SpaceBooger wrote:I also love playing anything 6th Gen (PS2, oXBOX, etc) or earlier on real hardware on my CRT.
My CRT has a switch for each input:
Composite: NES, SMS, N64, 2600, PS1*
S-Video: Genesis/SCD (M1 modded), Saturn, Dreamcast, SNES, GameCube*
Component:Wii, PS2, PS3, oXBOX
* PS1 and GC not currently hooked up because I use backward compatibility with other consoles.
Nice!
My main CRT has been a 13" PVM for a few years now. I have almost everything hooked up via RGB via two 5 input Bandridge switch boxes. SNES, N64, Gamecube (PAL version outputs RGB, I use it mostly for the GB Player), PS1, PS2, Genesis, Saturn, and PC Engine. I have one more RGB input left on the switches, but I have two more consoles I wanna hook up. Right now I'm just using my NES over composite. I have the NESRGB mod kit for it, but I haven't gotten around to installing it yet. But I also wanna hook up the Dreamcast, which I wont have enough inputs for. So I'm still deciding what I want to do.
I know I could ditch the PS1 since I have a PS2 hooked up, but I like using both. Also, my PS1 is chipped and it's not so easy booting PS1 backups on a PS2. Also also, I have an XStation ODE that I will install in another PS1 when I get around to it, so that will definitely cement the PS1 in this setup.
My PS2 slim is hooked up to the PVM via RGB, but I also have a phat hooked up to my HDTV via component (into a RetroTINK 5x). Some PS2 games are better on a CRT, but some have widescreen and/or surround sound and are better played on an HDTV. The Wii I also have hooked up to the HDTV via component into the TINK. And then everything newer than that is HDMI.
My Atari 2600 has been taken apart on my work bench for the entire month of July LOL. I've been meaning to mod it for composite output, and I was trying to get it done for Together Retro, but I guess I was just too busy this month. The Atari I keep in the basement, which is where I have my 27" Sony Wega CRT. I also have dupes of most consoles down there. For that setup, I use composite or S-Video, depending on what cables I have available for a console. I have a model 2 Genesis that I modified for S-Video output, but sometimes I like to use my model 3 Genny with composite for all of those faux transparencies and checkerboard/gradients that make it appear to have more colors.
SpaceBooger wrote:Now with all that being said, I did choose "Mostly real hardware" since like Ziggy I have flashcards for the cartridge-based systems and have the disc systems modded to play backups.
So I play on real hardware, but sometimes play backups... which is like emulation right?
Sometimes yes, some times just semantics? An ODE (optical drive emulator) is technically emulation, but only for the disc drive. You're still using the real hardware of the console, as in the CPU and PPU. You're emulating something, but it's not what most people refer to as emulation. And I suppose flash carts and emulating a real cart, but in most cases they are so close to being a real cart that there's no difference. But in the case of something like an FPGA recreating special hardware inside of a cart, such as the enhancement chips in SNES carts (Super FX, SA-1, etc), then I suppose that is emulation. You're still using the real hardware of the console, but not totally if the game cart has an FPGA recreation of a co-processor.
But when I read this poll, I take "emulation" as meaning no real hardware is involved. The entire console is software emulation on a PC or console, or you're using a Pi or MiSTer or something like that. So the options such as "mostly real hardware," to me, means that you game on real hardware most of the time. But occasionally will use a Pi or MiSTer or software emulation. But I guess it would be technically correct if I said I use "mostly real hardware" because I use things like ODEs or flash carts. That's just not how I take the meaning.