PC to SDTV Component?

[jay_red]

I found a better quality TV for my arcade cabinet yesterday that has S-video and Component. I have so far had my MAME PC hooked up through s-video, and it is decent enough, and not a problem at all when playing games, I wonder if I would get any beneifit through the component connection?

The TV is a SD Philips CRT, what I have read about the VGA to Component converter boxes you need to hook it up to an HDTV, so I am not sure if it would even work. I have also seen vga to component cables (no box or anything) but I dont think those would work either. Is there a way to hook up vga-component in a non HD tv?

If I stick with the s-video, are there any ways to get a better picture, such as gold plated cables, or even a shorter cable? I understand that going PC to a TV my options are limited, but I just want the best I can squeeze out of it.

[theclaw]

I think some PC graphics cards output component native.

[Cronozilla]

What kinda GPU you got in the MAME box?

A lot of older ones came with a special dongle that allowed all these different types of video connections. Possible you have one.

There were plenty of SD TVs that supported VGA cables/signals, just to note. Almost every European TV in existence has SCART, which is an RGB standard.

But ... if you want to go from VGA to component ... I guess it depends on which type of component the TV supports. There's RGB and YPbPr ... if the TV is RGB ... then you're gold. All you need is a converter cable. If not, then that's where a converter box comes in.

RGB:
YPbPr:

Those are examples. Make sure to actually shop around

In any case, it will yield much better signal quality than S-Video.

[Drakon]

I have a tv with both component and s-video and another with just s-video and both tvs are crt and pretty much the same size. Honestly...the one with component doesn't look any better. The theory is that component video suffers from less "colour bleeding" as the colour data isn't combined together. But the bleeding on s-video is so weak it's next to impossible to notice. I have friends with brand new rgb screens in their restored new astro cities and the picture quality looks just as good to me as s-video on my good crt. I guess it all depends how much of a videophile you are but most people won't even be able to see the difference.

[Zing]

I agree that the added effort to get component output will likely not be worth the trouble.

[Majors]

I have friends with brand new rgb screens in their restored new astro cities and the picture quality looks just as good to me as s-video on my good crt.

Does not compute. New LCD screens or replacement CRTs? If they replaced ther Nanao MS8 that came with the Astro, I could understand. Those jobo Chinese knock offs lack in luster when compared to the original. Also, if the cab owners made them Mame boxes, then that could also create issues (15 vs 31khz) unless they have ArcadeVGA cards?

A SD monitor running component should clean up the image just like s-vid did to composite because it's adds more seperation from the true video signal. Shitty TV is still gonna be shitty, along with and encoding or whatever filter garbage the EMU applies. Not being HD, component is kinda mute...plus you'd have to swap the CRT in the cab. Not being HD, component is kinda mute...plus you'd have to swap the CRT in the cab.

If I stick with the s-video, are there any ways to get a better picture, such as gold plated cables, or even a shorter cable?

With any anolog signal, shorty is better. I can't say I've ever ran into video problems with s-vid but I have had VGA cables run too long that made the screen cut off(no taskbar).

PS: I do not aprove of any MAME conversion cabs...it's a travesty.

[CRTGAMER]

Might be cheaper to get a large VGA CRT monitor, very inexpensive at Thrift stores. You can use all the PC resolutions without worrying about the conversion to SDTV..

[jay_red]

Might be cheaper to get a large VGA CRT monitor, very inexpensive at Thrift stores. You can use all the PC resolutions without worrying about the conversion to SDTV..

A CRT PC monitor was the first thing I searched for in this project, but could never find anything large enough (at least 20") but I always check whenever I hit up my local thrift stores. I happened to find this TV which was much better quality than the one I originally put into the cab, and it was only $20 so I figured why not? One of the limitations I have is the cabinet, since it is an old Nintendo cab it is very limited on the size of screen that can fit (22.5" from side to side). If I could use a larger TV I would have no problem putting in a HD CRT since they sell those all the time at my local goodwill. Honestly, the way the TV is hooked up right now is pretty good, I just wanted to squeeze the best I could out of it with the component if possible.

[CRTGAMER]

Might be cheaper to get a large VGA CRT monitor, very inexpensive at Thrift stores. You can use all the PC resolutions without worrying about the conversion to SDTV..

A CRT PC monitor was the first thing I searched for in this project, but could never find anything large enough (at least 20") but I always check whenever I hit up my local thrift stores. I happened to find this TV which was much better quality than the one I originally put into the cab, and it was only $20 so I figured why not? One of the limitations I have is the cabinet, since it is an old Nintendo cab it is very limited on the size of screen that can fit (22.5" from side to side). If I could use a larger TV I would have no problem putting in a HD CRT since they sell those all the time at my local goodwill. Honestly, the way the TV is hooked up right now is pretty good, I just wanted to squeeze the best I could out of it with the component if possible.

Great price for the TV! The HDTV might prove too heavy for the cab anyways. There are adapters to squeeze the VGA signal to Component. I'm just wondering how higher resolution "vector" type games such as Asteroids or Star Wars would translate from Mame to the component 480p SDTV.

[jay_red]

Might be cheaper to get a large VGA CRT monitor, very inexpensive at Thrift stores. You can use all the PC resolutions without worrying about the conversion to SDTV..

A CRT PC monitor was the first thing I searched for in this project, but could never find anything large enough (at least 20") but I always check whenever I hit up my local thrift stores. I happened to find this TV which was much better quality than the one I originally put into the cab, and it was only $20 so I figured why not? One of the limitations I have is the cabinet, since it is an old Nintendo cab it is very limited on the size of screen that can fit (22.5" from side to side). If I could use a larger TV I would have no problem putting in a HD CRT since they sell those all the time at my local goodwill. Honestly, the way the TV is hooked up right now is pretty good, I just wanted to squeeze the best I could out of it with the component if possible.

Great price for the TV! The HDTV might prove too heavy for the cab anyways. There are adapters to squeeze the VGA signal to Component. I'm just wondering how higher resolution "vector" type games such as Asteroids or Star Wars would translate from Mame to the component 480p SDTV.

The goodwill I go to most often always has CRT's for cheap, its the same one I got my 27" Sony Wega HDCRT from for $15. I dont think I have ever seen a TV there for more than $30, they really want to move them quickly.