What's the best type of screen/ TV to play retro games on?

[mattyg]

It's really horses for courses - the best tv's to use are generally the ones that were regarded as "top of the line" the year of the console.

ie: 8bit and older - any decent branded 22"or 26" CRT up to about 1985 vintage

16bit through to 32 bit - 26" (or larger!) Sony Wega or Panasonic Tau flat screens

64 bit - early 128 bit - same as above but in 16:9 (peferably 32")

anything newer 720p or 1080p LCD 32" or bigger

 

and that's about it - be aware though that some earlier 32 bit games (some 3DO come to mind) support 16:9 ! so for me the best compromise if you want just one tv for your vintage games is a 32" 16:9 flat CRT with adjustable aspect ratio.

[Frizo]

I use a LCD or a HD tv...I cant remember and i dont wanna dig out the box. Anyway, its a 22 inch Vizio, and all of my 6 consoles look great! And this is ranging from the 2600 to Dreamcast, on downfall is I cant use the Zapper... But the games look great none the less.

[Video]

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To be fair, it doesn't help that the jaggies, popup, and distortion of the PSX will destroy your brain to start with, even on SD

*Remembers what Driver 2 looked like*

I really wish that game had been released on the PC, like Driver 1 was. Driver 2 was a fun game, especially the Las Vegas level, but the Playstation just couldn't handle it.

Before I had a PS2, I remember getting the wrong impression that it would run smoother on that system, but no it's the same.

 

Well, there was a Driver 2 for GBA (yeah, it sucked, but at least it was kinda understood on the GBA ) as for PS2, you can set it to do some smoothing, but it doesn't help the underlying problems in most PSX games....plus it can actually create new problems that weren't visible before

 

Hmm...HD CRT, yeah, I always thought they were such a dumb Idea "yay, you buy the HD capable CRT, and hope that the tuner is actually released at some point. Wonder how many were? (the tuners I mean) I was never even remotely interested untill the built in tuner became standard (as I'm sure lots of people back then were) of course, we still got problems (like most people don't know about HDCP, and by HD videos only to find they don't work on their fancy new HD set, what a crock)

 

I wouldn't mind a good CRT projector, but they quit making those in like the 80's in favor of LCD projectors, and your back to the same old problems as modern tv's at that point.

[retrorussell]

I know a lot of the older projection-screen 50-some inch tvs had image burn from some of the console games.

I remember seeing an old Atari commercial where kids were playing at the beach. They plugged the console into the sand and played the games on the sky. How freaking cool would that be???

[PsychoKittyNet]

When it comes to HD tvs, unless what your useing is HD, it someties looks even worse. For me though, in order for the experiance to be complete, I have to play it on a old 19 inchlike i used too, whitch is what i do.

[gdement]

Hmm...HD CRT, yeah, I always thought they were such a dumb Idea "yay, you buy the HD capable CRT, and hope that the tuner is actually released at some point. Wonder how many were? (the tuners I mean)

It seemed kind of cheesy not having an HD tuner, but I don't think I've actually used the built-in tuner on a television in about 15 years anyway. Most service providers (and surely with HD service) require decoder boxes. But you'd miss it if you're picking up HD over the air.

 

The tuner wouldn't need to be anything proprietary, I assume you just hook up any generic tuner to the component inputs.

 

The HDCP thing is a drag though. I wonder if any CRTs ever supported that.

[tisaperfectdayelise]

I realize the photo is a bit blurry (and I've since changed my setup and moved it to the living room), but this is my favorite television on which to play my classic games. It's a 27" Sony from 1994. I believe the model number is something like KV-27S15. I have an HDTV, on which the games look horrible, a 36" Sony from 2003 with a "flat" screen, and another 27" Sony from 2007 with a "flat" screen. For whatever reason, though, I find the 1994 has the best sound and the truest picture. I couldn't be happier with it!

[Mike 01Hawk]

Since I'm whoring out this response... (I've posted it like 4 times so far) might as well post it up here as well Go HDTV CRT or go home

 

I was lucky enough to get a CRT HDTV just as they were being phased out of Best Buy.

 

 

At the end of 2007 I finally decided I was going to get a new TV so I could hook up all my game systems that were gathering dust in my closet. Now I wanted to be a purist and get a CRT but as you know CRT was on it's death bed in late 2007. Well, I took the plunge and got a Samsung Slimfit 30inch 16:9 CRT (TXT-3093) @ the local bestbuy for $525. Yeah.. it was expensive, but it was probably the best I could get that would provide the best of both worlds..... CRT so it'd be easy on my "SD" sourced systems, yet HDTV so the PS2 and going forward would look amazing as well. This thing has connections out the wazoo!!! I'd love to go SCART or RGB, but I need to just take my meds and realize I will never have 'perfection'.

 

Anyway, this TV plays nicely with the systems I've thrown @ it. I think there might be a bit of lag induced during play. I was playing Super Mario World on the SNES and my jumps seemed to be just a wee bit off, but I think that may be due to my crappy controller or just the fact that I'm a bit rusty with the game, after playing a bit longer on the game I got used to the feel. I'll need to test it out some more to make certain there isn't any noticeable lag introduced while gaming on this tv.

 

 

So, here are the systems and how they're hooked up and my quick impressions. Note, audio is over RCA L/R except for the HDMI connection. Stereo sound is produced by the TV, not separate speakers (which is something I may need to tackle down the road if I want 5.1 from the later systems).:

 

1) NES -> Composite -> Colors are a bit bloomy/blurry, but very liveable, there are issues with Super Mario Brothers, you can see extra background pixels on the left hand side, but I guess that's just the nature of the beast when it comes to overscan I think it's called.

 

2a) SNES -> Composite -> Same bloom/blurry as the NES, but liveable

2b) SNES -> S-video -> Colors are much better defined, also the clarity is a bit higher, BUT it does introduce the 'mask' (dither?) effect. It's a trade off to decide between the anti-aliasing affects of Composite, or the crisper/more-colorful image quality of S-Video

 

3) 3DO -> S-Video -> Works as expected. Good god the birth of 3D was very painful!!!

 

4) N64 -> S-Video -> Same dither issues using S-Vid like the SNES. Also, same problem with 3DO, the teething stage of 3D stinks!!! (I can fallback to Composite if I wish on the N64)

 

5) Gamecube -> Component -> Absolutely amazing, very impressive (tested F-Zero on it)

 

6) PS2 -> Component -> Very nice as well, (tested GT4 and SSX Tricky)

 

7) Xbox360 -> HDMI -> Eye candy galore as can be expected.

[Video]

Yo Mike, that's a pretty sweet TV

If you think it's lagging, I know how you can find out, take a game like Duckhunt and see if you can play that, as a true CRT, it shouldn't be a problem, unless of course it's lagging, if that's the case, it won't work. Pretty nice, and looks widescreen too.

 

Hmm...HD CRT, yeah, I always thought they were such a dumb Idea "yay, you buy the HD capable CRT, and hope that the tuner is actually released at some point. Wonder how many were? (the tuners I mean)

It seemed kind of cheesy not having an HD tuner, but I don't think I've actually used the built-in tuner on a television in about 15 years anyway. Most service providers (and surely with HD service) require decoder boxes. But you'd miss it if you're picking up HD over the air.

 

The tuner wouldn't need to be anything proprietary, I assume you just hook up any generic tuner to the component inputs.

 

The HDCP thing is a drag though. I wonder if any CRTs ever supported that.

To my understanding though, without the HD tuner, the TV simply didn't work in HD (though as I said, mass consumer confusion, so I may be all wet) so you couldn't use any HD device on it without the tuner. As for HDCP, I don't know, I'm sure there are some, at the absolute tail end of CRT, but BR/HD are both 06 right? so only a bout a year of time for it, though I see absolutely no reason not to get a box like a Macrovision remover, only for HDCP stuff (I've looked, but all I can find are for computer)

[Asaki]

I think there might be a bit of lag induced during play.

 

I don't know anything about HD CRTs, but my friend got an HDTV and we were having serious problems with lag. So I looked it up online and it said it's because most HDTVs process the video to look better, so it causes a bit of a delay. There's supposed to be an option on most TVs to turn it off, but I couldn't find it on his anywhere =/

 

So we just had to hook up the Wii to a different TV >_<

 

Suddenly Guitar Hero was playable again @_@

[pinball22]

Suddenly Guitar Hero was playable again @_@

 

Guitar Hero includes an option for that -- go into the settings and you'll find something where you play and it figures out what the delay on your TV is and compensates for it. Works quite well, I've found.

[Asaki]

We messed around with that for a long time, but it didn't help at all.

 

That's more for getting your video and your audio in sync with each other, so it's not much help if they're both lagging...or at least we couldn't figure out how to get it to help.

[MagitekAngel]

Get something with dials and a wood case.