Retro gaming on hi-def sets

[pixelbender]

I used to be anal but I'm getting too old, too tired, and too lazy to keep being that anal.

[ZenLogikos]

I used to be anal but I'm getting too old, too tired, and too lazy to keep being that anal.

I still am, but I concur nevertheless. It takes a lot of energy to be anal.

[lordofduct]

That it does, I grew tired of it all after only a couple years. I just don't care anymore... a lot of my older "shittier video" consoles have evolved into full on "nostalgia machines" for me. Up until a couple years ago I was actually playing it for the same reasons I was as a kid... but now it's more of a ride through my memories to play them.

In doing so though, back in the day I played on some pretty shitty sets. Middle school was on a 9 inch TV from the 60's or 70's that I found in a dumpster. It only had the two wire prong hook ups and it didn't turn on every time you turned the power/volume dial. Most of the time it appeared as a image squashed and tiny in the middle of the screen with maybe a 2 or 3 inch diagonal. And the volume waxed and waned randomly during use.

9th grade I upgrade to a 9 inch tv from the 80's that had these dials all over it to get reception on each channel. The shitty part was that even when you had on channel 3 for your console if the dial just moved a micrometer the picture would disapear... and constantly people were fiddling with those stupid little dials.

It wasn't until I graduated high school that I got a real tv, and even then it was a 17inch tv... but it did have S-video! In the process of buying it I was accused of stealing it by a cop when I pulled into a gas station outside of the Wal-Mart I just bought it from. He actually put me in cuffs and called back up... I flipped out... some what understandable I was kind of infamous with the police in that town. "punk little drug dealers, you aren't worth nothing". Kids, if you ever DO sale drugs, don't also DO the drugs as well... it just isn't profitable.

It wasn't until I was like 21 or 22 that I bought a real tv that was actually of any quality and not some off name brand or a brand that went bankrupt 20 years earlier. The saddest part is ever since I was 8 I repaired TVs, but never owned a quality one of my own.



But seeing really shitty quality video for my games is nostalgiac as hell. It reminds me of when my brother and I took turns holding the tinfoil and clothes hanger out of the window of our 3rd floor section 8 apartment in the middle of winter just so we could kind of see Homer in the Simpsons with the colour all messed up and the audio broken up by scratches and explosions of fuzz.

In the end I'm happy now and if all my components were to explode right now... well what ever. In my opinion all my stuff could just burn up and get stolen and all I'd say is, "heh, well time to get a suitcase and walk to New England"

[Chrono]

[V3rtigo]

i have a ton of games and systems which rarely get played, but they're set up with switch boxes, I can grab a game quickly and play for 30 minutes. No messing with cords or setting anything up. I might never have time for some of the games, but if I do, they're ready. And when people come over, they're blown away that they can play almost any game they liked from their childhood.

[RadarScope1]

i have a ton of games and systems which rarely get played, but they're set up with switch boxes, I can grab a game quickly and play for 30 minutes. No messing with cords or setting anything up. I might never have time for some of the games, but if I do, they're ready. And when people come over, they're blown away that they can play almost any game they liked from their childhood.

Sooooo ... do you play these games on an HD TV?

[RadarScope1]

Well, took a couple of consoles (Genesis and NES) into Best Buy tonight just to see what they look like on the plasma line I'm thinking about buying. Disappointing to say the least .... blurry, jittery. The only good thing was there no perceptible lag - even when blasting through 1-1 on SMB while jamming the B button. It's playable and not horrible, I guess, but far from a true image. I know this was to be expected, but still.

It's just really disappointing that there's such a bright dividing line in tv tech right now. We have to choose one or the other. Stay with CRT and you can't get the most out of modern games, and in some cases you can't read the menu text/icons/etc. Switch to the HD sets and all the games you love from the past -- and have spent no small amount of money on over the years -- look like rubbish.

It's just a bummer.

[MrPopo]

My plan was to run both an HDTV and a CRT. That way I wouldn't have to pick and choose.

[RadarScope1]

Great plan but I don't have that option in living room right now with available space. I'm going to have to set up my current 27 in CRT in a back room and banish all my Nes, genny and snes games there. :/ Maybe s-vid snes will look better but I doubt it

[Ramatut4001]

I have all my older consoles on a 32" CRT in my office and the new ones on my LCD downstairs. Of course we don't all have the option. And S-video will be better, not sure how much, though.