I am really going to sell half of my collection due to HD?

[Hitman_HalStep]

i will throw in that later generations of tv might make you regret it.i thought "they" were saying that led tv's were going to be as sharp as crt in non hd pictures,if this is untrue then maybe the next thing will.

[Liamh1982]

No grumbles with my 32" Sanyo - retro doesn't seem to look any worse than it did on my last CRT. Mind you, I do use better cables now!
Only Master System and Jaguar look a bit poor due to me still only having RF connections for those two.

[gman72]

I was very surprised t'other night when i fired up my PS2 on my HDTV for the first time fully expecting the blocky horribles to come lurching out of the screen only find my TV dealing with the graphics very well indeed. My daughter and I played Soul Calibre 3 for ages and were well amazed at how excellent the visuals looked, so much so that i've decided to start plugging the gaps in my PS2 collection purchasing Silent Hill 2 Directors cut (6.99) and Silent Hill origins (10.99 Gulp).
My TV is not an expensive make TECHNIKA 42" LCD 3D Enabled it came with a Blue Ray player and 8 pairs of 3D glasses all for under 500 quid RESULT

[shiftytigger]

Snes doesnt look too bad using the GC component lead - but then we only have a 37 inch tv.

Just as a matter of interest how on earth did you get a Gamecube component cable into a SNES?? afaik the Cube outputs component from it's digital port.. are you sure you're not mixing up composite with component?? component is wired red, green, blue.. composite is wired red, white, yellow, I'm not even sure the SNES can output component... RGB and I think S-Video is the most you can expect out of the SNES

Sorry my bad - it is composite - still a bit new to anything else. My main point being that the COMPOSITE lead worked well on our tv and didnt make it look all that bad - along with the aforementioned settings adjustment (game mode worked perfectly well)

Either that or im going to have to get a component capable snes mod done just to be right.. ah balls to it.

[shiftytigger]

- there really is no other thing to do than to spend a good bit of your time tinkering with stuff.

I really do need to get out more but this made me laugh.

[nakamura]

That said I wonder if any clever people on here would know if it's likely that future HD TVs could one day somehow display these old consoles just fine due to some kind of technical advancement?

Surely the easiest way is a 50'' 1080p set and just use the middle of the screen, roughly half size! Huge black borders all the way round but it would work.

[batman877]

I never really 'get' dilemmas like this much. I know my vision isn't great but I can appreciate HD, and I don't think any of my old games look that bad at all when plugged into my 48 inch LCD TV at all. I had my SNES on a couple of weeks back playing Mr Nutz and Turtles In Time, and they both still looked as great as they did 18 or so years ago to me. Same experience when I had my MD on a while back to play Desert Strike too, it looked fine to me.

Are you sure you're not just fed up of your old games?

Quite sure! The Nintendo consoles look the worst especially my SNES and N64. As I said, I've tried x3 HDTVs but just can't get away from the blocky and blurry look. As an Amstrad CPC fan I'm quite used to blocky - I'm not just being snobby about it - they really do look poor! Maybe you just got lucky with your TV.

Otherwise you're going to have to invest in an expensive upscaler (which still won't be perfect) or simply put up with it. Sorry that's not very helpful, but it's a reality I also found myself in recently.

I've tried this, the upscaler helps improve the scrolling quite a bit, but the graphics are still dreadful.

The virtual console games I have on my Wii - whilst still don't look brilliant - are much better. But there's little point in creating a big collection there as there's no way of transfering them to another Wii console if my current one breaks. A stupid Nintendo policy - all your downloads are unique to your hardware rather than your online account!

[Negative Creep]

The virtual console games I have on my Wii - whilst still don't look brilliant - are much better. But there's little point in creating a big collection there as there's no way of transfering them to another Wii console if my current one breaks. A stupid Nintendo policy - all your downloads are unique to your hardware rather than your online account!

Really? I just downloaded Chrono Trigger a few days before mine broke and had to be sent off for repair. Does that mean I've just wasted my money?

On the subject of HD, my SNES, Gamecube and Saturn all look fine on my LG 32 lcd. The PS2 doesn't work very well though, creating an odd ghosting effect

[pratty]

The virtual console games I have on my Wii - whilst still don't look brilliant - are much better. But there's little point in creating a big collection there as there's no way of transfering them to another Wii console if my current one breaks. A stupid Nintendo policy - all your downloads are unique to your hardware rather than your online account!

Really? I just downloaded Chrono Trigger a few days before mine broke and had to be sent off for repair. Does that mean I've just wasted my money?

No, but you may have to re-download the game, it should be free though as you've already paid for it. If they replace your Wii they should transfer it over for you.

I believe games can be transferred between Wii consoles but you have to send them to Nintendo to do it.

[Syntesis]

4. Get an SCART to HD upscaler - recently bought one for £40. Sure, it upscales. But it just upscales my awful picture to an awful picture in 1080p or 720p! There is very little improvement over using a standard SCART.

You will need to spend a lot more than that to get good results. Try an XRGB Mini Framemeister.

Or get a CRT.

Pick your poison. Costly but convenient or cheap and perfect picture but bulky.

[Misery]

I think it depends on the HDTV and settings. My Sony 40X3000 looks great with all my retro computers.

This.

The retro console I tend to focus on is the Atari 2600, and it doesnt GET much more "blocky" than that thing.

But on my HD screen, it still looks..... pretty much exactly as it should. I havent changed any settings or anything either. It definitely looks better than using, say, an emulator on the PC (which always looks off to me).

[batman877]

No, but you may have to re-download the game, it should be free though as you've already paid for it. If they replace your Wii they should transfer it over for you.
I believe games can be transferred between Wii consoles but you have to send them to Nintendo to do it.

It does seem silly that the only way you can keep your downloads is buy sending your broken Wii off to Nintendo.

I know some Wii owners wanted to upgrade to the black Wii when it first came out - only to be put off (or caught out) by this.

Anyway, going back to the start of this thread...

I've decided to keep my collection...

I'll put up with the picture quality until something better presents itself! I've spent too long collecting just to sell it off due to a knee jerk reaction!

[MattyC64c]

This stuff is a real pain and the main reason why I mainly use emulation. I still have my original Xbox console and I purchased a component lead for it which sharpers the picture up slightly, but it's still not as good as an old CRT. It does look better on my 19" HD-TV compared to my 26" TV.

It really depends on your TV. The more expensive ones have extra scaling chips which can sharper up sub-HD inputs. Your standard £300 HDTV isn't likely to do it well though, unless you're exceptionally lucky.

[stvd]

I have a 42" Panasonic plasma and everything I've put through it is either fantastic or "acceptable".
I say "acceptable" as I was used to both my Spectrum and Atari VCS being tuned through a 14" b&w tv
and, for me, I don't need (or want) them to look any different. None of them have the
same razor-sharp image of an emulator on a PC but I don't need that.
It's not the 'norm' (or necessary IMO)to have these old machines outputting crystal clear images on huge screens.

I still have my original Xbox console and I purchased a component lead for it which sharpers the picture up slightly, but it's still not as good as an old CRT. It does look better on my 19" HD-TV compared to my 26" TV.

I have one of my modded xbox's connected to my 42" and it looks fantastic way better than it does on my CRT.

[Oliver Harper]

if you have a AV receiver with a built in scaler which lets you choose which resolution then you can down scale the image to 480p. But the problem is that AV amps don't have scart inputs so you'll need a scart RGB to component convertor. Which you can get here http://www.lindy.co.uk/scart-to-compone ... 38102.html