Sony WEGA CRT - HD or SD preferable for classic gaming?

Discuss Your Gaming Environments and AV Setups
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CRTGAMER
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Re: Sony WEGA CRT - HD or SD preferable for classic gaming?

Post by CRTGAMER »

ATARI800XLfan wrote:
CRTGAMER wrote:I have almost the same model as yours but the HD version. HD CRTs are a lot heavier!

There is a slight chance of power supply failure in the Wega series. See Page 10 of my CRT vs LCD signature link.
So when you say EDTV that means it does support 480p, I noticed that the Wiki description for the model says it is only 480i. I am confused though seeing as it has the hook ups for 480p. Also I noticed that you said not HDTV but EDTV, what does that mean. I though 480p is a type of HD, seeing as the Wii still uses it.
EDTV = Enhanced Definition TV
Apologies though, I thought with the Component hookup you could get 480p. Reading over the PDF link looks like 480i. Still a nice TV though, the Retro consoles will look sweet.
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ATARI800XLfan
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Re: Sony WEGA CRT - HD or SD preferable for classic gaming?

Post by ATARI800XLfan »

Anapan wrote:Nice TV - even more impressive that you got it for free! I know I'm loving mine.
I grabbed the service manual for you if you want to mess around with the picture (shape, gamma, colors, etc.). I haven't seen an old Sony CRT or rear projector yet that didn't need the corners re-focused or the edges of the picture returned to square. If you mess up while playing with the settings, you can always return it to factory default - full instructions are in the PDF. If you have questions, I'm happy to help (I've calibrated 7 sony CRT-based displays so-far for friends and family).
ftp://sw:sw@atomu.ath.cx:6872/KV32FS100.zip
I also have some stuff to load into a DVD player (burn the ISOs to DVD or the images to a DVD player connected through component) to help test calibrations (I have more - bigger more involved DVDs too if anyone's interested).
ftp://sw:sw@atomu.ath.cx:6872/screencalib/


Thanks for the compliment and for the service manual. Also how is yours set up like color temperature, Clear Edge mode, and Simulated and Steady Sound. Are there any other tips on setting up a TV, original owners said it looks fine, but might need to adjust some things for my game systems. Thanks for all the help.
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Anapan
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Re: Sony WEGA CRT - HD or SD preferable for classic gaming?

Post by Anapan »

Most of the changes I made to mine were done in service mode. As far as settings accessible via the standard menu I keep the sharpness down to a little over 1/8, Trinitone - medium, Simulated - SRS, steadysound - off.

I've added "Avia Guide to Home Theater" to my FTP's screen calibration area - it can help you set all the regular menu settings to optimal levels via well-explained wizard-like video sequences - a very well-made screen calibration tool. Using it and/or the THX Optimizer found on THX certified DVDs will get your TV's colors and picture very accurate.
Avia is a full-sized DVD (4.2 gig) so it will take quite a long time to download through my FTP - I suggest finding a torrent instead.
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ATARI800XLfan
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Re: Sony WEGA CRT - HD or SD preferable for classic gaming?

Post by ATARI800XLfan »

Finally got mine set up, have mode set to vivid, color temp to warm, sharpness over 50 percent, will obviously need to turn that down first. Have both sound options on will also try that. Edge enhancement was originally set to high, lowered it to low though seeing as some items in long shots the edges almost seemed to sharp and seemed to have a slight black edge on them, might be the sharpness though, will have to experiment some more. Laser-disc looks good on it though. Tried Batman Returns. Thanks again.
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Re: Sony WEGA CRT - HD or SD preferable for classic gaming?

Post by Anapan »

All those settings are personal preference. That's why they have them available for you to change. The contrast and brightness settings just need to be adjusted to make the black level true black. Your screen is capable of having the picture/contrast turned up to near full and make the whites really bright and still get the blacks true black (look at the screen while there's a fully black image and adjust the brightness down until you don't see a change from turning it up or down. That's establishing your black level which should ideally be as low as your screen can show. Ideally after showing static from a cable channel or a news/sports program to get the electronics in it warmed up. When you set the contrast too high it affects your gamma. The parts in a movie where it's dim will suffer and if you're watching a Divx file it will look really ugly. Try to use the THX calibration tool to get it right for a more correct picture (borrow a 3D Disney movie from you or your friend's son/daughter) It'll fix your display better than I can explain. The main thing I've found is that the sharpness can easily make a mess of your game's output if your consoles are using Composite (yellow) or S-Video (4 pins and a black plastic connector). Setting it under 1/4 is usually the proper setting for any 240p game (the correction is intended to enhance full-color cable shows coming in through coaxial cable so the sharp contrasting colors a retro game will display will suffer from any overuse; For instance the transparency of Sonic 2's waterfall will look like garbage). A little higher is alright if you're running through Component (or RGB/Scart transcoded through that port) connections, but it'll make a mess of any distortion caused by any lower quality connections - dot crawl, color fringing, and other interference is made much worse (it would not be so big a deal on screens of the era it was released). Your Nintendo was made for a much lower quality screen, so it's composite signal will benefit greatly from having the sharpness turned down to a minimum (look at the warp pipes - the bright green mess should be minimized but the score display should be easily readable). Consoles connected with S-Video will still show some color fringing in the intense Red & Green areas. Your retro consoles weren't meant for such a good display, so turning down the sharpness will make for a truer picture. If you intend to adjust the service menu settings, I can provide some tips or choices I made on my display that should react similarly on yours. It takes me a good 2 hours to get the settings good according my my tastes (after doing all 3 screens on my dad's rear projector for 5 hours while learning the settings - it has many more service menu options than your screen). Getting true optimum picture is one area of gaming I get OCD about and tend to spend crazy amounts of time and money on so ymmv. No mater what you do, your screen is made for retro-gaming and gets the "Racketboy Seal of Approval" (stickers pending).
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Hazerd
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Re: Sony WEGA CRT - HD or SD preferable for classic gaming?

Post by Hazerd »

i have a 32in WEGA Trinitron flat screen CRT, but no HD, has component plugins but not 480p, confusing....
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Re: Sony WEGA CRT - HD or SD preferable for classic gaming?

Post by AppleQueso »

Hazerd wrote:i have a 32in WEGA Trinitron flat screen CRT, but no HD, has component plugins but not 480p, confusing....

It's not THAT uncommon. I've had two TVs in the past that had component input but no 480p.
ATARI800XLfan
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Re: Sony WEGA CRT - HD or SD preferable for classic gaming?

Post by ATARI800XLfan »

Hazerd wrote:i have a 32in WEGA Trinitron flat screen CRT, but no HD, has component plugins but not 480p, confusing....

so is mine.
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Re: Sony WEGA CRT - HD or SD preferable for classic gaming?

Post by vic oakland »

I use and like a KV27FS13, which is an earlier, SD-only model WEGA, to play PS1 and PS2 games on a PS2 slim with component cables.

A wide variety of games...Maximo, Rogue Galaxy, and Bloody Roar 2...to name three, look awesome on this TV using component cables, and the graphics are crisp, with deep blacks and vibrant colors. And that's true of most every PS2 game and most PS1 games.

As a side note, for 2d fighters I use the manual 16:9 setting on the TV to play games like Street Fighter Alpha 3 and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. They play great and look absolutely fantastic (though different) like this. In particular SFA3 looks stunning.

The only games with any problem on the WEGA are a few PS1 games where the crisp pixels are a little distracting at first; also some later PS2 games that use filters which can result in distracting blurry graphics. (For example Samurai Shodown Anthology I-V are permanently filtered, which is a shame, since the stand alone version of Samurai Shodown III for PS1 looks pretty spectacular on this TV.)

Basically, however, almost everything PS1/PS2 is fairly jaw dropping. There's even some really great stand out arcade nostalgia surprises on the retro compilations. Final Fight, Forgotten Worlds and Metal Black, to name three, all looked beyond great when I cued them up on this TV.

You can see where this model fits in the WEGA lineup at wikipedia here. It looks like there were plenty of versions/sizes of this generation model:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FD_Trinitron_WEGA

I don't doubt the later models mentioned above are awesome, but I also don't think anyone with a PS2 who likes retro gaming can really go wrong with this TV and I got mine in great condition for cheap. Hope this helps, and thanks for this thread.
Last edited by vic oakland on Tue Jul 12, 2011 11:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
ATARI800XLfan
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Re: Sony WEGA CRT - HD or SD preferable for classic gaming?

Post by ATARI800XLfan »

vic oakland wrote:I use and like a KV27FS13, which is an earlier, SD-only model WEGA, to play PS1 and PS2 games on a PS2 slim with component cables.

A wide variety of games...Maximo, Rogue Galaxy, and Bloody Roar 2...to name three, look awesome on this TV using component cables, and the graphics are crisp, with deep blacks and vibrant colors. And that's true of most every PS2 game and most PS1 games.

As a side note, for 2d fighters I use the manual 16:9 setting on the TV to play games like Street Fighter Alpha 3 and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. They play great and look absolutely fantastic like this. In particular SFA3 looks stunning.

The only games with any problem on the WEGA are a few PS1 games where the crisp pixels are a little distracting at first; also some later PS2 games that use filters which can result in distracting blurry graphics. (For example Samurai Shodown Anthology I-V is filtered, which is a shame, since the stand alone version of Samurai Shodown III for PS1 looks pretty spectacular on this TV.)

Basically, however, almost everything PS1/PS2 is fairly jaw dropping. There's even some really great stand out arcade nostalgia surprises on the retro compilations. Final Fight, Forgotten Worlds and Metal Black, to name three, all looked beyond great when I cued them up on this TV.

You can see where this model fits in the WEGA lineup at wikipedia here. It looks like there were plenty of versions/sizes of this generation model:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FD_Trinitron_WEGA

I don't doubt the later models mentioned above are awesome, but I don't think anyone with a PS2 who likes retro gaming can really go wrong with this TV and I got mine in great condition for cheap. Hope this helps, and thanks for this thread.


Thanks for the advice about the 2D games, can't wait to try my Dreamcast,Neo Geo CD and Saturn on it.
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