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IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

Super Nintendo/N64 on HDTV

I'm about to replace my living room TV (27" SD tube TV) with an HDTV flat panel. Has anyone had experience playing with the older consoles (SNES/NES/N64) on the new HDTV sets.

I do have the Super Scope, I don't think that will work on an HD set.

Weirdal
Premium Member
join:2003-06-28
Grand Island, NE

Weirdal

Premium Member

If you're coming from an SDTV, you will be sorely disappointed with how they look on a new TV. N64 looks ok, but 16 bit consoles and older look poor. There will also likely be a lot more input lag than the 0ms delay you're used to. And no, light guns won't work.

Some people go crazy with expensive upscalers, but there's really no good solutions that don't involve spending a ton of money. I keep an SDTV around specifically for that purpose.

Of course, you should still try it out once you get it. Your standards might not be as high.

stet
Volitar Prime
join:2002-03-08
Utica, MI

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You might have a hard time finding a HDTV with the older inputs required for the older consoles.
Thordrune
Premium Member
join:2005-08-03
Lakeport, CA

1 edit

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said by Weirdal:

I keep an SDTV around specifically for that purpose.

Same here. PS3 and 360 on my HDTV downstairs, PS2, GC, Dreamcast, and Genesis (I have an Xbox to add at some point as well) on my SD CRT upstairs. Best of both worlds .

I remember getting component cables for my PS2 a while ago and trying Gran Turismo 4 at 480p and 1080i on my HDTV when it was new. 480p was passable (looked more grainy than 480i), 1080i looked like CRAP. Never tried it again after that. It probably looked better on a high-def CRT, but I'll likely never try it.

OP: If your new TV supports it, use S-Video cables with the SNES and N64, like this one. That will ensure the best video quality. If you have the right version of NES, you can use composite video with it, otherwise you'll have to use RF/coax.

captokita
Premium Member
join:2005-02-22
Calabash, NC

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I have my older systems run through a video selector that goes to my AV input on my plasma. I've used my PS2, DC, Saturn, PS1, just fine through it, and mine is a 51in plasma. I've not noticed any issues with lag, or overly bad video. Sure, it's not as sharp as PS3 (duh) but it's playable.

C0deZer0
Oc'D To Rhythm And Police
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join:2001-10-03
Tempe, AZ

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There's a few ways to go about it, depending on how far you're willing to go. There are converters for the job that can really clean up the signal, but their ability to handle consoles can be difficult to measure in part because of the input lag as mentioned. Your TV also factors into that as well, so you might want to cross-reference the TV you're looking at with www.displaylag.com and its database.

Pretty much everything up until the Dreamcast usually had a better option for video outputs, save for a few exceptions. Actually the ideal signal to get from said would be RGBs or as Europeans know it, SCART. We in America got screwed out of ever seeing this available, but for the most part the consoles still can provide a signal with the right cable. And unlike RCA or any other such, modifying the RGB/SCART for the region you need isn't that hard. It's a huge plus if you know how to solder.

Finer points that are console-specific:
•I am aware of component video mods being able to be done with the NES, but they all require some hardcore soldering, a custom PCB to piggy-back the NES's original video chip, and components borrowed from the Nintendo PlayChoice10 platform. Otherwise your best bet really is the Composite A/V, as only the French releases of the system actually had a SCART connector and cable made.
•standard SNES's support the RGB cable no problem. SNES jr's would need some soldering to restore the capability, as Nintendo rather inexplicably cut it out of the system, and even cut out S-Video capbability. Thankfully, a Component Video mod is much easier on this system, especially with the right encoder chip on yours. Again, soldering is required... but if you've got the right encoder chip, it literally would just be three sets of wires and three RCA jacks to match (plus another two if you want to wire the stereo audio as well).
•Like the SNES Jr., the N64 inexplicably disabled RGB out. But like the SNES, it's simple to re-enable, and it can use the same cable.

If you go this route, you've already got the better part of getting the best signal out of the console. Now the trouble is finding a way to hook it so the TV can understand, lol.

A lot of modern TV's will not understand the 240p that the old systems (and this includes some N64 games - KI Gold for instance actually would flip-flop between 240p and 480i on the fly as observed by some video-philes). The cheap way to find t his out would be with a simple RGB-to-YUV converter. It takes the RGB/SCART at one end and outputs component video. You'd probably want a separate breakout/pass-through adapter to get the audio out as well. The good news is it's relatively cheap, and compared to anything else won't add any additional lag. The bad news is that - again - modern HDTV's might not even understand such a low-res signal. if it does, it'd be a very cheap way of getting the sharpest and purest picture possible. If not, well... you'll need to fork over some more bucks.

On the pricey end, the be-all, end-all of gaming converters for such things is the xrgb mini. It'll run about $350(+), but I've yet to read one bad review. It's ludicrous how fast that thing is, and how impressive it cleans up the look of games on a modern TV.

Again, your light gun stuff won't work on any HDTV's nowadays, which is a shame...

IIgs
Premium Member
join:2002-10-05
Montreal, QC

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I specifically kept my 1989 Sony 27" TV (CRT) for my classic game consoles and arcade emulators. It's not only that they look visually better, it's the ACTUAL way they were DESIGNED to be displayed.

Modern TV's do not have scanlines so unfortunately you get chunky and blocky looking pixels, and color dithering and anti-aliasing go from practically invisible to very visible. Scrolling can be choppy too, unlike the 60 Hz glassy smooth scrolling you see from a SNES on an old CRT TV set.

On that CRT TV I use an RCA->Coxial adapter (no switch box) for my 2600, Intellivision, Colecovision and TurboGrafx-16. Composite for my NES, Master System, Genesis and Saturn. And s-video for my SNES, N64, Gamecube, PS1, PS2, Xbox (have an 3-in-1 cable that does s-video for all those systems). There's a huge difference between s-video and composite, even noticeable on the SNES, I'd recommend that if you're old TV supports it. I also sometimes hook the SNES up through RGB to my 12" AppleColor RGB from my old Apple IIGS computer....really gorgeous color and sharpness, unlike anything you've seen before.

Only consoles on my 55" LCD TV are the Xbox 360, PS3 (once it's repaired) and the Wii with a component cable for 480p. Though I'm thinking of moving it over to the CRT. Too bad my Vectrex doesn't have a TV-out option.

input_lag
@comcast.net

input_lag

Anon

said by IowaCowboy:

I'm about to replace my living room TV (27" SD tube TV) with an HDTV flat panel. Has anyone had experience playing with the older consoles (SNES/NES/N64) on the new HDTV sets.

I do have the Super Scope, I don't think that will work on an HD set.

Other posters in this topic are spot on. I'd recommend keeping your tube tv for older games, especially games that use the Light Gun/similar accessories. Yes, you can play the SNES/N64 on a HDTV, but there will be input lag, the picture might be dark (I always have to turn the brightness up compared to a HD source), and the picture might look like crap. Almost all older games are 4:3, and stretching them to 16:9 makes them look even worse.

Still, it might not be a bad idea to at least try it. If your input lag isn't too bad, it might work out pretty well.