Ya Dad

Because of the sheer scope and size this video would have been, I have decided to break this down into episodes. I am really excited to work on this and really get into the pros and cons of playing on emulators vs genuine consoles.

R7 360 Thanks for all of the positive feedback, everyone =) EDIT: I have released a trailer for my next video which will go deep into analyzing the pros and cons between playing on emulators and playing on genuine hardware. Of course, RetroArch and Launchbox will be extensively covered as that is my setup of choice for emulators =) Follow the discussion on it's dedicated thread:

Same! In fact for awhile I gamed exclusively on native hardware, but having spent such a big amount of time with this emulator setup, it's more fun for me to play on that instead for the time being. There's just something fufilling about being able to finally enjoy all of the hard work one has put into something! Thank you! There is actually someone else on this forum who posted their setup before I posted mine. He also uses an HDTV for the launcher and games on the CRT, using very similar methods. I didn't see his thread until after I had posted mine. It was kind of surreal to me that someone else not only tried this method, but posted around the same time as I did and using the same forum and frontend lol Actually I think yours is the newer model. The FS series is supposed to be the cream of the crop for the later model Trinitrons if I remember right. I have the KV-36FV26, which is the premium version of the four models that came out in that series. It retailed for $1,699.99 when it came out in the early 2000's, but nowadays with HDTVs being everywhere, people just straight up give away their CRTS. I found mine at Goodwill for $20, with the original stand!

It's another way of saying "Ultra-wide" resolution, if I'm not mistaken. For instance, the Super Nintendo has a resolution of 256x224, but that can change depending on the game and would introduce scaling artifacts if I alter the horizontal resolution from within RetroArch. Therefore, I use a resolution of 3840x224 and manually adjust it to look like a real SNES's video output. As far as getting MAME games to work, the short answer is yes. The monitor you see on the right in that video is a 15khz RGB TV, which I use exclusively for MAME =)

Thank you! I almost did buy an arcade VGA, but I didn't like that I would have to use a legacy card. I wanted to be able to use a more modern card so that I could still enjoy games from later years as well as emulate more powerful systems, so I downloaded a hacked version of AMD drivers called CRT EmuDriver that allowed me to output lower resolutions. With it, I was able to output 15khz 480i and 240p. To connect it to my Sony Trinitron, I use DVI-to-VGA dongle for my Radeon R7, then the VGA cable goes to a VGA-to-Component transcoder box, and finally to my Trinitron's YPbPr inputs. Since even games on the same console platform can use varying resolutions, I am using super resolutions to compensate for the change of horizontal resolution different games may have. Using a super resolution also gives me the ability to adjust the width without introducing visible scaling artifacts. I use real console hardware and a Canon T3i on a stable tripod zoomed in to tweak and adjust the picture settings of the emulators I use phosphor-to-phosphor to match what the respective consoles output to a CRT. My goal is that when you play on an emulator on my CRT, it is a 1:1 match. In my SNES's case, the size of each phosphor won't match exactly what the original console outputs because I have the Model 1 SNES with the SHVC motherboard (which I prefer over any other SNES console revision for it's dedicated Sony soundchip) and it's RGB output has a slight blur to it, but RetroArch still comes REALLY close. I attached picture comparisons so you can see for yourself =) SNES Model 1 SHVC-CPU-01 > RGB Scart to YPbPr transcoder > Component switchbox > CRT RetroArch with BSNES Balanced core via Radeon R7 > VGA to YPbPr transcoder > Component switchbox > CRT The color of the SNES is slightly different than what BSNES outputs, which is kind of puzzling because BSNES is supposed to be 100% accurate. It could be that I have to adjust the pots in my SCART-to-YPbPr transcoder to match the colors BSNES outputs, or it could be another variable. It also looks like the emulator is just slightly tilted, which I'll have to look more into as well. I know that for the Chrono Trigger comparison shot, my tripod shifted a bit because my dog ran through the room and my tripod is on carpet, so keep that in mind when looking at that comparison shot =p Chrono Trigger Retroarch Chrono Trigger SNES Donkey Kong RetroArch Donkey Kong SNES SM All-Stars RetroArch SM All-Stars SNES Zombies RetroArch Zombies SNES I also adjusted the picture to compensate for the overscan CRTs are well known for. In the SNES's case, the picture stops on the right side of the screen before it hits the end of the electron beam's field on my CRT. I simply adjusted the horizontal viewport in RetroArch. RetroArch side shot SNES side shot It's been a lot of fun trying to get the output of various emulators on RetroArch to match their console counterparts. So far I have worked on the NES, SNES, Genesis, N64, Game Boy Advance and the Super Game Boy 2. I've also worked on the Game Gear as well but I didn't go very analytical with that one since I don't have a way to output the original Game Gear on a CRT, so that was more of a guessing game. I will say that playing GBA games on a CRT with RetroArch is PHENOMENALLY better than playing on the Gamecube's GB Player. My Gamecube is hooked up via S-video which isn't much worse than YPbPr when playing on a CRT, but the color muckiness of the GB Player, along with the fact that it outputs 480i, makes playing it on RetroArch much more enjoyable.

Big Box shows up on the top screen, and the game launches on the CRT at the correct screen position, refresh rate, and resolution of the original hardware.

I'm using a dual-screen setup, but it's quite an uncommon one: Top screen is an HDTV mounted to a wall, and below it serving as a second monitor is my Sony Trinitron KV-36FV26, an SD CRT I use for emulating. When I click on my retroarch executable, it launches full-screen on my CRT and plays games without problems. However, I am having trouble getting it to launch from within launchbox. Previously, I had a VGA CRT computer monitor and used it for my emulation, and even used launchbox using the same screen. Now however, I want to use a different version of Retroarch that I set up specifically for this SD CRT (and for SNES emulation only) that I replaced my VGA CRT with. I would like to use launchbox with my HDTV, but launch emulators on the SD CRT. Here are my settings so far: - Emulator Application Path is pointed to the correct retroarch executable - Default command line parameters: -L "cores\bsnes_accuracy_libretro.dll" (default emulator is checked) I am using a version of launchbox that I had already setup working perfectly with my VGA CRT. Now that I have switched emulators and displays, I can't get it figured out...