I have found the IDEAL Gaming TV!!!

[crux]

Someone already mentioned it here, but the Sony Wega XBR series are the best CRTs ever produced. The 34XBR960 is the closest to television perfection that most consumers will ever see in the near future.

Also, I've been singing praises for Sony CRTs around here since I registered to the forums. Be it their televisions or their computer monitors. The Sony FW900 is likely the best consumer CRT computer monitor ever made, which is the one I have (my wife wouldn't give in to the demands of a 200lbs. television, so I had to settle for 90lbs.).

I have three televisions side by side for all my gaming needs. The one thing the Sony CRTs are lacking is RGB, which can only be had in the U.S. with very old Amiga monitors, mostly. Sony CRTs might still look better than a 14" television, purely via the size difference, but RGB is a thing to behold. I keep around an old JVC 27" with S-Video for all my lightguns and systems I can't be bothered to modify for RGB or for my monitor.

[CRTGAMER]

Very true too about 480p on these Sony sets. I play the PS2 version of "Beyond Good and Evil" ( the version everyone bad-mouths so much) in progressive-scan and it is so good it is like seeing an old friend reborn (+ the PS2 version never had any of the crappy audio-sync problems of the other versions - so take that XBox!).

Another GREAT thing about them is that since the composite video processing is so good, a lot of the XBox Live downloadable games like "King of Fighters 98 Ultimate Match and Garou: M.O.W. can now look identical if not better than arcade. All the texture-dithering all smoothed out and vibrant color, with none of the normal dot-crawl problems of using the normal 'yellow-cable'.

The Sony 4:3 HD CRT looks great with composite, better color separation with S-video and really comes out crystal clear with Component Cables. Just picked up PS2 Gran Turismo and Tourist Trophy. Both look great at 480p. Setting game option to 1080i mode switches to wide Screen (even with 4:3 setting) with black bars top and bottom. However does have a very sharp and clean anti-aliasing pic.

[artphotodude]

Very true too about 480p on these Sony sets. I play the PS2 version of "Beyond Good and Evil" ( the version everyone bad-mouths so much) in progressive-scan and it is so good it is like seeing an old friend reborn (+ the PS2 version never had any of the crappy audio-sync problems of the other versions - so take that XBox!).

Another GREAT thing about them is that since the composite video processing is so good, a lot of the XBox Live downloadable games like "King of Fighters 98 Ultimate Match and Garou: M.O.W. can now look identical if not better than arcade. All the texture-dithering all smoothed out and vibrant color, with none of the normal dot-crawl problems of using the normal 'yellow-cable'.

The Sony 4:3 HD CRT looks great with composite, better color separation with S-video and really comes out crystal clear with Component Cables. Just picked up PS2 Gran Turismo and Tourist Trophy. Both look great at 480p. Setting game option to 1080i mode switches to wide Screen (even with 4:3 setting) with black bars top and bottom. However does have a very sharp and clean anti-aliasing pic.

S-Video and Component (also RGB) are great, but not every console really puts out signals worthy of that much sharpness. You have to remember that developers make games for the majority, and take shortcuts all the time to improve frame-rates and loading times. Case in point, have you ever seen the difference in Tekken 3 for the PSX on Composite versus S-Video? It goes from looking pretty decent to absolute crap, when you see all the dithering, texture artifacts from over-compression and low-bit color needed to make the game work on the home console.

Likewise, the revered Neo Geo AES, is a 2D beast, but it really does not look better in S-Video. All the color banding and dithering on characters backgrounds and such really ruin the experience. For this reason, Jamma arcade cabinets are often intentionally de-focused a bit to improve image quality.

[CRTGAMER]

S-Video and Component (also RGB) are great, but not every console really puts out signals worthy of that much sharpness. You have to remember that developers make games for the majority, and take shortcuts all the time to improve frame-rates and loading times. Case in point, have you ever seen the difference in Tekken 3 for the PSX on Composite versus S-Video? It goes from looking pretty decent to absolute crap, when you see all the dithering, texture artifacts from over-compression and low-bit color needed to make the game work on the home console.

Likewise, the revered Neo Geo AES, is a 2D beast, but it really does not look better in S-Video. All the color banding and dithering on characters backgrounds such really ruins the experience. for this reason, Jamma arcade cabinets are often intentionally de-focused a bit to improve image quality.

Are you comparing Composite vs S-Video on a LCD or CRT? I have found that there is less color bleeding using S-video on a CRT. Test machines include older retro consoles N64, PS1, Dreamcast, and Gamecube on both Composite and S-Video. Also tested PS2 improving from Composite to S-Video and finally the best supported being Component. Hey even my low res Gameboy Advance games come out better with the cube gameboy player on big screen using S-Video. You can see every blocky pixel clearly instead of a composite color saturated fuzzy. Older Jamma machines did use raster scan lines on games such as Galaxian due to limitations of non-HD CRT monitor. It actually produced a better image by seeming to have more pixels. The Jamma connector are a type of RGB using Video green, Video red, Video sync and Video blue spitting up the video signal offering a cleaner image. Arcade cabinets which have CRT's sometimes went out of focus after many years of use.

Personally I'll take the rough sharp imagery over a blurry pic any day.

Little trivia: The Commodore 64 also supported a semi RGB connector having separate chroma and luma video cables on the back of 1702/1902 monitors. Composite hookup in front of 1702 only offered blurry text. We are talking about an old 6502 chip - clock speed of about 1 MHz and screen pixel rating 320×200 or 160×200 if in multi color. Even in that setup anytime you can split the video signals the end result is left color bleed over. I have this as one of my collection so I know first hand utilizing both connections.

To see examples try google images with key word search: s-video vs composite.

Or try this link: http://www.freewebs.com/brandonshomethe ... dwires.htm

[fuctfuct]

I have been toying with the idea of buying a CRT HDTV for quite some time. I really dislike LCD HDTVs. I have tried quite a few over the last few years but always end up returning them. I don't mind low lag TN computer LCDs. But they are to small and only really work for PC, PS3 and 360. I tried buying a 42 Panasonic S1 plasma on boxing day but the green phosphor lag was annoying to say the least. Thing is i don't know how to test used CRTs out before buying. Every CRT i have ever owned i have got for free and every single one had one issue or another. Faint moving and/or static lines, slight geometry issues, small color blotches on all white screens ect. Easy things to "get over" considering the price paid lol. Other then looking for those whats the best way to test these out?

http://www.usedvictoria.com/classified-ad/10951211

[elvis]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.

[artphotodude]

I have been toying with the idea of buying a CRT HDTV for quite some time. I really dislike LCD HDTVs. I have tried quite a few over the last few years but always end up returning them. I don't mind low lag TN computer LCDs. But they are to small and only really work for PC, PS3 and 360. I tried buying a 42 Panasonic S1 plasma on boxing day but the green phosphor lag was annoying to say the least. Thing is i don't know how to test used CRTs out before buying. Every CRT i have ever owned i have got for free and every single one had one issue or another. Faint moving and/or static lines, slight geometry issues, small color blotches on all white screens ect. Easy things to "get over" considering the price paid lol. Other then looking for those whats the best way to test these out?

http://www.usedvictoria.com/classified-ad/10951211

CRTs are never perfect, in the sense that an LCD is. Much like tube audio, there will be distortions and such, but with a good one, it will be worth it. Each has its own personality. With a high-quality SD set (the kind you can use a light-gun with). The most you might ever have to do on most of these is adjust the brightness/contrast and perhaps use a degaussing coil on them (can get these on ebay).

With the HD CRTs, there are more things to watch out for. After three years of research, I still stand by my original assertion in this post that the best one for the money is the Sony KV-34HS420. The only real problem I've had to deal with on this one is the anti-reflective coating that is coming off (very common in this model). So I have used a little soft-scrub, and finished it off and now the set is superb.

The XRBs, mentioned in this group are very nice, but so often have serious technical problems - like failure to turn on.

Other great options, if you find one for a good price, are the Leowe Anaconda, or the Panasonic Tau series.

Whatever model you wind-up with, if you can get it really cheap, it is worth getting it looked at and realigned as you will be able to use it probably 3 times as long as modern flat-panel displays and will be seeing your games in the best form possible.

[MrPopo]

The best way to test out a TV, in my mind, is to bring a Sega Nomad with a set of AV out cables. That way you can see how good a 240p signal looks on the TV. Bring an RPG (like Phantasy Star) and a Sonic game and test out both.

[CRTGAMER]

Great idea about using that nomad. Come to think of it maybe bring the Retro console you own since the TV itself needs a power source for testing.

I agree Sony CRT's are of high quality. Maybe I'm biased cause I have one.

My TV is a Sony Wega HD CRT, model number KV-32HS500:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FD_Trinitron/WEGA
http://www.docs.sony.com/release/specs/ ... 00spec.pdf

I think my only 2 disappointments on mine are:

1. No VGA input (For Dreamcast)
2. Cannot adjust horizontal/vertical screen zoom/slide. Newer LCD's and computer monitors offer this feature .

Other than that still love pic with older Retro consoles compared to son's LCD.

See link below did an extensive comparison blog.

[artphotodude]

...Cannot adjust horizontal/vertical screen zoom/slide. Newer LCD's and computer monitors offer this feature...

Actually, you can - in the service menu you can adjust that and much more. Just have to be VERY careful, as it can mess other stuff up.