NES to VGA?

[fastbilly1]

I know that this is a silly question, but what is the cheapest way I can take the composite video out from an NES toaster and have it upscaled to VGA (without using a pc)? I found this on Amazon, but without real reviews for it I am hesitant:


The reason for this silly question is that I have a Nintendo Vs Tent that the monitors blew out on. I replaced the monitors with LCD screens and rigged up a MAME setup to one side. But since the Vs system was arcade versions of NES games, and I have over 300 NES titles, I figured why not just mod in spare caseless toaster NES and have a true NES arcade cabinet. The VS tent has a metal CP and has a joystick and two buttons per player - as well as a start button. The way I have it setup right now is the players have easy access to A and B, but Start and Select are on the far right of the CP so player two has to handle those (but for most games that is not a problem).

Thoughts?

[Satoshi_Matrix]

I totally wouldn't recommend that. In my experience, even expensive (as in $100+), high end VGA boxes deliver a very underwhelming composite signal. If you were to do this, you'd get a very dirty image filled with artifacting and color bleed. If you must have NES on a VGA display, then go for emulation on whatever your device of choice is.

NES systems should only ever be played on CRTs or HD TVs that have a low latency composite video game mode. VGA is really out of the question.

[Hatta]

I think you'd do a lot better to convert the RGB from the VS into VGA. Should just take a scan doubler. If you really want an NES arcade machine, yank the PPU from the VS and mod the NES for RGB.

[fastbilly1]

I think you'd do a lot better to convert the RGB from the VS into VGA. Should just take a scan doubler. If you really want an NES arcade machine, yank the PPU from the VS and mod the NES for RGB.

I never thought about hardmodding the PPU from a vs board into an NES. I must admit that I am not that familiar with RGB. Ill look into that. Thanks Hatta.

I totally wouldn't recommend that. In my experience, even expensive (as in $100+), high end VGA boxes deliver a very underwhelming composite signal. If you were to do this, you'd get a very dirty image filled with artifacting and color bleed. If you must have NES on a VGA display, then go for emulation on whatever your device of choice is.

The idea wast to have a "Nintendo MVS" to go with my actual MVS. I want to stay away from emulation because then I ended up having too many options (even when I only have a few in the cab). The option of changing carts is just like something out of my childhood too. I know I can do it with an XRGB-3 upscaler, but that is $600+ right out of the box. I know this is not the best idea, but I really think it will be neat (if it works ofcourse).

[Inazuma]

I recently hired someone to mod an AV Famicom with an arcade PPU for RGB. I hooked it up to my XRGB-3 and it looked absolutely fantastic. It's expensive as a mother fucker but it really is amazing.

[fastbilly1]

I recently hired someone to mod an AV Famicom with an arcade PPU for RGB. I hooked it up to my XRGB-3 and it looked absolutely fantastic. It's expensive as a mother fucker but it really is amazing.

That is pretty much what everyone has told me. Looks like this idea is dead. Thanks for the responses yall.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

I think you'd do a lot better to convert the RGB from the VS into VGA. Should just take a scan doubler. If you really want an NES arcade machine, yank the PPU from the VS and mod the NES for RGB.

Not only is that pretty much sacrilegious, but it also won't work - pure RGB is incomparable with VGA. It's sort of like trying to plug component cables into a tv that only does HDMI. There are work arounds, but it can become messy quickly.

The idea wast to have a "Nintendo MVS" to go with my actual MVS. I want to stay away from emulation because then I ended up having too many options (even when I only have a few in the cab). The option of changing carts is just like something out of my childhood too. I know I can do it with an XRGB-3 upscaler, but that is $600+ right out of the box. I know this is not the best idea, but I really think it will be neat (if it works ofcourse).

Emulation is really your only option if you want to go though VGA and not end up spending a crazy amount of money. VS Nintendo boards are expensive, and building a video amplifier and getting it installed in an NES or Famicom is a PITA. Just go with emulation dude.

[Flake]

It'd be cheaper to go with emulation and build a custom SD card drive shaped like a Nintendo cartridge into a NES toaster shell. Then you can just put one NES game at a time on it and swap it whenever you need.

Voila. A cheap and reliable NES on VGA experience with a pseudo cartridge feel to avoid 'emulation drift'.

[fastbilly1]

Emulation is really your only option if you want to go though VGA and not end up spending a crazy amount of money. VS Nintendo boards are expensive, and building a video amplifier and getting it installed in an NES or Famicom is a PITA. Just go with emulation dude.

I have the chip from a VS board (since I have three working VS boards) and an AV Famicom, so the price is cheaper than you expected, but still not cheap. I am going to have to figure out something else then. Thanks Satoshi.

It'd be cheaper to go with emulation and build a custom SD card drive shaped like a Nintendo cartridge into a NES toaster shell. Then you can just put one NES game at a time on it and swap it whenever you need.

Voila. A cheap and reliable NES on VGA experience with a pseudo cartridge feel to avoid 'emulation drift'.

No Gameman here Flake. That is so much more work than I am willing to put into this. Custom NES sd cards, while they would be awesome, would take forever to craft.

[Hatta]

Not only is that pretty much sacrilegious, but it also won't work - pure RGB is incomparable with VGA. It's sort of like trying to plug component cables into a tv that only does HDMI. There are work arounds, but it can become messy quickly.

Amiga guys do it all the time. Why would this be different? You might need an extra sync splitter, but it should be doable.