Based on what's currently available, nothing beats a QD-'OLED', like the current 55" Samsung S90D or last years S90C, after the black crush/shadow detail issues have been corrected. Pair that with a RetroTINK4K scaler(Which has an incredibly daunting list of settings, scan lines & CRT softness adjustments, you name it! And only at 2.5ms of lag) and lets say the SNES(1Chip) using HD Retrovision component cables, in terms of having a more modern updated set up, if you don't plan on scoring those Analogue Super Nt, Mega Sg & Duo Consoles. Can't forget RetroUSB's AVS either. The Nt Mini cost about $2500 off eBay, so that's definitely out. lol
As for CRT's? The 2005 Sony WEGA Trintirons's are easily you're best bet, with LOW hours. They've all aged around 19 years, so take that into consideration. The picture will not look as good as it once did, especially in terms of brightness unless you can actually find one on market place that doesn't have tons of hours poured into it.
The QD-OLED will have perfect blacks, amazing brightness & Whiter Whites, but the CRT will reign supreme with it's incredible Blur-free motion and being nearly lag free. RetroTink has Black frame insertion options for OLED, which can reduce motion blur by 50% but unfortunately it can nearly double or triple input lag. On the flip side, you can counter act the 50% brightness loss from BFI by using RetroTINK's HDR brightness trick.
The perfect CRT replacement still doesn't exist just yet! Just grab yourself a 27-32" Sony Trintiron WEGA off Marketplace, lug that dinosaur-heavy beast home, and hook every retro console up to it using HD retrovision component cables. It's the far more affordable option to take, compared to spending thousands on a 55" QD-OLED(for ex), and then another thousand on a RetroTink4K. Although, the NES or TopLoader, including the N64 & TurboGrafx would all need an RGB mod unless you're content using composite for the NES & TGFX and S-Video for the N64. However, SNES & Genesis are good to go! Just grab the retrovision component cables for both and whalla. If you have a model 1 genesis you'll need to spend $15 on their component adapter, but that's no biggie.
@Tasuki
Got my RetroUSB AVS a few weeks, and it's pretty frikkin fantastic...Aside from one major flaw. As expected, it doesn't have a CRT 'softness' depth Slider setting, which in my opinion, is crucial for blended & softening those nasty razor sharp squared sprites together into art. NES games were never supposed to look as sharp and Squarey as they do when played on an HDTV. This is where scan line & CRT Softness settings come into play to mimic the CRT look. And more of a minor complaint, is that it hugs your NES carts just a little too tight, which can make getting them out a little annoying at times.
AVS does have a wonderful scan line depth slider, so I'm covered there. I use either the first or 2nd bar/point which gets it looking similar to my CRT. There's also no latency as advertised, and colours look great when you switch up the colour pallet to custum, FEAUX(etc), as long as you're not using normal, which gives you dessaturated colour. Plus being able to reset the game or jump back in to the AVS Home menu settings by pressing 'Up+B+A' Simultaneously is a flippin god send. This feature, including 'More Sprites' which reduces sprite flicker by allowing more sprites on screen at once, automatically makes it superior to an original NES, or modded Top Loader.
I also popped open my AVS, and took that silly lid off which was super easy. So now the NES cart BoxArt is exposed from the front and top area, and makes the console look that much better. I would of given this thing an easy 10/10, but two things hold it back from being perfecto'!
No CRT Softness depth slider as I've said before...Which would of been a deal breaker for me personally if that amazing RetroTINK4K scaler didn't exist. And you can't power on or turn off the console with a controller button combination. You'd think RetroUSB would of added in another button combination, like 'Down+B+A' or something like 'Start+Select' to both power on and turn off the console. It's funny, because they could probably do a firmware update to add both a CRT softness depth slider & a Power ON/OFF controller button combo. They already added a new 'interpolation setting' about a year ago to combat shimmering or something. It also slightly softens the sprites up a touch too.
Thankfully, if you hook up the AVS to a RetroTINK4K, you can reduce 50% of OLED motion blur using it's 60hz black frame insertion setting, which gives you motion clarity that looks closer to a CRT, while retaining high brightness due to it's HDR to SDR brightness boost trick, which you'll need to use to combat the 50% brightness drop from BFI. And it has CRT softening settings. It goes for a whopping $1100 CAD, but it's the best scaler out there with a wealth of options that can be used with any console.
Great, that's going to be almost $1500 for a 42" LG C3 OLED, and another $1100 for a RetroTINK4K. It's too bad 'QD'-OLED TV's don't come in 42", because they have much better colour than regular OLED. They'll be available in 2025, so I'll make the jump then for my retro consoles, and second Switch.
And latency wise, if you hook up your AVS to your TV, using a wired original controller, you'll only be getting 10ms of lag from the TV itself. But with TINK4K's amazing motion blur reduction feature and by using it's CRT softness settings, you'll get the following >
2ms lag - (Just by using the TINK4K)
8ms lag - (From TINK4K's 60hz Black frame insertion motion blur reduction feature-whatever)
That's 10ms of latency total, which is pretty solid! But If you plan on using those wireless 2.4g 8BitDo controllers, like the N30 2.4g, it will add just under 4ms of lag, supposedly. Where as an original NES controller has zero lag. Which bumps the total latency up to almost 14ms.
I mean, I'm looking to find a better solution to a 2005 Sony WEGA CRT. Because lets face it, they're 15 year old TV's with tons of hours poured into them. They will not looks as bright, colourful, nor will the black levels be as deep as they once were brand new out of the box. They're only going to get worse and worse from here on out until they eventually crap out. Plus, their big squared' boxy Silver bezels look like total crap. The best modern alternative to a Sony WEGA CRT retro gaming would easily be a Samsung S90D 'QD'-OLED TV + RetroTINK4K, and pairing it with an Nt Mini or AVS, Super Nt, Mega Sg, Duo & Super GameBoy.
Sorry for the mondo sea of text. I'm caffeinated. LOL
And if RetroUSB ever Made an AVS 2 at some point, please give it the following. >
Smaller (The size of an Analogue Super Nt & Mega Sg)
Top loading
Cart Eject Button (SNES-Style)
Console Power ON/OFF controller button combination setting
CRT Softness depth Slider
This would no doubt be the definitive NES. I for one am totally over the OG 1986 front loading toaster NES. I'd rather just use a modded Top Loader with a multi-out(Using SNES 'HD Retrovision' Component cables) on a good CRT. Then there's the Analogue Nt Mini Noir....But that costs nearly $1500 off eBay, so that's clearly not an option for most.
The only two options for me, would be the Top Loader with Multi-out(Component Mod) on a Sony WEGA Trinitron CRT. Or the AVS + RetroTINK4K on a 42" LG C3/C4 OLED. And of course, you gotta have that EverDrive N8 Pro.
I mean really, who wants to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on Carts, knowing that it's pretty much impossible to recapture that feeling you once had, or to recreate those amazing NES memories from way back when. Besides, Retro consoles read EverDrive flashcarts as actual carts, so there's no additional input lag and supposedly they run and look identically to the original carts. Sold! A Turbo EverDrive Pro & Analogue DUO will save one thousands compared to buying actual Hue Cards & Turbo CD's. lol
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