Category: Hardware

Spent an evening trying to connect CRT to a modern PC, using HDMI to VGA and VGA to SCART. At first, I thought it would be completely impossible. CRT was displaying an image, but it was repeated three times horizontally, and with wrong colors. Colors got fixed by disabling scaling in nVidia settings. Getting a single image of right proportions took a lot of trial and error. But with CRU and a lot of tinkering, I did manage to get it close enough, albeit the image is slightly overscanned, maybe because the TV was calibrated for PS2 before. Still, it’s amazing it works at all. The resolution I ended up with is a weird 576p, but hey, as long as it works.

I bought a RGB SCART from eBay for my Xbox. Not sure why Xbox specifically, maybe because I had plans to play Halo anyway?
It turned out to be actually good, despite not being an expensive. Now TV actually turns on the correct input when console is connected, and the colours are good too.
The image is… interesting. One thing I noticed is that in Halo, in the bog there are fireflies, and those leave trails on CRT, something that doesn’t happed on LEDs.
Tried Dead or Alive 3 on it. There’s certainly something to that motion blur.

I think I understand why TV only shows black and white image, and it’s the adapter’s fault. SCART is the connector, and it can transmit different types of signal. Of course it transmits the crappiest composite signal, instead of RGB. My suspicion is that the PAL switch doesn’t actually send a sync on the PAL pin, but just switches framerate, which confuses the TV.
The reason I wanted HDMI in my chain is to capture gameplay. If I forgo that idea, I can buy SCART cables for specific consoles to connect them directly to CRT for the best possible result. The problem is that each cable costs around 30GBP. Converting one is not much, converting 3 or more becomes significant.
Since those are mostly 6th generation consoles that already have component cables, I could get a component to SCART adapter for the price of 3 cables.
There’s also an alternative that is cheaper, and allows me to keep using HDMI, but is a bit more convoluted. There are HDMI to VGA adapters, and VGA to SCART converters.

Struggled to understand why I’m not getting any picture. Turns out, TV doesn’t automatically switch to SCART, even when there is signal. As I didn’t get a remote, I was glad to find that “input” followed by + does the trick.
I tried connecting Neo Geo first, but by the time I figured how to change inputs, I switched to Dreamcast through Composite to SCART adapter, because I thought that maybe Neo Geo is acting up. Dreamcast only displays black and white image that flickers badly, though. And I was afraid that might be the case with Neo Geo as well. Luckily, switching back to Neo Geo on the correct input worked fine.
The image from Neo Geo exceeded my expectations. The colours are indeed very pleasant, and there is not much flickering. You can see it in the menus, on the white background, and reading documents from it would probably be a very bad idea. But I actually played Metal Slug and Garou, and both are extremely nice.

I didn’t plan to buy a CRT. They are overpriced nowadays, since everyone is into retrogaming it seems, and nobody produce them anymore, and they degrade with time. Limited supply, growing demand.
They are also very heavy and bulky, and most sellers refuse to ship them, or the shipping can be while not astronomical, quite significant.
So I noticed someone was selling Toshiba CRT in my neighborhood, which they obviously used for retrogaming. That seller disappeared, but the thought stuck with me.
First, I started looking for a similar Toshiba, or a Panasonic. Then, a wild Trinitron appeared nearby.
Now, the thing with Sony Trinitrons is that they’re supposed to be unique among CRTs. Most CRTs are curved both horizontally and vertically, like a bulb, which they are. But Trinitrons are curved only horizontally, like a cylinder. Also, most CRTs use a slot mask, which gives almost honeycomb like pattern. While Trinitrons have more of a grid like pattern.
Unexpected benefit of buying a UK CRT is that it almost always has RGB SCART port, that offers the best quality. While US CRT owners sometimes have to mod them to get one.
In any case, I found myself in the afternoon in Catford, by a row of brick houses. The guy, Elliot, has 3 CRTs, including a 21″ Sony and a Panasonic, and he seemed to be a genuine retrogamer: with a modded PS2 and a RGB cable. He even said that he calibrated the TV himself.
Carrying CRT on a bus isn’t easy, even if it’s “only” 14″. It’s the way the weight is spread, very forward. But I managed.