The mClassic is an odd device with some impressive features which include 1440p up-scaling for games, 4K for Movies, Depth of Field, Image Sharpening, Colour processing, anti-aliasing all with no lag processing, and all in one little package.
CAN THIS BE TRUE OR TOTAL BULL?
First off this is the Marseille mClassic the improved version of the mCable Gaming Edition which I covered back in 2019. Marseille and social media make some bold claims, a switch pro (upgrade), 4K visuals, better colour, and if you enjoy classic games, the mClassic will improve those retro visuals.
An easy plug-n-play device, it is simply an HDMI dongle that slots into the back of your console, requiring 1Watt of power from a Micro USB cable to power its ASIC processor and your own high-speed HDMI cable to pass visuals down to your TV/ Monitor. Once plugged in the mClassic will (should) add anti-aliasing, improve colours, add sharpening and even upscale* (*which almost every TV does these days itself). All of this is done with no lag, and this I know is true, even when I was using then mCable. The best thing is the price costing only $99.99, but is it worth it?
WHAT’S IN THE BOX?
From a sales point of view, Marseille have gone to town with this product, just look at the front,
BETTER GRAPHICS, BETTER PIXELS, BETTER GAMEPLAY
GAME CONSOLE GRAPHICS PROCESSOR
Big words and big claims, even on the back they stat The mClassic is like having a new graphics card, without the hassle of modifying your game console.
Marseille even list all the consoles it can be used with
- Nintendo Switch, Wii U, Gamecube, SNES
- PS4, Slim and Pro, PS3 and PS2 most likely PS5 as well.
- Xbox One, 360, Series X and Series S
- SEGA Genesis, Dreamcast
The dongle operates with 3 modes, Processing off, on, and retro mode, all consoled by a small knob on the side of the dongle.
- Processing turned on will allow for upscaling, anti-aliasing and sharpening
- Retro mode simply optimizes from older games
In the box, you get the dongle, one micro USB cable and one HDMI extender for use with the Nintendo Switch as it is impossible to fit the mClassic inside the dock. I was actually using the extender for all my devices as they are all placed on a shelf that just about fits the Series X. Adding the mClassic to the back of the Series X would have my device hanging off the shelf a little, bit, using the extender and wrapping the device around the back made more sense.
The dongle itself is damn good looking, gold plated, red grips, all-around a black plastic housing, the mClassic looks like a high-quality device worth its asking price.
So are you pondering the video inputs and outputs no problem
| Input | Output | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resolution | Frame rate | Resolution | Frame rate | ||
| Mode 0 | Mode 1 | Mode 2 | |||
| 480i | 60Hz | 480i | 480i | 480i | 60Hz |
| 576i | 50Hz | 576i | 576i | 576i | 50Hz |
| 1080i | 60Hz | 1080i | 1080i | 1080i | 60Hz |
| VGA | 60Hz | VGA | 1080p/1440p | 1080p/1440p (4:3) | 60Hz |
| 480p | 60Hz | 480p | 1080p/1440p | 1080p/1440p (4:3) | 60Hz |
| 576p | 50Hz | 576p | 1080p/1440p | 1080p/1440p (4:3) | 50Hz |
| 720p | 24/25/30Hz | 720p | 2160p | 2160p | 24/25/30Hz |
| 720p | 50/60Hz | 720p | 1080p/1440p | 1080p/1440p | 50/60Hz |
| 720p | 120Hz | 720p | 1080p | 1080p | 120Hz |
| 1080p | 24/25/30Hz | 1080p | 2160p | 2160p | 24/25/30Hz |
| 1080p | 50/60Hz | 1080p | 1080p/1440p | 1080p/1440p | 50/60Hz |
| 1080p | 120Hz | 1080p | 1080p | 1080p | 120Hz |
| 2160p | 24/25/30/50/60Hz | 2160p | 2160p | 2160p | 24/25/30/50/60Hz |
NOTES
- Preserve input and output frame rate, with zero lag.
- All supported in YUV 4:4:4 except 2160p 50Hz/60Hz supported in YUV 4:2:0
Scaler Off (Mode 0): Pass-thru mode (Off LED)
Scaler On (Mode 1): Processing mode (Gren LED)
Retro (Mode 2): Retro Game mode (Blue LED) - 1440p output is available with a TV/monitor that supports native 1440p EDID settings.
OK, but why do I want this now?
There is one improvement to the mClassic over the mCable, the ability to simply turn it off, something you could not do with the mCable without completely disconnecting it and reconnecting an std HDMI cable, which sucks.
The best mode for fans of Retro Games is Retro Mode, resolutions such as 480p, 576p get a huge boost to 1080p/1440p while also getting forced to 4:3 aspect ratio, pure old school gaming.
Limitations?
There are limitations, the chancing of seeing any difference with modern games on Series X and S, PS5 or PC is doubtful from what I can see, and you even lose HDR on all consoles that support this feature inc auto HDR. You do however keep spacial sounds like DTS and Dolby Atmos which is a good thing, as we have come to expect these sound features in all of our games of late.
Also, DO NOT EXPECT a 4K output with games, this is impossible, the 4K output is for movies, as these run at 24, 25 and 30Hz which run at a resolution of 720p and 1080p, the table above clearly provides this information.
So what did I cover, will the Nintendo Switch, Why, well for a long time now gamers and fans of the Switch have been holding out for the announcement of the Switch 2 or the fabled Pro. Now I am going to be truthful as I can, I do not have a capture card so I have no way to record any footage, so the footage below is from Marseille themselves and it is rather revealing to a keen eye. I also have a stack of over 200 games on the switch and I can tell you now, using this mClassic on a big screen you do see the improvements to a degree.
There are some very slight changes, the colour being one of them, some sharpening and when needed and possible anti-aliasing around the outlines of characters and objects, making them more refined. Now I found that the closer you were to your big screen, the more likely you were going to see the improvements in a lot of games, the further you were away the less likely you would notice. Also taking pictures and using software to zoom up you would also see the improvements. I found the improvements noticeable in some games, and in other games not much at all unless I was close up or looking at pictures close up, see for yourself below.
Every game will provide a different visual experience, based on the games current resolution, after effects, colour and FPS, some games you will not see any difference, some games you will see a slight difference and in others, you might see a good amount of changes, it is not guaranteed for sure. Chucking the mClassic into a NextGen system and hoping to see improvements with current-gen games, you can forget it.
However same can not be said for retro games, so if you are a gamer and love to go old school, you will see some truly impressive improvements with the mClassic. Take for example Dreamcast, yes this footage has been taken by Marseille, yet you can see the improvements straight away.
Retro games are forced to a 4:3 aspect ratio with the mClassic but you can choose 16:9 if you wish, and you get anti-aliasing right off the back improvements in colour and sharpening, its a damn sweet experience for retro fans out there.
Moving back to the Switch which is where I did most of my playtime, I felt that the improvements at removing Jaggies (anti-aliasing) were exceptional. Crisp, clean images, is what is on offer here as the Nintendo Switch does have a good amount of games that do not use anti-aliasing or do not take full advantage of anti-aliasing due to technical difficulties.
The mClassic does the job where a game developer could not.
If you have a small screen, say smaller than a 55″, let’s go for a small gaming monitor, I doubt you will see any of the jaggies which makes the mClassic useless, apart from improving the colour saturation. I tested this with a 27inch widescreen MSI gaming monitor and I found out that Nintendo Switch games were not half as bad as they were on a bigger screen, due to tighter pixelation.
The game I love to play on all systems apart from Assassin’s Creeds Valhalla
But there is one game I love playing on all platforms Witcher 3, yep the OMG CDRed port to Switch. The game natively runs at 720p, with the mClassic we get 1080p, clearer images, better colours. Ok, it is still nowhere as good as the versions on PC, Xbox and PlayStation, but it is better than the base game running on the switch.
So Final thoughts?
This is a hard one, it does something, but you will only notice the changes on a big screen or if you look close up. Using the mClassic with current-gen games is useless, there is no advantage instead there is a disadvantage loss of HDR.
Switch games get a boost up to 1080P on a TV or 1440P on a gaming monitor (If supported). You also get more cleaning edges thanks to the mClassic‘s Anti-aliasing.
DVD’s get a good boost in colour and quality however most TV’s already upscale images using their technology, but I did see some improvements.
The mClassic shines a hell of a lot more with older games, Retro games look cleaner, crispy, like a race car going through a car wash, goes in looking muddy and covered in grit, comes out shiny and new.
Can I recommend this device, Switch owners that want cleaner images, upgraded visuals to max 1080p /1440p (monitor) then yes sure the price is worth it. For Retro games fans, 100% yes this is well worth it, for next-gen gamers that want 4K, or anything better, just do not bother.
Grab the mClassic here is interested – https://www.marseilleinc.com/mclassic/
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