Retro display solutions (monitors, TVs, CRTs, flatscreens, upscaling, calibration)

8bit guy looks at some old micro computers running on an RGB-modded CRT.

He also tests some 16 bit consoles and concludes that RGB isn't worth it for them. I vehemently disagree with that last bit - RGB is the best way to view everything that can spit it out natively to a CRT, and the TV he's chosen didn't do a good job of showing that. But ignoring that last bit, his work on the micro computers is great work:

 

i'm really really either way on 8-bit guy, lots of great content every now and again something weird.

 

Ditto. Seems to be super knowledgeable in certain things, then misses the mark on others (as a lot of YouTubers do, it seems, but that's a whole other rant).

Specific to that video, it's a good visual intro into the qualitative improvement of moving from composite/CVBS to RGB for old computers. Hopefully if anyone in these forums is still using composite, it inspires them to search for S-Video, YPbPr or RGB upgrades to get better pictures.

 

I must say I'm a 240p convert now - I just needed to see it in front of me to remember what it was supposed to be like.
Received shipping notification for the Retrotink2X today (first batch, fedex lost parts etc), too bad I'm off work for 3 weeks from Friday recovering from eye surgery

 

Oh bugger. Everything ok?

 

Keratoconus, both eyes. Good eye is getting lasered to improve cornea shape and cross linked (hardened) to retain shape.
Bad eye will get at least cross linking done later - then maybe a lense implant if I can budget it or really don't like contact lenses.

It's not going to be pleasant but I should have a notable improvement when it's all done and healed.

I'm as anxious about amusing myself with blurry/impaired vision for several weeks as much as I am about the post surgery pain though that should only be 'severe' for a day or two.

 

All the best WuZMoT - not much fun but sounds like it'll be well worth the effort.

Still waiting for word on my Retrotink2X but I'm second batch I think - should be later this month. I'm looking forward to playing with it; after growing up with RF I thought composite looked pretty good, so I should have my socks blown clean off by RGB

 

It's taken so long that I incidentally purchased the arcade cabinet so I'm now focused more on getting a good CRT picture for old things rather than hooking old things up to LCDs.

 

I watched the video again, and well now i'm starting to think of all kinds of things to do TO CRT's to make them better.

Someone on a forum suggested changing the 9 pin to a female scart connector on a 1084S and you know what I think that'd be a great solution. Then I could get a scart switcher (or even do it to component) then RGB scart all the retro things.

I apologise (kind of) to wuz for pointing out that cab (fuck me it's SOLID), but you have to admit it's been a great distraction. I must say that cheesy Vitua Cop graphic on the side is growing on me too.

 

Just be cautious, it's not always a matter of blindly connecting in cables. DC coupling, proper load biasing, measuring voltages with a scope under proper load, proper terminations, and the rest.

The shmups.com forums have a lengthy thread on the topic, and it shows some of the gotchas on certain model TVs. Lengthy, but it serves as a good reference if you want to mod a TV - if someone's already done it and documented it there, chances are they've got the component values you need to keep signals and voltages in check:
https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=56155

Sometimes you get lucky, and a PCB will have a spot where a SCART connector would have gone on the European model, but it was removed for cost-cutting measures in other regions. Often everything's in place just to solder your RGBS lines straight in without any worries.

And for others, it's quite the job, sometimes even impossible to do without removing other inputs and turning the device into a single-input monitor akin to an arcade monitor.

 

i think if i had universal rgb input on my 1084S i'd be happy and i think people have already done it. hell there might even be cables/adapters out there.

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=89133

 

You can see a common error straight up in that thread. Dude takes 5Vpp TTL sync and jams it in something expecting 0.7Vpp CSync (over 700% out of spec).

I see a lot of that around the place. Quite worrying.

 

yah don't want to do that shit eh not with a nearly 30 year old monitor

 

I've got (not even kidding) almost 40 CRTs stockpiled from local curbside collections. Very good way to get some spare gear to experiment on if you want to try such things.

Brisbane City Council's site have a list of where collections happen. Take a tour around neighbouring suburbs about a week before the date, and there's often at least one shitty little CRT that goes. They're getting less common these days, but there's still a few here and there.

 

i have noted less and less crt's on kerbside collection days - now it's older lcd's and plasmas out there.

 

Just so people know I was giving power shit for pointing out the 'virtua cop' cabinet sale thread when I was trying to save money but I couldn't resist it for $100 despite not knowing exactly what I was going to do with it.

Fortunately my existing CRT fit so once the hurdle of cautiously dealing with a naked tube was overcome everything is rolling along.

I REGRET NOTHING.

 

unless next week they poke out yer eyes, then dibs on your cabinet.

 

Definitely thinning out. Now's the time to stockpile before they're all gone.

Even if it's just for the tubes. There's still Chinese sellers on AliExpress and Banggood selling chassis (the PCB that drives the tube) for cheap with reasonable postage. The tube is the heavy bit that you want to try and source locally.

 

composite reality.

 

This is me back in Feb when I got my first astro city!

The rest is history... found ways to connect an xbox 360 for an astro for 240p goodness!

Also did the same for PS2 for light gun goodness and recently just did a DC so I could have a 15khz "naomi".

Funnily enough, at the beginning of the year, there were zero CRTs in the house... now I've got 3 machines with a 29" another machine with a 26" and a spare 29" tube and ms9 in my car as I have no bracket for it and nowhere to put lol