How do you achieve the best resolution result with composite video?

[Alaska]

If you are restricted to composite jacks on a TV, can you emulate a resolution similar (no pixel perfect but as close as possible) to an arcade monitor? If yes, how?

[Alaska]

 Another way to phrase this question is, can you take a VGA output from a laptop or desktop and generate a quality resolution with composite video on a TV?

[harveybirdman]

The short answer is no, but you can use a converter or S Video cable to display through that input.  It just will be scaled.

But do you mean composite or component?


Composite


Component

[Alaska]

The short answer is no, but you can use a converter or S Video cable to display through that input.  It just will be scaled.

But do you mean composite or component?


Composite


Component

Composite unfortunately. There are a lot of CRT TVs that show up at the local recycling center and are free to grab. So far I can only find ones that have a composite adapter. It looks like component (RGB) is the way to go, and you can get pretty close if the TV has this capability.

I would like to repurpose these TVs and put them in arcades, either using old PCBs or a computer. I was hoping that the composite video input on the TV wouldn't limit the resolution.

[harveybirdman]

You can get it displayed on the tube with composite but it doesn't look very good due to upscaling etc.  Of course that's up to you to decide.  My first attempt doing this was to get a graphics card with s video out.  It looks okay, but it left me longing for a better solution.

You can also get a VGA to composite converter if your card doesn't have S video out.

[Alaska]

You can get it displayed on the tube with composite but it doesn't look very good due to upscaling etc.  Of course that's up to you to decide.  My first attempt doing this was to get a graphics card with s video out.  It looks okay, but it left me longing for a better solution.

You can also get a VGA to composite converter if your card doesn't have S video out.

So, if there is an upscaling issue with the composite video, the question would be how to maintain the resolution either at the input, or downscale the image by hacking into the old crt chassis.

[Alaska]

 Let's get down to brass tacks here. The inner workings of an arcade monitor and old TVs are very, very similar. The biggest difference being that the input signal. Arcade monitors use  R,G,B, H sync, V sync (sometimes combined with H sync) and Ground... all separated, and a composite signal takes all of those and jams/jellies them together into one input. The TV is then configured to handle that signal, separates (most often) the single input into RGB and sends the RGB to the neckboard. It seems like there has to be a way to force the TV to either downgrade the signal between the composite input and the neckboard... but I do not suspect there is a way to feed it a downgraded signal through the composite input and expect the TV to miraculously show the image in the desired resolution.  .... If the TV is equipped with i480 component (RGB) inputs then there should be little difference if connected to an old PCB or computer.

I still have a lot to learn, am I off point here?

[harveybirdman]

You're getting beyond my knowledge, I've googled the subject to see if what you're asking is possible before but never found the smoking gun that is unless your in Europe and can get SCART TVs.... I've decided to just find a TV with component and just use Groovymame and a transcoder.

[Alaska]

You're getting beyond my knowledge, I've googled the subject to see if what you're asking is possible before but never found the smoking gun that is unless your in Europe and can get SCART TVs.... I've decided to just find a TV with component and just use Groovymame and a transcoder.

And you are happy with the resolution using the component inputs?

[harveybirdman]

You're getting beyond my knowledge, I've googled the subject to see if what you're asking is possible before but never found the smoking gun that is unless your in Europe and can get SCART TVs.... I've decided to just find a TV with component and just use Groovymame and a transcoder.

And you are happy with the resolution using the component inputs?

Haven't gotten that far yet, but yeah I've seen rCadeGaming's results with that method and they look flawless.

[nitrogen_widget]

I have an old NVIDIA card with the component adaptor that I hooked up to a 20" crt with component inputs.
I set it to 480i and it looked pretty good to me.
Better than composite & svideo

[P.H.U.]

Another way to phrase this question is, can you take a VGA output from a laptop or desktop and generate a quality resolution with composite video on a TV?

The approach is to see if you can convert that TV to accept an RGB signal. No way around it. There are these Universal Chassis that are out there. They basically do what you are trying to do already.