Questions that do not deserve a thread

[Guspaz]

A SNES-to-Wiimote adapter should be just as good an option, letting you use a real SNES/SF controller.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

How the hell do remove the fluorescent marquee bulbs in a New Net City? I can't figure out how to unscrew or remove it short of possibly unscrewing everything (which seems like there is a simpler, more obvious way I'm missing).

Edit: nevermind, just had to yank hard on the sucker to pull it out, was jammed in good

[atheistgod1999]

I suddenly got 200USD from my parents for something and now have 258USD, and there's an eBay listing for GameCube component cables for 250USD with free shipping. On the other hand, I'm thinking of getting a Master System and Mega Man 1 with the manual. Which one(s) should I buy? Any other things to take into consideration?

Also, does the Wii U have perfect backwards compatibility with Wii games? How many good Wii games are there? I remember the Wii just being a dumping ground for shovelware with roughly 5 good games for it.

[WelshMegalodon]

Taking PAL games into account, the Master System has the better library.

The Wii's got Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and a few good SNK arcade ports if you're into that sort of thing.

[Guspaz]

there's an eBay listing for GameCube component cables for 250USD with free shipping.

There's was an eBay listing for GameCube component cables for $200 USD with free shipping yesterday, but obviously they sold fast. You can do better if you wait a bit.

[atheistgod1999]

there's an eBay listing for GameCube component cables for 250USD with free shipping.

There's was an eBay listing for GameCube component cables for $200 USD with free shipping yesterday, but obviously they sold fast. You can do better if you wait a bit.

Doesn't matter now; I spent every last dollar on a Master System bundle, Mega Man 1 with the manual in near-perfect condition (only $109 ), SMB 3 with manual, and some manuals for games I already own.

[ApolloBoy]

How many good Wii games are there? I remember the Wii just being a dumping ground for shovelware with roughly 5 good games for it.

There are actually a lot of great games on the Wii, just type "best Wii Games" in Google or something and you'll find a lot of good recommendations. If you're interested in the Wii I'd also look into softmods especially since it probably won't be too long before Nintendo shuts down the Wii Shop Channel. That doesn't apply to the Wii U though, just the original Wii.

[ZellSF]

I'm thinking GC component cables will be significantly cheaper eventually because of gcvideo, not only because it can do component but also because people will be replacing their component cables with HDMI modded Gamecubes.

Even if not I really don't think GC component cables are worth 250$ when the picture quality isn't that much better than a Wii and the only real advantage the GC has (the Game Boy Player) runs at 240p and doesn't really benefit from the component cables over RGB SCART.

Wii U's backwards compatibility with Wii titles is perfect (barring any games using special hardware), Gamecube compatibility is only available through homebrew ISO loaders (and you would need to dump ISOs with a GC or Wii), but compatibility is pretty close to perfect there too.

And yes, there are a lot of good Wii games (and even a few Wii U games). Investing 250$ into a Wii U certainly makes a whole lot more sense than GC component cables.

[atheistgod1999]

Investing 250$ into a Wii U certainly makes a whole lot more sense than GC component cables.

I already own a Wii U.

[Guspaz]

the only real advantage the GC has (the Game Boy Player) runs at 240p and doesn't really benefit from the component cables over RGB SCART.

PAL GameCubes are really cheap, and let you use the Game Boy Player in 240p RGB. With GBI, it spits out 60Hz NTSC, no less. I think the improvement with the component cables would be minimal at best.

[bobrocks95]

You can get the Pluto HDMI board pre-flashed with GCVideo for $60, nobody should even be considering the component cables unless prices suddenly plummet.

[Blair]

The clarity you get in your setup is very good Blair!

For the TBC : I think I will not invest in one, since my Sony SVO player has a very stable picture already. I have a feeling that I won't gain much by adding an external TBC. (maybe Fudoh can confirm/deny this).
I wonder if the SVO actually has an internal TBC? I remember reading about how some professional VHS decks do have one.

what model is your Sony SVO?

[FinalBaton]

The clarity you get in your setup is very good Blair!

For the TBC : I think I will not invest in one, since my Sony SVO player has a very stable picture already. I have a feeling that I won't gain much by adding an external TBC. (maybe Fudoh can confirm/deny this).
I wonder if the SVO actually has an internal TBC? I remember reading about how some professional VHS decks do have one.

what model is your Sony SVO?

SVO-1610

I absolutely recommend getting a 1610 or a 1620. These have HQ picture circuitry(4 heads, double-azimuth design), Hi-Fi audio circuitry, tape stabilizer mechanism and auto head cleaner. They're beast and have an incredibly clean, stable picture. It's a state of the art machine.
The 1630 adds something called an "Adaptive Picture Control" function ("automatically optimizes recording and playback" according to the manual), but it's a lot bulkier and I wanted a sleek machine so I went with a 1610 instead.

[Fudoh]

I used a SVO-1500(P) to digitize about 150 tapes. Highly recommended as well. I assume the 1600 is the successor, but I doubt that there are many differences.

In general it's amazing how much better the playback quality on those SVO machines is even compared to ultra high end consumer decks. Back in the 90s I had two 1000 EUR (2000 DM back then) decks - Sony as well - which looked like garbage compared to the SVO-1500P unit I used from 2005 to 2007 to capture my remaining tapes.

[FinalBaton]

I used a SVO-1500(P) to digitize about 150 tapes. Highly recommended as well. I assume the 1600 is the successor, but I doubt that there are many differences.

In general it's amazing how much better the playback quality on those SVO machines is even compared to ultra high end consumer decks. Back in the 90s I had two 1000 EUR (2000 DM back then) decks - Sony as well - which looked like garbage compared to the SVO-1500P unit I used from 2005 to 2007 to capture my remaining tapes.

Yes the 1620 is almost identical to the 1520, the 1630 to the 1530, etc. Not sure about the PAL/NTSC models like the 1500P

There are small features differences between each model :



Not specified in this image is the fact that some have the HQ circuitry and some don't.

But with what you said regarding the 1500P, they seem to all be state-of-the-art, amazing players, there shouldn't be a big quality difference between models IMO

[Blair]

from what I've read, it seems you have a "VTR port" on the back of your SVO-1610 deck, I know that some older displays can take S-video over their VTR ports, makes me wonder what the video output would be like from that port with a VTR to Y'C cable.

FinalBaton, are you still looking for a good comb filter? did you ever look into any of Extrons older composite video matrix switchers? some of them have some very interesting filters for composite signals. and I saw a video that made it seem like a great solution for NES composite filtering (not sure how it would affect videos though or anything interlaced as it was only demonstrated on 240p signals)

[FinalBaton]

Blair : the VTR port on my SVO doesn't carry separate Y/C signals according to the manual. It's just a connection that carries composite video in + composite video out + stereo audio in + stereo audio out through a single cable. A sort of handy "cable management" solution, if you will, since it eliminates cable clutter.

As for a comb filter : I might look into one still. Might. I say that because I'm not sure if there's a lot room for improvement left. And also because the Kramer FC-10D I bought proved to be no upgrade over the SVO straight into ther NEC XM37Plus.
By using both the sharpness function of the SVO and that of the NEC in conjunction, I actually get a very sharp picture, despite the NEC not having a top notch comb filter. There is a bit of ringing though. But I do get an equally sharp picture without ringing when plugged straight into my Samsung plasma, so I guess there's still a little bit of improvment left(I still watch my tapes on the NEC though because it's colors are more vivid, richer, yet still extremely well-balanced. It just looks way better than my plasma, even though that one is no slouch).

Thanks for the comb filter suggestion, if I decide to invest in one I'll consider that option for sure.
Do you have a link for the video you mentionned?

[Blair]

Thanks for the comb filter suggestion, if I decide to invest in one I'll consider that option for sure.
Do you have a link for the video you mentionned?

unfortunately it looks like the really in-depth review was deleted (can't find his channel anymore, YouTube's been deleting things like crazy lately)

here's a somewhat less detailed review of the item, it gives you a pretty good idea of what it can do. (looks like it really cleans up the awful dot-crawl and rainbow banding you get with an nes) (I'd love to see a comparison between this and an s-video enabled nes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g_mMUfBPjc

[atheistgod1999]

With RF in North America, is there any difference in quality whether I'm using channel 3 or 4?

[FinalBaton]

*deleted by me*

[Einzelherz]

We don't talk about that stuff here, Baton. Es ist verboten.

[FinalBaton]

Woooops forgot about about that rule. Nevermind then

[NormalFish]

Anyone got suggestions for modern PS2 HDD solutions? I'm aware of the adapters that allow one to use an SD card, but does anyone have something else they use or recommend?

My HDD that came with my debug station died recently, so I'm on the look out.

Tangentially, is there a way to put another IDE drive in to this old housing? It's got a "for use with a debug station" (or whatever the exact text) sticker on it and everything so I'll be holding on to it. Would be nice if I could repair it.

[Blair]

With RF in North America, is there any difference in quality whether I'm using channel 3 or 4?

there shouldn't be a difference in quality (are you noticing one?), the only reason there's a choice is because of certain TVs and VCRs defaulting to channel 3 or 4

[cfx]

.

[Blair]

oh, that's really interesting. I always thought it had something to do with the availability of certain hardware. had a few VCRs that only had channel 4 as the lowest number so RF units had to be set to that if I wanted to use them those VCRs

[Einzelherz]

Not a question but this is sort of a go-to off topic thread right?

http://retrogamerblog.com/post/14688022 ... -in-screen

Look at how cute it is! I know it's kind of a hack job, but it looks like a PVM!

[r3l0]

What would be the best place to post a shmup that I haven't necessarily played enough to review?

Also this may be a stupid question but is there a different name for a shooter that is all-directions. Asteroids/armada style?

I ask because I ran across a neat game on github and would like to share!

[Einzelherz]

Are there any 3rd or 4th gen console TATE games?

[atheistgod1999]

I was trying to get RGB from my PS2 with just my component cable with sync-on-green (I don't have an RGB SCART cable), and when I switched my BVM-20F1U's channel to RGB, it properly displayed a mostly-green image, so the input card (D20) can obviously accept sync-on-green. How do I get it to display sync-on-green with just component? I hear the PS2 can do it.