Turbo in HD

[2X4]

Yes, I know the first thing anyone's thinking is "Why the hell would you want to play the turbo in a horribly distorted aspect ratio?"  Well, for a variety of reasons I want to be able to play the Turbo on my HDTV.  I'm looking into a video mod anyway, so I got to thinking, how hard (or impossible) would it be to mod a turbo to HDMI out?  If this is possible, It would be nice to see the wonderful rgb palette on my plasma, as well as eliminating the rca hookups.  I'm not hardcore enough to know how one might go about doing this or if it is even possible, but maybe by hacking a dvi-i to hdmi converter could work?  Could someone with more hardware wisdom provide some insight?

[Joe Redifer]

First of all the Turbo can never be in HD since its highest resolution is just under half of the regular NTSC standard.  The first thing I can tell you is that you'll need either an RGB to digital converter or a component video to digital converter box which transforms analog signals into HDMI (which is NOT analog).  Stretching it to fill the whole 16:9 ratio would be stupid...  if you plan to do this, I will tell you no more.

[Black Tiger]

If you were to try to do anything like that, you'd need and RGB mod first.

If you're more concerned with getting a great image from your Duo and not simply HDMI, then you might as well just get an RGB transcoder(or whatever) that outputs either component or VGA. HDMI is simply a plug that can handle huge bandwidth that a Duo could never output, -in a convenient shape.

Part of what makes retro consoles look ugly on HDTVs is that they output a low res analog signal that gets upscaled by the HDTV. So I don't think that a Duo with S-Video will look much different than one ouputing RGB/misc, after it gets mangled by your HDTV.

I guess you could get the RGB mod, a transcoder and then pump it through an upscaler doohicky so your TV doesn't do the scaling (or whatever... I'm no tech head).

But before you do anything, you should try your Duo out on your HDTV using composite first to see if it can even run the Duo's video signal(mine can't).

[GUTS]

Joe warned me that old systems look like ass on an HDTV, but hell they look great on mine through RGB to component.  I have a 52 inch Hitachi CRT, so maybe Hitachi TVs do a better job or something.  I'll have to post some pictures.

[termis]

I'm no videophile, but doesn't CRTs do better job handling older video signals, since they don't have a preset resolution mode?  (or something like that...  I'm just speaking out of my ass)

[FM-77]

Yeah that's right, Termis.

[offsidewing]

yeah, I don't know every bit of factual basis, but it's been my understanding through knowledge gained buying my new TV, that CRT's are most capable of delivering a crisp video image.  They are limitied by their size and weight.  Getting a Cathode Ray Tube in 60 inches would probably make the set weigh a metric ton.

I'd love to find a late 90's era 21-27" Trinitron or JVC to play my Duo on!

[MrFulci]

I'm not sure what the, "old systems look like ass on aan HDTV" comment comes from.

All I can figure, is what some folks notice when watching VHS on a larger screen. That the quality isn't as nice as a smaller screen.

The more you blow-up something, the more you can make out the weak spots. Is that what joe was referring to?

[Kitsunexus]

Magic Engine + PC ftw...

[FM-77]

The more you blow-up something, the more you can make out the weak spots. Is that what joe was referring to?

I think he was referring to that the HDTV makes this...



...Look like this:

[MrFulci]

The HD I use allows me to resize the screen to different modes.

[grahf]

Not all HDtvs do that, some look perfectly fine (just huge).

[GUTS]

No he was saying something about how HDTVs only have a 480 resolution and up or something, and since the Duo and old systems output 240xsomething they have to double the scanlines so everything looks blockier and crappier than it would on an SDTV through component.  I think that was the gist of it.  Mine can do 4:3 or 16:9 so the stretching is not a problem.  If anybody is in the market for an HDTV, I'd totally recommend the one I got, it may be heavy but it's 52" and it was only $800 delivered from circuit city.  I love it, it's the best $800 I've ever spent.

[Kitsunexus]

No he was saying something about how HDTVs only have a 480 resolution and up or something, and since the Duo and old systems output 240xsomething they have to double the scanlines so everything looks blockier and crappier than it would on an SDTV through component.  I think that was the gist of it.  Mine can do 4:3 or 16:9 so the stretching is not a problem.  If anybody is in the market for an HDTV, I'd totally recommend the one I got, it may be heavy but it's 52" and it was only $800 delivered from circuit city.  I love it, it's the best $800 I've ever spent.

What's the brand/model #?

[MrFulci]

GUTS,

If the television is decent, there shouldn't be many problems with the game system's display on the television. I haven't compared mid 90's and prior video game systems on loads of televisions, so take my comment as you will!

Though I do feel certain, the larger the screen is, the more you will benefit from an S-Video cable/mod.

Some folks, at first, don't realize they can stretch the picture on their HD Widescreen tv. It's a good option to look for in a television of this sort, as I've read about a few HD televisions where either the owner/reviewer could not locate resizing options, or they were not there.