Has anyone pulled out/gotten an old TV to play old consoles? I just did this.
Sooo, I've been trying to play a few old NES/SNES/Genesis games lately. It was really in interest of filling in some blanks/playing through some stuff I hadn't played through ever (most of the king shit SNES games).
I have a couple of cheap Composite to HDMI converters. So I was using my more recent TVs...basically entry level 4K TVs from a few years ago. Cable into converter into TV, leggo.
And I ain't gon lie. I was feeling hella washed...dying in weird situations that didn't make sense. Timings felt off. It was just weird. I had my head down like Lil Mac when you lose 3 times and shit. But, at the same time, I was on some Keef Sweat shit too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xulTcdtf4eU
So, I did what any suspicious person would do..I took it to the innanet. And what do you know, I read all of the following:
- Cheap Composite to HDMI converters = hella lag. - Lag on old games = really bad cuz most of the games relied on reflex/twitchy reactions for their difficulty. - Good converters = $300 or more, good luck finding one, and you might need more than one weird thing together depending on consoles. - Newer TVs and old consoles don't play nice because they weren't made to go together. 240p vs 1080p isn't clean math. Blah, blah, blah...
Basically, it turned into 'look here, jimmy..find an old azz TV and see if THAT is why you suck so much now'. So I hit FB marketplace, offerup, and all of that. It took about a week and I found a random Sanyo 27" nearby. I got it last night. It was heavy. But it was an old 2001 tube so it wasn't nearly as horrible as those Sony 32" flat screen joints that weigh as much as Brock Lesnar or whatever.
And what do you know...all of a sudden, I was a maestro on Super Mario again. No weird/abnormal-looking deaths. The timing of everything felt MUCH tighter. And I was in business again all of a sudden.
So put me down as a believer in this whole 'get a CRT if you wanna play your old azz consoles' thing. And I don't even know if I have a 'good' old TV. But it'll do for now!
1. "I've considered it, but nah." In response to Reply # 0
If I hadn't already gone down the path of FPGA HD clone consoles, I might be trying to score a few CRTs with component inputs. I figure the clone consoles and modern TVs will last longer and be less of a maintenance nightmare than the original hardware.
If your Sanyo has component or S-video inputs, you can get a better picture from your SNES and Genesis with new cables.
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3. "RE: I've considered it, but nah." In response to Reply # 1
The one I got only has composites (and RF, which I ain't using). I'll probably upgrade it to one with composites if I'm still into this whole deal two month from now. The FB/Offer Up/Next Door deal has a few options popping up every week. Some folks are trying to get rich off of those TVs. Like asking for $250 for a 27" Sony whatever. Others are like '$40..get this thing out of my house!'.
Zoomed out, I have to remember that I barely have time to play games on any TV. I'm gonna go do some Super Mario World RIGHT THE FUCK NOW. Every time I say 'I'll do it later', something will jump up and take my time away.
>If I hadn't already gone down the path of FPGA HD clone >consoles, I might be trying to score a few CRTs with component >inputs. I figure the clone consoles and modern TVs will last >longer and be less of a maintenance nightmare than the >original hardware. > >If your Sanyo has component or S-video inputs, you can get a >better picture from your SNES and Genesis with new cables. > > > > >_______________________________ >gamblers and masturbators. > >www.twitter.com/urkelmoedee >www.instagram.com/urkelmoedee >www.twitch.tv/urkelmoedee >www.mixcloud.com/returntozero >www.albumism.com/search?q=Marcus%20Willis
5. "Annnnnnd, never mind." In response to Reply # 1
A member of a Facebook group I'm in was practically giving away a 27" Toshiba CRT with s-video and component inputs. I was up late and drinking when they posted it, so I said "fuck it" and claimed it. I don't know where or how it'll fit into my setup just yet, but I figured it was too good of a deal to pass up.
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I think I'm gonna sell the Sanyo. I THINK I'm going to roll with an emulator for everything before N64. I'll casually look around for something better than the Sanyo and if it happens, it happens.
I know I wanna finish Super Mario World tho! No, I have never played through it. I had a Genesis at the time and never made it back to SNES stuff until well after the fact. And even when I did, I wasn't focused on that game.
Here's how I got here: I tried SMW on an emulator hooked up to my entry level 4k Toshiba just to see how it would go and WOAH..everything was excellent. No lag, it looked impressively better than my lil old Sanyo, I could use a newer controller (I went with a XBox one controller but could've easily done the same with a PS4 one), and...yeah. It was clearly a better experience. So that's what I'm gonna roll with.
I'll keep looking around because there's still the issue of Dreamcast and N64 games. And I'm sure those don't run great on the emulator set I have from forever ago (It MIGHT be a Raspberry Pi 3? If its even that new?). I'd hate to just have to never play any of that stuff ever again, so I'll keep working on that in the background. My Dreamcast collection has some dope stuff in it that deserves to be revisited for sure. And I have some N64 stuff to settle too before I leave here.
>I mean the PS1 Wipeout XL game is my favorite and it looks >AWFUL, just AWFUL on LED monitors and only looks right on >CRT. > >But I ain't buying a CRT to play it. > >Maybe a CRT projector?? > >Note: I had a 36" Sony Vega hi-def CRT 4:3 TV until 2008. > >EDIT: Someone on my Craiglst is giving away a 40XBR800 for >free if you can move it - it weighs like 200+.
Yeah, it does NOT have a wide set of use cases depending on what you're trying to do. At my age, I don't consider it retro gaming unless its before PS2. And I don't think I have anything from PS1 to revisit.
My main stuff will be NES, SNES, Genesis, and maybe some Dreamcast too from that era.
Besides that, I keep a PS3 hooked up to a TV somewhere in my house. I swapped the hard drive out forever ago, it has a mountain of games on it, and I can blow a few hours easily on that system without even trying. And there's still hella games I haven't played on it. But hell, that's where the whole 'no time' issue plays in. I have all of these systems and options. But I don't regularly have the time AND the energy at the same time to sit down and really get into some of these games.
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