CRT TV Question

[Majors]

Craigslist, Goodwill, fleamarkets...friends that "upgrade" to a flat panel, are all good sources to look into. Testing them out will give you a better idea of how good the video quality is over just believing ppl that post. But a general rule of thumb is to have brand recognition, like Sony. I have experienced video quirks on HD sets when running "retro", so I have both SD and HD CRT's. Plus I love scanlines!

Is there a TV size that would display those games at an optimum quality?

20" Sony PVM running RGB. But you'll need to A/V mod most of your consoles or at the least get JP21 "SCART" cables.

[diesel_dan]

I use a Sony Trinitron KV-32HS20 for my retro gaming needs. While some reccommend against using an HDTV for older consoles, I can honestly say that I've never seen a sharper picture. Plus, it still has that 4:3 aspect ratio that you want.

As an added bonus, weighing in at 145 lbs., you really feel like you're getting your money's worth.

[asocialjester]

Hey everyone. Sorry for the late response, but I had been really busy with work and home life.

Thanks for all the help, guys, I really appreciate it. I've been searching on Craigslist and I've seen some good prices on Sony TVs so once I get some free change I'm going to pick one up sometime within the next month.

There is nothing wrong with a vertically flat, older Trinitron. However, the flat models will be more recent and have less wear.

Are there any advantages of a vertically-flat, horizontal curved TV over a flat-screen significant? I'm second-guessing myself now over whether I want the best video quality for retro systems or the classic video quality.

You cant go wrong with a Wega like many people mentioned earlier. I personally prefer a vertical flat, horizontal curved screen as there is little modification to the natural overscan that the consoles account for. I find that gaming on a Wega (I had a 34KV800 prior to my house burning down), looked great but always had a blue, black, or green border around the gaming image.

What is natural overscan? Mod? I'm confused, lol.

Is there a TV size that would display those games at an optimum quality?

20" Sony PVM running RGB. But you'll need to A/V mod most of your consoles or at the least get JP21 "SCART" cables.[/quote]

Is the difference in video quality obvious with the A/V mod?

As an added bonus, weighing in at 145 lbs., you really feel like you're getting your money's worth.

Hilarious

[Zing]

There is no advantage to the regular Trinitron tubes (vertically flat). The perfectly flat screens usually exhibit the same sort of bowing as a regular Trinitron due to physical limitations anyway, but flat screens have significantly less glare and reflections.

I have no idea what "natural overscan" means or why a flat tube would have a bigger problem with it. Overscan is overscan and it doesn't appear any different on either type of tube.

TVs made during the period of older systems such as NES/SNES/PS1 had anywhere up to 10% of the image cut off on each side. Some games realized this and ensured the game was not along the edges. Some games didn't and vital info will be cut off (Ducktales and RC Pro Am are two that come to mind). I have my TV calibrated for 5% overscan on each edge and it is perfect for all but the worst games.

[asocialjester]

Thanks Zing, your help is much appreciated.

TVs made during the period of older systems such as NES/SNES/PS1 had anywhere up to 10% of the image cut off on each side. Some games realized this and ensured the game was not along the edges. Some games didn't and vital info will be cut off (Ducktales and RC Pro Am are two that come to mind). I have my TV calibrated for 5% overscan on each edge and it is perfect for all but the worst games.

Wow, I had no prior knowledge of TVs cutting off images or overscan. So, when you say you calibrate your TV to 5%, does that mean your TV is minimizing the image so 5% more of the image fits on each side?

[Zing]

I mean only 5% of each edge is "cut off". I have a DVD with test patterns and one is marked with percentages to show how much of each edge is not being displayed. I resize and align my display for only 5% overscan on each edge. You can't really do much less than this on a CRT due to imperfect geometry.

I find that most TVs have about 5% or so on the sides, and almost 10% on the top and bottom. Combine this overscan with "blooming" (when bright scenes cause the image to grow in size, some people call this "breathing") and you can be missing quite a large chunk of the image.

I find that Super Mario Bros is a very good game to use as a test if you don't have a calibration DVD, as the words at the top are just within the intended safe area. Put in the game with the TV on for about 30 minutes to allow the TV tube to warm up. Then see if any of the words at the top of the screen are cut off. If they are, then your TV has too much overscan.

[theclaw]

25"-27" with component works well. The right TV should allow future expansion to light guns and RGB level clarity. Just enough sync tolerance for Neo Geo is suggested too.

A good quality screen in any TV/monitor is only useful when able to actually receive the pure sharp images it could display. If the set can't process at least s-video or similar, its screen's potential is wasted.

However I doubt you'll find a conventional CRT that understands 50hz and PAL color...

[daskrabs]

20" Sony PVM running RGB. But you'll need to A/V mod most of your consoles or at the least get JP21 "SCART" cables.

False. PVMs require no console modification for most consoles, except N64 (early). Not counting NES because that's a very atypical mod. Nor do they require Japanese SCART. Get standard Euro SCART cables for all of your consoles and a SCART > PVM adapter from here:

http://www.retrogamingcables.com/

Any size PVM will do, but > 20" is the best. Console gaming in RGB all day.