Best TV for retro consoles?

[pentarou]

My old 21" Toshiba died recently and have been reduced to playing my retro stuff on a 14" and was wondering what currently available TVs are best for playing retro consoles on, e.g. Neo Geo, SFC, Saturn etc. I want to replace the TV with a new one but don't want to get an old one from Cash Converters. Any suggestions for preferred retro displays?

(Mods: Feel free to move this to Ask The Forum)

[kernow]

I bought a 29.99 Panasonic 4:3 ratio TV from cash convertors and I was like you, my old one died and I didn't want to buy one from there.

but it was normally 59.99

I asked the guy (moron) "does this do NTSC/RGB ok for japan machines"

"ohh I dunno"

I knew it did I just wanted to see him squirm, my old model was practically the same, except for a slight difference in the case design.

all in all, I got it home after calling a mate for a lift ( yeah I can't drive ) , and the quality on it blew me away, RGB is just fantastic on it for my MVS and cube, and the xbox is great too, even came with a remote. no colour bleed or incompatibilites with any thing I've tried it on so far, NTSC or PAL60, and also, the black I get from my supergun is the crispest black I have ever seen on a TV.

truly stunned I was my lover , I'd recommend a crap 8 yr old 30 quid panasonic TV to anyone who wants to play retro in the right ratio.

I dont see the point of buying a widescreen / hdtv / lcd and playing old stuff on it as it always looks awful most of the time, and it would be better for movies and stuff thats destined for that sort of thing anyway , HD consoles and all.


I love my 30 quid tv all in all.

heh

[vertigo]

Definitey buy a Tv that isn't second-hand, coz you never know what sort of condition it's been, if the previous owner lived in a turd of a house with 58 cats, if the innards have spiders living in there or 6 inches of dust, etc.
Get anything really, as long as it's got RGB via SCART because that'll give you the best picture. The vast majority of older consoles have really crap composite video encoders in so RGB is your best bet and RGB SCART cables for most consoles will cost you about 3 quid each from Lik Sang.
I have noticed that 100Hz or flat-screens do have a habit of over-processing the picture and making old stuff look like crap though. Just get any decent-sized CRT really. I recommend Panasonic as a brand, but only because Sony TVs have always given me no end of hassle and have badly-designed user menus.
Go into a shop, see one you like for a good price, then ask to see the manual and check the last page (usually) for support for RGB, S-Video if you want it, NTSC and PAL60. Ignore the untrained monkey and don't bother getting the extended warranty coz you're entitled to a 1 year manufacturer's warranty and the TV shouldn't cost you much anyway
If you're into tate stuff on your Saturn, get hold of something about the same size as your old one coz it's a lot easier to rotate on your own. Make sure it's got square sides too

[vertigo]

Taking into account what kernow's said, I'd still recommend not buying a second-hand TV. The picture quality deteriorates over time as the capacitors wear out. Also, you hear that high-pitched whine that you get from your TV over the years? That's the same thing. The TV's on its way out.
You can easily get newly-manufactured standard CRTs for quite cheap.
Note that a lot of the cheap **** that Tesco sells that has a SCART socket on the back does support RGB and PAL60 but many of them don't support NTSC colour.

[pentarou]

Thanks for the advice guys, I think I'll steer clear of the second hand ones, especially since the last one was 2nd hand (well, "borrowed" from my girlfriend!) and only lasted about 6 months. I guess I'll have a look for a decent Panasonic, or another Toshiba. The only trouble is where to get them, the last time I looked in a TV shop for a 4:3 tv they all had built in video players, eurrrgh.

[kernow]

I guess you have a point, my parents gave me their old panny a while back when they upgraded, sorry to say it died a year later

I think that was me playing tate ikaruga as it went purple first

then slept forever

but really, for 30 quid, if it breaks in a year I'll buy another, I'm silly like that. and probably prefer the older electronics equipment to a bush I'd buy in tesco or something.

came with a 60 day warranty too, its been fine for 6months so far.

I know some people couldn't bear to have something second hand though, its all swings and roundabouts. lovely RGB .. simply fantastic

[kernow]

Thanks for the advice guys, I think I'll steer clear of the second hand ones, especially since the last one was 2nd hand (well, "borrowed" from my girlfriend!) and only lasted about 6 months. I guess I'll have a look for a decent Panasonic, or another Toshiba. The only trouble is where to get them, the last time I looked in a TV shop for a 4:3 tv they all had built in video players, eurrrgh.

yeah - its hard to get a non VCR - stylish 4:3 decent brand tv nowadays .. sucks

[superkully]

No fear!

I bought one of these in January 2004 and the RGB picture is brilliant.

http://www.argos.co.uk/ProductDisplayTRK019?partNumber=5303331

It's also survived being chucked out the front door (onto gravel).

21" is about the right size for a gaming TV, anything smaller is too small.

[vertigo]

Hmmmm lots of independent TV shops will have quite large standalone ones for good prices so try to find some of those in your area instead of high-street chains.
Open the Yellow Pages and let your fingers do the walking Or just bang in your postcode and TV retailers into yell.com and see what you get.

[kernow]

It's also survived being chucked out the front door (onto gravel).

angry girlfriend?

[andrewfee]

I found retro consoles hooked up to my LCD looked fantastic when fed through an XRGB2+ but a CRT is probably still the best way to go.

Make sure you go for a "basic" CRT that does not process the image; what you want is a set that sends the RGB signal directly to the guns. (100Hz sets always process the image) If you can hook up something with RGB and adjusting the "colour" control will saturate/de-saturate the image, look for another television. Ideally the sharpness control would be locked out too (or even better, the set wouldn't have one) but if you can adjust it, make sure it's at 0.

I have a higher-end 100Hz 28" Panasonic CRT in my lounge, which gives a 21" image for 4:3 material, and the old cheap 21" Daewoo set we have arguably looks better for games as it does no processing on the image whatsoever and sends the rgb signals straight to the guns.

If I could access the service menu on this daewoo set and calibrate the greyscale to D65 then I'd be 100% certain that it looked better; that's the only thing that the Panasonic edges out on.

[trickytree]

Agreed with the above, for example most Toshiba TVs faff around with an RGB signal so much that the end result looks no better than S-Video.

[superkully]

angry girlfriend?

No... err... it was an angry kully..

[vertigo]

Agreed with the above, for example most Toshiba TVs faff around with an RGB signal so much that the end result looks no better than S-Video.

Yeh, exactly, see also: Don't buy anything with Sony written on it.

[mcarocks2003]

Empire Direct do some great 4:3 tvs. I have the Philips Tv show at the bottom of the page.