How to improve viewing quality of classic consoles on a HDTV?

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Samuelc79

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I have a HDTV, from what I understand, some TVs may look better than others when using composite.

My Sony Bravia 32 inch TV looks like crap when playing old consoles (N64) on that TV. I know I could use the tube TV, but I don't have any in the house.

I was wondering, what may improve quality. I am not sure if it will work, but some converter from composite to HDMI or composite to VGA connection would improve quality? Hopefully something that gives anti-aliased looking.

Is there anything out there that's not too heavily expensive? Something on monoprice.com with some converters?

Thank you!
Samuel
 
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I know I'll catch heat for this. But IMO, the best way is to connect a pc to your tv and use emulators that allow you to up the video quality, especially for the early 3D consoles like the N64 and Playstation. Those early 3D consoles never look good on a HDTV.
 
[quote name='mogamer']I know I'll catch heat for this. But IMO, the best way is to connect a pc to your tv and use emulators that allow you to up the video quality, especially for the early 3D consoles like the N64 and Playstation. Those early 3D consoles never look good on a HDTV.[/QUOTE]

Yeah I agree that's probably the best quality looking doing that. sometimes it just doesn't feel the same way.
 
Put some vaseline on the screen... They used to put vaseline on the cameras when shooting movies in the old days to smooth out any rough edges.
 
I don't know if running the composite through vga would even help...

I know the some PS2 games supports component video and progressive scan, but you have to hold some buttons on the game startup and blah blah, but it still doesn't help the games on HDTV. When I first got my HDTV I tried my ps2 on it and couldn't handle it. I did the progressive thing with one of the MK games and it was just as horrible.

This is the main reason I still have 2 CRTs with NES, SNES, Saturn, PS2 and N64 hooked to them. Dreamcast VGA box works fantastic for the HDTV, although at Native resolution it makes a rather small box on the large screen, but it's entirely playable stretched to fit.

What I want to know is, If you have a HDTV CRT, instead of flat screen, do old games still look like crap? They apparently have the absolute best HD image, but were easily phased out due to the ungodly weight compared to the light as air flat screens.
 
[quote name='McCHitman']What I want to know is, If you have a HDTV CRT, instead of flat screen, do old games still look like crap? They apparently have the absolute best HD image, but were easily phased out due to the ungodly weight compared to the light as air flat screens.[/QUOTE]

I have a CRT HDTV and my god does anything in 480i, be it tv or games, look terrible. Everything looks flat and grainy. Colors look muted and awful too. I have my Genesis and NES connected to a 13" TV I found in an alley because the picture is better than on my 32" CRT HDTV. Now, for 360/PS3 games the CRT HDTV is GORGEOUS.
 
Wow, well thanks for that answer. I have been wondering that for a few years. It crossed my mind to get one for the bedroom so my 2nd 360 would look decent as well as the old consoles, but I guess I'll pass.
 
[quote name='Samuelc79']Yeah I agree that's probably the best quality looking doing that. sometimes it just doesn't feel the same way.[/QUOTE]

It definitely helps with older games like SNES or older, but for any after that era, it's hit or miss. Heck, there isn't even a decent Saturn emulator.

[quote name='Halo05']Save your pennies for a long time and buy one of these...

http://www.shopncsx.com/xrgb-miniframemeisterupscaler.aspx

I'm dying for one so I can play Saturn games on modern TVs but I really can't justify the cost. At all.[/QUOTE]

Holy shit... the last time I saw these, they were priced at $300. That was years ago but it seems like such a significant jump.

I bought an upscaling receiver hoping it would make older games look nicer. It supposedly with the best upscaling chip available but makes little to no difference with older games. Color and contrast is better, but there's no smoothing. I guess it was made for movies and video images, not games.
 
There are a lot of people that are desperate to unload CRT TVs because they upgraded to HDTV. Keep an eye on Craig's List and you will find a decent one for free sooner or later.

One thing to be aware of is that Light Gun games will not work on HDTVs - that was a big reason I decided to make the space to keep a CRT around. (Besides the whole thing about classic games looking much better on them)
 
I got a free sony wega a couple years ago to play my old games on. Its just a standard def tv but it works great on the old systems.
I cant even play the old systems on a modern tv- they look so bad.
 
My pre hdtv was decent for old school gaming. 32" sharp got 75 out of it when I got my HDTV, now I see these for like 20 bucks at thrifts.

Last year my friend offered to give me a 36" Sony Wega as well, but that thing was 234 lbs, and took up a lot of space.

I currently keep a basic zenneth that my old landlord left in the house to dump if we didn't want, gets the job done, but its depressing not using my HD.

Funny I was just about to post a question axing what you guys were using. I've seen people using their receivers to upconvert and get a decent picture on an HDTV.
 
[quote name='soonersfan60']Put some vaseline on the screen... They used to put vaseline on the cameras when shooting porn in the old days to smooth out any rough edges.[/QUOTE]

Fixed for historical accuracy.

[quote name='McCHitman']I know the some PS2 games supports component video and progressive scan, but you have to hold some buttons on the game startup and blah blah...[/QUOTE]

I've never had to do all that. Mine stays hooked up via component all the time and games lets you change to progressive once the thing has loaded up and whatnot. It's really no trouble at all, just a menu option (at least on the games that I've played).



S-video is the best cheap route to go IMO. I've been pretty happy running the OG systems that way.
 
Yeah about a few years ago, I upgraded all my old consoles to composite. Last year, I got my SNES/N64/GCN running through S-video and looks fine. Granted, I use an old Magnavox SDTV that has component input, S-video input, and composite input.

One of these days I'm going to get a VGA cable for my Dreamcast. I really doubt I'll find a GCN component cable though.

Anyway, I saw a video of guy hooking up his Sega Genesis from SCART to component. He connected a SCART cable to a device that converts the signal to use with a component cable. Not really familiar with that set-up.

I recommend what everyone else is saying. just get a SDTV/CRT from the local thrift stores for the old school gaming. At least have S-video and composite inputs.

What I want to do is find one of those composite/S-video/component to VGA converter boxes that lets you connect your gaming consoles to old CRT computer monitors. I got one of those old monitors and don't want it to go to waste.

Kind of surprised there aren't digital to analog signal converter boxes that have VGA as one of the connectors. You know those tv boxes that let you watch local television stations on analog televisions. I so would like to watch tv on my old CRT monitor without a computer.
 
I was also wondering a way to improve the graphics. I have a 50' DLP and hooked up my Sega CDX (playing Pier Solar) and it looks like ass. But I might not be in luck because I'm not willing to go out and spend a ton of money for an improvement. I might just have to bare with it or not even play it all since it strains my eyes too much.
 
Rodimus, my HDTV can't even play my cdx, flickers black and white on and off. I don't remember what I was connected through, but its fine on my sdtv.

Also like to point out that some light guns have issues with flat screen crts. We should get a list together of what would be the better brands to look for.

From my experience you usually don't start seeing S-Video connects until "higher end" 27" and is more standard on 32" and up. I've seen many 36" support component 480p, but like I said earlier, it takes up a lot of space and is a pain to move. + you gotta think about putting it somewhere, probably have to get a old tv stand, and the now adult version of myself sees it as an eyesore for the room.

I'll probably end up hunting a 27" Sony Trinitron
 
[quote name='Theenternal']Rodimus, my HDTV can't even play my cdx, flickers black and white on and off. I don't remember what I was connected through, but its fine on my sdtv.[/QUOTE]

I hooked it up just normal composite, w/ mono. (it's all I have) My Sega CD games look okay, but Pier Solar is just horrendous. I think it's the game. Not that the graphics are bad but the team went a little overboard with the sprites and backgrounds that when blown up on a HDTV it looks like a jumbled mess. I'm sure it looks gorgeous and a little more cohesive scaled down.
 
[quote name='dv8mad']For what it's worth, if anyone did want to buy one of those through dv8CAG, it would be cheaper than NCSX. ;)
About $100 cheaper actually.[/QUOTE]

Nice. Give me a couple months and I'll look into it more seriously than I have so far.
 
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