What exactly IS that "original hardware feeling" to you?

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msimplay
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Re: What exactly IS that "original hardware feeling" to you?

Post by msimplay »

Ziggy587 wrote:Did consumer TVs in Japan in the 90's generally have RGB inputs? Because most video games in the 90's were being developed by Japan.


My guess is they didn't this one is a Super Famicom TV I found on eBay.

Check out what I found. SHARP SF-1 Console System Super Famicom Color TV 14inch 14G-SF1 Tested 330225 https://ebay.us/jHMxNH via @eBay_UK

If you look at the back it didn't have scart but I don't know if that's indicative of other TV's as this TV does have a multi-out

I also found this post on another forum talking about how TV's did have multi out which acted as their RGB

https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.p ... 9#p1274059
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Ziggy
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Re: What exactly IS that "original hardware feeling" to you?

Post by Ziggy »

Hmm, I just remembered that I've seen official Sega and Nintendo brand JP-21 RGB cables for Genesis and SNES, so obviously Japan had consumer TVs with RGB inputs.
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Anapan
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Re: What exactly IS that "original hardware feeling" to you?

Post by Anapan »

Some pictures of game graphics developers workstations in 16 bit console era if you scroll down here.
https://vgdensetsu.tumblr.com/post/1796 ... e-late-70s
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marurun
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Re: What exactly IS that "original hardware feeling" to you?

Post by marurun »

Ziggy, that is an awesome article you found. I noticed that the CRTs in many of those workstations were industrial-quality and rather high end for the time. That said, it’s also clear that good developers were designing toward expected behavior on mid-grade and below CRTs. But there were definitely some less artistic and lower quality studios that probably gave less care to their graphics and pushed out whatever looked good enough on whatever screen they had.

And that’s what I’m getting at. I’m not saying that good dev houses DIDN’T design specifically to CRT. I’m being a bit more specific (and admittedly pedantic). Many devs did target their graphics, but also many didn’t really care as much and probably didn’t use dithering or neighboring pixel contrast or anything specific to a consumer CRT. And that’s one thing which separates the better devs from the rest.
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fuctfuct
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Re: What exactly IS that "original hardware feeling" to you?

Post by fuctfuct »

Can argue about it forever. The fact remains the original experience, for 99.99% of people, was with a shitty old TV. We didn't even know what PVMs were. :)
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msimplay
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Re: What exactly IS that "original hardware feeling" to you?

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fuctfuct wrote:Can argue about it forever. The fact remains the original experience, for 99.99% of people, was with a shitty old TV. We didn't even know what PVMs were. :)


Old TVs are not shitty they are superior to lcd flat panels in many ways.
Such as input lag and motion blur.

Other than the bulk CRT technology is superior to modern displays.

https://youtu.be/V8BVTHxc4LM
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fuctfuct
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Re: What exactly IS that "original hardware feeling" to you?

Post by fuctfuct »

LOL, I am well aware of this. I've always "hated" LCD for non computer related activitys. They are only just now becoming great. OLED is the first thing I've liked since they stopped making CRTs.

That does not mean there weren't "shity" CRTs. There were tons and tons of crap ones... and most of us used them exclusively in the 70s, 80s and 90s. That is ithe original experience. Not a $10k CRT form late 80s :)

I often wonder how amazing a 2020 CRT would be if they had continued to be made, and evolve. Would be amazing. Imagine a 65 inch wide screen CRT? Have to do a modern day barn raising to get it into your house :D
Last edited by fuctfuct on Tue Jan 05, 2021 3:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
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msimplay
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Re: What exactly IS that "original hardware feeling" to you?

Post by msimplay »

The CRT I have is actually very good for the time however even a lesser CRT is a better experience compared to playing a retro game on a modern panel, reponse times etc IMO

I guess I was lucky I did have a Trinitron even back then

Would love a return to CRT technology in 2020.
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Re: What exactly IS that "original hardware feeling" to you?

Post by fuctfuct »

As a kid, I used to play NES/SNES on a 19inch Hitachi with round knobs on it. RF only. Mono. Wood grain. :)

Not exactly peak tech! hehe :P
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Anapan
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Re: What exactly IS that "original hardware feeling" to you?

Post by Anapan »

I think Dotronix is the only company still making new CRTs today. Bob from RetroRGB did an interview with the owner a while back.
https://www.retrorgb.com/interview-with ... urers.html

My best friend's parents in elementary and high-school had a huge FD Trinitron in the basement that we played tons of SNES on. For me that's the way 16 bit games are supposed to look. Prominent scanlines, but no curvature on the corners. Also, i'm pretty sure it had a 3D comb filter. Such an awesome picture for composite.
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