PC CRT for retro gaming setup

[tthurman]

I'm just wondering if anyone here has a PC CRT in their cab?  If so, what's your experience with these higher resolution monitors and retro gaming?

 

I never got rid of my IBM P260, which sports a SONY FD Trinitron under the hood, and now see these topics of people using 19" and above PC monitors for their MiSTer setups.  It always was a great monitor, but seemed way out of place for MAME.  Given that, it's been in storage for the last ~ 15 years.  

Even shadow mask based VGA displays are a seemingly popular.  The scan lines will make a believer out of you!  

 

Quality CRT's in both the PC and TV realm  are becoming rare now, especially good ones with component inputs.  Still wish I'd picked up that 27" Sony a couple years back, for FREE, but oh well.   Check the prices, they are now expensive again.   

 

 

[RIP-Felix]

I don't have any CRT monitors anymore, but they are great for 31KHz signals (480p). If you can convert the signal to RGBHV that is. You will need to upscale 240p/480i --> 480p to use one for retro consoles, and get RGBHV, but the mister is a great way to keep it simple. I think RetroRGB has a guide to get the mister to output to a CRT monitor. You may need to muck around in the config files, but they are supposed to be a near PVM quality picture when you get it working. And we're talking ZERO lag!

I'd definitely go that route.

[tthurman]

MiSTer makes this pretty easy, even on LCD's.  The main problem with MiSter currently is that it is so  young in development.  There is still much ground to be covered, which is thankfully trucking along thanks to some really talented people.  In that regard, there are many similarities to MAME.

I'm tweaking mine to run cooler currently, but it's a very cool platform that is well worth the cost of admission.  It's biggest downside is the fact it will likely never have al the eye candy support that MAME brings.  The gameplay however, that's where it breaks away from the crowd.

[RIP-Felix]

Truly!

It even has a low latency USB mode that cuts controller input lag down as low as possible, like a few milliseconds. CRT, low latency USB, no frame buffer, or maybe 1 frame at the most = as good or better than the original experience. I'd argue better. 480p is a big visual upgrade over what we had on consumer CRT TV's at the time. And we never got RGB, although Component on a CRT is just as good. Regardless, the fact we can do this in 2021 is amazing.

Retrogaming without a CRT is good, but the lag can destroy those games. So latency reduction in retroarch was a god send! And the mister with low latency USB polling is really a great stride. TV's now offer super low latency inputs now too. SO the gap between CRT's and HDTV's has reached the sweet spot IMO. The point where you can get a great experience out of retro console, with a decent upscaler (RetroTink, GBS control, etc.) Then there's Mister.

If it weren't for the video game grading scam and speculation bubble, it would be a great time for retro gaming.