What is the Best Modern TV for Pre-HD Gaming????

[artphotodude]

I was hoping that someone here might know what to recommend in modern flat-screen TVs that would make my older consoles (SNES, Saturn, PSX, N64, DC, PS2 and XBOX) look their best. I currently have a pretty nice Panasonic, but it is starting to go, and I've tried a few LCD and Plasma sets and they have looked unbearably bad. Are there any 480i-520p native sets made now, or others that have upscalers that actually work right?

Thanks for your thoughts!!!

[d123456]

First of all, make us of SCART cables if your tv supports them hopefuly.

perhaps you could look into a xrgb-2 or xrgb-3 which apparantly are awesome gaming upscale devices.

Alternatively, get a first gen ps3 with backwards compatability for ps2 and ps1 to make those games look as good as they can by use of HDMI!

[Cronson]

I'd recommend any Sony on the FS line. They're all flat screen and have lots of connection options including component (even though a lot of them aren't HD). I don't know anything about SCART, but I have noticed it seems to be the best possible picture quality.

[racketboy]

If you can still find them, I love my Samsung SlimFit HD CRT. A lot better size-wise than normal CRTs, but better value, color quality, and retro compatibility than LCDs/Plasmas. Only bad things are they are still kinda heavy and you can't get them super huge. Also, no VGA input -- just HDMI and Component, Composite, and S-Video

[artphotodude]

Thanks so much!! I have heard about the Samsung SlimFit, and really thought about it, but I have heard it has a LOT of technical problems and very high failure rate (something to do with the powersupply).

[enderfall]

Sony Wega HS line is another good option. I have the 30HS-420 that I bought for $80 off craigslist. I have zero complaints (except that the seller advertised that it was the 34" model, not the 30", but no biggie...).

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Yeah, I definitely recommend an HD-CRT but only buy a Slim-Fit as your last option, as there are plenty of other HD-CRT's still floating around.

[MrPopo]

Assuming you decide not to go with a CRT I highly recommend an XRGB-3. It does a fantastic job of upscaling without making your image look like ass. I keep mine in linedoubling mode and things from my SNES look as vibrant as they do on my old CRT. And in linedoubling it's only a single dropped frame, which is great for anything but the most hard core fans of SF2T (and while I love it, frame counting is beyond me).

[racketboy]

Thanks so much!! I have heard about the Samsung SlimFit, and really thought about it, but I have heard it has a LOT of technical problems and very high failure rate (something to do with the powersupply).

Really? huh. Its the main TV in our house over the last 3 years or so and its been good to us.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Yeah, it has a huge falure and defect rate.

Usually it's just the red, green and blue pigments slowly separating out at the sides plus other geometrical issues due to the way Samsung built the sets, but it can be as bad as the power supply shorting out.

That said if you managed to get a set free of these problems then you got lucky based on the sheer number of complaints and issues.