Damn, that’s an awesome setup, super envious you get to try retro games in 3D! I really hope this something like this comes out one day: I just played Lies of P on Samsung's glasses-free 3D gaming monitor—and it definitely beats a 3D TV | PC Gamer
Looooooooove the effect on the 3DS
Glasses free 3d on a TV size is the dream. If you are interested, I know what I described is a lot of equipment for a “maybe” but what I started with was Nvidia 3D Vision which I see online still more easily obtainable. If you have a display that supports 120hz with BFI, or even a CRT monitor (you will get a little ghosting in high contrast areas, from the phosphors), + a PC w/ Nvidia card, your display can achieve some pretty decent active shutter glasses 3D. Getting old 3d displays or ultra expensive new ones is not the only option
You’d need a 3DFury/HDFury4 to even attempt this, right? (unless you have a 120hz freesync/G-Sync monitor). I have a PC CRT that might be able do 120hz at 480p which would be fine for what I’d want to play, shame those devices are so pricey.
The HDFury 4 I am using is serving the purpose of taking any external 3D sources and outputting that active 3D 120hz signal for maximum compatability with different games.
But on PC things are different, Nvidia has had that 3D intergrated into the drivers for some time, unfortunately it’s no longer supported so newer drivers for cards like 30 and 40 series gpu have lost the ability to do some things like natively run DX10 and DX11 games in 3D, for DX11 titles there is a workaround that is partially compatible. There are fixes for some Vulkan and OpenGL games, DX8 games can mostly be converted to DX9 and will work, so most 3d rendering apis can be ran in 3D, and there is a dedicated community that program fixes so that the shaders in these games appear correct in stereo 3D. Helix Mod
I am using this method with the HDFury 4 in tandem with my PC to play some of those aforementioned titles that no longer work natively in the Nvidia drivers, like Citra, and the SuperDepth3D reshade addon. Along with PS3 and Xbox 360 3D titles, but most of the best 3D experiences are on PC anyways.
So even with the partial compatability of the more recent drivers, the HD Fury 4 was overkill, I still had a good list of games working without it. Including basically every emulator I mentioned before, besides Citra sadly. Running exclusively through the Nvidia 3D Vision hardware, all you would have to do is grab a pair of glasses and USB emitter that normally come as kits, if you already have a computer with an Nvidia GPU that is. Warning that your mileage may vary with a CRT though, I was able to get less cross-talk by upping the brightness and lowering contrast on my monitor but I believe a little bit off cross-talk between eyes will always be present, but the strobing nature of CRTs means they are otherwise good 3D displays, actually. That is why I use this with an LG C1, it is not Gsync that is necessary, actually VRR is largely incompatible with 3D. Black frame insertion at 120hz and 100hz is what makes this possible with the LG C1/CX and potentially any other display that supports the feature to a good degree, it is an awesome feature that LG removed from their newer panels at higher refresh rates.
Great knowledge drop, I’ll have to return to this post when I get around to exploring this. With my PC CRT I couldn’t get 480p@120hz from an Xbox Series to work so not sure if it’s even possible (Lacie Electron Blue IV), I can only see reports of 240p120hz being used with it but perhaps it needs some sort of forced EDID setting on the DAC. I’ll have to check out what sort of DACs people use with these newer GPUs but I can’t imagine there’s a lot of info out there of people doing 480p@120hz on a CRT!
There is a lot of discussion on this thread on HardForum of FW900 owners about the best DAC for CRT monitors: https://hardforum.com/search/8606773/?q=DAC&t=post&c[thread]=952788&o=relevance
hey! so finally in a place to pick one of these up, but i can’t find anything on the page itself or elsewhere that shows it functions as an automatic switcher? every other bit i come across only mentions the manual option…any chance you can find something solid here? i’m really thinking i’m not gonna do much better than having 10 of my 12 systems plugged in at any given time
As per pick up thread, I managed to pick up a high-ish end Panasonic 68cm 4:3 flat screen CRT, which is a match for my main TV 2004-2008.
Perfect condition with great colours and great geometry, at least as good as it gets on such sets. I loved that screen but it was too big to keep when living in sharehouses etc after I got my Plasma.
It’s fascinating comparing a good consumer CRT with with good inputs (component) with my PVM I’ve had for nearly 10 years now.
It’s a mid/low range PVM, 14" and I believe ~500-550 TVL?
Anyway, it’s utterly obvious the PVM is sharper on 640x480 games, like Gamecube games. Even when equalising distance to screen (the Panasonic is much bigger at ~27") Much more visible aliasing etc. The PVM also has better dynamic range, though maybe some service menu options can help on the Panasonic. I have to assume this means the screen has lower TVL, as expected for a consumer screen.
However, throw in 320x240 content (eg PS1 games), in particular 2D games, and the Panasonic looks stunning, exactly like an arcade monitor. I compared R-Type (in RTypes) and Castlevania Chronicles, they look great on the PVM, super sharp, but have stronger more visible scanlines and are still crystal clear on the Pana.
I have an RGB to component transcoder coming, can’t wait to check out more 240p stuff on it. Right now can only really use PS2 via component or am stuck with composite.
The other half of the battle is getting my partner to let me keep it lol.
RetroRGB had a video review of it at some point that spoke about it. I’d message him if you can’t find it. I don’t have it myself.
I got the Aliexpress transcoder
Damn this thing is great, works perfectly no power required for RGB to Component! The one I had back in like 2004 needed external power.
Some results on the big Pansonic.
sweet! any differences between raw RGB? always felt like transcoding was a hurdle too steep as the RGB2COMP has always been too expensive for whatever niche situations I would have needed it for
just got an email back from the site themselves, looks like it’s only a manual switch 
the hunt continues
also jelly of @D.Lo and his powerless RGB to component box, that’s cool!
I’ve generally found it’s impossible to tell the difference between direct RGB and Component. I can do some direct tests at some point with my PAL Gamecube which does both, or could test RGB direct and via conversion to my PVM which can take both, lots of fidding with setup for that though.
And on top of all this, this box was only US$27
if you can’t tell that’s good enough honestly, especially for $27. I’m going to give it a shot!
Looks stellar in pics. I can only imagine how much better it looks in person.
Yep it just looks perfect in person for 240p 2D. it looks exactly like a 80s/90s arcade monitor in presentation, though it’s a flat screen.
I’ve now tested N64 via RGB (modded). Interestingly my PVM shows an advantage here, though it could be just the size, just seems less grainy, even on standard low resolution games. Certainly I’d imagine the PVM will win on higher resolution mode games.
I’ll continue testing more stuff, haven’t gotten to Saturn yet.
It can also convert VGA to component, though that needs power. I’ll test at some point on Dreamcast.
Hey guys
I need some advice. Since Christmas is coming up, I’m researching something to get to display my older games. Since I am starting college soon, whatever I get will have to fit in a dorm, probably on the desk that comes with the room. So, im considering two things: a Retrotink 5x or 4K with a 22 to 27 inch modern computer monitor or a 14 inch PVM. For context, i have a 13 inch composite video CRT and a 27 inch component video CRT. I also have the retrotink mini. What do you think is the best option?
an underrated option is a 17-21" VGA CRT which you can use to play a whole range of games from 8 bit to modern. I like to call it the poor man’s PVM (posted a few shots in the scanline thread for reference) Example
Thanks for the advice! With that solution, would you recommend getting one of the nicer retrotinks or one of the 2x ones?
