PixelFX Morph 4K Scaler Review! Is It Worth It? Initial Impressions with MiSTer FPGA

I just got my Morph4k in today from Stone Age Gamer and it was 405 total shipped which after testing, is a very fair price (now its $275 on Pixel FX and SAG - currently getting a refund from SAG on the price difference) considering the RT4k can cost you over 1G at the moment, which is ridiculous. I spent the afternoon testing my internally HDMI modded Wii, my PS1 mini modded with Project Eris, my Sega Genesis Mini modded with Retroarch, my Dreamcast with a DC Digital HW2 mod and my Sega Saturn. This thing worked almost plug and play with each device with minimal tinkering, which meant more game time for me. Regular Wii, Wiiware games and GameCube titles have never looked so good running through the Morph4k and that crispy AVE-HDMI signal being sent from the Wii. I also couldn't believe how easily the Morph4k transformed both the PS1 mini and the Sega Genesis Mini games and its so awesome to now have access to an entire collection of PS1 games, Genesis, SNES, PC Engine, Mame, Sega CD, Neo Geo, NES and Master System games all beautifully scan lined and and upscaled to 4k so easily. My Dreamcast which already has the Retro Gem DC Digital HW2 got that 4k boost as well, and will just make your jaw drop with the addition of the Morph... just astounding image quality!!! Lastly the Saturn didn't fare so well. Without the much needed analog bridge, I wasn't able to utilize my HD Retrovision Saturn component cables and therefore had to use the Kaico Sega Saturn HDMI 2x line doubler adapter which gave pretty shoddy results. It did ok considering the muddy picture quality I introduced into the Morph4k using that adapter, so just be aware that if you send a cruddy signal into it, it can only do so much to clean it up. Having familiarity with the DC Digital HDMI mod and how beautiful it makes the Dreamcast look, I knew the Morph4k would give me the results I was expecting and I wasn't let down one bit. I'll definitely be getting that analog bridge when it comes thru. Edit - I was able to get the Kaico 2x HDMI line doubling Sega Saturn adapter to work with the Morph4k by updating its firmware and using the RGBS output in passthrough mode and achieved very nice results after all. It does output a little bit of noticeable signal noise, however it's still works great considering its a pretty much arun of the mill analog to HDMI converter.

Hope you make that scaler to a scaler video. It’s always rad to see what kind of setups are out there and to see if it’s worth the time and effort.

How did you run Saturn to the Morph? I ask because VF2 on MiSTer is different than Saturn. Other question, did you try RT2X in passthrough mode? Thanks,

Looks good. Have you got an OSSC and have you ever done a video on one? I finally got hold of one some time ago but don’t really know how to use it lol. I basically RGB input everything x 5🤷🏻‍♂️

Correct me if I'm wrong. I can buy something like a lbs cable. Plug it into my console and straight into the morph 4k?

Are you still having issues with the deinterlacer after the latest update (on testing channel?) Also it would have been good to mention the web interface as that's another USP of the Morph.

Do you have a GBS-C by chance? Pixel Morph + GBS-C (while the analog bridge isn't available yet) may be a really good combo.

Damn, I’m really early! I should say something insightful.

I have the same configuration as you, the same morph and the same mister of the same color, apart from other consoles modified by hdmi, and with the mister and the morph sometimes I have had small flickers on the screen, very sporadic that last about a second Like synchronicity, has it happened to you?

What game is that at 12:26?

I still want a T-shirt with Bob from RetroRGB with the word "Deinterlacing" underneath him. I would also accept Bob Ross.

I can see a number of use case scenarios that would make good use of the Morph. However, even if the product was much more mature from the get-go, I think the asking price is still too high. Sure it's less expensive than the RT4K but having only HDMI inputs at launch makes it very niche in an already niche setup. Using it as a scaling partner with something smaller like an OSSC doesn't make too much sense because the price of both machines combined comes awfully close to the RT4K while still sporting less features together. The best case scenarios I can see for this device is if somebody only uses HDMI devices for gaming. Anything 7th Gen and higher that doesn't support 4K natively, a RetroPi or Mister, a dedicated retro emulation PC like a mini with Batocera installed, HDMI modded consoles or perhaps somebody who uses Rad2X products exclusively for their analog consoles. Even so, I feel that the Morph shouldn't cost more than $300 the way it currently sits and that's still pushing it. Who knows though hopefully they'll iron out some of the Kinks this thing has and make it a better product. Maybe they'll even do a price cut to make it more attractive. Only time will tell but until then, its tough to give it a full endorsement. 🤷‍♂️

I have a OSSC Pro in the form of the Dexx_vd_isl, as far as matching a CRT, they can manage about the equivalent of a 350-400 TVL 240p CRT, the best looking CRT shader I have seen is on RetroArch, the RGB_Royal @ 8K, it's only touching the surface as far as a real CRT, it manages to technally emulate the basic side of the CRT rendering style, which is still a night & day improvement over naked pixels on a fixed pixel display, especially when used in conjunction with BFI, I hope to get a 99 dollar De10 Nano board to use as a dedicated OSSC Pro with the Dexx, which I will hook up to my Pioneer Kuro Plasma, which is the closest to actual CRT quality I have seen with a good CRT shader, especially the motion clarity thanks to subfield drive.

Looks promising VGE. I'm into new products so this will be to my liking for sure bro. 8^) Anthony..

RGB limited vs full will be dependent on your display/settings. In my experience, most modern displays will support RGB full range which has 0-255 steps of brightness vs the 16-235 of RGB limited range. If your display supports and is set to RGB full range and you feed it a RGB limited range signal, blacks will be washed out and appear grey and the maximum brightness will be capped so the picture will appear dull. If your display is only capable of or is set to RGB limited range and you feed it an RGB full range signal, blacks will be crushed (losing detail just above black) and highlights will be clipped (losing detail just below full brightness). If you match full range and full range or limited and limited you will get the full range from black to full brightness. It's not a preference thing, there is a correct setting. Side note: I've seen other YouTubers upload graphics comparison videos between different consoles/versions of games where one system's footage has been captured in RGB limited range and the other in RGB full range, so one console/version is artificially made to look both dull and washed out. It really annoys me because I read the comments and most people aren't aware, so they're given the false impression one console/version of a game looks bad when it has been hobbled.

What’s the situation with HDR on this? Saw there was some option mentioning it, but no mention of HDR output. As someone who likes to use scanlines and shadow masks on the RT4K I’ve found having HDR enabled is a must or else the image just gets way too dim for my liking, even with gamma adjustments

Def interested in some more scaler alternatives!

XRGB mini to a Morph scaler. Yikes. Glad I got a tink 4k on the latest drop.

Oh by the way a pro tip: use the unstable firmware as the current stable firmware is ancient.

I have one of these and I'm very much enjoying it. The masks and adaptive scanlines look great. I'm getting tired of having to chain it through an OSSC though. Can't wait till the analog bridge comes out. Also looking forward to HDR and rotation.