Playing retro games is such a better user experience

[Colonel Panic]

Yeah, as much as I love retro gaming, and I think I play more retro than modern games these days, stuff like quick resume and saves that work across consoles and more standardised control layouts make modern stuff better in many ways

[dataDave]

5 hours ago, Major Britten said:

MiSTer is great and its something I’m looking forward to getting in the future, but it is very much a hobbyist machine for people who enjoy tinkering with settings as much as playing the games themselves.

 

Good, I'm looking forward to you getting it. You'll be surprised. With that I have to disagree with this.

 

I'm lucky enough to have a PVM, so the only video option available to me through the analogue line was the gamma select. All of the cores work precisely like their console counterparts. On top of that you have maybe a handful of options for selecting hardware revision, audio filtering, sprite fix and turbo modes, etc. You can set up a core within seconds.

All said and done, and to come back around on topic, I bet people spend just as much time setting up their XBX/PS5.

 

-----

 

Further, I just acquired our 4K Samsung from downstairs - so I'm also outputting to that at the same time as the PVM (I like a big screen). I had to spend a few hours a couple of Sundays ago dialing in the perfect PVM mimicry, mainly because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about concerning all these new shadow mask presets which have been lifted from the RetroTink-5X scaler. I actually went beyond matching the display of the Sony PVM model I have and entered JVC TM-H150CG (Holy Grail) territory. I'm now happy with the config, and even shared it in the MiSTer thread. Anyone else can now simply copy those config lines and add them to their MiSTer.ini file on the root of their SD. That's been the extent of my tinkering - a few hours, vs. the hundreds of hours I've been playing on it over the past year+. I don't need to touch anything ever again.

 

If you want to 'tinker' beyond video/audio and WiFi settings then the options are there (MiSTercade, custom enclosures, MT-32 Pi, etc.). This is not necessary at all for someone just wanting to play old console and arcade games. A lot of people don't even care about the scanlines, and prefer the default blocky look.

 

 

[Quest]

3 hours ago, Fallows said:

JVC TM-H150CG

 

I take it this is a good model? I've been after a decent CRT for a while.

 

Just had a look online and there's one for sale near me for about a hundred quid.

[pastry]

3 hours ago, Fallows said:

 

Good, I'm looking forward to you getting it. You'll be surprised. With that I have to disagree with this.

 

I'm lucky enough to have a PVM, so the only video option available to me through the analogue line was the gamma select. All of the cores work precisely like their console counterparts. On top of that you have maybe a handful of options for selecting hardware revision, audio filtering, sprite fix and turbo modes, etc. You can set up a core within seconds.

All said and done, and to come back around on topic, I bet people spend just as much time setting up their XBX/PS5.

 

-----

 

Further, I just acquired our 4K Samsung from downstairs - so I'm also outputting to that at the same time as the PVM (I like a big screen). I had to spend a few hours a couple of Sundays ago dialing in the perfect PVM mimicry, mainly because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about concerning all these new shadow mask presets which have been lifted from the RetroTink-5X scaler. I actually went beyond matching the display of the Sony PVM model I have and entered JVC TM-H150CG (Holy Grail) territory. I'm now happy with the config, and even shared it in the MiSTer thread. Anyone else can now simply copy those config lines and add them to their MiSTer.ini file on the root of their SD. That's been the extent of my tinkering - a few hours, vs. the hundreds of hours I've been playing on it over the past year+. I don't need to touch anything ever again.

 

If you want to 'tinker' beyond video/audio and WiFi settings then the options are there (MiSTercade, custom enclosures, MT-32 Pi, etc.). This is not necessary at all for someone just wanting to play old console and arcade games. A lot of people don't even care about the scanlines, and prefer the default blocky look.

 

 

I need to dig out your settings file, went looking the other day but didn’t find it. 
 

It feels alien to simply switch the MiSTer off without having to go through a shut down process! 

[Down by Law]

I picked up a beautiful 20" Panasonic Quintrex CRT back in 2016 for a pound on ebay. Got the big heavy fucker home, and it had a giant green AV1 logo that couldn't be removed without the remote. So I managed to find one off ebay eventually, that cost 10 times the set did 😅 and it came in typically disgusting condition, good old sellotaped on battery cover, years of indeterminable brown crust round the edges and most of the text around the buttons rubbed off. Anyways, managed to find the button that removed the AV1 logo and all was sound. Then a few weeks later the screen developed a permanent pink tinge, basically the scart socket was knackered. After taking the back off and realising I could potentially kill myself as i'm a 'push stuff first' kinda guy I came to my senses and put it back together. Then I had to lug the heavy fucker to the tip. Never again. 

 

Now you've got people trying to get £100 for any old crap set they couldn't sling for free 5 years ago , cus 'it's Great for Retro Gaming' no mate Matsui were shit in the 90's and it's still shit now.  

 

I've got the utmost respect for people who can deal with all the shit they have to put up with for a decent CRT set up. Personally i'm all about the CRT filter these days !

 

[dumpster]

For me, retrogaming gives me a wow factor I rarely see on current gen.  I'm playing 24 The Game on PS2 at the moment and it's really good fun.  It captures the feel of the TV show perfectly and the main character looks and sounds like Keifer Sutherland.  There have been a few moments when I've been blown away by what they managed to do on a PS2.  I'm also playing Super Runabout on Dreamcast and there's something really enjoyably shit about it.  

 

Meanwhile you boot up Flight Simulator and it's really impressive.  But it's impressive in a different way because, well, you know these consoles are so powerful, they can do anything.  Similarly, I've not been blown away by music in a game in years because... It's music.  It's great, it's fitting in with the style of the game... But you don't get the wow factor like when you watch Amiga Demos and think, how the hell did they push the Amiga so hard to make music this good?  

 

With modern gaming being so big, epic, bloated and expensive, it's great to spend an hour on Gradius 5 , part nostalgia, but part that it's really good. 

[dataDave]

3 hours ago, Down by Law said:

I picked up a beautiful 20" Panasonic Quintrex CRT back in 2016 for a pound on ebay. Got the big heavy fucker home, and it had a giant green AV1 logo that couldn't be removed without the remote. So I managed to find one off ebay eventually, that cost 10 times the set did 😅 and it came in typically disgusting condition, good old sellotaped on battery cover, years of indeterminable brown crust round the edges and most of the text around the buttons rubbed off. Anyways, managed to find the button that removed the AV1 logo and all was sound. Then a few weeks later the screen developed a permanent pink tinge, basically the scart socket was knackered. After taking the back off and realising I could potentially kill myself as i'm a 'push stuff first' kinda guy I came to my senses and put it back together. Then I had to lug the heavy fucker to the tip. Never again. 

 

Now you've got people trying to get £100 for any old crap set they couldn't sling for free 5 years ago , cus 'it's Great for Retro Gaming' no mate Matsui were shit in the 90's and it's still shit now.  

 

I've got the utmost respect for people who can deal with all the shit they have to put up with for a decent CRT set up. Personally i'm all about the CRT filter these days !

 

 

I did a 1,300KM round-trip into Germany because UPS first smashed two perfectly fine Sony BVMs that were sent to me. Luckily the guy had loads of backups.

 

After getting it home it lasted a year before the PSU board popped. I found a replacement PVM for €50 (including flight case) which I was going to transplant the PSU board out of, but that'd be a crime as it's absolutely pristine and still smells new. Near perfect geometry to boot. It was only ever switched on a handful of times apparently. That's the one I have now.

 

You need to get lucky. I think banking on a 20 year old consumer set is asking for disappointment. PVM/BVMs are meant to last insane hours, and are designed for easy tear-down should you need to replace any capacitors.

 

  

4 hours ago, pastry said:

I need to dig out your settings file, went looking the other day but didn’t find it.

 

 

[thegreathopper]

14 hours ago, Major Britten said:

MiSTer is great and its something I’m looking forward to getting in the future, but it is very much a hobbyist machine for people who enjoy tinkering with settings as much as playing the games themselves. Game compatibility is not 100% for every core and it is constantly being updated. I personally prefer a solution like Analogue’s consoles which is pretty much plug and play with compatibility with original cartridges and accessories. 
 

you sure? I have had one in a Konami Candy cab for a couple of months and have done no tinkering at all, just turn on and choose what game to play, simple as a multi cart but without the loading time.

 

[Colonel Panic]

Yeah I never play with the settings my MiSTers. The MiSTerCade has a settings repository on Github for curated controller mappings and I use a CRT all the time so fuck video filters.

[DeciderVT]

The video filters are the only settings I regularly fiddle with on MiSTer and that's only because the people contributing to the shadowmasks keep messing them up. The rest of it is as "set and forget" as an Analogue console.

[dataDave]

@thegreathopper nailed it. They're practically Everdrives, but with all the hardware one level above teh ROMz.

 

Unless you want to do something very special the tinkering beyond the initial setup is pretty much non-existent. It's now my mission in life to eradicate the misconception about it only being for extreme hobbyists/boffins. I don't care how many times I have to repeat myself, or how many discussions/threads I need to hijack.

 

I just want the best for everyone. It's for their own good. etc.

[Colonel Panic]

You forgot "My four year old can build one".

[nakamura]

I love my PVM, it's absolutely amazing. But I have been loving my SNES classic on the LG TV. It's huge and the colours absolutely pop. 

 

If I could get a decent TV for PS1/2 the CRT would not be so essential. 

But I'm not convinced you can. 

[dataDave]

On 22/06/2022 at 16:37, Quest said:

 

I take it this is a good model? I've been after a decent CRT for a while.

 

Just had a look online and there's one for sale near me for about a hundred quid.

 

WTF. Go and check it out immediately. It's considered one of the best ever made. I can rent one for €25 a day if I want. lol

 

3 hours ago, nakamura said:

If I could get a decent TV for PS1/2 the CRT would not be so essential. 

 

Isn't that what the OSSC or RetroTink is for?

[nakamura]

1 hour ago, Fallows said:

 

 

Isn't that what the OSSC or RetroTink is for?

 

Doesn't work so well for deinterlacing apparently. But not checked yet. 

[Colonel Panic]

RetroTink 5x is magic with deinterlacing. OSSC is not...

[nakamura]

10 hours ago, Colonel Panic said:

RetroTink 5x is magic with deinterlacing. OSSC is not...

Interesting to hear...