Whats a good modern HDTV for use with retro games?

[Hippytipper]

I know the ultimate answer is a CRT tv such as the Sony Trinitron, which I own. I would honestly prefer to have only one tv in my gaming setup.
Right now I own a 26" Toshiba that has been doing a fair job for the past few years. Aside from my PS3 (which I use a lot) I have all my classic systems hooked up to it. NES, SNES, Atari, Gen etc.. Graphics are fuzzy, sound stinks. Not really getting much of a delay though, which is good.

I'm planning on getting a newer hdtv at some point and I just want to know of any popular suggestions. I agree it will never look 100% but I'm willing to settle for something close.

My friends have a Vizio that does a great job. Though the thing is huge and I'm not sure if size effects the way it appears.

[Genesaturn]

I can tell you , you probably won't find a solution your happy with. The bigger is not better in this case, bigger hdtv's just make it look even worse. I have a 32' samsung i use for my newer systems but everything else is on an old 32' jvc tube tv.

[Polygon]

I have some bad news for you, but none. You already answered your own question. The answer will always be a CRT. They will look better and the original light guns will work as well. There are no new HDTVs that retro systems will look good on. They are all going to look like crap. One suggestion I can give you is to modify you old consoles to work with S-Video instead of composite. That will improve the clarity quite a bit. If at all possible, component will be one step better. You can also try and do RGB which will be the best you're going to be able to get out of a retro console.

[alec006]

CRT is still the best for classic gaming. Infact if you want a larger picture I've heard of people going the old rear projection route which those things are becoming more scarce and they weigh a ton. There's alot of things that suck about modern TV's. One being most can't accept low res component so you can't go the RGB to YUV route, amd they are taking S-Video off the damn things so, you're stuck with composite. So, to even get a sharp signal, you need to spend some money on an upscaler that converts the signal to at least 640x480 VGA which is RGB and of course they range from $50 for the Chinese built models to $500+ for the XRGB which is still the best upscaler out there for classic systems. There's even the RGB to HDMI route which upsales it to 720p which isn't too bad but you're still upscaling a very low res image. It's not the native resolution but it's still as close as you can get to a crisp picture on an LCD TV.

[Gamereviewgod]

You can make retro gaming more than tolerable on a HDTV if you do it right.

You need to calibrate though, and do it to each input if the TV allows it. Turning down your sharpness, getting the brightness right, and ensuring your colors aren't all over the place makes all the difference. Keep it on "vivid" or any other preset and yeah, retro will look like crap (and so will new stuff too).

An upscaler will eliminate any artifacts the TV itself will introduce. In my case, I use my audio receiver to upscale. You get the bonus of audio and the upscale in one package. On top of that, with TVs ditching s-video, a receiver will still allow for their input, and you can upscale so you can have a single cable running to you TV (HDMI).

The NES won't look HD -ever-, but it can look decent enough.

[Greg2600]

Viewing wise it doesn't matter, although I have to think that TV's over 46" are not going to look all that great. I have a 32" Sony Bravia, and yes Sony is more expensive than everyone else. However, I choose it because it has multiple HDMI slots, component/composite, etc. I wanted something with a lot of connections. There's no S-Video as no TV's really have that anymore. I'll also say that the picture is somewhat soft, so it hides some of the RF or AV fuzziness.

[BlastProcessing402]

You can still find a few HD sets out there with S-Video, but they're usually not the recommended brands like Sony or Samsung.

[shertz]

The last of the best HDTV CRTs for consoles....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FD_Trinitron/WEGA

[StealthLurker]

Viewing wise it doesn't matter, although I have to think that TV's over 46" are not going to look all that great. I have a 32" Sony Bravia, and yes Sony is more expensive than everyone else. However, I choose it because it has multiple HDMI slots, component/composite, etc. I wanted something with a lot of connections. There's no S-Video as no TV's really have that anymore. I'll also say that the picture is somewhat soft, so it hides some of the RF or AV fuzziness.


Sony was top dog in the CRT days, but is disappointing in the HD generation imho.

In a general sense, picture quality wise the hierarchy from best to worst is:

1. RUNCO, Pioneer (if you can find one) - Also the most expensive at $10,000 to $20,000 brand new
2. Panasonic
3. Samsung
4. Sony, Toshiba, Sharp, LG
5. Vizio
6. Westinghouse, etc

I would say #2-4 are the midrange and #5-6 are the low end units. I'm a plasma guy (do have several LCDs too), but will probably look to OLED next (been waiting years for it).

You could always get a midrange HDTV and grab a video processor such as the Micomsoft Framemeister (seems better than the XRGBs) and or a DVDO Edge. Either will cost you roughly $400 to $600 these days. Higher end video processors will cost anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000+ but the differences to most people won't really matter unless you're a real videophile.

.

[Gamevet]

The last of the best HDTV CRTs for consoles....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FD_Trinitron/WEGA
I thought you were posting the 720p capable Sony HD CRT. I have a KV-32hs420. It's a (4:3) 32" HD CRT that supports 480i/480p/720p/1080i. The set weighs about 165 pounds, but it scales the older consoles really well. It doesn't support lightguns though, since the screen doesn't refresh like an old sdtv.

[Gamevet]

The last of the best HDTV CRTs for consoles....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FD_Trinitron/WEGA
I thought you were posting the 720p capable Sony HD CRT. I have a KV-32hs420. It's a (4:3) 32" HD CRT that supports 480i/480p/720p/1080i. The set weighs about 165 pounds, but it scales the older consoles really well. It doesn't support lightguns though, since the screen doesn't refresh like an old sdtv.

[theclaw]

Overall an HDTV's panel itself is not what most keeps older games from looking decent. Hence the reason people are willing to pay big money for XRGB or similar.

Many sets have poor scalers or lack higher quality retro inputs (s-video, SCART, etc). It hurts HDTVs more since the display technology is impacted greater by signal quality received. Using composite/RF encoders inside consoles is just bad form on HDTV whenever avoidable, that damages video further before it even reaches the TV!

[Hippytipper]

Thanks everyone for the input!

As of right now I have my Sony Trinitron hooked up next to my Toshiba HDTV. I guess this will do for now:)

I've looked into some of those upscalers. Do they have any multi-input ones? I'm sure that would only make the cost more brutal in the end.
Like coaxial inputs for Genesis and Atari? Probably asking too much from all this new tech:0

Those HDCRTs are badass

[Greg2600]

Those HDCRTs are badass

They weigh a ton though. I've seen a few on craigslist that have gotten my attention, but A) I'm not positive CRT-only stuff like light guns and SEGA Scope 3D will still work, and B) they weigh a ton. Often those Sony's come built on top of a heavy base/stand, making them even heavier.

[Panzerfuzion]

I have 4 flat screen hdtvs 60 inch 50 inch and 2 32inchers. And my old systems don't look good on any of them. As much of hassle as they are until they come out with some kind of retro modifier the old CRT's are the only way to go.

[Gamevet]

They weigh a ton though. I've seen a few on craigslist that have gotten my attention, but A) I'm not positive CRT-only stuff like light guns and SEGA Scope 3D will still work, and B) they weigh a ton. Often those Sony's come built on top of a heavy base/stand, making them even heavier.

The light guns do not work with the HD CRTs.

The 32" model does not come with a built-in stand, unless it's the XBR.


I thought you were posting the 720p capable Sony HD CRT. I have a KV-32hs420. It's a (4:3) 32" HD CRT that supports 480i/480p/720p/1080i. The set weighs about 165 pounds, but it scales the older consoles really well. It doesn't support lightguns though, since the screen doesn't refresh like an old sdtv.

[Greg2600]

The light guns do not work with the HD CRTs.

The 32" model does not come with a built-in stand, unless it's the XBR.

Then I have no use for them if they don't work. I've seen them with and without the stand. Either way, it's so heavy and large. We still have a 32" CRT in the basement, and it's not going anywhere. It's next to impossible to move.

[otaku]

The last of the best HDTV CRTs for consoles....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FD_Trinitron/WEGA

this! I miss my 27inch but man are they heavy

[BlastProcessing402]

They weigh a ton though. I've seen a few on craigslist that have gotten my attention, but A) I'm not positive CRT-only stuff like light guns and SEGA Scope 3D will still work, and B) they weigh a ton. Often those Sony's come built on top of a heavy base/stand, making them even heavier.

Yeah, I got one off of Craigslist, then when I got it home, I couldn't move it, even without any stand, so I had to get an LCD after all. Carried that one like it was nothing, even though it's 10" bigger, lol

[Polygon]

this! I miss my 27inch but man are they heavy

I saved mine for this very reason when I bought my LCD. I packed it up in it's original packing, just waiting for a time when I have the room to have two video game rigs set up in the same room.

[dreamcaster]

Honestly, I am satisfied with the picture I get via s-video on my 1080p LG panel. I recently bought an s-video to HDMI converter so I can transmit an s-video signal through to my modern TV and it looks crisp.

[Duke.Togo]

I've got the Sony KV-34XBR800 that I bought new years ago. Classic games look great on this set, even RF looks pretty good. I even paid to get it fixed when it went out a while back (who on earth fixes TVs these days? Had to call around.) If you can dig one of these up, you won't regret. As everyone has mentioned though, they do weigh a ton.