I'm a purist" (which would be an entirely different argument on what it means to be "pure", but I digress) but more often because it's just a feature that was less important than just getting the bloody thing working.

Usually, but in Pandora's case you just create a /dev/fb1 surface and render to it, and the scaling is handled for you in hardware. afaik SDL is using it now, and for anyone who somehow isn't using it I encourage them to change. Not just for the scaling (for those that are using non-800x480 to begin with), but because it's the best option performance-wise.


.. of course, if we're talking about algorithms like HQ2X and what have you that's another story.