Forum > Blogs > The A/V Club
The A/V Club
avatar
Country: AU
Comments: 19019
News Posts: 9041
Joined: 2008-08-18
 
Mon, 02 Mar 2015 08:46:02
0

I thought this was the beginning of the end, but apparently it is the end of the end.

Over the last few years it has become difficult to buy new cathode ray tube televisions (the best medium through which to play old consoles), but I had no idea the A/V situation had become so dire...

When buying new TV's recently I discovered that not only are RF inputs been removed, but now also composite (Y/R/W) inputs, and in some cases even component inputs (R/B/G/R/W). HDMI and USB are in full support, and I suspect that USB3 will ultimately make even HDMI obsolete.

The good news is that NTSC and PAL is a thing of the past (but for the absense of a radio frequency TV Tuner).

So I can now play a healthy chunk of my NTSC games, (but I had to buy a special conversion cable for the composite input), but my RF systems are now (hopefully temporarilly) dead.  Those include (hushed intonation): Sega Genesis, Sega CD, Sega 32X, Intelivision, Atari 2600, 5200 and 7800. (I had long since upgraded my NES and SNES to component).  Hope is still out there, for $185 I can buy a thing that converts NTSC RF to component, but the seller gaurantees nothing.

Retron 5 is starting to look good.

avatar
Country: GB
Comments: 48039
News Posts: 59775
Joined: 2008-06-21
 
Mon, 02 Mar 2015 14:04:31
+1
This is why buying old CRTs off ebay is useful. But you aren't local to a major city I guess?

avatar
Country: AU
Comments: 19019
News Posts: 9041
Joined: 2008-08-18
 
Mon, 02 Mar 2015 19:04:09
0
And old TV's (Meaning all CRTs) are not NTSC/PAL agnostic. So I'd need to get a CRT from the US (good luck shipping that without breaking it).

avatar
Country: GB
Comments: 48039
News Posts: 59775
Joined: 2008-06-21
 
Mon, 02 Mar 2015 19:18:37
+1
That's weird because the UK had NTSC/PAL compatible CRTs for a long time.

avatar
Country: BE
Comments: 8003
News Posts: 588
Joined: 2013-06-11
 
Mon, 02 Mar 2015 19:37:59
+1
gamingeek said:
That's weird because the UK had NTSC/PAL compatible CRTs for a long time.



NO, the UK is weird. Nyaa
Edited: Mon, 02 Mar 2015 23:21:58
avatar
Country: US
Comments: 16666
News Posts: 2694
Joined: 2008-06-21
 
Tue, 03 Mar 2015 01:21:56
+1

I hope you can figure something out soon, Aspro.

I've been thinking of turning my 20" CRT into a dedicated Atari 2600 gamestation, just like the one I had as a kid, except that one had a 13" B&W CRT. Ahh the memories.

The VG Press

avatar
Country: UN
Comments: 16210
News Posts: 1043
Joined: 2008-06-21
 
Tue, 03 Mar 2015 01:25:30
+1
gamingeek said:
That's weird because the UK had NTSC/PAL compatible CRTs for a long time.

Yeah, pretty sure that's the case with CRTs in Australia, too.

avatar
Country: AU
Comments: 19019
News Posts: 9041
Joined: 2008-08-18
 
Wed, 04 Mar 2015 07:41:55
0
Foolz said:
gamingeek said:
That's weird because the UK had NTSC/PAL compatible CRTs for a long time.

Yeah, pretty sure that's the case with CRTs in Australia, too.

I've bought 2 already and they are now in landfills, I am done with experimenting.

avatar
Country: AU
Comments: 19019
News Posts: 9041
Joined: 2008-08-18
 
Wed, 04 Mar 2015 07:45:39
+1
Ravenprose said:

I hope you can figure something out soon, Aspro.

I've been thinking of turning my 20" CRT into a dedicated Atari 2600 gamestation, just like the one I had as a kid, except that one had a 13" B&W CRT. Ahh the memories.

I remember those. My dad burnt one up once while smoking in bed (while passing out drunk).  Ahh, the good old days.

EDIT: I found the actual model:

Edited: Wed, 04 Mar 2015 07:48:13

avatar
Country: US
Comments: 15369
News Posts: 232
Joined: 2008-06-21
 
Wed, 04 Mar 2015 10:28:18
+1

I remember as a kid playing my NES on a little 13 inch RCA and thinking it was incredible. Now I'm not satisfied unless I'm playing on at least a 42 inch HDTV. LOL

Edited: Wed, 04 Mar 2015 10:29:15

         1200923.png?77682175

avatar
Country: US
Comments: 3302
News Posts: 310
Joined: 2010-07-12
 
Thu, 12 Mar 2015 03:07:46
+2
edgecrusher said:

I remember as a kid playing my NES on a little 13 inch RCA and thinking it was incredible. Now I'm not satisfied unless I'm playing on at least a 42 inch HDTV. LOL



I used to play 4 player split screen on a 13 inch Sanyo. I had it from 1994 through 2005 when I got my current 19 inch RCA CRT TV.

SUPER MARIO MAKER LEVELS:

  • SMB Mix-Up! (1AB2-0000-0047-5A7D)
  • Storm the Castle (77BD-0000-00E0-A9C0)

1162060.png

avatar
Country: AU
Comments: 19019
News Posts: 9041
Joined: 2008-08-18
 
Sat, 21 Mar 2015 09:07:56
+3

Ok, so problem solved.

Last night, in one of my sleepless visions, I recalled having a VCR from the US that had a coaxial cable input with composite cable outputs.  So I dug through my shipping container today (which is well organized, not what yo uw oudl imagine to be an excerpt of Hoarders, found said device, hooked it up to my HDTV and Voila!

Problem solved.

I as playing Moonwalker in minutes and Pac-man on Atari 2600 shortly thereafter.

Log in or Register for free to comment
Recently Spotted:
SupremeAC (3m)
Login @ The VG Press
Username:
Password:
Remember me?