The first one

Bring your CRT screens back to life.

Bring your CRT screens and TV sets back to life and play all your childhood games with Recalbox RGB Dual!

The manual Its successor, the RGB Dual 2

The Recalbox RGB Dual clipped onto a Raspberry Pi

What it is

A HAT that adds SCART and VGA.

Recalbox RGB Dual is a small board, called a HAT, that clips onto your Raspberry Pi 4, 400, 3 or Zero 2 to add a SCART output and a VGA output. Out of them comes an RGB signal, the cleanest analogue signal, compatible with every SCART and VGA CRT screen. Recalbox supports it natively, without any configuration: clip it on, plug in the SCART cable, and play.

Two children playing in front of a CRT TV, in a drawing

Features

Plug and play, down to the pixel.

Configuration chip
An eeprom lets your Recalbox detect that a Recalbox RGB Dual is connected and configure the system by itself.
The Pixel Factory
Video signal processing that produces a razor-sharp picture, compatible with every TV set.
The Boom Box
Both audio channels are filtered to smooth the sound; connoisseurs will recognise the filters of a class D amp.
Power up
Its 12 V signal selects the right channel on the TV when you switch Recalbox on.
The original display mode
For each game launched, the resolution and the refresh rate are those of the original.
50 Hz mode
For CRTs that are not NTSC compatible, PAL (50 Hz) can be forced for every game.
240p theme
The Recalbox theme is optimised for CRT displays in 240p and 480i, so text stays readable.
240p Test Suite
Built in, to calibrate your screen to the pixel for each console.

The RGB signal

The best analogue signal, then and now.

Recalbox RGB Dual takes its name from the signal it sends to your TV: R.G.B., for Red Green Blue. The composite cable that came with the consoles was far from doing their graphics justice; RGB SCART cables were the ones to buy for a picture worth the name. It is this same RGB signal that Recalbox RGB Dual generates.

The same picture through a composite cable and through an RGB SCART cable

F.A.Q.

What owners ask.

Can I connect the SCART and VGA outputs at the same time?: No: the signal can only go to one screen, and it is only compatible with one or the other.
Can I connect an HDMI cable at the same time?: No, there is one rule with Recalbox RGB Dual: one cable at a time.
Is it compatible with all CRT screens?: Yes, as long as the screen has an RGB-compatible SCART socket: the Pixel Factory generates a very clean sync signal.
My Recalbox is in a case, what can I do?: A GPIO extension cable moves the Recalbox RGB Dual outside your case.
How big is it?: 56 mm × 65 mm: it clips right onto your Raspberry Pi. No power supply to add.
What about vertical screens?: Since Recalbox 9.1, TATE mode can be turned on from the TATE menu, to rotate your whole display by 90°.