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

[fuctfuct]

Lots of options. Almost none are the true "original hardware feeling." But that's okay. I've (mostly) chosen convenience and "QoL" improvements over "true" retro gaming. If the MiSTer ever gets Retro Achievements I'll probably start using that more.

FPGA is very close but I still find myself nitpicking on things like the MiSTer outputs RGB Scart and not composite but I want to play my games via composite on a CRT

Are you sure? I swear you can get 240p composite out of it. Or at least convert RGB or component to composite with an adapter. I know ive seen it done before.

[msimplay]

Yes I'm sure the cores don't support composite.
But yes you can use the 240p output and use a convertor with it.
However it doesn't have the same effect as a native composite output.
You can compare for yourself a real Mega drive console composite vs MiSTer.

The closest thing would be thr composite filter the Mega Drive core uses which I would be happy with if I could use on implement it for use on other cores but Sorlig doesn't seem keen on it
He says it ruins the image.

Not sure on the status if unofficial builds though

[Ziggy]

So I know that emulators and scalers can have different CRT filters and some can look pretty good. But there's something I realized in the past year that I never see anyone talk about. CRT screens have a glow to them. LCD (or LED, or plasma, or whatever) will illuminate a dark room, but not in the same way that a CRT does. A CRT glows, but I would never use that word to describe the way an LCD lights up a room. It's like the difference between candle light or a fireplace versus harsh florescent or LED lights. The light from a CRT is more comforting somehow, while the light from an LCD is just harsh.

[bmoc]

You can get composite out of a Mister if you have the I/O board and an adapter. You have to also tweak some settings and change a jumper on the I/O board. https://www.antoniovillena.es/store/pro ... o-adapter/

[msimplay]

You can get composite out of a Mister if you have the I/O board and an adapter. You have to also tweak some settings and change a jumper on the I/O board. https://www.antoniovillena.es/store/pro ... o-adapter/

Yes I already have this but what I said previously stands.

The cores have to support composite.
The end result is not the same, if you have the means do compare yourself.

The composite dithering doesn't take place on the Master System core for example even if you connect it up using this adapter

[bmoc]

Ok, I think I'm with you now. You are after a composite blending effect as referenced here? https://www.retrorgb.com/adaptive-compo ... -core.html

[msimplay]

Ok, I think I'm with you now. You are after a composite blending effect as referenced here? https://www.retrorgb.com/adaptive-compo ... -core.html

Yes but only the Mega Drive core supports that

Dithering was extensively used on pretty much every console back then even Snes

[fuctfuct]

So I know that emulators and scalers can have different CRT filters and some can look pretty good. But there's something I realized in the past year that I never see anyone talk about. CRT screens have a glow to them. LCD (or LED, or plasma, or whatever) will illuminate a dark room, but not in the same way that a CRT does. A CRT glows, but I would never use that word to describe the way an LCD lights up a room. It's like the difference between candle light or a fireplace versus harsh florescent or LED lights. The light from a CRT is more comforting somehow, while the light from an LCD is just harsh.

YES! Nobody ever talks about this. This is a big part of that feeling I imagine. Sitting in a dim room. Lit only with the warm gentle glow of a CRT.

I wonder if people with optical drive emulators miss the spinning and seek noises? Probably not. The people that install them are likely not people who would care about such things.

[Ziggy]

YES! Nobody ever talks about this. This is a big part of that feeling I imagine. Sitting in a dim room. Lit only with the warm gentle glow of a CRT.

Donkey Kong Country 3 made me realize this. I've posted this before, but there was a few years that I didn't have room to set up a CRT so I did all my retro gaming on my HDTV with a Framemeister. Finally I decided to pick up a 13" Sony CRT (then later a 13" PVM) and was enjoying retro gaming so much more than on an HDTV, I had forgotten what a CRT was like. I noticed how reflections look in the CRT glass, versus how annoying that can be on digital displays. And I've definitely observed over the yeras how harsh I feel my HDTV is late at night with the lights down or off. I didn't feel a "warmth" of the CRT, per se, but the lack of harshness from it. Then all these thoughts just clicked when I was playing DKC3. There's a flickering light coming from Granny's Save Cave, and it's from her CRT! Also, the save and high scores screens are on her TV, but you see the curvature of the glass and some reflections. It's awesome.

I wonder if people with optical drive emulators miss the spinning and seek noises? Probably not. The people that install them are likely not people who would care about such things.

So I've posted this story before, but whatever... Shining the Holy Ark sometimes clues you in that you're about to have a random encounter because of the drive noise. I played a lot of this game off-disc years ago. I recently got a Fenrir ODE to give life to my model 1 Saturn with a dead disc drive, and I played through this game for the first time in many years. I kind of missed that little touch, perhaps purely from nostalgia.

I don't yet have an ODE for my Dreamcast, but I can't say I'll miss the drive noise from that thing. I mean, the silly noises the DC makes kind of makes me grin. A long, loud beeeeeeep from the VMU every time I power on the console because the batteries are dead and I'll never change them, then some seriously loud drive noises while the game is loading. A few years ago I had thought of disconnecting the speaker in my VMUs so I wouldn't have to hear that annoying beep, but it's been that way for so long that I'm not sure if I'll miss it LOL. The loud drive noise though, even though it reminds me of when I first got a DC, I don't think I'll miss. It's just so damn loud, it's often distracting during gameplay!

[fastbilly1]

I am trying to hold off on the Mister until it can handle Saturn.