Best disc-based emulators that play retail discs?

[Meldarion]

I believe Mednafen does Turbocd games, I haven't tried it for that system personally, but of the other consoles I have tried it works well. Its free and runs under any OS so might be worth checking out.

[kingbuzzo]

I've used several neocd emus. The pc version of NeoCDZ played retail discs just fine, and I believe nebula did as well.

NeoRaine would not, and none of the neocd emus on DC would read my retail discs.

[kiteJargon]

For all the disc based systems where you can't just stick the disc in your computer drive and rip it there is almost always the original console involved. Usually by connecting it to a PC via a Broadband RJ45 connection and some freeware ripping programs. It can get a little involved and not necessarily worth the effort.

A quick note on input lag in general on PC and specifically in the world of emulators: enabling VSync will introduce input lag. I used to enable it all the time because I can't stand screen tearing, but then I realized that I also couldn't stand input lag. So most of the time it's a toss up between screen tearing or input lag. Some emulators VSync implementation is worse than others so obviously results vary from barely noticeable to uncomfortably bad (Nestopia for example).

Just some input for my sometimes neurotic personal experience.

[deathsled]

I just wanted to chime in about SSF. Maybe someone needs a better computer or something. I've been using SSF through many versions over the years. I've played all sorts of games through it. I also own a Saturn and have had the experience of playing games I own emulated and on the actual hardware. Except for maybe in the beginning when SSF kind of of sucked I have never noticed any input lag. I get terrific response in shmups, fighters, or whatever I may be playing. However, with that said, it's always possible that I don't experience input lag because I use an old school gameport connection for my controller. Maybe it's got some sort of usb input lag? I dunno.