You sound super knowledgeable, i can't wait to see the pics when u share them!
this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2023
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No pics of the gaming area yet, but here's an album of the first CRT I modded, a Sony kv-20s90. See another of my comments for some additional detail on this.
The second set (the one I use all the time now) is much cleaner work, but I haven't uploaded an album and may not, because I didn't annotate or rename the pics to describe what each one is showing.
I am NOT a CRT technician, and I have very little background in electronics. It just happens that I've done enough project work to be dangerous and there is enough detail around the Internet to enable tinker hacks like me to be successful.
@ja2 Sounds like quite the suite! Long-term CRT maintenance scared me away from seeking one out, but I would love to have a controller setup like you described.
I like how easy it is to just pick-up and move the MiSTer, as well as the Analogue systems too. Swapping between my desk for RPGs and joystick arcade games, or to the TV for action console games has been great.
Honestly with how cheap it often can be to get your hands on a medium to large CRT, I wouldn't be too scared of the long term maintenance. Bare minimum, you spend $20-$50 to get a really cool way to play your retro stuff for a few years. If it ends up degrading to the point where the imperfections don't improve the experience, you then have to pick between:
A: get a new CRT
B: Fix your current CRT (most problems can be fixed in a service menu but there are things that need physical work)
C: Pay someone to fix your current CRT for you
D: Re-assess the currently available display and scaler technology (I believe that someone said that a 55" 8K OLED TV @ 120Hz will have small enough pixels that a filter can literally draw an aperture grille and simulate the color bleed to nearly indistinguishable levels from a 33" CRT), and see if a CRT is still the best way to play retro games. If the display tech is such that a fancy modern TV would be able to handle your fancy modern PS7 / Xbox Series XXX / Nintendo Switch and your SNES/MISTER/emulator machine, that's the endgame.
The main thing is that all of those situations are "later problems" and buying a big ol' chonky boi off Facebook Marketplace or adopting one off the side of a street will get you a ton of fun with your retro stuff right now.
It's worth it to play retro games on a CRT even if you're doing it through composite on a big consumer set with kinda wonky geometry. IMO I'd rather embrace the imperfections of an analog system and display than try to do the studio-perfect PVM thing.
I'm with you on embracing the visual imperfections. There's one thing a modern unit simply can't do, and not only that but we seem to be in a race further away from ever seeing it again - which is lag-free display suitable to twitch gaming.
Even disabling all video processing possible still results in 1-3ms lag in the best sets, which matters when possibly missing a frame matters. Setting aside competitive play (which I don't do), it's immersion and soul crushing to miss jumps you would have made if your display didn't handicap you.
Even the worst CRT won't process you into losing frames, so I don't care much about any visual flaws so long as the picture is roughly average or better.
That said, in my area, people don't give away or sell cheap CRTs anymore. They got wise and immediately greedy, you don't often see a working one listed for less that $300 within half an hour of my house, which is nearly PVM territory.
That's great you'll finally be putting the MiSTer to good use. Yeah, having something poorly placed, or too many blockers to using isn't a good thing.
God I need a Scart modded crt so bad but I'm so scared of breaking the trinitron (I've got the experience but I always second-guess myself and end up ruining it). Anyone have experience with the retroTINK rgb2comp?
Maybe you aren't looking for reassurance, but if you have the experience AND a schematic / story with pictures from someone who had done the work on your exact model, you shouldn't have a problem.
I have personally never touched the inside of a TV and I RGB modded two of them, one after the other, with different mainboards and both of them were fine. The second one was neater work. And even if you ruin one, it's not like they're impossible to get pretty cheap if you wait around.
I'll be happy to help you locate the documents you need, if you want to give it a shot. If you'd rather be self-sufficient, start here and go down the rabbit hole. MarkOZLAD has probably written a schematic on loose leaf paper or otherwise, or someone on that forum has, as well as verbally described the steps for VERY MANY common CRT boards particularly in the Sony Trinitron line, but not exclusively. The 8-bit guy also has a video on it, but it leaves out a lot of important detail you'll get from posts on that forum.
This is the first rig I modded, a Sony kv-20s90.
If you choose to go down this road, my research does not recommend SCART. Too many deviations from the standard in cabling on the market, and many opportunities to screw something up either before or AFTER you've successfully completed the work. Also if you're not in Europe, there's not much benefit in using SCART... and even if you are, I'd recommend BNC connectors to RGBs instead, and if you for some reason need SCART, you can buy a SCART to BNC cable already made that will probably help you avoid any weird cable issues that can fry your rig.
oh yeah, I've got instructions for it, a BA-5 is pretty easy. But I'm terrified of messing it up because it’s the only trinitron in my area that's a reasonable price (300 for a kv-20fs120?!) and I'm a little out of my depth here. But I had no idea about BNC connectors, so thanks on that. Maybe I'll start on my cheapo sharp crt and work my way up. You seem super knowledgeable, and thanks for the help!
Frying the jungle chip can be a little scary I guess :)
In my area, sets go for the same price - unless you change up your search terms. If you look for "CRT" or "retro gaming TV" they are all super expensive. People have got wise to what we're using them for, and being out of production they are commoditized.
But, I found if I look for "old tv" or "old tube television", or use search terms that don't betray the use case and instead reflect what the seller wants to get rid of, I get different results and some are practically free - as they should be.
No different I guess from how looking for "old rusty knife" will get you different results from "vintage bushcraft high carbon blade" but you might turn up aces.
My search terms are typically “tube tv” or “old tv” but I live near a major city so most people know what they’re selling. I've done a few gamecube picoboots that are way harder but like I said I might try on my POS sharp tv!
Thanks for the quick and helpful replies, I hope other people learn things from this thread too!