Does the technical side of gaming kind of bring down the fun

[evil_ash_xero]

Just curious. I know a lot of people here are gearheads, who are just totally into it, so I know I'll get responses like "hell no! I love it!".

But I'm guessing there are others like me, who just want the systems to look good, sound good, and have TVs that look good and sound good to go with it.

But it seems like a struggle sometimes. Something always goes wrong. The TV needs adjusted, in it's service menu. Your XRGB needs all sorts of tweaks. You HDTV has input lag.
You got to have this SCART cable, and this type of cable, otherwise you'll get interference.

It's just....ARGH! I mean, especially if you have a lot of systems hooked up. I have like 11 hooked up to my CRTs. And I have my 2 CRTs sitting side by side, and hooked up in a way, where I can pick whichever one I want to use, for any system.

And some of this stuff, has been such a pain, that I have just taken week long breaks from gaming.
When everything goes right, it's a wonderful thing....but god damn, things go wrong a lot.

Take for example, when I had problems with my Everdrive and it's snow. Luckily Jason figured it out, but it was just like "another issue?!". It's such a killjoy.

Anyone else feel this way?

[kamiboy]

Not really. As long as I get to game on a CRT via cables of at least S-Video quality I am happy.

I try not to get too caught up in an OCD loop. Bad geometry does not bother me, I rarely even bother centring the screen on a CRT even if part of the picture is obscured. Visual artefacts do not bother me too much either, although I do actually enjoy tinkering with a soldering iron so sometimes I try out RGB mods and other enhancements purely for the fun of it.

Things can always look or sound better, but for me fine is good enough, it doesn't have to be perfect.

[evil_ash_xero]

Yeah, I'm way too OCD, when it comes to this. So, it's a bit of my own fault.

[JBC]

It's an expensive pain in the ass to get everything set up right but once you do it's bliss. My friends are always trying to get me to bring my stuff to their places without understanding what a bitch it would be to mess with my wires. I have one CRT with two component switch boxes & one S-vid switch box. That's 9 possible f-ups, 11 power cables, two surge protectors, two extension cords, & God knows how many controller cables - all tucked away & nicely hidden for a pretty gaming area. Once something is connected to my station it stays there.

[evil_ash_xero]

Yeah, I try to keep the cables hidden as much as possible, as well. And I use a lot of Velcro straps to bind them up, to get rid of the slack. If someone asked me to bring my stuff over, it would be like "NO".

Luckily(?), none of my friends care about retro gaming. They barely care about gaming at all.

OH, and the CRTs.....that's another one. I got a 36 inch Sony Wega Trinitron (brand new!), and it was like....I think it took a few years off my life, dragging that thing to my room. My friend helped me out, and I just looked at him when we got it done, and was like "the price of good retro gaming". I love CRTs, and I freaking hate them at the same time. SO heavy sometimes.

[kamiboy]

Yeah, the mess of cables and adapters actually bother me much more. That and dust, dust is the bane of my existence.

Recently I have been trying to switch out all my full sized systems for the smaller later revisions to save space, and have been trying to get systems to share power adapters as much as possible.

One day when I am not broke I'd like to do a proper stylish, more automated setup. And hide away my systems behind a glass case to avoid dust when they are not being used. For now they sit in plain sight and I swap SCART cables and power adapters in and out manually by hand.

[Pasky]

First world problems. I just enjoy games, even if they're in RF or composite. If you're crying about wires and don't wanna play because of that, seek help.

[Sixfortyfive]

If you're OCD about a lot of different factors, then I'm sure it's a nightmare. For me, though, the only metric that I really care about in the display chain is input lag, so compromising on other deficiencies isn't that big of a deal, even if I do tend to go above and beyond on all fronts when I can.

[evil_ash_xero]

Dust.

Yes...dust...it's a pain. I actually buy dust covers for every single system. And then, I buy black sheets, and put them over each TV set up, so they don't get all dusty.
It would be weird looking, but it's in my "game room", and no one goes in there. And if I have a friend over, I'll just pull the sheets off.

It cuts down on the dust tremendously. I mean, by like 95 percent.

I know what you're saying. My sound system is out in the open, and since I hate dusting, it gathers so much dust, I could write sections of the Bible on the different components.

First world problems. I just enjoy games, even if they're in RF or composite. If you're crying about wires and don't wanna play because of that, seek help.

Oh, I WILL play. But I am totally OCD. No help will fix that.

Well, it's better than third world problems. I don't want to worry if my hut will survive the rainy season.

[kamiboy]

There are actually psychoactive drugs that act on your neurotransmitters in such a way as to reduce the brain's tendency towards OCD.

[evil_ash_xero]

Oh come on now. There's lots of people who take care of stuff like this. If there wasn't, you wouldn't be able to get NM or M condition stuff, made 20+ years ago.

It's not a bad thing really. Otherwise, everything would be all beat up and crappy looking. Unless you bought it new, but we have the Suicide Bullets folks making sure there isn't a lot of that going on.

[blizzz]

I enjoy the technical aspects just as much as the actual gaming. For some consoles I spend more time modding them than actual playing, which is not a bad thing. Ofc it can be frustrating if there's a problem and you can't find the solution, but that's not the usual case.

[evil_ash_xero]

Yeah, I figured a some of you guys were totally into the tech side. Otherwise, none of this modding stuff would ever be made.

So, I salute you.

I know nothing about soldering, and I just try to stay out of the system's guts as much as possible. I would like to know how to work on it....but I don't want to damage my systems either.

[Xyga]

I too like the tech side as much as the actual gaming today, but I admit part of the motivation is...yeah...'OCD-ish'

[Xan]

I'm only concerned about using CRTs for classic consoles. I'd much rather use a simple consumer CRT with composite than RGB straight on an LCD. While scalers are nice I don't consider them adequate replacements for CRTs, especially at those price points (factoring in all the current caveats).

[broken harbour]

It's an expensive pain in the ass to get everything set up right but once you do it's bliss. My friends are always trying to get me to bring my stuff to their places without understanding what a bitch it would be to mess with my wires. I have one CRT with two component switch boxes & one S-vid switch box. That's 9 possible f-ups, 11 power cables, two surge protectors, two extension cords, & God knows how many controller cables - all tucked away & nicely hidden for a pretty gaming area. Once something is connected to my station it stays there.

^ This, I have 15 consoles hooked up to my HDTV, through various switches, 5 different video standards, all going to my XRGB mini into my receiver. Then I have various other devices (blu ray, laptop, rasberry pi, cable box, etc...) It's well over 70 cables back there. Was it a pain in the ass to wire up? Yup. Was it a pain in the ass to figure out which HDMI cable was dodgy and causing issues? Oh yeah. Is it bliss now that it's all figured out? Unbelievably so.

Now that it's all put together and configured, literally the only thing I ever have to do is change the Framemeister V-scaler setting depending on if the game I'm playing is 240p, 480i, or 480p.

It's brilliant, get yourself over the hump and you won't be sorry.

Old Pic: Missing my Dreamcast and a few other things...

[CkRtech]

For me, a lot of it is the fact that I am actively striving to make things look and sound better. I am bothered when I see some sort of noise in a video signal or something else not quite right (SNES vertical bar, etc) when gaming through the xrgb to my fairly large plasma TV. I basically want everything to be perfect, and this in my nature for other things as well!

The very same plasma set that I have has a certain transformer buzz sound that you can only hear when the entire screen is black. So if I am watching a dramatic movie and the scene fades to black, the 4th wall is smashed when my TV has a gentle "bzzzzzzzzzzzzz" all the while the screen is black. It was enough that I ordered a replacement supply board and took apart my plasma set.

I am a bit OCD, yes. I also have very sensitive hearing. The TV buzz issue was something I felt I needed to troubleshoot.

But! If I were to hook up a gaming system to my first TV once gain (a 1968 Pinecrest color set) via RF (with 75 to 300 ohm adapter, of course) - I wouldn't care what it looked like at all! It would still be pure nostalgia and 100% acknowledgement that the image isn't going to look that great.

So why don't I just do that, then? Because I feel like striving for something much better is worth it.

[broken harbour]

^ Ha, my plasma does the same buzzing when the screen is white.

[kamiboy]

Dust. Yes...dust...it's a pain. I actually buy dust covers for every single system. And then, I buy black sheets, and put them over each TV set up, so they don't get all dusty.

I've often considered this myself. Alas, the custom system dust covers that I see online are expensive for someone with as many system as I, and they do not even exist for all my systems.

I have also been toying with the idea of finding some sort of black fabric with tiny holes in it and cut off squares of it to put on top of systems when they are not being used.

The best solution in my mind is still to put them all behind a glass cabinet.

Where did you get you dust covers?

[BazookaBen]

It doesn't bring down the fun, because the idea is that once you get it properly set up, you won't have to mess with it too much anymore.

I guess in my specific camp, there's a little less to worry about. If you're in the CRT camp, the steps are pretty easy: 1. Buy a PVM 2. Buy/make RGB cables 3. Enjoy

But it's all about the payoff. I'm also really into the audio side of things, so I've spent many hours seeking out and setting up speakers for games and music. But once I got it nailed down (bought some Pioneer CS-63DX speakers and re-capped them) I haven't had to mess with it too much since, and the payoff has been great. Hearing the 8-bit and 16-bit sound chips in all their glory, as well as hearing all the nuance in my vinyl and digital music collections.

[Taiyaki]

The only thing that kills it for me is if the crt is having serious issues like burn in or discoloration that I can notice while playing. If the geometry is extremely off that when moving straight forward my guy is moving in a wave pattern that might be an issue too. lol

[Xyga]

I can't play if the geometry is bad and the picture's not centered, fitting exactly border-to-border.
*derp*

[BazookaBen]

It's also important to set realistic expectations, and be content with what you can achieve.

Like, if I wasn't lucky enough to find a PVM, I would be content with just finding a late-model Trinitron and tuning it to the best of my abilities. If it warps a little in the corner, so what? You won't notice it 99.9% of the time anyway.

[evil_ash_xero]

Dust. Yes...dust...it's a pain. I actually buy dust covers for every single system. And then, I buy black sheets, and put them over each TV set up, so they don't get all dusty.

I've often considered this myself. Alas, the custom system dust covers that I see online are expensive for someone with as many system as I, and they do not even exist for all my systems.

I have also been toying with the idea of finding some sort of black fabric with tiny holes in it and cut off squares of it to put on top of systems when they are not being used.

The best solution in my mind is still to put them all behind a glass cabinet.

Where did you get you dust covers?

I get the dust covers from Deep End Gear on Ebay. She'll custom make ones. There's tons that aren't on her page.

[austin532]

For the most part yes. Ever since I got the mini I have become very OCD about the picture looking just right. It usually takes the enjoyment out of the game as I will play for 5 minutes and then realize it doesn't look right. So I will tweak it and then play some more only find some other flaws. Repeat cycle. It's very annoying and hard to get a game to look like CRT quality like you remembered.

That is why I occasionally play on a CRT even if it's just for a few hours to relieve the stress and bring back that feeling of actually enjoying the game and not worrying about the picture.

Speaking of OCD over the years I've replaced all of my games that were in Good condition with Like New ones. So now whenever I want to play something I have to carefully take it off the shelf so it doesn't rub against the other games and create shelfwear while setting it somewhere safe to keep dust and wear off of it. I have to also carefully take the game out and put it in the system where as before I would just pop the game in and leave the case on the floor to collect wear and dust.

I've thought about getting protective cases to keep them mint but I'm too paranoid that they will leave tiny rub marks or scratches when taking them out and putting them back in.

Then there are sound issues that bug me. If I can't get the game sounding like I want it then I will constantly tweak and tweak my surround system to get it decent. I like to have a full surround feeling from all games that support stereo and above but the problem with doing that though is it leads to distortion. For Mono game I stick to 2 ch. output. The main problem though is each game is different and that only means more tweaking......

So yes, the technical side of gaming tends to bring down the fun for me unfortunately.

[bobrocks95]

Since finding out there were more connectors than composite, yeah, my life has pretty much been ruined. I secretly envy the masses and their blissful ignorance (seriously not joking either).

[evil_ash_xero]

Speaking of OCD over the years I've replaced all of my games that were in Good condition with Like New ones. So now whenever I want to play something I have to carefully take it off the shelf so it doesn't rub against the other games and create shelfwear while setting it somewhere safe to keep dust and wear off of it. I have to also carefully take the game out and put it in the system where as before I would just pop the game in and leave the case on the floor to collect wear and dust.

I've thought about getting protective cases to keep them mint but I'm too paranoid that they will leave tiny rub marks or scratches when taking them out and putting them back in.

For your cart based systems, get EverDrives, and keep your games put away. That's what I do. Never have to worry about damaging them.

[austin532]

Nope, I play the real thing or nothing at all.

[cr4zymanz0r]

I like to 'perfect' my setup, but it does bum me out some when I think I've finally got everything just right only to find out "oh wait, another issue".

A long time ago, I was fine with composite (before HDTVs were prominent). Then I re-got a Genesis and realized the composite video was horrible on it. I started looking up s-video solutions for it but was dismayed by mod work I didn't understand (at the time) being required. That's when I ended up finding about the mythical video signal called RGB. This was the beginning of a joyous visual era for me and a plunge into the hell of chasing perfection .

"Ok, apparently I need these SCART cables". Damn, audio sure is buzzy on this cable.....oh, it has absolutely zero shielding in it.
"I need some SCART switchboxes too". Oh hey, this switchbox causes audio buzzing and/or video interference when multiple things are plugged into it.
"Apparently SCART connectors and JPN style connectors are physically the same but have a different pinouts. I guess I need an adapter". Oh, the adapter doesn't have a tight fit and if it gets bumped I lose part/all of the video signal or audio.

I'm working on a project to eliminate SCART from my setup while retaining RGB. I'll probably be making a separate topic this weekend.

[ApolloBoy]

Nope, I play the real thing or nothing at all.

No reason you can't have both.