Are rear projection sets good for gaming?

[RickHarrisMaine]

Hi there,

 

I was wondering if rear-projection sets are good for classic or even modern gaming? I have a chance to get one of these beasts for nothing (not sure if it works) and it might require some tuning up on my part. But I don't know how good they are for gaming. Its about from 1997 or so, is 56 inches....

[darthkur]

They are much more susceptible to screen burn-in than a normal crt so definitely do not let one image stay paused for very long. Certainly nothing you'd ever want to hook a pong unit up to.

[roland p]

I like the newer ones with LCOS from Sony. I would replace my LCD for that in a heartbeat. Too bad everone wants flat tv's.

[+save2600]

I'd say a good old fashioned rear projection is better than todays LCD's for classic gaming. Will be fine for modern gaming too of course, just beware of screen burn in though as darthkur mentioned. Having said that... you'd have to play an awful lot of Pong or keep a static image up for a very looooong time before that would happen. 56" is overkill - but it's free, so if it's an easy haul and install - have fun! Just handle that thing with kid gloves. The three picture guns can become misaligned rather easily, resulting in the need for alignment/convergence. Better sets had a built in cross hatch or test pattern of some kind to allow for aligning of the RGB guns, so maybe your model does too. ALL rear projection sets need to be aligned sooner than later anyway. Comes with the territory.

[Underball]

Three gun CRT RPTV's are no more or less susceptible to burn in that CRT TV's. I had a Panasonic 56" RPTV from 1998 that lasted 10+ years until the convergence chips went. IT was great, for what it was.

 

For that matter, LCD & Plasma both can suffer burn-in if you're not careful too.

 

The only current TV tech that isn't susceptible is DLP.

 

And DLP is GLORIOUS for gaming, especially on my 65" Mitsu.

[STICH666]

I can tell you that those sets are perfect for 16 bit and above. Anything below that will be distorted.

[BigO]

Three gun CRT RPTV's are no more or less susceptible to burn in that CRT TV's. I had a Panasonic 56" RPTV from 1998 that lasted 10+ years until the convergence chips went. IT was great, for what it was.

 

For that matter, LCD & Plasma both can suffer burn-in if you're not careful too.

 

The only current TV tech that isn't susceptible is DLP.

 

And DLP is GLORIOUS for gaming, especially on my 65" Mitsu.

How would an LCD experience burn-in? Does the liquid crystal itself start to change its properties and work less effectively?

 

I have heard that the projection CRT's are more subject to burn-in due to the intensity/brightness. But, in my mind, that should mean a shorter overall lifespan than a standard CRT and I've not heard anything one way or the other about that.

 

An old-school analog 3-CRT projector should, in theory, be able to support light gun games. Anybody every try that?

 

 

[+save2600]

I have heard that the projection CRT's are more subject to burn-in due to the intensity/brightness. But, in my mind, that should mean a shorter overall lifespan than a standard CRT and I've not heard anything one way or the other about that.

 

An old-school analog 3-CRT projector should, in theory, be able to support light gun games. Anybody every try that?

You're absolutely right in thinking projectors *are* more susceptible to burning out because of their intensity. The guns and their power supply are usually the first to go.

 

Not 100% positive about rear projections working with light guns from consoles, but I'd suspect so. Similar in tech are the optical gun games from the arcades and I personally just restored and sold a Sega Virtua Cop that was rear projecting.

 

 

[RickHarrisMaine]

Right now this beast is in pieces, as the present owner had to get it out of his basement that way (not sure how he got it in there in the first place). I can put it back together again fairly easily, it seems, and hopefully it will work. shame I don't really have a ton of room though down here in my gaming lair.....but 56 inches of Virtua Cop could be a blast.

[Bilnick]

Rear projection TV's are great for gaming. I used a 54" Sony rear projection as my primary gaming television for 10 years with zero burn in issues. Played everything from Atari 2600 to PS3 on it and loved it. I upgraded my Sony rear projection with a 73" Mitsubishi DLP rear projection a couple of years ago, and I can say that I have not seen a better TV for gaming. A DLP cannot be beat for the money. I also have a 50" plasma that I play games on, but nothing beats the wow factor of a 73" screen. (except maybe an 82" screen!!!!)

 

Those old 3 gun rear projection TV are heavy buggers. My 73" DLP weighs less than 100 pounds, about the same weight as my 50" plasma.

[Underball]

I have heard that the projection CRT's are more subject to burn-in due to the intensity/brightness. But, in my mind, that should mean a shorter overall lifespan than a standard CRT and I've not heard anything one way or the other about that.

 

An old-school analog 3-CRT projector should, in theory, be able to support light gun games. Anybody every try that?

You're absolutely right in thinking projectors *are* more susceptible to burning out because of their intensity. The guns and their power supply are usually the first to go.

But this is really only a major risk through the first 2 years or so during the break in period while the CRT guns are still "new". Once an RPTV has logged a few thousand hours of normal use, the risk for CRT burn-in drops dramatically.

 

And since this particular TV we're talking about is 12 years old, we're long past this risk period. Still, I wouldn't recommend leaving it on for extended periods witha static image, but I wouldn't recommend that for ANY TV.

[Underball]

Three gun CRT RPTV's are no more or less susceptible to burn in that CRT TV's. I had a Panasonic 56" RPTV from 1998 that lasted 10+ years until the convergence chips went. IT was great, for what it was.

 

For that matter, LCD & Plasma both can suffer burn-in if you're not careful too.

 

The only current TV tech that isn't susceptible is DLP.

 

And DLP is GLORIOUS for gaming, especially on my 65" Mitsu.

How would an LCD experience burn-in? Does the liquid crystal itself start to change its properties and work less effectively?

Pixel charge retention. It's not as prominent as CRT burn-in, but it is still an issue.

[jeremysart]

I have a 56 inch rear projection downstairs, and a 32 inch flat panel LCD in the game room, along with a traditional 24 inch crt tv.

 

I next to never play games on the 56, its like you have to sit at the perfect angle for the lighting to be correct, and the quality is grainier than traditional or lcd tvs, and often too dark in racers or fps games.

 

The LCD tv seems to be great for pretty much everything except the PS1, N64, and original XBOX games. A lot of people prefer CRT for older consoles like the VCS or Intv, but for for me the crisp lines are pretty, I love seeing the games so big and sharp.

 

But of course I keep my CRT around for the Saturn and N64 and such, or when I feel like hooking up my woody 2600 for the nostalgic effect.

[pinball22]

 

Pixel charge retention. It's not as prominent as CRT burn-in, but it is still an issue.

 

I didn't know this existed until recently when I saw it on our iMac when running a screen saver that has a non-moving image. It was very faint, and went away after a while of not using that screen saver, but I was really startled by it.

[Video]

Projection screens are still to this day susceptable to burn in. My grandparents got a Sony TV, only a couple of years old (like 05, I think) and it now has a permanent burn in where the ticker thing runs on CNN I can only assume it would be worse with a game console where the colors never change or anything.

 

I Guess, as huge flatscreens are more popular, projection screens are going away, I never see them anymore :\ Though, honestly, I'd prefer, either a pannel, or actual projector to a projection screen (better clarity with a panel screen, bigger pic with a true projector)

[atarian63]

Three gun CRT RPTV's are no more or less susceptible to burn in that CRT TV's. I had a Panasonic 56" RPTV from 1998 that lasted 10+ years until the convergence chips went. IT was great, for what it was.

 

For that matter, LCD & Plasma both can suffer burn-in if you're not careful too.

 

The only current TV tech that isn't susceptible is DLP.

 

And DLP is GLORIOUS for gaming, especially on my 65" Mitsu.

Oh yeah! I have the DLP mitsu 73" one, what a great picture!

 

Am using my old 61" sony RPTV in my office for classic gaming, no problem. However I have seen many that have had corporate usage and have a premanent burn from a constant image being projected 24/7.

[Atari8bitCarts]

what about color on projection TV's? I have the 65" Mitsu and mine shows games only in Black and White???? on Ant input.

[Mark Wolfe]

keep your eyes on craig's list and chances are you will find someone willing to give a big rear projection screen away for free or for next to nothing if you can just come and haul the dang thing away for them. watch out though on the move, it is a very delicate system inside the thing and replacement bulbs tend to be kinda pricey.

[TheGameCollector]

This is a bit off topic but you know what was really fun? When my stepdad hooked his laptop and Playstation 2 up to his projector to play games on his wall. There was quite a wow factor because he showed me how if he set it far back enough, it could become bigger than a big screen TV and look pretty clear in the dark.

[flynnz]

As others have said, they are great for classic gaming. The fact that they can run 2 different native resolutions is a big plus as well. (480p/1080i). An issue with a lot of the newer TV's is they suffer from huge input lag. For classic gaming this is a huge problem as most of them rely on twitch fast responses. I returned a TV because I couldn't dodge any of Mike Tyson's Punches hah(as a side note I always use punch-out for testing my input lag now ). A lot of the early DLP systems had some of the worst input lag, however I am not sure about newer models. I haven't noticed any real input lag on any of the rear projection TV's I have tried, though YMMV.

 

The downside to rear projection is they can suffer from burn in do to how intense the guns have to run to make the picture bright enough to project to the screen. They also can have convergence and geometry issues that the newer tv's don't suffer from. If you are anal, this could be quite annoying.

 

As a personal preference, I like the rear projection HD tv's. Just something about how they optically put that slight blur on the image. I find the LCD tv's and the like are almost too crisp at times, makes everything look jaggy. Not to mention the color and black levels usually kick the crap out of the newer TV's.

Edited July 23, 2011 by flynnz

[Cynicaster]

I've got a 72" Toshiba DLP rear projection. Outdated tech, but I think the picture is great on it.

 

Anyway, I've used my PS3 on it for quite some time and have been quite happy with the results.

 

However, recently a friend brought over a Dreamcast with a disk chock-full of NES games and an emulator. I was playing Mike Tyson's Punch Out and it was utterly unplayable. Obviously, in that game, getting the timing right in dodging the opponents' uppercuts is part and parcel to victory. But the lag was atrocious--I actually went to round 2 with Glass Joe and Von Kaiser and got KO'd by Great Tiger. Ouch.

 

Not sure if this problem is due to my TV or shoddy emulation. But I do remember a friend bringing over Guitar Hero for PS2 and having timing issues with that as well. But I think at least that game had a calibration function to correct the problem.

Edited July 23, 2011 by Cynicaster