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Retro AV Club Thread 2: Classic Gaming Done Right!

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I thought I had a picture that included the price but it looks like I may have deleted it when I no longer needed to do a price comparison and look up specs. If I remember correctly, I think I paid around 35000 yen for it at a shop in Akihabara. It may have been a little less. I don't think I spent more than that.

My Supergun doesn't require anything extra, has an awesome control panel and includes an upscaler. If you aren't getting everything I got, I would probably spend half that or even less.

that a good price with all the controllers, power supply and video converter. i think i'll probably spend about the same.
 

Dambrosi

Banned
We talking superguns here? Cool, another chance to show off my Pana Custom, just last month risen from the dead and playing games again!

WCMN0F4.jpg


Now, it ain't perfect - the coin button sticks and keeps inserting multiple credits until I hold it down, the engineer who repaired it had to replace the blown PSU with a 110v-only model, so I have to use it with a pricey stepdown voltage converter now, and I'm afraid to use it with the supplied SCART cable on a CRT now because that's what blew the PSU in the first place (yes, I know about the NTSC/PAL toggle switch on the main PCB, but I don't wanna risk it, so a monitor is fine too), but since I got it from a Twitch streamer as a prize for free, I really can't complain. It's easily one of my most prized possessions, and I love playing shmups on the thing, it feels so good playing FixEight or Progear or Mars Matrix with proper arcade controls.
 
The shop I went to also had a Pana Custom Long. I can’t remember what made me decide on the Combo AV Ex though. I think I may have just preferred it asthetically. There may have been a size difference factor as well. The one I got took up a whole suitcase.
 

pje122

Member
I found a Sony Trinitron GDM-W900 on Craigslist for $200. States it "works perfectly".
Any feedback on whether or not this is worthy of pursuing? Price OK?
 

Peagles

Member
Anyone seen a Sony CPD-200ES in person?

I figured since I’ll probably never luck out getting a 31KHz capable pro monitor I may as well nab it for my 480p 4:3 content.
 
I found a Sony Trinitron GDM-W900 on Craigslist for $200. States it "works perfectly".
Any feedback on whether or not this is worthy of pursuing? Price OK?

As a general rule, folks in this thread will steer you away from the widescreen/digital ready CRTs. They will upscale or otherwise distort 240p content. You want an older model. They will be better — and MUCH cheaper. Do not pay $200 for a consumer grade CRT. You can find what you want for next to nothing or even free.
 
As a general rule, folks in this thread will steer you away from the widescreen/digital ready CRTs. They will upscale or otherwise distort 240p content. You want an older model. They will be better — and MUCH cheaper. Do not pay $200 for a consumer grade CRT. You can find what you want for next to nothing or even free.


Google that model number and come back to edit your post! The 900 is the end game for 480p/720p/maybe even 1080 content! You will not find a better monitor for gen6/7/emulation
 

Peagles

Member
Now mind you, this is a W900, not a FW900...
I wonder if I should just forget about it and hold out for a FW900.

I haven’t seen either in person but the W900 is still supposed to be pretty good.

There isn’t much I would personally drop $200 on though. Mostly cos I have gotten all my monitors for a pittance and am always broke anyway lol.
 

Kawika

Member
I'm using a supergun designed by a user over at Arcade-Projects (RGB) along with his custom Saturn controller adapters and my HSS-0130 with CPS2, MV1C and a Naomi.

Here's a couple of shoddy candid iPhone pics...

Qgd7EL9m.jpg


yM3GsGvm.jpg

Looking at this picture makes me want to have less systems out permanently. I always have My SNES, NES (analogue nt), genesis, N64, Wii, Gamecube (for GBA), PS1, PS2 and PSP Go connected. If I was honest with myself. 90% of my retro gaming is either NES or SNES. If I could connect a GBA to a TV without a gamecube I would be able to put that away (and use the Wii when I want to play a gamecube game). Even though its not perfect, since I got the xbox one s I haven't even thought about pulling out my 360 from storage to play a game. Most, if not all, of my games just work on the Xbox One.

I feel like my whole set up is so crowded and sometimes it kind of drives me nuts when I have to take something out and have to redo all my wiring. But then again, there is something about the My Life in Gaming style setup where you can play just about everything you care about with minimal effort (outside of the initial setup. I am probably going to spend hundreds to redo a closet to have everything connected at once.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
I feel like my whole set up is so crowded and sometimes it kind of drives me nuts when I have to take something out and have to redo all my wiring. But then again, there is something about the My Life in Gaming style setup where you can play just about everything you care about with minimal effort (outside of the initial setup. I am probably going to spend hundreds to redo a closet to have everything connected at once.

I can't post pics right now but I think I achieved the impossible: a My Life in Gaming-style setup with everything connected to play at the push of a button, but with minimal visual clutter. I put all my consoles inside a big glossy white Ikea cabinet with doors. It's the geek's dream setup, but it also looks like a classy "normal people"-friendly home theatre.
 

Morfeo

The Chuck Norris of Peace
I can't post pics right now but I think I achieved the impossible: a My Life in Gaming-style setup with everything connected to play at the push of a button, but with minimal visual clutter. I put all my consoles inside a big glossy white Ikea cabinet with doors. It's the geek's dream setup, but it also looks like a classy "normal people"-friendly home theatre.

Yeah this is the style of setup I use as well. Ikea cabinet with doors so that it doesnt look geeky, but still have all consoles hooked up at once. Its awesome to just open one of the doors and see all that retro godness :)
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
I've only got like... 5 retro systems hooked up, but between the gscartsw and the Harmony Elite, I've finally reached that zen-like state, as well.
 
Looking at this picture makes me want to have less systems out permanently. I always have My SNES, NES (analogue nt), genesis, N64, Wii, Gamecube (for GBA), PS1, PS2 and PSP Go connected. If I was honest with myself. 90% of my retro gaming is either NES or SNES. If I could connect a GBA to a TV without a gamecube I would be able to put that away (and use the Wii when I want to play a gamecube game). Even though its not perfect, since I got the xbox one s I haven't even thought about pulling out my 360 from storage to play a game. Most, if not all, of my games just work on the Xbox One.

I feel like my whole set up is so crowded and sometimes it kind of drives me nuts when I have to take something out and have to redo all my wiring. But then again, there is something about the My Life in Gaming style setup where you can play just about everything you care about with minimal effort (outside of the initial setup. I am probably going to spend hundreds to redo a closet to have everything connected at once.


I've been thinking about this as well. When I move I've decided to get away from scart and switch all my cables over to dsub15(vga). I think I'll make a connection at the coffee table and just plug my systems in there when I want to play them. This eliminates controller cord problems and having to string the console along the floor as a result and I fucking hate scart.

Then I can display all my consoles neatly on a shelf and away from kids/dogs.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
I've only got like... 5 retro systems hooked up, but between the gscartsw and the Harmony Elite, I've finally reached that zen-like state, as well.

Yeah Harmony stuff is the unsung hero of these setups. I use the Harmony Hub so I just use my phone and choose which console I want.

If you really want to get nuts, have a PC nearby, download the Home Remote app from Windows Store, and you can launch consoles by asking the always-listening Cortana. I'm sure there are Alexa or Google options too.

I also got the harmony hub to switch Framemeister profiles on console selection.
 
Looking at this picture makes me want to have less systems out permanently. I always have My SNES, NES (analogue nt), genesis, N64, Wii, Gamecube (for GBA), PS1, PS2 and PSP Go connected. If I was honest with myself. 90% of my retro gaming is either NES or SNES. If I could connect a GBA to a TV without a gamecube I would be able to put that away (and use the Wii when I want to play a gamecube game). Even though its not perfect, since I got the xbox one s I haven't even thought about pulling out my 360 from storage to play a game. Most, if not all, of my games just work on the Xbox One.

I feel like my whole set up is so crowded and sometimes it kind of drives me nuts when I have to take something out and have to redo all my wiring. But then again, there is something about the My Life in Gaming style setup where you can play just about everything you care about with minimal effort (outside of the initial setup. I am probably going to spend hundreds to redo a closet to have everything connected at once.

I went from having disconnected-by-default to everything-connected largely because as I got more consoles the places where I would connect my consoles got to be a mess of cables and it took so long to switch from one console to another.

When it was just a couple HDMI systems perma-connected, and then cables left connected with Wii+WiiU sharing cables, GC/SNES/AV-Faim sharing cables, and PS1/PS2 sharing cables it was a lot easier but as I added a Genesis, a Saturn, an N64, a Dreamcast, a PC Engine Duo R, a PSP Go, a PSTV, wanted to make it easier to hook up my 360, and then a heavy/huge SegaCD to my Genesis it just became annoying to swap stuff, like switching systems was really annoying.

You can make things as difficult or as easy to run as you want, just depends how good you are at hiding some mess.

The Ikea door thing really does help.

Right now I've commondeered 3/5 door bays to hide a shitload of wires, with the rest holding systems. Behind door #1 I have every power bar / outlet I need, all switch boxes behind and ethernet switch door #2, door #3 has two PS2s and a PS1 in a stack, door #4 my plebian manual SCART switching zone-of-shame, and door #5 has a 360+Wii. I'm going to get a bunch more doors to hide everything else next time I get around to going to Ikea.
 
Google that model number and come back to edit your post! The 900 is the end game for 480p/720p/maybe even 1080 content! You will not find a better monitor for gen6/7/emulation

Yeah but I’m not thinking about gen 6 stuff, Im assuming they’re going for more truly classic stuff. I dunno. I just wouldn’t pay that much for a consumer CRT.
 

Balb

Member
Even though it causes quite a bit of clutter...I prefer the gscart solution. When your consoles are hooked up, you're more likely to play them. The fewer barriers between you and your games, the better in my opinion.
 
Even though it causes quite a bit of clutter...I prefer the gscart solution. When your consoles are hooked up, you're more likely to play them. The fewer barriers between you and your games, the better in my opinion.

I haven't touched my PC Engine in almost two years because I don't have a SCART solution.

My wallet thanks me
 

HideoKojimaJr

Neo Member
I'm gonna need some of you cats with these supposed beautiful Ikea shelving-with-doors solutions to help a brother out. I've been looking for a similar solution for a minute now. Anyone able to take any pics?
 
I'm gonna need some of you cats with these supposed beautiful Ikea shelving-with-doors solutions to help a brother out. I've been looking for a similar solution for a minute now. Anyone able to take any pics?

I have a photo of my old setup in the Retro Gaming Setup thread but the door situation is the same. My newer version has everything hooked up with diy half shelves like this but I want to add doors over all of those which is going to take some modding since the door inserts are not designed to work with that kind of thing.
 

Peltz

Member
Oh! I just redid my whole setup. It has doors and every system is all connected at once. No swapping cables.

I'm on mobile now, but I'll post a pic when I have a chance.

Edit:
22489870_10101984384304850_3430359426634894974_n.jpg


Right side open:

22405418_10101984384349760_8794184934215831387_n.jpg


Left side open:

22365234_10101984384344770_6478221684778855035_n.jpg


Now I only have doors on two of the four columns of the shelving unit, I may add two more in the inner-most columns so that it's fully enclosed.

This is the BESTA series from Ikea. And you can customize it however you want. You can get doors and/or drawers wherever you please or build it higher or wider, etc. Personally, I was going to replace this unit because I didn't think I could fit everything, but I did some re-jiggering and got it all to fit nicely. If I get one more system, however, I'm going to have a hard time finding a spot for it.

Anyway, before I re-jiggered everything, I was actually looking at the new EKET series of shelving from IKEA that just came out. If I could do it all over again (and I still might) that's what I'd do now. They also have the KALLAX series, but personally, I think the EKET is better just because it's so modular and customizable. And it has nicer colors too. BESTA, again the series in my pics above, is also fairly modern looking, but is a less "in your face" sort of look.

And yea, I know I need a floor rug. It would make the whole thing look way nicer. That's in the works too.
 

KC-Slater

Member
Looking at this picture makes me want to have less systems out permanently. I always have My SNES, NES (analogue nt), genesis, N64, Wii, Gamecube (for GBA), PS1, PS2 and PSP Go connected. If I was honest with myself. 90% of my retro gaming is either NES or SNES. If I could connect a GBA to a TV without a gamecube I would be able to put that away (and use the Wii when I want to play a gamecube game). Even though its not perfect, since I got the xbox one s I haven't even thought about pulling out my 360 from storage to play a game. Most, if not all, of my games just work on the Xbox One.

I feel like my whole set up is so crowded and sometimes it kind of drives me nuts when I have to take something out and have to redo all my wiring. But then again, there is something about the My Life in Gaming style setup where you can play just about everything you care about with minimal effort (outside of the initial setup. I am probably going to spend hundreds to redo a closet to have everything connected at once.

This is a spare bedroom in our house that my wife and I turned into a library/"media room" -- You can't really tell from that photo, but it's primarily books on the shelves, save for a few cubes of my gaming stuff. My PS4 & Wii U is actually hooked up in a separate room that is more of an office/den. This was the concession I made (that I'm totally fine with, and thankful for!) and the rest of our house doesn't look like there is grown man with Virtua Fighter action figures living there.
There is.
I actually pared down a TON of my retro gaming stuff, and looking to clear out even more, only holding onto stuff that I still use regularly, or that "brings me joy."
This includes my boxed JP Mega Drive stuff, so anyone who is interested, PM me.

The space is a luxury that I went for years without, but having most of my collection stored away in boxes sort of fostered an 'out of sight, out of mind' perspective. Now that I have the space to display it or whatever, I'm okay without doing so. I just wish I hadn't sold my Naomi Universal cab before moving...

Oh! I just redid my whole setup. It has doors and every system is all connected at once. No swapping cables.

That's a nice, clean setup! Well done!
 

Peltz

Member
Looking good Peltz! I would personally go for the middle doors as well.

Yea, I am definitely thinking about it. The only issue with that is that the receiver is a little too big and sticks out an inch or so in the front which makes it impossible to cleanly close a door on it. To deal with this, I am contemplating sawing out a square hole the backside of the shelf so that the receiver sticks out an inch or two in the rear instead, but that would require disconnecting everything from the receiver and buying a saw.

It's kind of a pain in the ass. But I do think the results will be worth it in the end.

Peltz you got a link for that PVM cart??!~! Your setup looks awesome.

Thanks bobble! Here:

http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/o...ts/black-steel-audio-visual-instrument-cart-2

The PVMs are connected by very long BNC cables to the BNC Matrix you see under the receiver. All the cables from the BNC Matrix to the PVMs as well as the power cords are held together with a bunch of black twisty-ties (believe it or not!). Twisty ties also prevent anything from getting tangled and make all the cable management look clean. In effect, it's like one thick cable that is long enough so that I can wheel the CRTs to the center of the room without needing to plug anything in or adjust any wires. Then I wheel it back and tuck the cable behind the shelving unit when the CRTs are not in use.

If anyone else goes this route, I really recommend bunching the cables together into a single thick cable so that they don't get in the way when you're wheeling your cart around. The last thing you need is to have a wheel running over one of your cables or for them to get tangled on something.
 
Yea, I am definitely thinking about it. The only issue with that is that the receiver is a little too big and sticks out an inch or so in the front which makes it impossible to cleanly close a door on it. To deal with this, I am contemplating sawing out a square hole the backside of the shelf so that the receiver sticks out an inch or two in the rear instead, but that would require disconnecting everything from the receiver and buying a saw.

It's kind of a pain in the ass. But I do think the results will be worth it in the end.

i suggested when i was over opening up the whole back for ventilation. definitely a good idea to cut holes in the backside.
 
Now mind you, this is a W900, not a FW900...
I wonder if I should just forget about it and hold out for a FW900.

I can't speak to the W900 (I know it had lower dot pitch and max rez) but I owned an FW900 for quite a few years.

One of the best $200 I spent, back when a 24" widescreen LCD was like $500 still.

Gave it up about 5 years ago when I had to move into a small place, sold it for $200 to a student who was dabbling with learning CRT tech.

Such a great monitor. Was especially great for retro PC games, since I could easily play at 800x600 or 1024x768.
 

Peltz

Member
I agree. Any decent av reciever puts out alot of heat and the modern consoles should never be closed off as well.

yea about that

tenor.gif


That's too much work. The modern consoles get hot, but they're replaceable if they overheat. So far, after owning this thing for 6 years now, I've not had anything overheat on me. I just open the door when using a console to allow for some ventilation, then close it afterwards.

It was a problem with early Xbox 360s and PS3s, but each of the ones I own now are later models that don't have overheating issues. I'm fine with letting them run under a bit of stress. Call me a monster if you need to.
 

HideoKojimaJr

Neo Member

IrishNinja

Member
nice setup, Peltz! still thinking when i move i should just use the same kinda ikea kallax or whatever shelves i use for records for game systems, i gotta measure a few (like the SMS, OG xbox etc) but i wanna say most will fit, and they're open in the back too
 
I spent a lot of time and thought on my retro setup. Getting the GSCART switch was great. I also have all my retro stuff on one surge protector that I just flip off when I'm not playing. Both of those were huge improvements.

I keep my HDMI systems separate from my retro consoles. They are under my desk next to my PC and I have an hdmi switcher that they all connect to which runs to my TV. I did this for space and because those are all wireless controllers so I don't need them near the tv. I also have my receiver in kind of a weird spot in between the PC/Desk area and my TV...but it's functional and aesthetically pleasing.

I wanted my retro consoles to be on display but also functional.

https://imgur.com/a/j967F
 

Morfeo

The Chuck Norris of Peace

I've only got like... 5 retro systems hooked up, but between the gscartsw and the Harmony Elite, I've finally reached that zen-like state, as well.

I've been thinking about this as well. When I move I've decided to get away from scart and switch all my cables over to dsub15(vga). I think I'll make a connection at the coffee table and just plug my systems in there when I want to play them. This eliminates controller cord problems and having to string the console along the floor as a result and I fucking hate scart.

Then I can display all my consoles neatly on a shelf and away from kids/dogs.

Alright, so what is Harmony and why do i need it?
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
Logitech Harmony remote. I bought the Elite one like a month ago, and it's sweet, cuz I set it up so that I can just push a button and it sets everything up for my retro shit. It wasn't even that easy back in the '90s when I didn't have any fancy gear.
 

IrishNinja

Member
ya'll some lazy assses

all i gotta do is

turn on the TV
turn on the receiver
set the tv to the right HDMI
fuck no not that one fuck no one uses that one you dumb TV
set the receiver to the right channel (it's my roommate's setup)
turn on the XRGB
plug in the SCART
wait is that coming in mono and green? fuck clean the SCART with whatever's nearby right quick and try again
okay now just click the XRGB remote and load the right profile
wait don't you have this one over component? i think that's D in moonspeak....no wait, yeah i think it's SCART, okay
okay now turn on the system
awesome while you got up the stupid cat sat in your chair, so either toss a bottle cap so she chases it or just forcibly evict her
that's not the right game, who even plays Sneak King really
sort through the drawer of controllers
okay now you've spilled a spot of whiskey on the disc, clean that too
should be good wait fucksake cat stay on the sofa or something jesus

and boom, ready to go - couldn't be simpler (assuming you didn't change your mind about panzer orta at this point and decide to shit man let's just play sneak king, in which case you repeat the last few steps)
 

bodine1231

Member
Bought a shitload (40+) of SNES and NES games from Gamestops b2g1 retro sale a couple weeks ago. They all came in today and I'm fucking shocked,all arrived legit,with nice labels and worked perfectly!
 
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