So, we finally got a new TV

[GregN]

After holding out for 14 years, we finally sprung and bought a new TV. The old one was blacking out intermittently.

Got Vizio, 40" 120Hz, 1080p at Best Buy.

We watch antenna, and I noticed not everything is in 1080p, some of it is 480p and some 720p. Same with widescreen.

We got a smart TV to future-proof us and make it easier for my folks to access netflix, etc.

Got my 360 hooked up to it and it looks great.

About time!

I got one for the sunroom for my house years ago, but it's a small one fit for that room.

Share your TV currently in use.

 

[spoonz]

I presently game on a LG LD450 32 inch which I bought specifically because of the low input lag at the time.

For more general use we recently got rid of our Magnavox 55inch projection tv and replaced it with a Samsung 55ES6500 Smart TV. Our country still uses standard definition stuff and our cable service is digital so the picture quality isn't the greatest thing ever for general tv viewing, but it is great for watching the foreign movies that my dad loves to watch with subtitles.

 

[andsuchisdeath]

Right on, young soul.

 

[mainman]

Not trying to offend dude but since you went Vizio you will be buying a new TV just outside the warranty, btw please tell me you got a extended warranty. I'm speaking from experience.

I'm currently using a 42" LCD magnavox that I purchased way back in 07 when flat panels were just hitting the market. I would upgrade but I can not justify it as my current TV is still running as perfect as the day I bought it and my family already have newer models so I can't find it a good home.

I did recently need a pc monitor so I made a compromise and bought a 23" LG DM2350D which is a LED 3D Full HD Monitor TV to bring me up to date with some modern features.

 

[SNKorSWM]

Still rocking the Sony Trinitron

CRT for life.

 

[GregN]

Not trying to offend dude but since you went Vizio you will be buying a new TV just outside the warranty, btw please tell me you got a extended warranty. I'm speaking from experience.

I'm currently using a 42" LCD magnavox that I purchased way back in 07 when flat panels were just hitting the market. I would upgrade but I can not justify it as my current TV is still running as perfect as the day I bought it and my family already have newer models so I can't find it a good home.

I did recently need a pc monitor so I made a compromise and bought a 23" LG DM2350D which is a LED 3D Full HD Monitor TV to bring me up to date with some modern features.

Ouch, well you never know...

Still rocking the Sony Trinitron

CRT for life.

I have a JVC i'art I use for gaming at my house. It has component and works good.

 

[Jon]

Still rocking the Sony Trinitron

CRT for life.

Sony Wega XBR 970...4 lyfe.

Jon

 

[BanishingFlatsAC]

I've had a vizio for like 6 months and the backlight is already failing. I'd say return it if you can...get an LG.

 

[Bonga7]

I bought a Sony Bravia HDTV way back in 2005, it was expensive as heck, can only output 720p/1080i, but it has served me well and it's still ticking to this day. I gave it to my nephew just this weekend, he's never had an HDTV, his dad(my bro) refuses to buy one til his old school Sony projection TV gives out.

Got a newer Bravia HDTV, a donation from my other brother. Like my older Sony, it works well with my retro systems so I really like it. The good news is I can finally watch Bluray movies and play the PS4 with this Sony.

 

[GregN]

I was playing the Blade table on Pinball FX2, and right in the middle of it, the screen goes black and it says "not supported" WTF? I'm using a cheap HDMI cable - could that be the culpret? The TV works fine on the antenna.

 

[Dr Shroom]

Should've bought a Sorny or Magnetbox instead.

 

[Electric Grave]

Cool for you man.

I do hate to rag on but Sony Bravia 4LF.

Sony Triniton 4LF

Sony 4LF period.

 

[smokehouse]

I have a 42" 60hz 1080p LG panel I bought back in March of 2008…still works. I recently picked up a small 32" Samsung LED panel for the bedroom. LOL@ me and my TV issues.

So, downstairs I have my 42" LG and a 32" Sony flat tube SD set I special ordered back in 2004. This has an amazing PQ for old games/Laserdisc. Upstairs in the bedroom, I have that 32" Samsung HD set and a 25" RCA SD set for old gaming.

 

[Electric Grave]

I've been toying with the idea of building my own LCD cab. Something along the lines of a Delta 32, simple design, superb spacing, I mean I have not used a more comfortable cab ever, this cab was perfect. I am replicating that and adding some more features. I bought 2 32" Bravias 2 years ago with this in mind. I still have them, they work flawless, so precise with everything I've thrown at them, not gonna lie, sometimes I think I'll never get to build them, had drawn out several different designs, you know inner working and such, but one day I will and when that day comes hell will freeze over and I'll be at the epicenter playing my LCD against Satan...

 

[smokehouse]

…on a side note…Now I just need to wait patiently until I can get a Retron 5. I know they're not the be-all-end-all but it's a nice solution for gaming on a modern TV for not a ton of coin. I won't play my NES/SNES/Gen on that LED…they look like shit. My Gamecube is about the breaking point, it works ok over component on that new set.

 

[Electric Grave]

Talk to me more about this Retron 5, I know you must have research the shit out of it by now. Do you think the image would be blurred or is it going to be uspcaled with a bicubic method (meaning non bilinear filtering)? I check the official website but is hard to tell for me, marketing is always good at that.

 

[GregN]

I was playing the Blade table on Pinball FX2, and right in the middle of it, the screen goes black and it says "not supported" WTF? I'm using a cheap HDMI cable - could that be the culpret? The TV works fine on the antenna.

Found out that was just a loose connection.

 

[smokehouse]

Talk to me more about this Retron 5, I know you must have research the shit out of it by now. Do you think the image would be blurred or is it going to be uspcaled with a bicubic method (meaning non bilinear filtering)? I check the official website but is hard to tell for me, marketing is always good at that.

It's an emulator that uses original carts/controllers basically. It puts out a far cleaner PQ than original hardware. I'm not going to claim it's better than everything, but it's well worth $150.

 

[Alpha Skyhawk]

It's an emulator that uses original carts/controllers basically. It puts out a far cleaner PQ than original hardware. I'm not going to claim it's better than everything, but it's well worth $150.

It's a dedicated emulator machine that dumps carts on the fly, outputs at 720p, and has incompatibility issues with homebrews.

Spend a much smaller portion of that $150 and get a long HDMI cable from Monoprice and maybe a splitter if your PC's graphics card doesn't have multiple HDMI outputs that can simply mirror the displays. If you already have a wireless controller for your PC, then good for you. Get better emulation, higher resolution, and higher compatibility. You may wish to experiment with emulator frontends, too. Oh, and all of those PC games you've been playing on your PC monitor? You can now play them on your TV.

 

[marktheshark]

I got a 19 in. Polaroid HDTV back around Christmas 2008. Tried playing some old games on there & they ended up looking like shit on there, so now I just use it to play Wii games via component. I also use a 13 in. Magnavox SDTV for mainly playing older games.

Around last year or so, my brother got a 32 in. LG HDTV for his 360. Before then, he used an SDTV on the 360 for several years. It's quite nice being able to play games in HD resolutions, and see the text more clearly as well.

 

[smokehouse]

It's a dedicated emulator machine that dumps carts on the fly, outputs at 720p, and has incompatibility issues with homebrews.

Spend a much smaller portion of that $150 and get a long HDMI cable from Monoprice and maybe a splitter if your PC's graphics card doesn't have multiple HDMI outputs that can simply mirror the displays. If you already have a wireless controller for your PC, then good for you. Get better emulation, higher resolution, and higher compatibility. You may wish to experiment with emulator frontends, too. Oh, and all of those PC games you've been playing on your PC monitor? You can now play them on your TV.

Don't give a flying fuck about home-brews and don't own a PC…so on the low end, I'd drop at least double the cost of the unit on a PC let alone anything else I need to play…and I happen to like OEM controllers.


I'm not going to say the Retron 5 is for everyone…but it is for me.

 

[Electric Grave]

I'm siding with you smokes. I think the 720p alone is worth the try. I connect my laptop to my living room TV for casual emulation, my real emulation goes on my desktop. I still want this 'cause of simplicity and makes my carts even more relevant, sometimes my Triniton does awesome but the living room is where everyone likes to play, it's just good staging. The fact that you can use original pads is a plus. I like the look of the pad, micro switches FTMW always. Bluetooth could mean a patch to make PS3 controllers work? That would be insane! Six Axis Adaptor on my Horis would mean just plain butters!

I will get it, just want to wait a bit and here more about end users rather than just reviewers 'cause sometimes I feel they compromise their reviews and the unbiased opinion goes out the window.

 

[Craig]

50 inch panny plasma...

 

[smokehouse]

I'm siding with you smokes. I think the 720p alone is worth the try. I connect my laptop to my living room TV for casual emulation, my real emulation goes on my desktop. I still want this 'cause of simplicity and makes my carts even more relevant, sometimes my Triniton does awesome but the living room is where everyone likes to play, it's just good staging. The fact that you can use original pads is a plus. I like the look of the pad, micro switches FTMW always. Bluetooth could mean a patch to make PS3 controllers work? That would be insane! Six Axis Adaptor on my Horis would mean just plain butters!

I will get it, just want to wait a bit and here more about end users rather than just reviewers 'cause sometimes I feel they compromise their reviews and the unbiased opinion goes out the window.

I really feel that the retron 5 has serious potential...if they choose to use it. Support for devices like an everdrive and PS3 controller support would launch that thing into "epic" status for me.

One console, a few carts that contain any SNES, NES or Genesis game I ever want AND it supports the best controller ever made? (Best in my opinion)...AND poops out 720p via HDMI? For $150?

Fuck-yes...not even a question, I'm there. I don't care if it did have a few limitations.

For now...straight out of the box it's solid in my book considering their asking price.

 

[ki_atsushi]

It's a dedicated emulator machine that dumps carts on the fly, outputs at 720p, and has incompatibility issues with homebrews.

Spend a much smaller portion of that $150 and get a long HDMI cable from Monoprice and maybe a splitter if your PC's graphics card doesn't have multiple HDMI outputs that can simply mirror the displays. If you already have a wireless controller for your PC, then good for you. Get better emulation, higher resolution, and higher compatibility. You may wish to experiment with emulator frontends, too. Oh, and all of those PC games you've been playing on your PC monitor? You can now play them on your TV.

This is kinda outdated info... they've released a patch a few months back that fixes a big portion of the homebrew incompatibilities. Still not 100%, but what emulator is?

By the way, the video output is a lot cleaner even than most emulators... for example, Kega doesn't fill the entire screen vertically in the fixed aspect ratio mode. If I really wanted to fill the screen I have to put it to 'stretched', and then it looks like shit. The retron doesn't have these problems, 4:3 ratio fills the screen vertically perfectly while maintaining the correct width. Much less of a hassle than PC emulators.