The life of a retrogamer is more complicated than it seems. Resources for emulating systems are abundant, and the Raspberry Pi can cover the vast majority of hardware requirements, but the next step for any enthusiast is to accurately reproduce the original experience and get maximum quality at the same time. That creates the need to connect the Raspberry Pi to a CRT monitor or television without using its composite output, and that's where RGB-Pi comes in, a special cable with a clean design that enables RGB support via GPIO, using a SCART port on the other end.
The composite video output based on the classic yellow RCA is one of the most supported on the market. No matter how old the device, you'll most likely be able to get video from it through that connector, as long as you accept a small detail: its quality isn't that good.
The arrival of S-Video and YPbPr (read as "component") improved things, but over time they gave way to HDMI and flat screens. Now, anyone would think that HDMI guarantees quality, which is true… for digital signals. Retro consoles and especially old games were designed with analog signals in mind, including scanlines and other details. When we convert all that to HDMI, the panel applies upscaling due to resolution differences, we find lag, and it looks horrible. In normal situations, enthusiasts emulating consoles with a Raspberry Pi must accept these changes or "drop" to the mini computer's composite support, but now they have an alternative: RGB-Pi.
(Editor's note: The capture does not represent the final quality the user will see.)
https://www.youtube.com/embed/4AELR5OkPCARGB-Pi is a Spanish development based on a European SCART connector compatible with CRT televisions that already have some years on them. Essentially, all the player has to do is connect the Raspberry Pi to the TV using the cable and boot it with the modified Recalbox image that already has the necessary settings to reproduce each game's native resolutions. Unfortunately, the official site doesn't have advanced technical details, but I'd venture to say that inside the SCART connector there's something similar to a Gert VGA 666 (if not, please leave a comment), highly recommended for connecting the Raspberry Pi to a classic VGA computer monitor. By adopting an RGB-Pi, the user doesn't have to force any additional filter or correction in the emulation environment; both the cable and the CRT TV do the heavy lifting.
In summary, it's the best of both worlds: RGB-Pi allows you to accurately reproduce retro game graphics on a CRT TV without abandoning the convenience and multiple advantages of the Raspberry Pi. The official site indicates that RGB-Pi may have some compatibility and/or synchronization issues with Sony PVM/BVM monitors (the Holy Grail of RGB addicts) that use BNC connectors, and with certain Samsung units. If you have any doubts, it's recommended to get in touch to clear them up and order the cable, which costs 30 euros plus shipping.
