playing retro games on hdtv

[jonathang]

does the retro games play good on a hdtv.

[Droid party]

does the retro games play good on a hdtv i been thinking about it today i want to know

i thiNking tHey not woRk as good like on old tVees?

[superlarz]

I have play games on an LCD and a CRT, both HDTVs. I have no problems, except for the light gun incompatibility.

[RadarScope1]

Lots of differing opinions on this. I wondered the same before my recent tv purchase and so I scoured the Internet looking for people's impressions. You will find people who say it's not a problem but the fact of the matter is that NO pixel-based console (for lack of a better term) will look 100% on a plasma or LCD screen. They simply are not designed to work together.

However, the games aren't unplayable. My SNES looks very close via s-vid on my Panny plasma tv. So good that I am even considering giving it a permanent spot there. But it still just doesn't look quite the same. I could tell it was off but my wife and a friend thought it looked fine, so ymmv. I couldn't detect any lag though I'm sure there's a few miliseconds difference.

I'm going to try to test all of my old consoles soon on the new tv and post some impressions.

[shallowgamer]

does the retro games play good on a hdtv.

Nope.

I just saved you at least 500 bucks. You can thank me later.


Maybe I obsess too much, but all I can see when I play through my LCD is the lack of smoothing that the scanlines used to provide. Also doesn't help that the screen is much bigger as well.

As soon as I get organized, I'll be "in the market" for a good CRT for my older stuff. I miss my dreamcast light gun games.

[Hateshinai]

Generally speaking old retro games look like crap on HDTV. I use a 22 inch LG HDTV/monitor and I had to pend a crapload on RBG cables for my consoles to get a respectable picture quality. The N64 still looks like crap. In fact I am planning to replace my main CRT TV (which my kid never lets me use - bloody Barney DVDs...) with a new one just so that I can move the CRT to my room for retro gaming.

[lost_within]

Lets put it this way, everything i have runs to a hdtv.......n64 i love...but i can only play for about 15 mins due to a horrible headache i get looking at it. Thats not bs...its just how it is. If you want a new tv...great, but if i were you id keep an old tv around. I still have my old 32 in...just no room for it right now, but side by side...new tv makes retro look like poop.

[Jayson]

Straight hooked up to my LCD TV (37" 720p) they look like crap. I couldn't even stand my old PSX games and put it all back in the bedroom on the 32" CRT.

Now I also have a DVI->HDMI cable run from my PC to the LCD TV and playing them on emulators is much more tolerable with the different filters you can apply. Definitely not authentic or original and you have the extra hassle with the emulation, but it's a thought.

[MrPopo]

As has been mentioned, old games were programmed based on the assumption that you were on an interlaced display that tended to blur things. The best example I can think of is Lunar 2 on the PSX (as that's what I'm playing currently). I've got it hooked up to my 50" plasma and you can very much see the checkerboard patterns they used for color shading. Due to the upscale from 480i to 720p you turn every pixel into a 3x3 pixel block on the HDTV. This makes the checkerboards pretty evident. That said, I've learned to deal with it, as it doesn't really detract from my enjoying the game (and is only really noticable on the character portraits).

[corn619]

I heard there was a delay in certain TVs as well. Not sure how true it is though, I never tried hooking them up to the LCD. And dude, how old are you? Your sentence structure sucks. You should be spending your money on Hooked on Phonics not HDTVs.