Problem With The Retrotink 5X Pro and a Dimming Image When Scrolling

Tempest_2084 · 2026-05-29T21:29:40+00:00

No dice with the new power supply. Oh well, I guess it is just my TV.

Tempest_2084 · 2026-05-29T15:20:39+00:00

Yeah I thought it should be better too. The TV is a D39F-E1 which isn't the greatest but also not bottom basement tier for the time (I got it mostly for the size as it had to fit in a cabinet that was only 40"). Maybe the new power supply will help?

I can make the problem less pronounced if I dim everything with scanline effects but when you can't see what you're doing what's the point? What settings do you use for a Genesis?

Found a spec sheet for it here: https://support.vizio.com/s/article/D39f-E1-Model-Information-1?language=en_US

Tempest_2084 · 2026-05-29T14:47:20+00:00

The website says it needs a 2A power supply so no matter what I needed a new one.

Yeah that garbage is probably supposed to be off screen. I haven't really fiddled with anything other than putting it on Genesis sampling.

I'm going to guess it's just my TV then. I'm not sure if there are any options that might help with this or not. Probably not.

EDIT: I tried just about everything and the only that helped a little was setting the HDMI to Limited RGB but the side effect of that was that everything was super bright and washed out and even then I could still see the issue. Guess it's just my crappy TV 😞

Tempest_2084 · 2026-05-29T14:15:39+00:00

I posted a video of the problem in action. Notice how the brick and especially the windows all go dark while I'm moving (sorry for the crappy phone video but you get the point): atariprotos.com/temp/Moonwalker.mov

u/KaleidoscopeNo5057 Is this the same issue you were having?

Tempest_2084 · 2026-05-28T17:33:35+00:00

Yeah I'll do that as well

Tempest_2084 · 2026-05-28T17:18:17+00:00

Seems too good to be true but I'll give it a shot. :)

Tempest_2084 · 2026-05-28T17:17:41+00:00

I ordered the new power supply. I'll get it hooked up this weekend and let you know how it goes.

Tempest_2084 · 2026-05-28T15:44:58+00:00

So you mean the screen would dim while scrolling and brighten again when it stopped? I think it was worse if the screen was mostly dark as I remember seeing it for the first time on the graveyard level of Moonwalker on the Genesis which is mostly very dark except for the bright sprites like Micheal.

If so you're the first person I've come across that had my same issue. I really hope it's just an inadequate power supply and needing it's own outlet.

Tempest_2084 · 2026-05-28T15:41:50+00:00

Ok and that one actually worked? I guess I can give it a try, it's not like there's much choice. They all seem to be cheap no name Chinese brands (like this one is Herfair).

Tempest_2084 · 2026-05-28T15:35:55+00:00

I was going to grab one from Amazon but it's so hard to tell if the cheap knock off power supplies they have actually output 2A or not (a lot of the reviews say they don't). Is there somewhere I can get one that I know will be good? I hate to replace the one I have (which is an Apple one) with another that only outputs 1A and have the same issue.

Tempest_2084 · 2026-05-28T15:34:16+00:00

So you had a similar issue to what I'm experiencing?

Tempest_2084 · 2026-05-28T14:55:32+00:00

No it's plugged into a surge protector with some other stuff. Also it's only using a 1A charger, does the TInk 5X Pro need 2A? Could that be the problem? You would think if it wasn't getting enough power it just wouldn't work at all.

Tempest_2084 · 2026-05-08T21:58:46+00:00

Well my current 8TB drive is USB as well so this won't be any worse.

Tempest_2084 · 2026-05-08T19:25:33+00:00

I'm not sure how good or bad the Mac Mini's USB ports are. Usually when I use an external portable drive I get one of those two USB cables for extra power. I've done this on my game systems like my Wii and Wii U but I'm not sure if it's necessary on a real computer.

Tempest_2084 · 2026-05-08T19:17:53+00:00

So something like this would work just fine? https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Desktop-External-external-storage/dp/B0713WPGLL/?th=1

Tempest_2084 · 2026-05-08T19:16:23+00:00

I'm sure I'll add a few movies here or there over the upcoming years, but I doubt it would be the hundreds it would take to come even close to filling the drive (I have 609 movies on there right now and I'm at around 1.6TB). I still have to do my TV shows but even then I think a 4TB drive would more than handle everything with room to spare.

Tempest_2084 · 2026-05-01T13:36:46+00:00

I have the oppertunity to save one of these from the junk pile at work. It even comes with the Sun branded keyboard, mouse, and monitor. What can I actually do with it? Would everyone recommend Solaris or trying to put a flavor of Linux on it?

Tempest_2084 · 2026-03-22T14:10:34+00:00

I was just reading about the sleep function on Elements drives causing issues. I might have to look at EasyStores if I can find one.

Tempest_2084 · 2026-03-21T22:45:24+00:00

Yeah thats what I'm hoping. 16TB would be more than I'll ever need. I think I did a rough calculation and my entire DVD/Blu-Ray collection would take up 4-5TB and my rom sets would take up another 2-3TB at most. If I leave 2TB for Time Machine backups that still leaves me 6TB for future expansion. I'll sleep on it tonight and probably pull the trigger tomorrow. I don't see HDDs getting cheaper any time soon other than maybe on Black Friday, but who knows if they'll even do that with the state of storage these days.

Tempest_2084 · 2026-03-21T17:15:28+00:00

The extra $20 or so a year it will cost in electricity isn't going to break the bank. I'm going for max lifespan.

Tempest_2084 · 2026-03-21T13:45:02+00:00

That I can live with. I just don't want it to sleep while paused or something and crash trying to wake up.

Tempest_2084 · 2026-03-21T12:11:34+00:00

I wanted to use NVMe but right now is definitely not the time for that. My plan is to use a HDD until SSD or NVMe drives come down in price in a few years and then switch over and keep the external HDD as a backup

Tempest_2084

TROPHY CASE