Main > Main Forum

Simple Guide to using a TV with component connections - Almost arcade perfect!

<< < (2/5) > >>

Jeff AMN:

--- Quote from: Aurich on March 29, 2007, 12:03:38 pm ---I'm glad you're happy with the way your TV looks, but please don't call it "almost arcade perfect", those shots look nothing like the real thing and it's misleading to people who don't know better. If you're on a budget a TV is a great way to go (my first cab had one too) but it's never going to actually look like an arcade monitor (unless you're in Europe with a SCART connector).

--- End quote ---

The pics make things look MUCH worse than they do in person. They look very nice, and as close to the arcade as you're going to get without a true arcade monitor. Most passerby observers are never going to know that it's a TV. Only enthusiasts are really going to know.

armax:

--- Quote from: Aurich on March 29, 2007, 12:03:38 pm ---I'm glad you're happy with the way your TV looks, but please don't call it "almost arcade perfect", those shots look nothing like the real thing and it's misleading to people who don't know better. If you're on a budget a TV is a great way to go (my first cab had one too) but it's never going to actually look like an arcade monitor (unless you're in Europe with a SCART connector).

--- End quote ---

How about not assuming you know what his setup looks like without being there.   I don't think what he said was misleading.  Technology changes all the time, you never know.  I think he said the pics don't do the actual picture justice as well.  Criticizing an opinion is pretty senseless.

ahofle:
What are your MAME settings?  I hope you're not using direct3d or ddraw+hardware stretch because both of those introduce scaling/anti-aliasing issues which look bad on a TV (but OK on a PC monitor).  Using ddraw, hardware stretch = off, and switchres = on usually provides the best image.

I've come to the conclusion that it's pretty pointless to make judgements on display devices from pics posted.  There are just too many variables: camera, photography skills, correct video settings in MAME, video adjustments on display device, etc.  I would definitely say TV/component input is better than S-video/TV, but I do think 'near arcade perfect' is a stretch.  In either case (s-video or component to TV) you are converting a low resolution video signal to some constant analog signal so there will always be imperfections.  To make matters worse, many TVs with component inputs just convert the component signal to S-Video anyway:

From http://www.videoessentials.com/notes_on_video.php


--- Quote --- In order to sell TV sets in the DVD age, a component input must be provided. It is often accomplished by converting the incoming component signal to S-Video, then sending that signal to their standard decoder chip. Believe it or not, this is a common practice, not only among TV set manufacturers, but in several video up converters. There is a picture quality loss going from component to S-Video then
back to component inside the old processor chip
--- End quote ---

RandyT:

--- Quote from: ahofle on March 29, 2007, 01:13:01 pm ---From http://www.videoessentials.com/notes_on_video.php


--- Quote --- In order to sell TV sets in the DVD age, a component input must be provided. It is often accomplished by converting the incoming component signal to S-Video, then sending that signal to their standard decoder chip. Believe it or not, this is a common practice, not only among TV set manufacturers, but in several video up converters. There is a picture quality loss going from component to S-Video then
back to component inside the old processor chip
--- End quote ---

--- End quote ---

I've seen that article in the past.  It's now almost 6 years old.  I can understand "bridging" of existing product lines in order to move at the pace of the marketplace, but I highly doubt that this practice is used on sets built in the last few years.  The way technology is moving, there have most likely been a couple dozen cheap chipsets developed since then to do everything properly.

I'd like to remind folks that up until a couple of years ago (and it happens more today than is talked about), most were using S-video and even composite monitors in their cabinets and were pretty happy about it.  The biggest quality difference between NTSC video and RGB is color definition and purity.  Being able to increase the quality of both of these is going to get you much closer to the arcade counterpart.  Are you going to to get exact resolutions? No.  But that doesn't mean that you won't get a very colorful and well-defined image that only the "purists" are likely to discern from the real thing.

Anything that can be made to do a good job with off-the-shelf parts and minimal configuration is probably worth taking a detailed look at.

Jeff, get a tripod and manually focus the camera.  Reducing the exposure a little might cut down on the blur a little too. ;) 

RandyT

ahofle:

--- Quote from: RandyT on March 29, 2007, 02:14:28 pm ---Jeff, get a tripod and manually focus the camera.  Reducing the exposure a little might cut down on the blur a little too. ;) 

RandyT

--- End quote ---

Another trick I found is to set MAME's 'pause_brightness' from .65 to 1 and then pause the game to take the picture.  This removes any game motion blur.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page

Go to full version