/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.607124]

There seems to be a lack of a crt thread.
>Good models?
>What do you have?

I'm talking to someone on craigslist right now about buying a Trinitron KV-27FV300 for $20. If that doesnt go through I want to look more seriously into PVM's what are the best ones?

[Anonymous No.607131]

>There seems to be a lack of a crt thread.
Maybe because this is a video game board and not a television board. Take it to /g/.

[Anonymous No.607137]

Out of curiosity, what makes a good CRT? Clarity of picture? Little flicker?

[Anonymous No.607142]

>>607137

Scanlines.

[Anonymous No.608117]

I live in Raleigh NC

where can I buy CRT tvs? is craigslist the only place?

any stores carry them?

[Anonymous No.608140]

I'm getting a CRT soon if I can just fucking get someone to help me put it in my car and then my house

It's some big screen trinitron, but it only takes rf composite and s-video. Not too grade but leagues better than the piece of crap that's starting to fail on me

[Anonymous No.608148]

>>608140
not to great*

[Anonymous No.608163]

Is a PVM-1942Q any good?

[Anonymous No.608197]

>>608117

Goodwill?

[Anonymous No.608213]

>>608117
Goodwill, Craigslist
Sometimes big bulk stores have them on clearance

Sometimes you could find like a school or something trying to get rid of their old TVs

[Anonymous No.608874]

Bought a 38' Sony Trinitron with the stand a few days ago; wasn't aware the Trinitrons are heavy as fuuuuuck. Had to get it into my 3rd story apartment HOLY CRAP that wasn't easy.

[Anonymous No.608881]

>>608874

>38'

HOLY SHIT. 38 FEET?!

[Anonymous No.608882]

>>608881

No wonder it's so heavy.

[Anonymous No.608891]

>>608881

Calling me out on forgetting an apostrophe, huh.

[Anonymous No.608916]

I use this, picture is very good (even if my camera isnt)

[Anonymous No.608926]

>>608916
Also picked this up the other day.
Black and white and perfect for the oldest of the old games systems

[Anonymous No.608936]

>>608926

>solid state

Ahead of its time, man.

[Anonymous No.609273]

My CRT (Sansui, got it in 2007) has a weird high-pitch hum to it, and the picture appears to move up and down slightly, like a wobbling motion. Is this normal for CRTs and I've just forgotten, or is there possible indication of an issue here?

Also, I have some clear discoloration spots from a long period of having some speakers too close to the TV. Are there any ways to remove these color spots?

[Anonymous No.609279]

>>609273
The high pitch hum is normal but the wobbling isnt.

[Anonymous No.609281]

>>609279
I'll have to make sure it really does wobble, I don't notice when playing games on it but I do notice when it's just showing black screen.

[Anonymous No.609506]

>>609273
The whine/hum is the horizontal flyback oscillator fucking off. It'll keep working (normally), but when the glue holding the inductor breaks down, the metal starts vibrating at near about 16kHz. In fact, 15,750 Hz. This is why cheap (or old) CRTs whine.

[Anonymous No.609862]

>>609506
So can you fix it? Glue the inductor back on?

And is 2007 really old? I don't know when it was made, but it is an HD CRT and everything.

[Anonymous No.610050]

>>609862

2007 isn't old at all for a CRT. I got one from the early 90's and it's still good to go. But I don't know the brand you mentioned, never heard of Sansui...

[Anonymous No.610202]

>>607137
The flicker. CRT-style flicker is the only way you can get smooth and sharp looking motion at low framerates (60fps is "low" in this context). You can get the same flicker on an LCD with black frame insertion or scanning backlight, although latency won't be as good and the vast majority of LCDs don't support this.

See http://www.blurbusters.com/ for details.

[Anonymous No.610420]

>>610202

The only problem with the flicker is that it's also a counter argument used by some people who complain about the CRT hurting their poor little eyes. But this is a lame argument to put on the same rank as "it's heavy! i can't walk 700 feet while carrying it".
Also, even if LCD screens can imitate the CRT flicker, I think you still don't have the other advantages of CRTs, like a better color fidelity, higher contrasts, better low res handling...

[Anonymous No.611992]

>>609862
It's not that the inductors fall off, but the glue that holds the plates in place breaks down. The inductor coils for the HFO in most CRT sets looks like a stack of metal plates, wrapped in red wire. Needless to say, you should NOT try to work on a CRT set without proper training. The tube alone can hold enough power to kill you stone dead. Typically takes a 1M Ohm resistor to drain that without flames and death.

[Anonymous No.612096]

>>610050
neither have I, hence why I consider it a 'random brand' TV. Might explain why it's all busted at such a young age, or maybe I screwed with it badly by having loud speakers right next to it for so long. Regardless I'll have to call some electricians around and see if there's anything that can be done for the hum and for the magnetic discoloration.

>>611992
Oh yeah, I heard all the horror stories from back when I was on the BYOAC forums making my home mame cab (which is actually why I bought the thing in the first place). I know not to fuck with it, hence why if I really need to mess with it, then I'll call an electrician.

[Anonymous No.613783]

I ordered a 15 dollar vga to s-video converter box. The games look amazing. I don't know all the technical reasons why.

The backgrounds in RE2 look incredibly crisp. The 3D games, even at native resolution are very nice looking. It's so amazing. I highly, highly recommend this. The motion is really smooth as well. Don't try to use digital displays and try to use shaders to fix it. They'll turn out blurry.

Images of CRTs are really hard to do right.

>>607131

Display technology is a vital part of video games, especially SD ones which look best on SD displays.

[Anonymous No.613787]

>>613783


PS1 games look amazing as well. They look a lot like the original system. This is using Mednafen (native internal resolution). It's really nice to see PS1 games look nice, while also not having massive texture or polygon problems.

RE2 also looks great. The backgrounds are super sharp, and the 3D models look a bit pixelated and jaggy (just as they did on the original console, as that was one of my favorite games). So the 3D models mesh well with the backgrounds, and don't look out of place. I'm going to try enhanced ps1 emulators next. See how that looks.

But I'd highly recommend this over trying to use digital displays and trying to get them to look right with shaders.

[nux !!NUaWNw/16cK No.614119]

I have an Apex 20" AT2002 CRT Color TV hooked to an NES/PS2. Could hook 2 more consoles into it since it has 4 ports and an S-Video port in the back. Will upload pictures soon.

[Anonymous No.614564]

Could someone please explain to me what this red input labeled Chroma is? I just got my amiga monitor and I'm curious as hell as to what this does.

[nux !!NUaWNw/16cK No.614592]

>>614564
>Yellow = Picture
>White/Red = Audio

That is what I had always thought.

>Still waiting for my CRT image to transfer from phone to email.

[Anonymous No.614595]

>>614564

It's a color-only video signal. The same thing s-video uses and can't be seen without a separate luminance signal.

By separating the video signal into chroma and luma you have more bandwidth and get better clarity.

I assume the composite port becomes luma if you're using chroma input on that monitor.

[nux !!NUaWNw/16cK No.614605]

>>614595
Guy is right.
Did not want to search it up and be a dick about it.

[Anonymous No.614615]

>>614595
oh cool, so is there some way of converting a svideo cable into something that could be input by this? I'm currently on the hunt for a laser disc player with svideo out. Mine only has composite outputs. I'll probably just use the rgb for vidya once I figure out some sort of conversion cables.

[Anonymous No.614610]

It's a Jensen circa 2007. Is it any good for vidya?

[Anonymous No.614640]

>>614615
Congrats, you're not the first guy to ask this apparently. Here's to hoping this has some helpful answers for you.

http://www.lemonamiga.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9491

[Anonymous No.614650]

>>614615
>is there some way of converting a svideo cable into something that could be input by this

Sure, just cut the end off and splice each signal and its ground to an RCA connector.

There's absolutely nothing different about the s-video signal, just the shape of the connector.

[Anonymous No.614756]

I just found this Sony computer monitor that has RGB inputs.

Would this work with old consoles?

[Anonymous No.614828]

>>614756

SCART to BNC should work.

[Anonymous No.615134]

My monitor's RGB input is this:
>>614564
That being said, what should I do to get my consoles to interface with it? Do I have to make my own cables or is there a way to convert the Amiga monitor's input to a more standard scart input?

[Anonymous No.615150]

>>615134
You could make a Scart female to 3 RCA cable with the RCA's wired to chroma, luma and mono audio pins, then just plug your normal scart cables into that.

[Anonymous No.615170]

>>615134

[Anonymous No.615190]

>>615134

Plenty of scart to vga adapters exist, but if you want audio too you'll need to look a bit harder.

[Anonymous No.615228]

>>615190
every one of those scart to vga cables seem to have male scart ends though. I guess I'd have to hunt down a male to female if I wanted to hook up a snes scart cable.

[Anonymous No.615254]

>>615228
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/380480148520

[Anonymous No.615269]

>>615254
thank you!

[Anonymous No.615634]

>>615254
>Postage to: Worldwide
>Excludes: United States

[Anonymous No.615803]

>>607124

so i have this really ancient lcd television that is 4:3 ratio(perfectly square like a flat CRT tv, and was wondering why my NES and SNES games seem to look great on it?

I thought lcd's were a no-no but this one outputs it perfectly, though with no scanlines. It isn't stretched and sprites aren't blurry like they are on my HDTV even when its switched to 4:3 ratio mode.

So what gives? Are some LCD tvs decent for retro vidya after all?

[Anonymous No.615816]

>>615803
It's probably SD, so the games arent being stretched to shit like on a HDTV.

But i bet the blacks are shit on it, most old LCD's had awful blacks.

[Anonymous No.615819]

>>615803

It's probably an SD display, which means it doesn't have to scale the image.

But you still have some input lag from the analog to digital conversion.

[Anonymous No.615828]

>>615634
Try living in Canada

If it can be used as a weapon, used to hold a weapon, used to clean a weapon or used to pretend to have a weapon, we simply can't get it here

Seriously, I tried to order a leather sheath for a hunting knife I bought FROM A STORE IN CANADA online and I can't find a single place that will ship it to me due to "international law"

[Anonymous No.615893]

>>615634
>Item location: St. Helens, United Kingdom
>This seller does not post to United Kingdom

I can only imagine what series of misadventures led to this guy having the exclusion list he does.

>>615828

That's a load of bullshit. I buy gear from the US and China all the time. Some of it even arrives having been opened by customs and they don't give a shit. Got a Buck Kalinga skinner from the US a couple months ago, even. They're beautiful and discontinued. Can't even bring myself to soil it by using it.

[Anonymous No.615896]

Is this the most popular model or TV for retro gaming?

It seems like everyone owns one.

[Anonymous No.615905]

>>615896

The SD Trinitrons are easy to come by and pretty nice despite being super cheap.

[Anonymous No.616828]

I'm going to go have a look at a couple of TV's with SCART inputs and i want to make sure they accept RGB but i don't have any SCART cables for my consoles.

Would i be able to just use a multimeter to test if the TV accepts RGB?

[Anonymous No.616835]

>>615819

actually, they play fine

[Anonymous No.620436]

bump.

[Anonymous No.620452]

Thanks to /vr/, I now have a CRT fetish.

Thanks!

[Anonymous No.620515]

How do you justify paying so much for a top of the line CRT when they generally only last 50000 hour, most of which that have been for 30000 already?

[Anonymous No.620996]

>>620515
I already had my old TV in the garage. Just pulled it out, worked great.

I'm sure that's the case with most people. Who throws out a working television?

[Anonymous No.622808]

>>620996

I've seen people throwing working stuff because "HUURR TOO OLD".
No, I don't do it.

[Anonymous No.622840]

>>620515

20,000 hours is nearly 7 years of running 8 hours every single day.

20,000 hours is also longer than a brand new plasma set lasts.

lrn2scale

[Anonymous No.623151]

To CRT owners don't you find that it's too dark?

I've had my CRT for the longest time so I genuinly don't recall if it was always like this, it is dark to the point that I need to alter brightness in anything I play.

That being said I've had this for close to 12 years now and I don't feel it's going to die anytime soon. I'm always terrified of buying a new model for fear of that burning out like everything seems to nowadays.

[Anonymous No.623167]

>>620996
It happens from time to time; people get new TVs and the old ones don't have any purpose anymore. They could donate it or give away, but you can say the same for a lot of things people toss out.

[Anonymous No.623185]

Alright /vr/, I'm putting some money down for my first CRT, I have a few questions.

1. The best one for gaming appears to be a 20" trinitron BVM, is this correct?

2. Is there a way for a snes to be RGB? How would i go about doing it?

3. Anything else I should know before I purchase a crt?

[Anonymous No.623186]

>>614610
Is it a CRT?
If so, yes!
If not, NOPE.

[Anonymous No.623247]

>>623185
>every time I post everyone disappears
Every time

[Anonymous No.623263]

>>620996
I guess it's a space issue. CRT's aren't exactly compact, so if you no longer use it takes a lot of space to keep it. Also, with the whole "as flat as possible" fad with TVs they can be hard to sell. That's why you see so many CRT's on the sidewalk.

[Anonymous No.623272]

>>623185
yes no sure

[Anonymous No.623295]

>>623185
To get RGB on your SNES, all you need is a suitable cable for it. If your SNES is NTSC(US/Japan) all you need is a Gamecube RGB SCART cable, which works unmodified on the NTSC SNES(Not the NTSC Gamecube though). You can import these, unofficial ones aren't hard to find. As for a European SNES, you will need to modify the cable.

If you live in America, your TV probably doesn't support SCART at all, so you will need a SCART>BNC adapter to get the full RGB quality out of it on American TVs.

[Anonymous No.623293]

>>623272
Not helpful.

[Anonymous No.623298]

>>623293
tough shit kiddo

[Anonymous No.623303]

>>623295
Also, when getting a CRT, be sure to check if it supports BNC. They look like >>614756 (The row of 5 inputs)

[Anonymous No.623395]

>>623295
Why would you need to modify the cable for PAL SNES when the cable is from a PAL country?

[Anonymous No.623407]

>>623395

Because Nintendo is fucking retarded.

[Anonymous No.623413]

>>623395
Ask Nintendo. If you use a GC RGB cable on a PAL SNES, the image gets extremely darkened because of the capacitors in the cable. If you remove them(requires some soldering skills to put it back together) it works flawlessly. Here is a guide:
http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/console/nintendo/pal-snes-rgb.htm

Nintendo probably never intended to release a RGB cable for either the NTSC or PAL SNES. Same goes for the N64, which doesn't support RGB at all. It can be modded, but only on NTSC systems and early French SECAM systems. As for the Gamecube and Wii, only the PAL versions of those support RGB.

[Anonymous No.623554]

>>623413

But we had RGB cables for the SNES in Europe. I alway used my SNES with one.

[Anonymous No.623573]

I use a Panasonic CRT and and all my N64 games look like garbage. I'm not sure if this is a product of my TV not being very good or if N64 games have always looked terrible.

[Anonymous No.623586]

>>623573

The N64 look good on small CRT TVs only.

[Anonymous No.623593]

>>623554
Did you use something like this(composite quality) or a direct SCART connection?(RGB quality) I don't remember Nintendo ever selling SCART RGB cables until the Gamecube, although there was an official Japanese 21-pin RGB cable.(which looks like SCART but was wired differently)

[Anonymous No.623607]

>>623593

Your pic is what I used for my n64. My SNES used a direct to SCART connection.

[Anonymous No.623610]

Someone needs to make a guide or something so we can stop these threads altogether by posting it and then leaving it to die.

Filter only goes so far, and some non-cancerous posts contain the acronym "CRT" so I cant outright filter it.

[Anonymous No.623652]

Anyone know if TEAC TV's are any good?

They seem to be one of the only brands that have SCART in australia.

[Anonymous No.623773]

>>623610
What bothers you so much about CRT threads? Just hide them when you see them and move on.

[Anonymous No.623804]

>>615828
Oh man, as a kid, I tried buying a cheap piece of shit BB gun (like , REALLY shitty, damn thing wouldn't even sting if you were shot 8/9ft away) from Hong Kong and had it shipped to ol' Canadia

Worked the first time, so I got bold and decided to order a second one.

It got confiscated. My family got letters from Candians Customs and hotwhatabat that demanded we fill out this paperwork that basically made us state that we ackowledge we fucked up and some other bullshit about not being smugglers or some crap.

Fuck this nanny state horseshit, I just wanted some shitty airsoft guns for a school video project (teachers and authorities in my school were surprisingly cool about the display of 'weapons' in student videos as long as it had proper 'context')

[Anonymous No.623813]

>>623151
>To CRT owners don't you find that it's too dark?

Exact opposite to me. One of my big beefs with HD TVs is that if you are at the wrong angle a huge portion of the screen goes dark. Pain in the ass if you just wanna lean back while watching something.