Making retro consoles work on LCD or plasma?

[Demon-Seed]

Hello,
I currently have all my retro consoles connected to my Toshiba 34" CRT tv to make sure all resolutions etc are great. The wife wants me to get rid of the tv and leaning towards a newer style.  Is there a convertor or something to take retro consoles and make them look good on a LCD or PLASMA? I have been told they do not and from my testing on my LCD it looks bad... any ideas?

thanks in advance.
Jim

[HaRuMaN]

Must have CRT for the retro consoles.  Resist!

[ChrisK]

Define "make it look good". 

Any TV with an antenna in will work with an NES.  I had an NES hooked up to my 60" LCD projector.  It was...... well, hilarious. 

If the console is blessed with an RCA you're home free with just about any TV.  SVideo is a big step up, too, but a lot of newer TVs don't have SVid.

If you just want it to work, I can tell you they'll work.  They just won't look like a CRT.  Now if you want to make it look like a CRT..... eh.... you'll need some sort of box.  Can't help you there.  I do know some emulators have scanline simulation.  Nestopia will even add fake curvature if you want it.

[northerngames]

newer console's with emu's are not too bad.

me to I tried my nes and n64 of the 60" prjection and what a horrible combo of a display the older console were meant for older tv's.

I alway's thought anything over a 25" for nes was too much.

zelda on the 64 though it was not even playable it looked so bad like a low budget lego game lol.

[DaveMMR]

Well now I am assuming you have your CRT in the living room with all your consoles hooked up and the wife wants to move the main entertaining area up to the 21st century.  Can't say I blame her.  The CRT and old games belong out of sight in a back room or hidden nook, only to be viewed and enjoyed by those who can really appreciate it.  That's where you build the shrine with the old tube TV and all the consoles nicely displayed.   And you don't even need a large TV. You can't swing a stick in a thrift store or garage sale without hitting an old 19" CRT with bunny ears waiting for someone like you who has a legitimate need for one.

And now for the final dealbreaker with regards to LCD/Plasma/LED TV's: you can't play Duck Hunt on them. 

[Malenko]

define retro.

Saturn looks pretty bad on everything, lol
Dreamcast looks great with a VGA adapter (most newer TVs have VGA input)
playstation looks like ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---
PS2 looks ok through component
NES is well NES, looks a little weird on such a big screen but its pretty awesome, especially if your TV will "barn door" it with black bars on the side at 4:3


Honestly a 34" CRT is pretty much the perfect display for them, remember no light guns on retro consoles on flat panels (no Virtua Cop on Saturn!)

[ChrisK]

It's funny--and I don't mean this to be snarky or passive-aggressive--if I think back to when I was a kid, if someone told me I could play SMB on a 60" screen I would probably giggle uncontrollably at how awesome a "wall of NES" was to play.  But fast forward 25 years and I've got a couple TVs that size and now my thoughts are "meh... is it really 'right' for a NES?"

When did I become an old fuddy-duddy?  Of course it's right for a NES!  It's a giant Mario! 

[DaveMMR]

It's funny--and I don't mean this to be snarky or passive-aggressive--if I think back to when I was a kid, if someone told me I could play SMB on a 60" screen I would probably giggle uncontrollably at how awesome a "wall of NES" was to play.  But fast forward 25 years and I've got a couple TVs that size and now my thoughts are "meh... is it really 'right' for a NES?"

When did I become an old fuddy-duddy?  Of course it's right for a NES!  It's a giant Mario! 

It's not the screen size so much as the resolution. 

[northerngames]

playstation looks like ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---

try it on a vga box for the ps1/ps2 the ps1 looks just like the ps2 but a little blockier but converted to vga they look great still on a lcd.

[danny_galaga]

I have found my N64 and Dreamcast look great just with composite on my 40" LED tv. Jaguar looks pretty damn good too.

Have also played the N64 on a projector for some wall sized Goldeneye action, and it looked fine to me. You just have to allow for the fact that these were designed to look fine on a 20-30" telly. Naturally when blown up, it will look different up close. Don't sit so damn close to big tvs! Otherwise you might as well have a small one...

[ark_ader]

If you can find a Magic VGA it will take composite and convert it to VGA.  The problem is looking at a slightly washed out picture which has the additional problems of signal noise if your PC is nearby.  It takes 5V and you can draw this from a handy USB port.  It also have PC pass through but no remote.  The resolution is maxed at 800x600.



A KWorld1440 converts composite/component into VGA.  This device has a remote and runs off 5V, has a built-in speaker and also connects to a PC, has picture in picture which is great for X console to be viewed in a window while on the PC desktop.  Resolutions are XGA and do look nice on the projector. 

I have both and I recently bought a LCD TV which plugs all my consoles and PC into. 

I am currently converting all my soft modded Xbox1s into CoinOPS bartops and these little converters really do help.



I recommend getting this type of device if you cannot find a cheap LCD TV.

[69mustang]

Buy yourself one of these http://www.ebay.com/itm/CGA-EGA-YUV-TO-VGA-arcade-video-converter-US-Seller-/220988942248?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3373f7a7a8
and build yourself one of these http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/console/other/vga-scanlines.htm or buy a prebuilt one from here http://godlikecontrols.com/ when they are back in stock.

You will need RGB cables for your systems and hack the end off to wire to the VGA input side or RGB pins, or component if using something like PS2 and newer (it will upscale 240p/480i to 480p). The setup doesn't have any lag unless your tv already has some.

[crashwg]

Another thing to consider is the delay added by the video scaler.  Some TVs are better than others of course but in my experience they make 480i consoles unplayable.

[danny_galaga]

If you can find a Magic VGA it will take composite and convert it to VGA.  The problem is looking at a slightly washed out picture which has the additional problems of signal noise if your PC is nearby. 

SO what's the point then 

[BurgerKingDiamond]

S-video will make a huge difference for those consoles that support it, or can be modded to support it. It's not that old, but I have my Saturn connected to my LCD through S-video and it looks really good.

If you really care about getting the best quality picture from an old console on a new TV there are options. Get SCART cables (outputs a true RGB signal) and a Scanline Generator like the SLG3000. It recreates the scanlines of a CRT on your digital flatscreen TV. I've never used one personally, but I've heard great things from people.