Projectors for Retro consoles

Capitalistix

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Anyone ever played Neo or any other consoles on a projector? What are some porjectors you have tried or use? How does it look? How do you like it? I had always wanted to try it and I picked up an Epson EX3220 today and I have to say, the SNES looks goddamn amazing and its just composite. It seems like the whole visual fidelity issues aren't as noticeable on a projector as they are on a crt or lcd. The composite NES looks great too. Havent hooked up a NEO or anything else (other than a Dreamcast through the VGA port which of course looks sweet)

Ill take some pics of the setup sometime soon
 

StevenK

ng.com SFII tournament winner 2002-2023
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I've been trying to decide if I want a projector or not for a while now, as my main tv as well as for consoles. The only drawback I can see is the issue with light. Is your set up in a darkened room? Have you tried it in even minimal light? How does it look?

I think I'll take the plunge one day.
 

joecommando

Amusaka's Lacky
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Idk man i played video games on a few different projectors at friends houses and they all had noticable input lag which is something i can not stand. (one was a four thousand dollar projector still had input lag) how is your projector in that aspect?
 

Capitalistix

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I've been trying to decide if I want a projector or not for a while now, as my main tv as well as for consoles. The only drawback I can see is the issue with light. Is your set up in a darkened room? Have you tried it in even minimal light? How does it look?

I think I'll take the plunge one day.

Ill grab some pics for you, some at day and some at night. My room is well closed off at night and pretty pitch black when all lights are off. In the daytime it lets a bit of light in due to less than perfect blinds. I only just got the projector tonight so Ill get some daytime pics for you tomorrow as well.

This guy has a similar model and has a bit more light than in my room, but he does have a nice screen for it like id like to get: (his room/house is a hideous fucking mess though)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3vpwxRwJ8s

I picked the unit up at best buy for 399, which, is well worth it IMO. I picked up the cheapest and lowest rez epson they had as I figured lower rez would look better for retro consoles. I also wanted to go the cheapest as an initial plunge to see if id like it and its a resounding yes. Because of this I may even return this one and get something a more expensive but has component hookups. like this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhJAaJedRh0
 

Capitalistix

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Idk man i played video games on a few different projectors at friends houses and they all had noticable input lag which is something i can not stand. (one was a four thousand dollar projector still had input lag) how is your projector in that aspect?

Well thats another thing that concerned me at purchase. They had a few dubbed "gaming projectors" but didnt have component in so it wasnt a deal cincher for me. I figured "gaming" ones would be optimized for lag. Well, all I can say is Ive been playing Contra 3 and Im not dying lmao. Seriously though, the SNES has no problem at all. The NES has like THE SMAAAAALLEST noticable lag at all. It really doesnt affect gameplay at all. Of course, Ive only played Alien Syndrome and a bootleg cart Arkanoid game in there thus far. Ill throw in Ninja Gaiden or some insane shit tomorrow and let you know how it is. Ill also test Genesis and master system as well!

But so far, for 399, Im really, really impressed. I feel that with a component in version thats gaming oriented id be even more pleased.
 

miisalo

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I have played neo games with panasonic pt-ae2000, I used that as second screen year ago in our neo meeting. We mostly played windjammers with it, so I can't say about input lag.

Then I have played with PT-AT5000 (ae7000 in the usa). Example RockstarRunner tests my system with cheap scaler before our first neo geo meeting


Picture was pretty good. I later used slg-in-a-box with my cmvs and with scanlines it was fine.

Currently I'm using Sony vpl-vw500es 4K projector and xrgb mini for playing. Before latest sony firmware update, it was unplayable, projectors input lag was 120ms!!!! With current firmware and low latency mode, lag is about 30ms and ok.

Here is the test with the xrgb mini. Live picture is amazing. All these videos we captured with phones, so quality is what it is.


I'll post some stills soon.
 

miisalo

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Windjammers from NGCD using composite I think? Projector is PT-AT2000 and it projected to white wall

12018791513_d03e1972b6_c.jpg


AES, cheap scaler and scanline generator, VGA to PT-AE5000

12018795483_5ef99da8ef_b.jpg


Same as above but Razoola included :D

12018953844_49e6ce1a0f_h.jpg


Sony vpl-vw500es + slg-in-a-box + cheap vga - hdmi converter (Actually these are probably with xrgb-3 + vga->hdmi converter)

14355338390_51fa39e4cb_b.jpg


14355383019_32ba91a705_b.jpg
 
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VaNDAL_UK

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If you get a CRT projector (ones you see in bar's and pub's with the three lenses) all the light gun games will work!!

However the CRT projectors are so big they have their own gravitational pull.
 

sparksterz

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If you can get a good quality projector setup, it will look amazing. It really just depends on the quality of the projector and your light isolation. Whether you want to upscale it through and XRGB device is all up to you, a lot of it depends on the scaling hardware and resolutions your projector can output. As joecommando mentioned some of the internal scaling could introduce input lag, but I don't know of any sites which track input lag on projectors. They do have a couple sites for popular TVs though.
 

xsq

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waiting for Neo Ash to chime in...
 

Capitalistix

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If you get a CRT projector (ones you see in bar's and pub's with the three lenses) all the light gun games will work!!

However the CRT projectors are so big they have their own gravitational pull.

Well this talk about CRT projectors has got me wondering. Do they produce an undeniably superior picture? Because Ive found a couplde used low hour CRTs in the sub-$1000 range which is my target. If I could find one of these with component in would it be worth it? Is the picture with composite going to be far superior to my LCD projector I have now?
 

miisalo

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Well this talk about CRT projectors has got me wondering. Do they produce an undeniably superior picture?

No. CRT projectors used to have superior black levels - like ten years ago. They actually have very poor brightness and contrast vs. lcd or dlp type projectors and need very dark environment. Good and expensive CRT has good picture when properly tuned and compared to uncalibrated lcd or dlp projector, but calibrating lcd/dlp and/or using HCG screen gives you nice black but also overall contrast. Some crt projectors have really nice color gamut, almost exact rec 709. But now dlps have far wider gamut and even lcds have full 709.

You can get crt projectors cheap and carefully tuning them archive very nice picture in controlled dark environment, better than low or midrange lcd/dlp. But generally they are far from superior.
 

Capitalistix

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No. CRT projectors used to have superior black levels - like ten years ago. They actually have very poor brightness and contrast vs. lcd or dlp type projectors and need very dark environment. Good and expensive CRT has good picture when properly tuned and compared to uncalibrated lcd or dlp projector, but calibrating lcd/dlp and/or using HCG screen gives you nice black but also overall contrast. Some crt projectors have really nice color gamut, almost exact rec 709. But now dlps have far wider gamut and even lcds have full 709.

You can get crt projectors cheap and carefully tuning them archive very nice picture in controlled dark environment, better than low or midrange lcd/dlp. But generally they are far from superior.

Interesting. Thanks for all the info man. So I guess LCD/new projector technology has advanced enough to not really warrent a CRT. I was thinking the difference would be like rgb on a pvm vs component on a normal TV.

So I also just had another brain blast. My current projector has VGA in. VGA to my knowledge is just rgb and sync. Could I make VGA cables for any of my consoles that output rgb and then run it to the projector like that? For instance, the SNES outputs rgb natively and my new has been modded to do it. I've never seen VGA cables for any retro console though other than the Dreamcast... Is there something I'm missing? I know new uses composite sync. Is that the problem? As opposed to v and h sync? Can comp sync be split? Sorry for the noon questions I'm just excited about this possibility I had never thought of before.
 

xsq

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I think it's a question of what refresh rate your projector accepts... VGA is usually 31 Khz, RGB is usually 15 Khz. But I'm a noob in all of this.
 

Tacitus

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I have a few projectors, including two that actually do SCART. My InFocus one actually does pretty much every resolution you can think of, including direct CGA from arcade boards. I use it for gatherings and it looks just stunning.

I have a super expensive one from a few years ago that looks ridiculous and is incredibly sharp. It does everything up to HDMI (scart, HD, s-vid, component, composite, etc)

If you're going to play on a LARGE screen, projectors are the way to go.

1. Buy yourself some fabric on eBay
2. Invest in a cheap mount (http://www.amazon.com/Cheetah-APMEB...417&sr=8-2&keywords=universal+projector+mount)
3. Find a good projector
4. Enjoy.

I've gamed on both large LCD/Plasma/LED and Projectors and I much prefer the projector. It looks better for retro gaming and you can tinker with the image much more.
 

StevenK

ng.com SFII tournament winner 2002-2023
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I have a few projectors, including two that actually do SCART. My InFocus one actually does pretty much every resolution you can think of, including direct CGA from arcade boards. I use it for gatherings and it looks just stunning.

I have a super expensive one from a few years ago that looks ridiculous and is incredibly sharp. It does everything up to HDMI (scart, HD, s-vid, component, composite, etc)

If you're going to play on a LARGE screen, projectors are the way to go.

1. Buy yourself some fabric on eBay
2. Invest in a cheap mount (http://www.amazon.com/Cheetah-APMEB...417&sr=8-2&keywords=universal+projector+mount)
3. Find a good projector
4. Enjoy.

I've gamed on both large LCD/Plasma/LED and Projectors and I much prefer the projector. It looks better for retro gaming and you can tinker with the image much more.

Out of interest do you still run a tv at all or do you use projectors for all viewing nowadays?
 

Tacitus

Volatile Memory Construct - SN://0467839
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Out of interest do you still run a tv at all or do you use projectors for all viewing nowadays?

Yes, I still run TVs but for retro gaming and movie watching, it's projector all the way.
 

Zellez

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Dec 6, 2010
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I have a few projectors, including two that actually do SCART. My InFocus one actually does pretty much every resolution you can think of, including direct CGA from arcade boards. I use it for gatherings and it looks just stunning.

I have a super expensive one from a few years ago that looks ridiculous and is incredibly sharp. It does everything up to HDMI (scart, HD, s-vid, component, composite, etc)

If you're going to play on a LARGE screen, projectors are the way to go.

1. Buy yourself some fabric on eBay
2. Invest in a cheap mount (http://www.amazon.com/Cheetah-APMEB...417&sr=8-2&keywords=universal+projector+mount)
3. Find a good projector
4. Enjoy.

I've gamed on both large LCD/Plasma/LED and Projectors and I much prefer the projector. It looks better for retro gaming and you can tinker with the image much more.


What's the model of you superior projector?
 

Stacey Adam

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May 25, 2015
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Experimenting with 3 projectors I have stacked together to see how they combat a room full of lights. Have been asked for a projector set up at an upcoming videogame convention. The projectors have super short throws and only need to be 4 to 6 ft. from a projection surface to achieve a huge picture.
 

itsofrustratin

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I had a DLP projector..wasnt an expensive one or anything. Played Ps2 SNES and N64 on it pretty often, it was pretty amazing. I had a 120 inch screen so it was huge. Pound for pound though compared to a TV the picture was shit, but we were just in awe of the size of it. Every kind must have had a fantasy of playing video games in a theater, and we got pretty damn close. This was all on composite keep in mind.

Projectors are great until you have to replace the bulb. Their hard to find and expensive as fuck.
 
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SmokeMonster

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Jan 25, 2014
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I'm the kind of person who always wanted a projector but never ended up getting one because of the cost. I haven't looked at them for like 5 years, are there any RGB compatible models at an affordable price?
 

Stacey Adam

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I've been gaming on projectors for the last ten years and lag has never been a problem for me, but then fps and v.s. fighters are not my main games of choice.

Depending what projector you get, bulbs don't have to be that expensive and rgb to vga/hdmi converters are affordable.
Older sprite based games look quite nice on a big screen. (composite of course looks the worst, but s-video and up much better.)
 
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