HDTV driving anyone away from classic consoles?

[HawgWyld]

A couple of weeks ago, our trusted RCA CRT television gave up the ghost. It was a sad day, indeed.

 

A fresh wave of sadness hit after I plugged my NES, SNES, Genesis (S-Video for the SNES, RCA plugs for the NES and Genesis) up to the shiny, new 42" LCD, 1080p we bought to replace the old RCA. The games, frankly, look like crap due (I suppose) to the fact the 240p signal sent out by those beloved old systems doesn't convert well. I dread to think what my beloved Atari will look like on the new television.

 

At any rate, I wound up plugging my Nintendo Wii in for the first time in about six months. It still pales compared to the classic systems.

 

So, I'm stuck with the prospect of dragging my old systems to the CRT television in the bedroom (an option I don't like), trying to find something fun to do with my Wii (an option I like even less) or dealing with the funky, pixelated images displayed by the new television.

 

I'm wondering then -- are a lot of you folks choosing to go with newer systems rather than deal with the confounding problem of trying to convert a signal from a "legacy console" to HDTV so it looks halfway decent? It would be a lot less trouble to run out and buy a Wii, PS3 or XBox 360 then fool with that. I can't help but think a lot of people are choosing that option -- something that doesn't bode well for classic gaming.

[keilbaca]

I do my gaming on a CRT for old consoles, and a LCD Monitor for current gen.

 

You can go to goodwill and get a decent deal on a TV thanks to the analog>digital conversion.

[mimo]

s-video mod the consoles and use them on the LCD or Plasma.

Use the Wii as an emulator box

[Reaperman]

I've noticed that a lot of HDTV's seem specifically designed to make us unhappy with our SD video sources. I don't know if it's a conspiracy, or if standard def quality has been just compromised in order to drop othe price on these TV's. Luckily mine's not too bad with SD in general, but it won't display 240p genesis video for whatever reason.

 

And yes, it has put me off. I don't play genesis at all now, and I'd really like to find a *decent* device that upscales svideo and composite signals to standard HD. I have a device that claims it's able to translate them to VGA, but it's not a high quality device.

[IceCold]

Same as keilbaca. Modern gaming on LCD, classic on CRT. I have a 42" 720p LCD that I use for my Wii and PS3(and 360 until it crapped out )

 

Anybody else running 2 tv's in their living room? I have a 25" CRT in there for my 7800, etc. and then the LCD for watching tv, modern gaming, etc. Looks kinda goofy but I like it

 

If you do go the wii route, make sure you're using component cables and setup the Wii to use your widescreen TV(and set to 480p). Looks a lot better that way.

 

Also something you can work with is the settings on your TV. A lot of tv's will at least let you change the aspect ratio(so rather than stretched to fill the whole tv in widescreen, it'd still be 4:3) and there may be other settings to play with to give you a workable image.

[VectorGamer]

I'm wondering then -- are a lot of you folks choosing to go with newer systems rather than deal with the confounding problem of trying to convert a signal from a "legacy console" to HDTV so it looks halfway decent? It would be a lot less trouble to run out and buy a Wii, PS3 or XBox 360 then fool with that. I can't help but think a lot of people are choosing that option -- something that doesn't bode well for classic gaming.

 

H3LL no - go out to Goodwill or Salvation Army and buy a 13" CRT for $5!

[HawgWyld]

s-video mod the consoles and use them on the LCD or Plasma.

Use the Wii as an emulator box

 

S-video on the SNES still doesn't look great -- a bit better than the picture coming from the RCA plugs on the Genesis and NES, but still not great.

 

If my wife and kids didn't love the Wii so much, I would have put it and the crappy games I have for it on eBay already. I might look into emulation with the Wii, but I'm not expecting much -- that system has been a complete waste of time and money so I tend to stay away from it so as to avoid frustration.

[Lord Helmet]

I use the all of the great Wii emulators for most of my classic gaming these days. The games are displayed in 480p and look pretty good imho.

[Yurkie]

I was reading a thread similar to this awhile back, people seemed to think the old systems looked good. I am concerned about new 1080 TV's myself as my GF and I have the colecovision hooked up in the living room. Currently we have a 32 inch JVC CRT.

[HawgWyld]

I use the all of the great Wii emulators for most of my classic gaming these days. The games are displayed in 480p and look pretty good imho.

I'll give that a look as soon as I get home then and I do appreciate the tip. I haven't gotten the composite cables for the Wii yet as (obviously) I believe I've spent enough on that thing. Still, if it can be used as an emulator the cables will certainly be worth it. One question -- are you using the remote or the "classic controller" for emulation?

[godslabrat]

No complaints at all about how my classic systems look on my HD set. :-)

[HawgWyld]

I was reading a thread similar to this awhile back, people seemed to think the old systems looked good. I am concerned about new 1080 TV's myself as my GF and I have the colecovision hooked up in the living room. Currently we have a 32 inch JVC CRT.

Unfortunately, there is cause for concern. I mean, the games are certainly playable, but the graphics are very blocky -- the resolution is just too low to reproduce. I haven't hooked up the Atari yet as I'd hate to see what video pumped through an RF box would look like and you just know the Colecovision would have the same problem.

 

Fortunately, I've got a CRT television in the bedroom, but that doesn't help much when the wife is asleep and I want to crank that wonderful Sirius satellite radio and play some old school games.

 

I'm starting to think I should have just ignored the whole HDTV thing and picked out the biggest SDTV tube television I could find.

[HawgWyld]

No complaints at all about how my classic systems look on my HD set. :-)

Did you mod those things at all? Which systems?

[+remowilliams]

Many classic systems look like crap on modern HD sets. That's why I have dedicated CRTs to play them on.

[STICH666]

2600 games look excellent on an HDTV for some reason. Very sharp with no bleeding. I use my massive 37" CRT TV (literally it took 3 people just to carry it in my house). It has a great picture for the last gen consoles but works excellent for the older consoles.

[Tempest]

2600 games look excellent on an HDTV for some reason. Very sharp with no bleeding. I use my massive 37" CRT TV (literally it took 3 people just to carry it in my house). It has a great picture for the last gen consoles but works excellent for the older consoles.

They made CRT's that big? And I thought my 36" HD CRT was 'da bomb'.

 

Tempest

[the.golden.ax]

I've seen CRTs upto 45" but the last time was in Montana in 1998. They hadn't made them for a long time.

 

AX

[MCHufnagel]

2600 games look excellent on an HDTV for some reason. Very sharp with no bleeding. I use my massive 37" CRT TV (literally it took 3 people just to carry it in my house). It has a great picture for the last gen consoles but works excellent for the older consoles.

They made CRT's that big? And I thought my 36" HD CRT was 'da bomb'.

 

Tempest

Mitusbishi and Sony both made 40" CRT tvs at one time. You'd need a reinforced floor for one of those suckers!

 

I have a 27" crt on the second floor of my house that I play the older systems on. I've found that anything with less than a component output really looks shitty on both of my HDTVs. I do have a pc connected to the 37" gaming LCD HDTV. And I'll play emulaors through that. The filters those emulators have, do make those games more tolerable. Although the Saturn and PSX 3d stuff still looks rather sad.

[godslabrat]

No complaints at all about how my classic systems look on my HD set. :-)

Did you mod those things at all? Which systems?

 

Atari 2600 (upgraded to composite video, the ONLY modded system)

NES (RF on RCA->Coax adaptor) Standard complaints about the video issues of the toploader, but nothing bad to say about the TV

SNES (composite)

Genny/PBC (composite)

SNES (composite)

N64 (composite)

PSOne (composite)

 

That said, I miss my light gun games...

[Trade-N-Games]

I love my HDTV with my 2600 running Rf it looks better than ever. Other older systems dont look that good and the slight delay takes a little time to figure out.

[cimerians]

s-video mod the consoles and use them on the LCD or Plasma.

Use the Wii as an emulator box

 

 

Exactly what I do.

[IceCold]

I use the all of the great Wii emulators for most of my classic gaming these days. The games are displayed in 480p and look pretty good imho.

I'll give that a look as soon as I get home then and I do appreciate the tip. I haven't gotten the composite cables for the Wii yet as (obviously) I believe I've spent enough on that thing.

$5 for component cables at DealExtreme.

 

I would imagine most people use a gamecube controller for emulation, but i could be mistaken(my Wii is not modded).

 

Have you tried working with your tv settings at all? Most HDTV's can scale classic games decent enough.. big thing I'd look at is seeing if it lets you set the aspect ratio so your games aren't stretched.

 

I still prefer a CRT though.

[HawgWyld]

I use the all of the great Wii emulators for most of my classic gaming these days. The games are displayed in 480p and look pretty good imho.

I'll give that a look as soon as I get home then and I do appreciate the tip. I haven't gotten the composite cables for the Wii yet as (obviously) I believe I've spent enough on that thing.

$5 for component cables at DealExtreme.

 

I would imagine most people use a gamecube controller for emulation, but i could be mistaken(my Wii is not modded).

 

Have you tried working with your tv settings at all? Most HDTV's can scale classic games decent enough.. big thing I'd look at is seeing if it lets you set the aspect ratio so your games aren't stretched.

 

I still prefer a CRT though.

I'll take a look at the component cables you mentioned -- what's another $5 after the hundreds I've wasted on that thing? I've got Game Cube controllers to spare, so I'll give that a shot after I get a game or two.

 

I've set the aspect ratio to 4:3 for the classics -- still looks very pixelated. I've fooled with sharpness, contrast -- everything else I can mess with. Driving me nuts.

 

Considering the aggravation that seems inherent in getting those old consoles to work on HDTV sets, I can't help but think a lot of people are just abandoning their old systems in favor of the new ones out there.

 

That's a shame.

[HawgWyld]

I've noticed that a lot of HDTV's seem specifically designed to make us unhappy with our SD video sources. I don't know if it's a conspiracy, or if standard def quality has been just compromised in order to drop othe price on these TV's. Luckily mine's not too bad with SD in general, but it won't display 240p genesis video for whatever reason.

 

And yes, it has put me off. I don't play genesis at all now, and I'd really like to find a *decent* device that upscales svideo and composite signals to standard HD. I have a device that claims it's able to translate them to VGA, but it's not a high quality device.

 

I figure that's happening all over the place. Irritating, huh?

[STICH666]

2600 games look excellent on an HDTV for some reason. Very sharp with no bleeding. I use my massive 37" CRT TV (literally it took 3 people just to carry it in my house). It has a great picture for the last gen consoles but works excellent for the older consoles.

They made CRT's that big? And I thought my 36" HD CRT was 'da bomb'.

 

Tempest

Mitusbishi and Sony both made 40" CRT tvs at one time. You'd need a reinforced floor for one of those suckers!

 

I have a 27" crt on the second floor of my house that I play the older systems on. I've found that anything with less than a component output really looks shitty on both of my HDTVs. I do have a pc connected to the 37" gaming LCD HDTV. And I'll play emulaors through that. The filters those emulators have, do make those games more tolerable. Although the Saturn and PSX 3d stuff still looks rather sad.

 

LOL I have mine on a concrete slab in my basement. It's a SONY Trinitron XBR.

 

Edited July 10, 2009 by STICH666