I have a big shop power that I use to power everything in my AV rack. But that’s just providing power to everything. For the individual consoles and monitors I manually turn them on.
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I have everything plugged into power bars, and just power them on manually. There’s a satisfaction that goes into powering on the TV, Receiver & Console, and plugging in a controller.
It’s like flicking all the switches in a jet before taking flight.
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I’m with you Rask. I know that at some point someone came up with an app to control an extron switch from an iPad but I wouldn’t want to use it. Pressing those buttons is half the fun!
Agreed… I’ve actually sourced some proper vintage speakers for my setup, and am currently looking for a vintage receiver to go along with it.
I really despise my current Harman Kardon receiver that I have now. The buttons are very unresponsive, and it often takes me 5 or 6 button presses to get the thing to turn on. It’s aggravating and I want to smash it with a hammer. It’s beautiful looking, and it works… but I hate it.
My Extron can be controlled over network. But I’ve never bothered looking into it.
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Just note - not all phoenix block connectors are the same size. The ones on extron devices have 5 pins, the ones on Kramer devices have 6. They are different standards.
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I also like to handle everything manually. I even prefer unpowered switches where possible in my setup (SCART and composite). The less automated stuff there is, the better I feel about the passthrough being as clean as possible.
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@raskulous I use a late-90s Marantz SR780 (I think that’s the model). Period accurate for my console lineup and has been bulletproof so far. I’d recommend their stuff which should be cheap if you’re looking for that vintage.
Does anyone have any recommendations on magnetically shielded speakers? I just rewired my setup after moving some things around, and with the new layout I don’t have enough room to keep my old unshielded speakers away from my screens.
I am using old Logitech surround speakers until I can work something out.
I have played around with Marantz stuff a bit and they are great. I really want to stick with Sansui though because that’s what my Dad had when I was a kid, and I’ve already sourced some matching speakers.
I understand that, Sansui is really hard to beat in my experience. I have a cheap stereo amp from them and I love its sound over more expensive Pioneer and Kenwood amps I’ve had.
Yeah to be honest I don’t remember how they sound, as this was in the 80’s that my Dad had one, but I have read that they are very clean and warm sounding. I would love one for my setup, even if it was one of the cheaper models.
My dad had one of those G models, something like the G-7500 which was one of the higher end models. Anything in the “G” line goes for crazy amounts nowadays.
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Those G-series receivers are wild! I hope you can get one. Sansui stuff is generally out of my price range, but I have been trying to justify buying an AU series amp for years. They just keep going up, a lot like games!
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Yeah I don’t really see myself finding a G-series for a reasonable price. There are lots of other models though, so if I’m patient I can get a decent one for a good price.
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Take a look at this:
https://www.retrogameboards.com/t/need-recommendations-for-gaming-speakers/2459/4
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Are there any high quality VGA cables available? I’ve never really had a problem with your standard ones, but maybe I’m missing something.
These would be used in a 31khz system including a Dreamcast, PS2, MAME, eventually a MiSTer.
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I too have never had much of a problem with standard VGA but the Extron ones are more robust and have sturdier plugs/posts than most. The only downside is they are thicker/heavier than common monitor pack-in VGA cables. Pretty cheap to grab one on Ebay if you need a couple.
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Yea same here. They get weighed down by heavier cables that I have from monoprice. Nothing ever happened but to be safe I added some styrofoam under the bottom and it doesn’t get weighed down anymore
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Interesting new DSUB adapter for the PS2:
PlayBaby is a compact and efficient PlayStation AV Multi-out to DSUB (with 3.5mm audio-output) for your PlayStation 1 and 2 gaming consoles; to output 15Khz (240p) and 480p video.
On PlayStation 2 systems, this adapter will automatically handle both:
- RGBs [ composite sync 240p games ]
- RGsB [ sync-on-green (SoG) 480p games ]
There is no human intervention required, the adapter will automatically detect change in resolution from the PlayStation.
Note that this device does not upscale or do any sort of transcoding; it merely handles PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2 signals gracefully, in particular the resolution-mode changes from the PS2 which change from sync-over-composite-video/luma; to sync-on-green when changing from 240p to 480p content.
Finally, no more poor quality, clunky, unshielded, leaky capacitor SCART cables; convert your PlayStation output to shielded VGA connection right away!
Some features of this board:
- Onboard power filtering through decoupling capacitors
- No external power required
- No buttons to manage
- Dual sync separators and cleaners
- Clean RGBs output
- Female D-Sub connector output
- 3.5mm audio jack output
- High quality PCB in matte black finish
All PlayStation 1 games are output as a 15Khz RGB (240p) RGB signal, you will have to either:
- Utilize a proper monitor that can support this signal natively. Generally this includes most CRT equipment, professional broadcast gear, and some specialized modern LED/TFT/VA flat panels.
- Connect the output from this device, to a video upscaler which can scale from 240p to 480p (or higher resolution), such that it can be displayed on modern equipment. I sell a superb video upscaler here
All PS2 games are capable of 240p via the PlayBaby; so the above bullets still apply.
However some PS2 games can be forced into 480p mode if hold down “triangle + x” as the game is booting. You will then receive a message box which allows you to enable progressive scan. In some cases, progressive scan is an option in the menus within the game itself. You can view a list of 480p supported games on my website here.
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…I don’t understand. How does it handle 480i native PS2 games?
It’s confusing, but I imagine the same way it handles 240p given that 480i is a 15khz resolution. They might be using 240p as a catch-all because I don’t think all PS2 games are capable of 240p. There are plenty of games that just don’t work when hex-edited for 240p (though that might not be proof).