Hardware Vs Emulators

[flamepanther]

Can we talk about comparative benefits of various video filters vs real hardware instead? Has anyone used the NES_NTSC filter? How do you feel about that? On the one hand it's an excellent reproduction of the actual NES signal. On the other hand it removes one of the biggest benefits of emulators, the crisper video signal. I've been using it with Mednafen for a while, I'm not sure whether I like it better than unfiltered.

I think it depends on the game. Some games had finer visual detail than is really visible with the blur of an older TV, and these may look great razor sharp. On the other hand, a lot of other games relied on TV blur to hide graphical flaws, or as a method of color blending. These frequently look AWFUL without a filter of some kind.

[CRTGAMER]

Upscaling and especially stretching a 4:3 image to widescreen also distorts the image.
The redraw lag of some LCDs resulting in "Dot Crawl", more info at my CRT vs LCD signature link.

[Lord_Santa]

:edit

long story short:

I'm poor, thus I emulate.

[pepharytheworm]

:edit

long story short:

I'm poor, thus I emulate.

Actual, since you seem like a big Commodore fan, I thought you would be the last person to emulate. Don't you miss waiting for the disks to load?

[CRTGAMER]

:edit

long story short:

I'm poor, thus I emulate.

I enjoyed the earlier 'Rant" you posted, read like the words were just spoken.

[Lord_Santa]

:edit

long story short:

I'm poor, thus I emulate.

Actual, since you seem like a big Commodore fan, I thought you would be the last person to emulate. Don't you miss waiting for the disks to load?

I miss just about everything with my Commodore...

especially the sound it would make as the games loaded...

=/

:edit

long story short:

I'm poor, thus I emulate.

I enjoyed the earlier 'Rant" you posted, read like the words were just spoken.

hehe, yes I usually just type what I think but 90% of the time I regret what I've said since it feels as if though I'm coming off as overly defensive

I don't want to offend anyone on these forums, since this is basically the only social connection I have with the world

and it was a "typical" 3:30AM rant on my side =)

glad someone got to read it though, since I wanted an opinion, but I didn't want to come off as a whiny teenager =)

[GSZX1337]

Alot of what I thought about this topic has already been said, but I guess I'll just be this thread's broken record.

I emulate the retro consoles, I have the adapters for the controllers, and I play them on a TV. I like the convenience of it. I don't have to find room for all the damn cartridges, I don't have to get a big entertainment center for all the consoles and Selector Boxes (I don't box my consoles, I feel the need to have them all hooked to my TV.) and like others have said in this thread, it's a lot cheaper. I don't have $100 for EarthBound or $60 for Mega Man X3. To me, the emulation route is good enough. I can see the glitches in say, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on KEGA Fusion, but that doesn't bother me. I really like having Maximus Arcade as a single interface to all my games. Emulation is the way to go for me.

I don't take advantage of it often, but emulation making retro games portable kicks ass. I love being able to play Jackal on my DS.

Until I win the lottery and can afford all the games I want and a large enough house to store them, I'm afraid I will have to emulate for the time being.

Same here, I've fantasized about having a large house with a room filled with games and movies. One wall can be DVDs/Blu-Rays, another can be LaserDisc/VHS/BetaMax/CED, the third wall will be cartridge games NES,SMS,Genesis,etc. the last wall will be disc games SCD,PSX,etc. Not sure where I'll put the PC games, though.

Even though I do rock the emulators, I understand why people would stick with original hardware. While there is nostalgia, that's not the only reason. Having a shelf filled with games is a lot sexier than having a Media PC with thousands of ROMS in it. I'd be a fucking hypocrite if I said I didn't care about having a collection of games as I have a *collection of (~75) PC games, many of them I could've downloaded from abandonware sites but I wanted to have the boxes. I was also heartbroken when I found out I couldn't use the SNES SuperScope or the Sega Menacer with emulators. (Maybe there'll be a mod to do that someday)

*I also have quite a few games I DLed from Steam because they were on sale or are a lot more in a package.

[jmsajdak]

I have always preferred hardware over emulation, though In the late 90's early 00's I didn't have a lot of money and and would emulate some of the older systems. Now that I have a full time job, if I want something I just buy it.

Earlier today I was thinking about how Microsoft has added achievements to older games. If they were to add achievements to emulators, I would find that a real incentive to add them into my gaming rotation.

[hcgamer]

I prefer owning the hardware within reason emus are useful I am enjoying Wii virtual console playing the classics via the wii with a component cable hooked up to my hdtv is cool. To play castlevania rondo of blood on authentic hardware I would have to track down the very expensive game and the very expensive turbo cd on my wii I get it for under $10 and I can play it on my hdtv I do not believe paying exorbitant prices for old games that were never intended to be sold at the current going rate makes one hardcore. The nes mega man games should I buy mega man anniversary collection for ps2 or download them for wii virtual console?

[gravitone]

As for the emulator display issue, of which is more authentic, I have negated the whole pro's/con's depate using the following:

A VGA -> RGB scart cable
soft15khz for windows, which allows me to output a 15khz PAL/NTSC compatible signal using the original hardware's resolution.

For example, my nes emulator outputs 256x256 exactly like a real NES would.
megadrive, 320x240 no problem.
Dreamcast, 640x480 all the way.

Any custom res you can think off is pretty much supported since you can add your own modelines.