Has HDTV Doomed My Games?

[mariocaseman]

I own an NES Zapper, R.O.B. The Robot,  SNES Super Scope, and the Sega Saturn gun.  None of these work on my HDTV!  I can't play Duck Hunt!  Does anyone know a way I can make these devises work?  And no, I will not use a tube TV, I only have room for one

[tydyno]

Obviously the best bet is to use the type of television that the accessories were designed to work for. But I can understand why you wouldn't want to have to use two separate ones. I may be totally wrong, but I thought that a large part of why those accessories don't work with HDTVs is the refresh rate. Perhaps there is a way you can lower the refresh rate. Also, I would make sure that you aren't stretching the 4:3 image to 16:9. Play with the black bars on the side.

As I don't have any of those light-based accessories, I haven't had much experience dealing with this issue. I just thought I'd throw my two cents in. 

[SonicAdvDX]

New TV's don't work like the ol' boob toobs, my man. I had the same concern long ago, I searched high and low, and the only way to make them work is to use a CRT tv, man.  I know it sucks, but it's the truth.

[AppleQueso]

To put it simply, lightguns don't work on HDTVs. Not even HD CRTs (Yes, they make those. They're awesome.)

It has to do with the way the newer tvs refresh their signals.

[tiktektak]

To put it simply, lightguns don't work on HDTVs. Not even HD CRTs (Yes, they make those. They're awesome.)

It has to do with the way the newer tvs refresh their signals.

You mean they made those before normal HDTVs came out. Actually there is no Full HD CRT only HD ready ones. I thought though that on a HD CRT lightguns would work.

An yes apple is right. That is why the "new" Time Crisis gun needs the sensors for example....

[scarmullet]

yea, take a ride to goodwill, and pick yourself up a CRT for $5, and make room for it.

[AppleQueso]

To put it simply, lightguns don't work on HDTVs. Not even HD CRTs (Yes, they make those. They're awesome.)

It has to do with the way the newer tvs refresh their signals.

You mean they made those before normal HDTVs came out. Actually there is no Full HD CRT only HD ready ones. I thought though that on a HD CRT lightguns would work.

An yes apple is right. That is why the "new" Time Crisis gun needs the sensors for example....

If by "full HD" you just mean 1080p, then sure. I'm sitting here with a 1080i CRT on my shelf right now though...

[tiktektak]

To put it simply, lightguns don't work on HDTVs. Not even HD CRTs (Yes, they make those. They're awesome.)

It has to do with the way the newer tvs refresh their signals.

You mean they made those before normal HDTVs came out. Actually there is no Full HD CRT only HD ready ones. I thought though that on a HD CRT lightguns would work.

An yes apple is right. That is why the "new" Time Crisis gun needs the sensors for example....

If by "full HD" you just mean 1080p, then sure. I'm sitting here with a 1080i CRT on my shelf right now though...

Yeah FullHD is 1080p and 1080i is actually "less" then 720p because of interpolation in comparison to progressive frames. I do know though that the picture quality of HDTV tubes is really great cause they use old tube tech to do "new stuff". It's the contrast and natural colors of CRT with HDready picture. If only they managed to incorporate FULLHD(I think there are some proequip HD CRTs somewhere out there who have FULLHD but cost a fortune) I would have considered one too.

[AppleQueso]

My tv can do 720p too so yeah...

I think I'm okay with the drop in resolution in exchange for the much nicer contrast and black levels. Besides, PS3/360 games for the most part only do 720p anyhow.

It's also pretty arguable whether 1080p would even be worth it on a 34" screen.

[tiktektak]

Yeah for small diagonals almost nothing I said matters but with big screens sizes like 46" and more, which HD CRTs never had, such stuff matters.

One problem is that the nicer contrast and black levels were a real good argument years ago when LCD and Plasma tech was in it's infancy. Nowadays LED-LCDs (colors) and new Panny plasmas (black levels) blow CRTs away.

Can't wait for OLED to become consumer ready for big sizes. Then we will be really blown away.

[SonicAdvDX]

Can't wait for OLED to become consumer ready for big sizes. Then we will be really blown away.

Take the pixel density of iPhone 4's retina display...

Put it into a HDTV-sized screen....

 

[AppleQueso]

One problem is that the nicer contrast and black levels were a real good argument years ago when LCD and Plasma tech was in it's infancy. Nowadays LED-LCDs (colors) and new Panny plasmas (black levels) blow CRTs away.

I don't know if I'd say they "blow away" CRTs (especially properly calibrated CRTs) but they're certainly a lot better than when they first came out.

Certainly if I decide to go for a bigger TV, it'll probably be a panny plasma.

I think it's worth mentioning that for being only 34", my TV certainly doesn't seem anywhere near that small. Might be because of the all-around bulkiness of it being a CRT though... plus it's holy shit heavy.

[tiktektak]

Yeah you're right it's wrong to say they kick their ass because the whole tech is a lot different and not really comparable.
When I'm watching TV I always use my normal CRT not my big fat LED-LCD cause I still think SD television looks a lot better with a CRT!

Just recently I saw a 12" AMOLED for display in an electronics store here in austria and the contrast, colors and black levels were astonishing.

[lcvolt]

i think it has also someting to do with new tv's being flat. the original tv it was designed for was not flat. i saw an AVGN video in which he said a certain accesory didn't work because he was using a flat tv.

[AppleQueso]

i think it has also someting to do with new tv's being flat. the original tv it was designed for was not flat. i saw an AVGN video in which he said a certain accesory didn't work because he was using a flat tv.

Nah, the older SD Trinitron WEGAs still work fine with light guns iirc, and they have a flat screen.

Like I said, it's the refresh rate. Pretty much all HDs out there refresh at 120hz or higher. The guns are designed for a 50-60Hz signal.