A LEAGUE OF ITS OWN: Anbernic RG351V in-depth review and AmberElec setup

[@adinwalls]

I forgot to credit RetroGFX (discord handle) for his work on UnofficalOS

[@flamex]

do you know how to put new emulator in it seem who ever had it before me deleted afew them like the cps1 emulator not in it

[@adinwalls]

You need to download cores in the RetroArch menu.

[@jonathonearl482]

I have just flashed AMBER ELEC onto my Wood Grain ANBERNIC 351V with a new 64GB Sandisk Extreme micro sd card. I also installed a 1 TB Silicon Power Superior micro sd card for the roms slot. I can tell you for sure, AMBER ELEC brings the 351V to it's full potential! It also has an awesome Video Media Player feature. I've loaded the 1 TB micro sd with my personal roms sets then afterwards filled most the rest of the card with video files TV shows and movies. I always leave about 15GB of open space on my 1TB Micro sd when I used them in the roms micro sd slot of my handhelds. My 351V is now a video media player as well as a handheld video game console! I think this makes the 351V a much better handheld than the Analogue Pocket and the 35XX Plus.

[@adinwalls]

Hey Jonathan thanks for this. Sounds like a great setup.

[@jonathonearl482]

@@adinwalls You're welcomed! It's an awesome setup for the 351V. I've had my 351V for a few years, purchased it at launch while the Analogue Pocket first started shipping out preorders. I had first installed ArkOS unto my 351V. With ArkOS there was no media player feature and the firmware didn't read or recognize the 2nd sd slot for the roms. ArkOS is ok but not nearly as great as Amber Elec on the 351V. I now have my Wood Grain 351V and my Purple B30 both doing about the same thing as my Wood Grain 405V with the 1TB micro sd in the 2nd slot making use of the onboard media player. For the 1TB micro sd cards for the roms slot, to save money I get either of these two brands making sure they are type A2: Team Group Pro or the Silicon Power Superior. From personal experience those two brands are legit 1TB micro sd cards sold on Amazon from around $50-$60. For the OS sd cards slot I get the 3 pack 64GB Sandisk micro sd type A2 cards for around $30.

[@imm311]

Excellent video! God bless you and yours. Praying for you.

[@rbatesmotel]

Agree the RG351v is still a viable device in 2023. One of my favorite devices to use as a daily driver. If I want to play something newer than PS1, I pull out my Steam deck. RG351v is a great compliment to the Steam Deck in that regard.

[@dadou193]

Does tomb raider 1 and 2 (ps1) run well on this anbernic ? And playable in this vertical form factor?

[@null140]

@@dadou193 Yes. Playing thru TR1 very comfortably with a nice CRT shader. Looks and feels great. At the Tomb of Tihocan. No problems. One of my go-to games when I pick the system up.

[@dadou193]

@@null140 what does the crt shader do?

[@null140]

@@dadou193 So if you don't know what CRT shaders do, they emulate the look and feel of the visual technology and therefore effect of the display of CRT televisions. They work in different ways, and some are heavy on processors; some less so. They're usually configurable to be more or less pronounced, to taste. In the case of 240p content like PS1 games, running on a 480p screen like the RG351V, the effect is pretty good because every other horizontal line can be blanked with a scanline gap the way 240p content was drawn (roughly speaking) on a CRT. Basically, and in sum, these shaders can (and do) bring the visual representation of older games much more in line with the way the developers of these games expected them to be seen. Personally I think there's value in that, because certain intended visual effects depended on CRT characteristics. If those visual effects are broken due to HD/ fixed pixel rendering, then I'm not getting the 'proper' version of the game.

[@DrWaffleFNP90]

I am totally new to all this retro handheld hobby. Amazing resource, thanks.

[@mattcoxonline]

Love this breakdown. Super useful and informative.

[@georged7627]

It's not that powerful but it's still one of my favourites emulation handhelds out of the powkiddy and Anbernic machines I've got...I also modded Nintendo Switch grips to my RG351v...it's much much more comfortable 🙏🏽

[@FiftyFive74]

Those aren't stacked shoulder buttons. Stacked is when L2/R2 is beneath L1/R1, not next to each other. Maybe you meant staggered, L2/R2 sits higher than L1/R1.

[@adinwalls]

Thank yes, I realised I misspoke after the video!

[@Greydustfish]

I love my RG351v and I beat quite a few GBA games on it. But the fact of its lacking a proper sleep/wake feature, at least 1 year ago, stops me from playing it :(

[@null140]

ArkOS has a sleep & wake mode, and now also has the ability to make an auto-save-state + auto-load-on-system-boot. Completely augments the usability of the system. ArkOS has always been the best custom firmware for this device in terms of actual feature-set. The most recent update was only last month.

[@dorbei]

DC performance has vastly improved with recent beta updates and new "Flycast2021" core. It's now up there with ArkOS. However the build is still buggy and Retroarch tends to crash every once in a while. On the other hand AmberELEC still has best PSP performance on any RK3326 device. Even "Outrun 2006" is surprisingly playable with frameskip. Also N64 runs mostly solid when using Parallel64.

[@adinwalls]

That’s so strange because I am finding better psp performance on the JelOS build.

[@dorbei]

@@adinwalls Tbh I haven't used Jelos anymore ever since the dev announced to stop support for the RG351 series. Have you already tried UnofficialOS?

[@adinwalls]

Yes. Working on a video about it. It has some decent benefits like optimised gameplay on certain platforms.

[@petetherealrelentless6542]

Hello Adin, I have a few 351v’s.. they are an awesome all rounder that go great with a 512gb game card.. but I’m interested to see what the 35xx and 353vs have in comparison.. so I have them on order. 👍🏼

[@adinwalls]

Okay great. Let me know your findings!

[@bluedunn]

I just picked up the 351v and I am loving it. I was on the fence and almost purchased the 35xx, however I was able to get the 351v for $40 so I had to take that deal! How do the 35xx and 353v compare in size in your hand? I haven't seen any reviews comparing these with the 351v. Just curious. Thanks!

[@manuelrodriguez9972]

I’m trying ArkOS or AmberElec and when it boots up I only see a black bar on the left, qnd white on the right and that’s it. It only boots with the stock firmware (EmuElec). Any thoughts?

[@adinwalls]

Sounds like you may have flashed the wrong version of the OS or missed a step in the setup

[@manuelrodriguez9972]

@ I have the V2 RG351V and as of now, only the Stock OS (EmuElec) is the only one working for my device. I get black column on the left and white screen on the right for ArkOS and AmberElec, I tried to by pass this on AmberElec but it crashed after using it a little bit. I have installed myself the OS and Roms on many other different emulation devices (Anbernic, Miyoo, TrimUI, etc.) with no problems. If I had known before, I wouldn’t have bought it. 😞

[@larrykeeter1278]

Hey there, great video, much much appreciated. I had a question...I recently purchased the rg351v but when inserting the new amberelec firmware I get a white off-set screen and in a recent reddit someone mentioned potential drivers needed because of use of a new screen installed in newer versions. Any idea on this subject or a possible fix? Thank you much

[@adinwalls]

Hey if this is the case it will be on the AmberElec website. It’s more likely that you may have missed a step in installation. Did you do the correct formatting of the cards at the beginning.

[@Rockmankb]

Great video but ugh, no matter what I do the amberelec OS will not populate my second card with the folders and won’t read it even if I do put them on manually. Any idea what’s up?

[@adinwalls]

Is the second SD card definitely formatted to the correct format?

[@adinwalls]

On the AmberElec website there’s a note specifically for how to set up the second card for the RG351V and a few other devices

[@TheShadowHatter]

I just literally want this exact handheld but the size of the Miyoo Mini. This EXACT device and you can even remove the joystick because I don't care for it. I love how this is just a bigger RETRO MINI which I loved that device's build quality even if it's just a GBA clone in a vertical form factor. If Anbernic made a smaller one of these it would really compete with the Miyoo Mini well IMO.

[@adinwalls]

Have you seen the RG35XX?

[@Monsterism]

Great tutorial, however, rocking a 2 sd card set up. However, do we put the bios missing files in the os sd card or the 2nd one with the roms?

[@adinwalls]

I would do both to be safe

[@richardcowan13]

Did you try formatting SD2 to exfat

[@irBribe]

Does installing amberelec give me the emulators or do I need those myself? I was gifted one of these wonderful devices and i've been consuming a lot of YT related to it. My device is on 351Elec and seems to only have around 13 of the 21 things displayed yours does.

[@irBribe]

I know I'll need to source the roms and what not but idk about the emulator bit

[@adinwalls]

Hey there. Emulators are built into the Linux systems. You just need to put roms into the correct folders and you’re good to go!

[@amitacharjee447]

Nice in depth Video! Can you kindly suggest me between 35xx and 351v which one is the better option?

[@adinwalls]

That’s difficult to say. The RG351V is better in terms of the buttons. But the RG35XX is very convenient and also quite well put together. Personally I prefer the 351V

[@dravenalayon9704]

I did everything in the order of the video and it didn’t work😢

[@HitmonD]

After i finished flashing and everything i ejected then put it in the device amd all i get is a white screen with nothing happening. What did i do wrong?

[@adinwalls]

It’s difficult to say exactly. Try cross referencing my video with the AmberElec install guide to trouble shoot.

[@Witchling86]

Whould the audio issues be resolved if you plugged in usb headphones in the otg?

[@adinwalls]

Audio issues?

[@Witchling86]

@@adinwalls The "whining" noise from the wifi.

[@adinwalls]

Oh yes, headphones will fix it but I barely ever get that issue

[@steelwrath]

I did the same procedure and my 351v stucks on first boot showing only white screen and vibrating :(

[@adinwalls]

For AmberElec? Did the flashing work properly with Balena Etcher?

[@goldenaccs980]

hello, can you play ps1 with 2x or better resolution? thanks

[@KyleRuggles]

Yup!!! Everything plays well at 2x resolution, so 640x480.

[@ItsCRA022]

My device became fuzzing and has white mark on the corner. How can fix that?

[@adinwalls]

Sounds like your screen is broken. I’m not sure you can fix that apart from finding out how to fit a new screen.

[@johncollins1969]

Thanks for giving this device some love. Mine is running on emulation station but I've been thinking of changing the OS. I've found the Dpad can get confused when there is a lot of fast paced inputs. There is a mod that involves putting some electrical tape over the Dpad contacts to limit the contact area to make the inputs more precise. How do you go with changing discs on PS1 games with the other OS'?. Do you just change discs through the retroarch backend?

[@adinwalls]

Yes. You just I open the menu and go to the change disc option.

[@paulbainjr]

The learning curve on the buttons saving games and exiting games frustrating sending it back not plug and play.

[@bluedunn]

I just picked up the 351v and updated to the latest AmberElec build. I received the handheld only, no box, no manual, etc. While inside the game, I am not sure how to exit and go back to the main menu. This is so frustrating. Any tips on navigating in and out of games? Thx.

[@adinwalls]

Just press start and select at the same time

[@adinwalls]

Yes these devices are definitely not plug and play

[@kurs3d280]

I can’t seem to find a hot key to change the brightness, I hate that i have to quit the game press start and adjust then start the game over it needs a hotley

[@adinwalls]

Function button and volume up and down. Or select + volume. Can’t remember which it is right now! 😊

[@kurs3d280]

@@adinwalls it’s so weird when I do that I am able to change the brightness but the volume stops working and I’m not pressing finction anymore. I did find another solution which is clicking in the left stick and pressing the L2 or R2. Wish there was a way to change it in the hot key menu but haven’t seen it

[@adinwalls]

Yes if you are runni Amber elec a lot of settings are baked into the system.

[@ItWasAllPartOfMyPlan]

I'd love a dedicated handheld that plays all retro systems bar ps1 with exceptional quality and a oled screen,in a slim gameboy color form factor,no analogs,just L1 and R1 triggers with a quality shell and no added fluff

[@adinwalls]

Give it time… 😀

[@devonharlan7]

The new Rg35XX has all of that but the oled screen

[@BillySilverman]

You are describing an Analogue Pocket, but the Anbernic 35xx comes pretty close to that

[@devastor3603]

Well oled screen expecially the cheap one has tons of problem,from shadow,burn in,green line,dead led,etc

[@unknown183]

I would love to see a Miyoo Mini with a snap dragon chipset.

[@ItWasAllPartOfMyPlan]

Lol imagine

[@unknown183]

@@ItWasAllPartOfMyPlan I would not mine. Also throw in a OLED panel, better buttons all in a premium case. I'll buy it.

[@hendrianggono2798]

the new Elementerial theme is amazing..try it, my personal fav

[@adinwalls]

I will 😊

[@Sofawookie]

Recently picked up an RG35XX, which I'm pretty sure has the same shoulder buttons as the 353V ... and man, they're just nowhere near the quality of the 351V shoulder buttons.

[@adinwalls]

Okay I have RG35XX. Still waiting for my 353v. Thanks for that.

[@amk8411]

@@adinwalls SO *AW,* do you agree the RG351V has superior shoulder buttons?

[@adinwalls]

To the 35XX? Yes.

[@flamex]

mines has a white screen what does that mean?

[@adinwalls]

Not sure, do you have the right sd cards in the right slots?

[@flamex]

@Adin Walls yeah slot 1 and it's SanDisk 16gb

[@adinwalls]

Is it the stock sd card or an installation of garicos?

[@flamex]

@@adinwalls got it fixed i found a page and it helped me now it running smooth i just need to figure out how to change button seem like A is B and B is A

[@adinwalls]

There should be a guide on mapping the buttons in this video.

[@jeromebullard6123]

I have this and the UI is clunky and confusing. It’s not user friendly at all. Needs garlic OS.

[@adinwalls]

AmberElec is pretty good

[@steel5897]

This is still the best retro handheld I have ever used, nothing has compared to it so far. The screen on the 353V and the ergonomics are big downgrades.

[@adinwalls]

Okay, that’s interesting the hear

[@asterginete3812]

20:55 🤣😂🤣

[@christopherconstantly]

That’s what she said.

[@sjparker_nz]

That’s what she said 😂

[@adinwalls]

😂

[@paparansen]

the dpad is crap

[@mackw919]

The rg353 is a flop

[@adinwalls]

I think the sales of that device would disagree :-D

[@Farold_Haltermeyer]

I think he means a flopping great success for the company with flopping staggering sales numbers

[@contrastmike1620]

i'm thinking of buying this, but if i do i am rocking it with the stock firmware. i don't care, screw all of that 🙉.. all that just seems like way too much work for me and kind of confusing also to be honest. and i see quite a few people on here saying they're stuck on white screens after all of that.. no thanks, as long as the Mortal Kombats, Mario Karts, Street Fighters play, i'm good. i was wondering, does it come with Killer Instinct?