Hi all,
I’ve recently been getting to all the amazing games I missed in my childhood due to being in ‘a Nintendo household’. It’s been amazing experiencing these time capsules of entertainment on their original hardware.
The ‘trouble’ I’m however having is the age old issue of video inputs and outputs. I picked up an old Sony TV that has a bunch of inputs so I can connect all my systems at once and don’t have to replug things. The issue is that it’s become a bit of a mess due to the TVs limited inputs:
- Dreamcast -> Composite
- PS2 -> Component
- GC -> Composite to SCART
- Wii U -> HDMI
This results in wildly different video quality across all systems.
How do you keep your consoles connected? HDMI mod them all and connect them to a modern TV? Do you even do that or do you just swap out whatever you are playing at the moment? Or should I just play everything on PC.
Most online posts talk only about getting the best video quality from one connected console, but the prospect of having to buy 4 OSSCs seems a bit daunting.
Bonus question: hoe do you manage the Audio?
EDIT: Thanks all for your ideas and opinions. I feel quite dumb that I have never thought of putting a video switch before an upscaler. I Think I’ll be going that route as it seems the most convient and cost effective. I’ll also definitely be looking into the Retrotink.
Since you mentioned an upscaler, I’m assuming you got an old digital (LCD/Plasma/LED) TV that still had a few analog input types (my last couple TVs were lacking on analog inputs). A retro console upscaler probably has better results than your TV, but you can still use an analog switch box before the upscaler. Rather than spend a lot on multiple retro upscalers, spend much less on 1 upscaler and quality analog switch box(es).
Assuming the old Sony TV is CRT. The answer is still analog switch boxes but without an upscaler.
Most analog switch boxes can be used for analog audio, most will also be fine for non-optical digital audio. For optical, there are toslink switch boxes, but an audio receiver with multiple optical inputs is what I have.
EDIT: HDMI mods if they are taking the raw digital output rather than just being internal upscalers are an option, but depending on how authentic you want to be, the analog output circuits also affect the output and so an HDMI mod that bypasses the analog output would lose that.