I don't feel the shmups passion because of my setup!

[neorichieb1971]

Up until last July I had 2 Astro's and an Impress cabinet. My shmupping was coming along nicely. I had great displays with no burn in, great joysticks and buttons and some top notch PCB's including ESPra.de and Dragon Blaze and a few MVS titles.

Now i'm down to a Japanese and USA PS2, an ASCii joystick which sometimes sticks to the right and a 21" TV with component, which quite frankly is pants. It has geometry issues and the PQ is not that great through component. I even think Svideo is better

So I try to play Mushi, but its just not the same. I also feel i'm drag racing with my parachute out because i'm not using the best equipment or display.. So I think "screw it!, why bother".

So i'm hunting around for an agetec for my DC, a VGA monitor and a VGA adaptor for it. Think I need a better TV as well. I think once you have the best its really hard to go back and get excited about shmupping again if you have to drop to sub standard equipment.


I don't suppose many people have this scenario played out, but hard times call for hard sacrifices and i'm just not enjoying my hobby as much as i'd like.

[Middlemoor]

Somebody dropped my gamepad so my analgogue stick gets stuck to the right, too. At least I have digital.

[cigsthecat]

I went from RGB to composite for a day last week to try and record a replay with my TV/VCR. I could have sworn I tasted bile.

[Dave_K.]

I think you are heading back in the right direction with the agetec + DC + VGA adapter + VGA Monitor. Thats the best quality for the shmupper on a budget.

[GaijinPunch]

I have an extra Agetec I wouldn't mind getting rid off, but it should really be used for a shell -- swap everything out for Sanwa parts. Agetec's have relatively bad sticks anyway, and I bought it as a return, so it's really not guaranteed to work as is.

[Thunder Force]

its really hard to go back and get excited about shmupping again if you have to drop to sub standard equipment.

Consider that sub standard equipment was once the norm for shmupping. People paid for the privilage of playing on flickering Twin Cobra machines in cigarette smoke-filled back rooms, and loved it

[TalkingOctopus]

I tried to play Ibara today on a 27" TV in yoko w/ S-Video. Even that was awful. I really want to like Ibara, but haven't been able to enjoy it so far. I think the fact I can't see the bullets very well causes much of my dissatisfaction. However, I have sanwa arcade controls, which help a lot. Get rid of your faulty joystick.

[louisg]

I never thought composite was that bad on a TV with good inputs .. or maybe that's just denial =) I actually have never messed with S-Video-- is that worth it at all? Is it the same as component or somehow better?

VGA is indeed great for shmupping on a budget

[neorichieb1971]

Svideo is much much better than composite. In fact id say its probably the biggest jump you can make, except from composite to RGB of course.

[iatneH]

I didn't believe it either when I used composite.

I still have no RGB monitor, but when I switched to S-video, I was knocked right over. Of course I still stare a good amount whenever I visit an arcade and have the liberty of soaking in their RGB goodness.

[D]

I hate to say this, but why not get a European tv?
OK it'll cost a little more to import, but all European tv's have RGB SCART by default. Or try getting one of those multi system tv's, they might have RGB SCART as well.
Multi system tv's are tv's that you can supposedly hook up anywhere in the world. I don't even know if such devices are made anymore.
I trully feel sorry for the world outside of Europe who have never seen an RGB tv in action, it rules.
Ironically, nobody here even knows about it, friends, family, they just plug the yellow video cable in their set.
I tell them, but they think I'm full of shit
What a sad world
The ones who don't have want it
The ones that have it don't care at all

[neorichieb1971]

Multisystem TV's do not have RGB SCART. I've owned a couple in my time and kept up with them.

I think 220electronics.com might still sell them. I think the last time I looked there was a Russian SCART enabled Sony, but it did run on 220v and was typically a PAL set that just had NTSC compatibility through the external inputs.

I asked 220electronics if they could import a smaller TV because the one they had was 34" and a tad expensive ($2800). They replied that smaller TV's don't have SCART, contemplating it was a luxery on high end TV's. I just laughed.

Typically Hong Kong Multisystems just have component, svideo and composite and obviously an RF socket.


I think dvdoverseas.com or regionfreedvd.com might sell them too. There are tons of sites selling multis.


Here is a good example of a multisystem with PAL/NTSC compatibility -

http://www.dvdoverseas.com/store/index. ... g51_0.html

[system11]

A world with no RGB scart just seems .. so backwards :/ And I'd never get rid of my JAMMA cabs, there's a lot of stuff I love with no ports (or no good ports).

[D]

Multisystem TV's do not have RGB SCART. I've owned a couple in my time and kept up with them.

I think 220electronics.com might still sell them. I think the last time I looked there was a Russian SCART enabled Sony, but it did run on 220v and was typically a PAL set that just had NTSC compatibility through the external inputs.

I asked 220electronics if they could import a smaller TV because the one they had was 34" and a tad expensive ($2800). They replied that smaller TV's don't have SCART, contemplating it was a luxery on high end TV's. I just laughed.

Typically Hong Kong Multisystems just have component, svideo and composite and obviously an RF socket.


I think dvdoverseas.com or regionfreedvd.com might sell them too. There are tons of sites selling multis.


Here is a good example of a multisystem with PAL/NTSC compatibility -

http://www.dvdoverseas.com/store/index. ... g51_0.html

OK so US mutli system tv's do not have scart weird! Is it an illegal connector in Japan and US?
Offcourse how silly of me *slaps on own head*
They want everyone to have lousy images, so they can push HD tv's etc.
Ha ha!
What a sad world

[system11]

They want everyone to have lousy images, so they can push HD tv's etc.
Ha ha!
What a sad world

Actually it was the MPAA and their cronies who got RGB connections blocked because they were afraid of high quality analogue copies of films.

[Fighter17]

I get all my shmuping done thru a composite cable. Yeah, I need to upgrade.

[D]

They want everyone to have lousy images, so they can push HD tv's etc.
Ha ha!
What a sad world

Actually it was the MPAA and their cronies who got RGB connections blocked because they were afraid of high quality analogue copies of films.

So even before DVD, when just had VHS, back then they blocked it?
Ha ha that's like radio broadcasting in a low quality to prevent people making high quality copies!
So what about Japan then? Can anyone comment? Why not there? Or why do they not make their own RGB? So what about now then? The new HD tv's in the US and Japan have RGB right? That new HD RGB digital type that the X-BOX outputs right?
As a RGB (SCART) purist I'd like to know about this, I feel so privileged and I am surprised with the lack of knowledge surounding the matter even in Europe, SCARTLAND
RGB for everyone

[sjewkestheloon]

well atm i'm playing in yoko on a miniscult portable tv. gigawing generations is almost impossible...

where's my ship? ... shit.

[BulletMagnet]

Currently I've got a little ol' Commodore 1084 monitor with a matt-made RGB cable...not exactly top of the line, but seeing as I used to play everything in yoko on a similar-sized TV via a regular old A/V connection, I'm pretty satisfied on the whole.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

They want everyone to have lousy images, so they can push HD tv's etc.
Ha ha!
What a sad world

Actually it was the MPAA and their cronies who got RGB connections blocked because they were afraid of high quality analogue copies of films.

So even before DVD, when just had VHS, back then they blocked it?
Ha ha that's like radio broadcasting in a low quality to prevent people making high quality copies!
So what about Japan then? Can anyone comment? Why not there? Or why do they not make their own RGB? So what about now then? The new HD tv's in the US and Japan have RGB right? That new HD RGB digital type that the X-BOX outputs right?
As a RGB (SCART) purist I'd like to know about this, I feel so privileged and I am surprised with the lack of knowledge surounding the matter even in Europe, SCARTLAND
RGB for everyone

In Japan, analog RGB is still available -- it's known as Japanese RGB (21-pin Japanese Scart setup just like European Scart but with a different pinout setup).

The very first released Japanese PS2 console with model no. 10000 & DVD driver 1.00 allowed one to watch any region DVD with that setup. Plus, one could make some very high quality analog copies of DVDs with some speciality Japanese Micomsoft equipment. And so SCEI released a 2nd generation PS2 with model number 15000 with revised DVD driver 1.01 (that makes the PS2 15000 play Region 2 DVDs only unless they are Region '0', then those can be played in any region DVD player) to stop this illegal copying of DVDs to VHS with said equipment.

Yes, even with VHS recorders, the factory produced VHS tapes from the Hollywood Studios had the built-in anti-copying scheme known as 'Macrovision' -- here's an example, try to make a DVD-R copy of the original 20th Century Fox produced Star Wars VHS tape (by hooking up a VHS player to a DVD recorder) and one will get this message: "Can't record this signal".

The Japanese XRGB-2 upscan convertor can be modded to accept Euro Scart or just left alone to be used with Japanese RGB setup. There's a link to it on the www.gamesx.com site with directions on how to do this particular "Scart mod" to an XRGB-2. ^_~

I've got two analog RGB monitors -- one's an Amiga 1080 and the other is a Sony. The RGB output levels on both monitors are amazing when playing those cool arcade Jamma PCBs through a Supergun setup via custom-produced RGB cable setup. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[howmuchkeefe]

...and they have the gall to slap doublespeak like "consumer protection" into the titles of such laws.

[califoreigner]

I get all my shmuping done thru a composite cable. Yeah, I need to upgrade.

x2 *sigh* me and my beat up neostick..

[louisg]

Well what I was wondering was if S-Video was better than component, not better than composite. . .

[thesuperkillerxxx]

Well what I was wondering was if S-Video was better than component, not better than composite. . .

Well in my situation, if I use COMPONENT with gta san andreas, the color looks great, but details arn't as crisp. If I use Svideo, I can read the road signs and whatnot, but the color akes a hit..... I need the big time progressive scan tv. Donations accepted....

[icycalm]

Connection type is of paramount importance only with manic shooters. Because you need to see the bullets clearly.

I've played tons of games via composite. Sure there's a big difference:

composite<SVHS<component

But if you are sitting 5m away it's not that bad, even on composite, for games like GTA, Halo or whatever.

But with Cave or Raizing titles, I am sitting with my face very close to the screen, so close that at times I am staring at individual pixels. Anything less than RGB gives me a headache before long. Even the Mushi port can do that to me after two hours of continuous play, though I never get that with DOJ or Galuda.

If you are playing something like R-Type, or Gradius or Sengoku Blade, the only important component of your setup is the stick/pad. Manic shooters require better equipment to get full enjoyment out of them.

[neorichieb1971]

Component been fed a interlaced signal is often softer than svideo. I would only recommend component when using a 480p> signal.