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

[gameguider]

I have a HDTV, and pretty much all of the retro consoles I have look blurry and fuzzy when playing on it.

 

What's the best screen I could buy to play the games on, so they look crisp?

[BydoEmpire]

I like a small-to-medium sized tube TV. Pick one up cheap at a yard sale, Craigslist, Freecycle or Goodwill. I have a cheap Sanyo (22" ?) that classic games look fantastic on. Classic games don't look as good to me on my larger, "better" Panasonic. Movies on modern games look sharper on the better TV, but for some reason that cheapo Sanyo makes classic games look great. Might be just the right size.

[gameguider]

How many inches is your Sanyo?

[STICH666]

Buy a giant CRT TV. They always look amazing.

[kevincal]

They look awesome on my 35 inch Sony Trinitron 2001 model.

[segasaturn]

I use all different kinds of TV's. And, to me, the games all look the same. But I had to pick a TV, I would pick a small (12"- 20") Tube TV. They would work the best at old Atari games.

[STICH666]

They look awesome on my 35 inch Sony Trinitron 2001 model.

37 inch Sony Triniton 1988 model here.

[BydoEmpire]

How many inches is your Sanyo?

I think it's 22"... might be 27".

[brojamfootball]

How many inches is your Sanyo?

That's between me and my girlfriend, buddy!

[+thegoldenband]

We have two:

 

- a larger CRT, maybe 25", on which we play systems with an AV out (N64, Gamecube, Dreamcast, PS1)

- a smaller CRT, about 12", that we use for systems with RF out (2600, Intellivision).

 

That combination seems to work quite well. Plus the smaller CRT has a built-in VCR, which could be handy if I ever decide to get my Twin Galaxies on.

[Asaki]

Any analogue TV will look much better with retro consoles than an HD will.

[phaxda]

I like my TV to have at least a little woodrain on'er.

[AtariLeaf]

A Commodore 1802. Nice sharp picture and takes up little space.

[Poopopyo]

I use a Sanyo flat screen for every single one of my game systems (except for the old computers) and the picture looks great. Try to look for TVs at tag sales. Usually those are cheap and are nice and clean.

[Asaki]

I like my TV to have at least a little woodrain on'er.

 

Oh yeah, that would be nice too, though I'm sure it's a bit harder to find one in perfect working order. One of those big ones that sits on the floor...just picture laying in front of one of those with a 2600 at your side (insert drooling emoticon here)

[Video]

I agree, pretty much any CRT will trump any of the flatscreen HD's for viewing old school games on. I have an ancient 13"TV, that I still use, though the screen is going pretty dark and it's wavy when cold, and a pretty nice 19"sanyo that has Stereo built in (with one of those "simulated surround sound" gizmos built in, sounds great too" Most everything is hooked to the 19incher, though I also have a 13"b/wTV that I hook up stuff for laughs,man, crap that looks almost real on the 360 does look real on that little piece of shit. To bad analog's going away, I still used it this year to pull in channels we can't get

[Lord Helmet]

I don't have any tube TV's anymore, which would probably be ideal. However, I have found that classic games look great on my 55 inch plasma. They don't look nearly as good on my 45 inch LCD. It helps on both TV's if I make sure and set the aspect ratio at 4:3 instead of 16:9.

[godslabrat]

I don't have any tube TV's anymore, which would probably be ideal. However, I have found that classic games look great on my 55 inch plasma. They don't look nearly as good on my 45 inch LCD. It helps on both TV's if I make sure and set the aspect ratio at 4:3 instead of 16:9.

 

I think the flat screen does help A LOT when it comes to games... the lack of curvature makes a huge difference. Agreed, LH, don't mess with the aspect ratio, and keep the signal clean, and classic games CAN look great. My 37" LCD loves my NES and Atari.

 

HOWEVER, if I were buying a new TV, I would totally take my classic systems to the store to try them out. There are a lot of variables in place here, and just because this TV looks great on classic systems doesn't mean the next one will.

[STICH666]

I don't have any tube TV's anymore, which would probably be ideal. However, I have found that classic games look great on my 55 inch plasma. They don't look nearly as good on my 45 inch LCD. It helps on both TV's if I make sure and set the aspect ratio at 4:3 instead of 16:9.

 

I think the flat screen does help A LOT when it comes to games... the lack of curvature makes a huge difference. Agreed, LH, don't mess with the aspect ratio, and keep the signal clean, and classic games CAN look great. My 37" LCD loves my NES and Atari.

 

HOWEVER, if I were buying a new TV, I would totally take my classic systems to the store to try them out. There are a lot of variables in place here, and just because this TV looks great on classic systems doesn't mean the next one will.

Agreed. Pre-32bit consoles look amazing on high def screens. But try a PS1 on my cousin's 60" DLP and the jaggies cut your eyes.

[CGQuarterly]

Since you are in England, just locate a good quality CRT TV, like a Sony Trinitron, with a SCART RGB input. Then buy SCART RGB cables, which are super easy to find in your country, for all of your old systems which support RGB. A TV like that will also give you the best picture on non-RGB capable TVs like the Atari.

 

Chris

[Cynn]

I find LCD and plasma to have a much better image with classic 2D systems. Tubes introduce too many distortions. Pixels for pixels as they say. Get good cables or even better a video mod and be amazed. Look at the longhorn posts here on AA.

 

As others have said though, early 3D systems don't look so hot though unless upscaled.

Edited July 24, 2009 by Cynn

[MCHufnagel]

I have two HDTV's. A 37" LCD and a 46" LCD rear projection. 2d games look pretty good on on both of them. And the 480p Gamecube/PS2/Xbox games through component look fine as well. But the non-480p games are hit and miss. All of my old 3d systems use s-video and go through my 27" Sanyo CRT. Now older pc 3d games look pretty nice through the HDTV's as well. I guess because they are naturally at a higher resolution. Although I do prefer my 22" Hitachi crt monitor for those (and my VGA box Dreamcast ). A 1600 x 1200 crt monitor looks pretty damn good even today.

[Video]

I don't have any tube TV's anymore, which would probably be ideal. However, I have found that classic games look great on my 55 inch plasma. They don't look nearly as good on my 45 inch LCD. It helps on both TV's if I make sure and set the aspect ratio at 4:3 instead of 16:9.

 

I think the flat screen does help A LOT when it comes to games... the lack of curvature makes a huge difference. Agreed, LH, don't mess with the aspect ratio, and keep the signal clean, and classic games CAN look great. My 37" LCD loves my NES and Atari.

 

HOWEVER, if I were buying a new TV, I would totally take my classic systems to the store to try them out. There are a lot of variables in place here, and just because this TV looks great on classic systems doesn't mean the next one will.

Agreed. Pre-32bit consoles look amazing on high def screens. But try a PS1 on my cousin's 60" DLP and the jaggies cut your eyes.

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

[STICH666]

I don't have any tube TV's anymore, which would probably be ideal. However, I have found that classic games look great on my 55 inch plasma. They don't look nearly as good on my 45 inch LCD. It helps on both TV's if I make sure and set the aspect ratio at 4:3 instead of 16:9.

 

I think the flat screen does help A LOT when it comes to games... the lack of curvature makes a huge difference. Agreed, LH, don't mess with the aspect ratio, and keep the signal clean, and classic games CAN look great. My 37" LCD loves my NES and Atari.

 

HOWEVER, if I were buying a new TV, I would totally take my classic systems to the store to try them out. There are a lot of variables in place here, and just because this TV looks great on classic systems doesn't mean the next one will.

Agreed. Pre-32bit consoles look amazing on high def screens. But try a PS1 on my cousin's 60" DLP and the jaggies cut your eyes.

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*

[gdement]

For a dedicated game room setup, I think the absolute ideal TV would be a big HD CRT. You'll get the CRT characteristics such as overscan and zapper compatibility that old systems expect, and you can also hook up modern HD consoles to it. And zero lag.

 

They're kind of awkward for HD television because they're usually 4:3 and most don't have an HDTV tuner in them, but for game systems they're perfect.

They never became mainstream, and at the time not many people had HD service. They weren't around too long before Plasma/DLP/LCD took over, so probably not that many were made. Many people are getting rid of them now, and I bet they'll be a pretty rare find in coming years.

 

For something smaller, HD wouldn't matter and a standard CRT is fine. I'm lucky enough to have a good one of those, a flat 14" Toshiba CRT from 2005 that has composite, svideo, and even component inputs. It also doesn't have that annoying blue-screen "feature". It's probably one of the last good brand CRTs made.

 

 

I never noticed any lag on an LCD until I was playing the bonus game on SMB2. I used to be able to hit cherries on that pretty well, but now it's all in vain. Maybe it's aged reflexes but I think the LCD just ruins my timing.

 

 

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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.