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Old Doesn't Have To Mean Ugly: Squeezing Better Graphics From Classic Consoles

Posted by samzenpus on from the what's-old-is-new dept.

MojoKid writes If you're a classic gamer, you've probably had the unhappy experience of firing up a beloved older title you haven't played in a decade or two, squinting at the screen, and thinking: "Wow. I didn't realize it looked this bad." The reasons why games can wind up looking dramatically worse than you remember isn't just the influence of rose-colored glasses — everything from subtle differences in third-party hardware to poor ports to bad integrated TV upscalers can ruin the experience. One solution is an expensive upscaling unit called the Framemeister but while its cost may make you blanch, this sucker delivers. Unfortunately, taking full advantage of a Framemeister also may mean modding your console for RGB output. That's the second part of the upscaler equation. Most every old-school console could technically use RGB, which has one cable for the Red, Green, and Blue signals, but many of them weren't wired for it externally unless you used a rare SCART cable (SCART was more common in other parts of the world). Modding kits or consoles cost money, but if you're willing to pay it, you can experience classic games with much better fidelity.

6 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. Just buy a CRT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Seriously, just buy a good CRT. Stop fooling around with all this line doubler crap

    1. Re:Just buy a CRT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Or just use emulators which produce a much better end result.

  2. No device necessary by wbr1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Pretty interesting idea and a nice slashvertisement. How about instead, using an emulator,pushing a resolution that looks good onyour panel, and even possibly applying AA and other filters till it looks how YOU like, You have far more options for less cash that way. This reeks of monster cableitis to me.

    --
    Silence is a state of mime.
  3. Other parts of the world? by GrahamCox · · Score: 1, Insightful

    SCART was more common in other parts of the world

    What other parts? Where are you from? If you include a relative reference, at least mention what it's relative TO. You know, the internet is worldwide, FFS.

  4. Re:I don't mind old graphics, I mind 10,000 FPS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Get a new GPU and monitor that supports FreeSync/Adaptive Sync IIRC it's part of the DisplayPort 1.2a and HDMI2.0 specs. This way the GPU will only produce a frame when the screen is actually ready, the results are a much smoother picture then vSync or running the card maxed out.

    Weither you go for picture quality, color accuracy and viewing angles with a 60Hz IPS panel or raw framerate with a 144Hz TN panel you'll have much better rsults then the current way of doing things.

  5. Exactly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    That solution will only last as long as there are used CRTs, so it's not really a solution, sorry.