DCDigital Firmware List

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

This is a collection of all the firmware(s) for DCDigital.
You can normally update from the Web Console; however, if you choose to flash your unit manually, we advise you strongly to read the Firmware Update Information before proceeding.

Firmware Version 4.7 (Unified)

Release Date: 9th September 2020
Changelog:

• Installer access point (IAP) modeTo start IAP mode: L + start + X + Y + A + BThis sets up an access point with predefined credentials, an OSD screen warns about insecure WiFi credentials.IAP credentials are:

WiFi SSID: DCDigital-Install
WiFi Password: installme!
HTTP Username: please
HTTP Password: installme!
IP Address: 192.168.4.1

• Fixed: very thin scanlines now work in Relaxed firmware too
• ESP firmware is now built using PlatformIO 5.0.1
• ESP new default filesystem is LittleFS.
  Optional: Filesytem Migration Guide
• Fixed: PAL bob deinterlacing setting was overwritten by NTSC passthru setting, which resulted in corrupted image.

Firmware Version 4.6 (Unified)

Release Date: 27th August 2020
Changelog:

• Fixed: LED pattern when no input clock is present
• ESP firmware is now built using PlatformIO 4.3.4
• Scanlines: New very thin setting (Thanks to @SvtTerminator)
• Generated passwords: Avoid ambiguous characters.

Firmware Version 4.5 (Unified)

Release Date: 17th May 2020
Changelog:

• Terraonion MODE disc switch support

Firmware Version 4.4 (Unified)

Release Date: 28th February 2020
Changelog:

• New name/logo

Firmware Version 4.3 (Unified)

Release Date: 17th November 2019
Changelog:

• New: Colour expansion

A lot, if not most Dreamcast games are using 16bit colour (RGB565), so blue and red are only using the upper 5bit and green uses the upper 6bit in the 8bit data coming from the console.So a full white picture in RGB565 is (248,252,248) instead of (255,255,255). The new colour expansion feature converts the 5bit/6bit colour to 8bit using this formula:

out8 = in5 | in5 >> 5;
out8 = in6 | in6 >> 6;

The settings for Color expansion are:

• Off No colour, expansion is done.
• Auto DCHDMI tries to detect the colour mode used and automatically selects the proper expansion mode. Seems to work fine, but detection may fail if the image contents are ambiguous.
• RGB565 16bit to 24bit expansion
• RGB555 15bit to 24bit expansion

New: Gamma adjust

This can be used to adjust the gamma of the video image. Currently, these predefined adjustments are possible:

Firmware Version 4.2 (Unified)

Release Date: 27th September 2019
Changelog:

• MDNS initialization can cause a crash leading to reset loop on startup, so MDNS is deactivated until a fix is available on esp8266 Arduino stable branch. (https://github.com/esp8266/Arduino/pull/6261/commits/7d8bb51a8059a673bd57efba03b04142a0ba9d35)

Firmware Version 4.1 (Unified)

Release Date: 20th September 2019
Changelog:

• Fixed: Memory overflow in osd write.

This can cause DCHDMI to restart during the firmware download. If this happens, just restart the download again until it finishes or use the Web console to update the firmware.

• New: Control OSD with an arcade stick.

• Fixed: Do not drive pin 6, when in Cable Detect mode (Thanks to Ste!)
• New: Display WiFi signal quality and channel on Test/Info OSD screen.
• Documentation: DCHDMI LED status patterns

Regarding WiFi connection and firmware updates:

DCHDMI connects – when SSID and password are configured – to your local WiFi network immediately after startup, but it will not send out any information by itself, without you actually checking and/or downloading new firmware.

If you are connected to a network and access the Firmware -> Check/Download function, it sends out your desired firmware release (master/develop/…) and your IP address. No further personal data is sent: no serial number, no SSID/passwords/config data. This can be easily verified by checking out the firmware/software here: DreamcastHDMI

I encourage everyone to do so. If you want, you can easily build your own update server. Everything needed to do so is in this project. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact me.This firmware/software will always remain free and will always only send out the minimum information required to perform a firmware upgrade.

Also check out Web console documentation, on how to perform a firmware update without connecting your DCHDMI to a WiFi network.

Firmware Version 4.0 (Unified)

Release Date: 25th August 2019
Changelog:

• Standard (-std) and Relaxed (-rlx) firmware flavours are now combined into one firmware release. When changing firmware flavour only the FPGA firmware gets re-flashed from the firmware bundle downloaded previously. When upgrading to v4.0 for the first time, it’s necessary to update the firmware once again, to download this new bundle.
• ESP firmware is now built using PlatformIO 4.0.0
• ESP: Redone I2C command scheduling and moved OSD menus to the progmem area to free up heap memory.
• Fixed the following bug:
  • Issue #4: 31KHz 480p output has display area shifted left
    Horizontal position for VGA can now be set in the OSD (Advanced Video Settings). There is also an auto option which detects the correct position if an image with non-black pixels on the edges is detected.
    Default is auto. To force the correct position for the majority of commercial games, set to 0
    Big thanks to rdaviesuk for reporting!
• Added the following features:
  • Issue #5: Please add support for PAL 288p video output
    288p is now supported.
  • Issue #6: Please allow differing deinterlacing method for 480i/576i
    Deinterlacing can now be configured for 480i/576i separately.
    Thanks again, rdaviesuk for reporting!
• Keyboard support to control DCHDMI OSD
• Fixed: Prevent OSD from picking up controller buttons while opening OSD.

Firmware Version 3.0.4 (Relaxed)

Release Date: 9th August 2019
Changelog:

• Finally fixed: video output may not start on some systems

Firmware Version 3.0.3 (Relaxed)

Release Date: 31st July 2019
Changelog:

• Fixed: video output may not start when configured to VGA/CableDetect
• Fixed: bob deinterlacing was not properly aligned in VGA/480p mode

Firmware Version 3.0.2 (Relaxed)

Release Date: 16th June 2019
Changelog:

• Fixed: Scanlines are now applied post HQ2X filter. (Thanks to SONIC3D!)
• Fixed: Adjusted input data latch clock phase shift to be more robust (Thanks to Ste!)

Firmware Version 3.0.0 (Relaxed)

Release Date: 20th April 2019
Changelog:

• New: Upscaling mode configuration option.

Currently available: 2x and hq2xThere will be more (e.g. anti-aliasing) upscale filters in the future.

• Fixed: OSD position is now exactly the same for all output modes 🙂

Firmware Version 2.3.0 (Standard)

Release Date: 20th April 2019
Changelog:

• New: RGB colour space (Advanced Video Settings) configuration option.
• New: Menu option to configure firmware flavour (Firmware Upgrade->Configure):
  • Relaxed
    Allows filtered upscaling (currently HQ2X) by using relaxed HDMI timings.
  • Standard
    Fully HDMI compliant.
• New: Improved output resolution switching time.
• Fixed: 480i bob deinterlacing wasn’t properly aligned for 960p/1080p output.
• Internal: Properly queue osd write requests.

Firmware Version 2.2.0

Release Date: 6th February 2019
Changelog:

Fixed: It was possible to flash a firmware file from the OSD, which was only partially downloaded or corrupt. It was possible to brick DCHDMI with that, so access to the serial port was necessary to fix. Starting with v2.2.0 the checksum is verified before flashing to prevent flashing a broken firmware.

this only affected the firmware upgrade via OSD, the web interface upgrade was already performing this check

Instructions on how to recover can be found here: How to recover from a corrupted ESP firmware

Firmware Version 2.1.1

Release Date: 1st February 2019
Changelog:

• Improved HDMI compliance
  • Use recommended values for 44.1kHz audio in 1080p mode
  • Use limited RGB range for all output resolutions other than VGA
• Improved reliability
  • Removed ESP.eraseConfig() on full reset as this can lead to SPIFFS corruption in some rare cases.
  • Disabled persisting WiFi credentials to ESP internal config area (they are already stored in flash file system), to reduce flash wear.

Firmware Version 2.1.0

Release Date: 22th January 2019 
Changelog:

Update is highly recommended!

• Improved WiFi security
  • WiFi Setup OSD screen now displays the actual WiFi mode it’s in (Connected/Access point)
  • WiFi AP password is now being generated every time DCHDMI enters Access point mode.
  • Generated WiFi AP password can be displayed in the WiFi Setup OSD screen.
  • If no web console HTTP Password is set, it’s also generated every time DCHDMI starts.
  • HTTP User now defaults to dchdmi instead of Test
  • The HTTP Password set can also be displayed in WiFi Setup OSD screen unless Protected mode is set to on during setup procedure. (In this case, you need access to the serial console if you have forgotten your HTTP Password)

Firmware Version 2.0.0

Release Date: 8th January 2019 
Changelog:

• Bob deinterlacing can be deactivated via new Advanced Video Settings.Set Deinterlacer to passthru to output 480i/576i.
• PAL support (576p bob deinterlaced or 576i pass-thru)
• OSD can show changelog after Check for new firmware.
• Web interface setup procedure shows available options and checks for valid input.
• GDEMU reset was available in the main menu, even when disabled.
• Full reset (DC, ESP, FPGA) now available in Reset DC
• Video Mode can be changed by holding d-pad up/down (ForceVGA/CableDetect) on startup/full reset.
• Lots of FPGA firmware improvements and refactoring.

Firmware Version 1.2.3

Release Date: 18th December 2018 
Changelog:

• Not Available

Firmware Version 1.2.0

Release Date: 18th December 2018 
Changelog:

• All output modes (VGA/480p/960p/1080p) now support Dreamcast 240p games.Because video timing for 240p is different from 480i/p, the video output does not fully comply with the HDMI specification, so 960p/1080p may not work on all TVs (monitors usually work fine).
• For some 240p games, the active video area is shifted to the right, so there is a new option under Output Resolution to compensate for that: 240p adjust position