These things are absolutely terrific for classic gaming if you have the room for it. In my video game room, I have one HDTV and one SDTV side by side, naturally the HD is used for newer consoles, and the SD for older (It's also nice to keep tabs on football when I play Madden on Sundays). Systems like the Dreamcast and Gamecube look so much better on the older TVs, plus a lot of the newer ones don't have the composite cable input, so you end up having to buy a coaxial converter, further degrading the quality of the picture.
Now's a great time too, people are looking to get rid of these things as they're upgrading to flat panels. I just got a 32 inch Sony Wega for free off of Craigslist. Only problem is, you better have two strong people, because these things tend to weigh a ton. Compounding that was the fact that I live on the third floor with no elevator.
But we finally got it upstairs, and it's so nice being able to play these games in the picture format they were intended for. It's something I highly recommend looking into as you won't have to spend much and it will greatly enhance your classic gaming experience.
Standard Def 4:3 TVs
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JWK1
- Posts: 904
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Standard Def 4:3 TVs
I got a 27 inch Sony Wega for $5 about 3 or 4 months ago. It's probably the greatest thing I've done for my retro gaming as of late. The games look absolutely amazing. The TV I was using before was decent, but it looks like crap in comparison. The colors are bright and the sprites look crisp and beautiful. Long live Standard Definition.
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VideoGameCritic
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Standard Def 4:3 TVs
I agree - standard definition is the way to go for classic gaming (really anything PS2 and earlier).
My in-laws are upgrading their TV, and I'm taking their old TV to get it fixed so I can keep it as a back-up.
My in-laws are upgrading their TV, and I'm taking their old TV to get it fixed so I can keep it as a back-up.
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Gamehead1
- Posts: 24
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Standard Def 4:3 TVs
I love these TV's, they are great for classic gaming. I have used old systems on a 42' plasma with no lag, but the picture is terrible, and everything looks stretched. My parents are saying that they want to get rid of my CRT, but I refused and said that I NEED that old TV I have. Simply put, these things pack more use then a new TV.
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VideoGameCritic
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Standard Def 4:3 TVs
And right now is a great time to obtain these and put one or two in storage for backup purposes.
My in-laws recently upgraded to an HDTV and I was more than happy to take their sweet Toshiba 27" (with component even) off their hands. Pretty heavy though! Sheesh!
My in-laws recently upgraded to an HDTV and I was more than happy to take their sweet Toshiba 27" (with component even) off their hands. Pretty heavy though! Sheesh!
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ptdebate1
- Posts: 909
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Standard Def 4:3 TVs
Super Smash Bros. Melee tournaments were always the one eSports venue to require the use of SDTVs well into the 2000s due to their faster response time in displaying analog video signals.
That being said, there's really no reason to ever have to use composite video. The Dreamcast itself presents the appealing option of digital RGB output in 480p through VGA. In terms of analog signals, the Dreamcast, like every console before it since the Genesis (U.S. Gamecube excluded), supports RGB out via SCART, a pinout analogous to VGA and HDMI in that it provides high quality video by keeping signals separate rather than forcing them into one as composite does.
Finding a display that supports analog RGB is probably the trickiest part, but I was able to have one shipped from an eBay seller with little difficulty. The improvement in quality as a result of my setup cannot be emphasized enough.
I will admit, creating your RGB setup requires some legwork and more than a little spare change. If all else fails, there's always S-Video. Virtually every system, 16-bit and onward (excluding the Genesis), supports this standard as it was the only form of high-fidelity video available in the U.S. until YUV component became a thing.
That being said, there's really no reason to ever have to use composite video. The Dreamcast itself presents the appealing option of digital RGB output in 480p through VGA. In terms of analog signals, the Dreamcast, like every console before it since the Genesis (U.S. Gamecube excluded), supports RGB out via SCART, a pinout analogous to VGA and HDMI in that it provides high quality video by keeping signals separate rather than forcing them into one as composite does.
Finding a display that supports analog RGB is probably the trickiest part, but I was able to have one shipped from an eBay seller with little difficulty. The improvement in quality as a result of my setup cannot be emphasized enough.
I will admit, creating your RGB setup requires some legwork and more than a little spare change. If all else fails, there's always S-Video. Virtually every system, 16-bit and onward (excluding the Genesis), supports this standard as it was the only form of high-fidelity video available in the U.S. until YUV component became a thing.
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Rev1
- Posts: 1777
- Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm
Standard Def 4:3 TVs
[QUOTE=ptdebate]Super Smash Bros. Melee tournaments were always the one eSports venue to require the use of SDTVs well into the 2000s due to their faster response time in displaying analog video signals.
[/QUOTE]
Actually, I think that is still the case with a lot of tournaments for Melee. A lot of the people I know in that scene refuse to play on a high definition tv due to those reasons.
[/QUOTE]
Actually, I think that is still the case with a lot of tournaments for Melee. A lot of the people I know in that scene refuse to play on a high definition tv due to those reasons.
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Herschie1
- Posts: 202
- Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm
Standard Def 4:3 TVs
[QUOTE=Josh]I don't what it is but to this day I prefer to play video games on an SD TV. When we bought our first HD TV a few years back I put our big old set down in our roomed in garage. I was going to just chunk it but one day I had a wild hair and hooked up an old GameCube to it. Now, I have to fight off my kids to get some time on it - even though we have a Wii U hooked up to the living room HDTV.[/QUOTE]
Just for the heck of it, I thought I'd see what my PS4 looked like on my SDTV since it surprisingly had an HDMI input.
Not going to lie, it looked like crap, so I'm glad I have a nice HDTV to play all the newer consoles on.