Well I hope I can make this work. The guy contacted me back and I drove across town and picked up this Magnavox 20" for $30.
Start reading in GroovyMame extensively. It can seem intimidating at first but as you keep reading you’ll gather a lot of good info.
Good on ya for picking up a 20”, that’s a good size. Your problem is going to be getting a quality signal to it as it’s a standard TV. The good news is that most of these TV’s are able to be modded to accept a RGB signal. Composite stinks, it just does, and if you settle for it you won’t reach the CRT nirvana that you would have experienced in arcades.
It can seem intimidating but check out ways to mod your CRT to get a quality noise free signal:
https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=56155Just to give you a sense of the difference in quality here are some photos:
Look at the top of the T in the word ConTrol. You’ll notice that it is blurry in the one and clear in the other. That’s actually with a component connection but one running at interlaced frames and one in progressive (original resolution). So even with a good signal, without using GroovyMame to get the correct resolution you won’t get the ideal look that your going for.
As someone who’s gone through a lot of searching recently (and still exploring) I’m happy to help, as it’s definitely a great way to go.