Do I want a new television for my retro games or not?

[Scooter]

All we have in the house are SDTVs. I've been toying with the idea of getting a new HDTV but have been stymied not only by the cost, but by the fact that the best place to put the new TV would be with my gaming center. That said, I have a desire to go with a CRT set so I can still play light gun games yet I'd like to have HDTV and widescreen at the same time. I currently have an SDTV JVC set for my games and it works okay. The highest end input it has is S-video if that tells you how old it is.

Well, after a quick look around on the 'net I find that no such TVs are really readily available. It looks like CRT sets are basically non-existant any more. So, I shopped on Craigslist and I found a nice 26" Toshiba that is HDTV, CRT and widescreen. It can go to 1080 resolution (not sure if that's 1080i or 1080p). The set is just over 3 years old and looks fine and has a great picture. I took my CDX with me and the picture of Genesis games looks great, much better than on my 31" at home. The regular TV programming picture in HD and SD both look great too. The price is right BUT it won't work with my light gun! I took Lethal Enforcers and the gun just wouldn't register. We tried all kinds of setting and it recognized about 1 shot in 30 but that's about it. Not sure why.

Anyway, it would still be a step up but I'd be no better off than if I bought an LCD set other than I'd spend a heck of a lot less money and this CRT set would likely outlast any LCD or plasma I could buy. Does anyone have any ideas why this set wouldn't register light gun action? This is the set in question:

http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/tacpassets- ... 5_spec.pdf

[lordofduct]

Because that tv has a built in upscaler which introduces a very slight delay in time between the image and the game itself.

When the light gun looks at the screen for the information it's looking for, it hasn't appeared yet.

Not all CRT screens upscale, it just so happens that that one does.


I should say, old light gun games are basically screwed in the modern televisin market. There were several different methods used for light gun games in the 80's and 90's which all were very dependent upon the CRT SDTVs. Modern tvs usually don't do ANY of the stuff the old screens did or introduce weird anomolies into the algorithm that the game doesn't know how to deal with (i.e. that time delay). If light gun games are that important you better keep an old CRT display laying around for use.

[Scooter]

Do you suppose there is any way to turn the upscaling feature off or is that function simply part of how it works all the time?

[Scooter]

Aw heck, I was just reading over the owner's manual online at Toshiba's site and it says right in the manual that this TV may not work with light gun peripherals. Bummer!

[superlarz]

i keep an sdtv in a closet for if i get the urge for lightgun games. it sucks.

[lordofduct]

From looking at the stats it looks like the upscaler is always on.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

just keep a sd tv around that you can easily transport your system too so you can play those wonderful Lightgun games. As for myself i dont much care for them but I understand the fustration.

[MrPopo]

You definately want to keep an older CRT around to maintain the oldest parts of your collection that require the light gun. I'm not even a huge light gun fan, but I don't know what I would do if I suddenly lost the ability to play Duck Hunt. So my 24" from college is never going to leave me.