I never got around to hooking it up until now. 240p mame to the extron, split into two jpacs. Pretty neat.
Unfortunately I assumed that two JPACs hooked up to one computer would read as two different keyboard input sets. That is not the case, so I’ll have to figure out how to program one of the jpacs or some other hopefully easier solution.
Edit: I very shortly realized I can just switch the button harness under to the control panel to the player 2 molex slot. A couple changes to the kick harness and I’m ready to go!
Thanks you all for all the help on this one!
When covid is done with, if anyone swinging by Louisville wants to play, let me know.
JVC’s horizontal resolution quoted at 750 TV lines, and only via the Y/C S-Video input.
No comb filter from what I can see off online documents and service manuals.
So I was wondering a few things:
Is the lack of a comb filter in option 2) a big issue when displaying composite output, for example out of a Famicom or PC Engine? I found this thread on a similar JVC and it worries me.
Are the (presumably full width) 300 horizontal TV lines in option 1) going to be enough for systems leading up to Dreamcast/PS2 etc.? I’m primarily wanting it for the composite and S-Video output from systems like Super Famicom, PC Engine, PS1, Saturn etc…
While the bigger JVC has a much higher resolution out of S-Video, is the composite output a deal breaker for systems that don’t do S-Video? Would it be a better idea to get the 10" model and get something more versatile later down the line for a larger set?
I would not get a 10” crt, personally. It’s really tiny.
Yes, the lack of comb filter will be noisier on the larger model, but I don’t think people appreciate how small a 10” screen is until they use it in person.
300 lines is perfectly fine for 240p / 480i. You won’t see highly pronounced scanlines, but you also won’t see any pixelization on games. Everything will look smooth with s-video.
10 inch is very small and would be difficult to use outside of use cases like set on top of an Apple II.
The lack of a comb filter (or notch filter, or at least a 3.57 mhz filter) really sucks. I have the option to turn it off on my sets: with it off the picture is much sharper but you get the dots that are filtered by the comb filter. For some systems it is a major advantage to have it on – certainly you don’t need composite for most systems but then all of a sudden it can be super handy to have if you get a new console or want to play something else on that screen.
The TVL thing is kinda deceptive, more is not better. Higher TVL gets that sharp line-y look that is great for sharing photos, but it can make 240p overly sharp and inorganic especially for systems like N64. A low TVL (300-500ish is normal consumer tube territory) will benefit 480i and make it look better, and does not have to look blurry at all. 750TVL is right around the sweet spot for getting pretty lines without ending up with overly thin scans.
Are you certain the 14 inch JVC doesn’t have a comb filter? I found a blog post with someone who claims to have same set – composite there looks pretty good, hard to say without seeing it in motion of course (probably still has dot crawl?).
If the 14 inch screen is in good condition and not expensive it would be a good buy IMO. The Panasonic set I bought recently has a 750TVL 14 inch screen + maxes out at s-video – at a glance I don’t think the tube is the same but the result from that still has me grinning.
Thanks for the advice, especially about the TVLs. I’m always worried about having too thick scanlines because I don’t have enough space to sit far away from the display so they aren’t noticeable. Sort of like how if you zoom in on a 3DS screen the scanlines are really obvious, but no one plays with their nose against it!
Repeating myself a little but this is great to hear, I was worried the image might be a bit out of focus (for use of a worse term). I might still go for the 10" model if I see a better 14" that I want later.
Interesting! Hadn’t found that blog post. It makes the decision easier if true. Just suspicious that the manual or spec sheet doesn’t mention it.
Re: the 10" size, my problem is really just a lack of space. I’ll be placing it on a desk and playing while seated at the desk, so I’m thinking it’ll be fine. I’m used to playing off the 6" Switch and Wii U GamePad displays that way which are half the square space.
I’m a bit more worried about the 14" being too big, funnily enough, in that it extends out by about 37 centimetres, which is over half the depth of my desk, so I’m definitely going to be playing it up close. Which means the composite output really has to deliver at close viewing! The photos in the blog post that @poptart show decent output which is pretty encouraging.
Playing up close at 14" still will be a pretty pixel-dense picture, even with lossy composite signals, and even up close.
Think about how close your face is to an arcade monitor, and those are typically 19" in size or larger. 14" will look fair via composite. And likely amazing with S-Video.
I am sometimes right up against my 20" screen even when playing NES games via composite, and it’s still pretty amazing despite seeing some pixel crawl.
Good point! And one thing I am worried about with the 10" is it being too low relative to where my eyes are facing, would have to sit a bit funny to see the full picture since unlike the Switch’s kickstand, it’s not going to be angled upward.
Yeah, for actual gaming I’d think you’d want to go with the 14" for sure. Anything less is good for a bench monitor or other project type stuff but I don’t think I’d want to game on it.
Typically “Brightness” in a regular on-screen menu controls black level. If you notch it up a bit that can fix black crush. “Contrast” is really white point control, you’ll likely need to manipulate that too. It’s best to do this in the 240p test suite.
Before determining whether black levels are crushed, you may want to do all of your testing in a dark room. Unlike LCDs, sunlight really destroys dark details on a CRT, especially a PVM. Not sure about JVCs though.
But most broadcast monitors are tuned to a less blooming image.
Haha, that’s why it took a while to get some photos! When it arrived it was extremely sunny and I was struggling to take any reasonable shots even though it was useable to my own eyes.
It was still overly dark displaying moodier scenes in the games I tested but turning up the brightness helped a lot. I still need to access the service menu, according to the manual it’s Menu + Chroma.
Is it worth getting a Nintendo S-Video cable for my Super Famicom or should I just go with Composite? I’m honestly pretty impressed by the video output over Composite, the floor textures in Dungeon Explorer look incredible. I’m going to have to take some photos at some point!
Being back on CRT feels like a long time coming. I would have passed on this model if it weren’t for you all, so thanks again for the advice!
The guy who makes the retrotink2x sells SNES/N64 s-video cables on his website if I recall correctly.
I’d go with that if I were you because you never know whether other aftermarket brands were just piping a composite video signal through the s-video cable rather than a proper signal.
@D.Lo wasn’t kidding about the composite output on the PC Engine, next to the Saturn it’s a night-and-day difference in quality. Though the fuzziness certainly suits Langrisser IV’s character portraits to the point where they didn’t look aliased at all, colour reproduction was lacking to say the least. Unfortunately I also blew up my Saturn testing it, forgot I needed a step down converter…
Does anyone have any tips on connecting speakers or headphones to this PVM? From what I understand audio in on both inputs is mono, and audio out is a single connector that looks identical to audio in. But none of these connectors accepts a bog standard headphone jack of course.
