I didn’t realise how complicated it was to connect game consoles to a TV

Posted by admin on October 2nd, 2012

Since I’ve started buying a few old games consoles I have become increasingly interested in the complex world of connecting old consoles to new HD TVs.

The problem in it’s simplest form is that old game consoles were designed to work with CRT TVs which display pictures in a completely different way to modern day HD TVs.  There is a lot of information on the internet about how to get your console and TV to show the best quality picture but you do seem to need an in-depth understanding of video modes, connection types and other esoteric information. If you seek help from the internet then the usual and actually quite good advice is get a CRT TV, this is good advice if you have room for one as they are relatively cheap on ebay. However if like me you don’t have room for a decent sized CRT then there are a few options, one of which is to delve into the world of video upscalers.

There are a range of video upscalers (they do more than just upscale) from a company called Micomsoft in Japan who’s customer base is retro gamers.  The companies line of XRGB upscalers has just been updated with a new model called the XRGB mini Framemeister. After a lot of research I decided to buy one.  Problem one, they are only available in Japan, problem two they are built for Japanese consumers and so connections (power and video) are all Japanese, problem three the manual is in Japanese :-).

To answer problem one I found an excellent company in Japan who supply XRGB units internationally, they are called Solaris and the link to their site is here:

http://www.solarisjapan.com/

I used EMS postage as it comes via Parcel Force in the UK and this makes it easily trackable. The only problem I had was that the tracking info didn’t show up after my order was updated to say it was dispatched.  I left it for ten business days because that was the timescale for delivery and I thought it may just be the Japanese side that didn’t have updated tracking. I then chased the guys at Solaris and after that the tracking was updated.  This is the link for tracking which if you order using EMS should be updated the day the parcel is dispatched.

http://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/ems/index_en.html

I’d recommend checking it if you do order via EMS from Solaris.

I just received the XRGB mini and I’ve done an unboxing video on YouTube so you can see what comes with the device.  I’m going to update this blog with more technical stuff as I start getting things working.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99_TBvpp-sY