Despite my long delay to get it, the AVS was worth every second of following devlogs for three years. It is hands down the best gaming purchase I have made in the last decade (I can say that since my gaming computer is 10 as of last week) and has renewed my interest in NES collecting. I tested every cart I own and only two did not work - Sesame Street 123 and Mike Tysons Punchout - But I think my Punchout pins are shot.
I'm leaning toward getting one. The Hi-Def NES mod would be a cheaper option (since I can install it myself) but I like that the AVS also has a FC port. It's like doing the Hi-Def NES mod to a NES and a FC, which would be more expensive than the AVS alone.
I think what I want to do is get the AVS for my HDTV, then get the NESRGB so I can do S-Video on my CRT with my NES. Then I'll just stick with composite for my FC.
I want to grab an AVS at some point, maybe after Christmas. I plan on putting my ED in there on a permanent basis. Based on everyone's thoughts I definitely have to get one of these.
Game Systems Owned: NES, NES 2 (AV mod), SNES, SNES 2, N64 (Pikachu), N64 original (boxed), Gamecube (Orange, Silver, Purple), Wii, Wii U (Zelda), GB Pocket, GBA (2x-Arctic & Indigo), GBA SP (3x), DS Lite (Crimson/Black), 3DS (Aqua Blue), Sega Genesis and 32X, Game Gear, Lynx, PSP (2x), Vita, and Gold PS4.
I think a big argument for buying this is if you are into home brews and hacked games. I recently tried to run Sergio Elisondo's A Winner is You NES cart on a Retron 5 and it choked hard, where the AVS ran it perfectly. Sergio's album is 100% original code and works on real NES machines... so technically the Retron 5 should work if it's emulation is accurate...but it doesn't....
From what I understand, that has to do with the way the Retron 5 works. It's not that its emulator can't run the game, it's that the game isn't in its database so it doesn't know what to do with it. The R5 is hardware running an emulator in software. The AVS is a hardware emulator.
Ziggy, I still have an NES hooked up over composite to a 27inch CRT. Mostly for Duck Hunt and Hogans Alley, but sometimes you just need that raw NES feel.