HDM-why?
I’ve nattered briefly about this before on
these pages, but it’s worth going into a bit
more detail: the one big problem we all
have when rooting old consoles out from
storage (aside from them not working at
all) is in TV connections. Basically, your
old cables just don’t plug into modern
TVs, in the most part – and even if they
do, it can be hard to get anything showing
on-screen. So what can be done? Well,
thanks to the efforts of people far smarter
and less lazy than I: quite a lot. Your
options depend on what console you’re
trying to play, and prices (and effort
levels involved) can range from not much
to a hell of a lot – but here are a few of
those options.
The god-tier stuff comes in the form of
Black Dog Technology’s HDMI solutions- currently available is the DCDigital, for
Dreamcast; an FPGA-based board you
install into your console (or pay someone
to do, because it’s difficult), resulting in
digital signal drawn directly from the
system and a modifiable output up to a
full 1080p resolution. It’s around £120
for the unit, but it is extremely good.
A PSone version is in the works right
now, too. Similarly, a few different outfits
are offering GameCube HDMI solutions,
the newest of which don’t require any
modifications at all and just plug into the
digital out port on the console – look to
Kaico’s £60 device for a good balance of
price and performance there.
Elsewhere you can pick up a plethora of
different HDMI cables for retro consoles,
of varying quality. They tend not to offer a
‘pure’ signal, instead grabbing the existing
analogue output and converting it to an
HDMI/modern telly-compatible picture,but they’re very budget-friendly (around
£18–45) if you look to the likes of Pound
and Kaico’s ranges and – unless you’re an
absolute purist – do the job well enough.
Those looking for something better and
willing to pay more (either side of £50)
should have a gander at the RAD2X
cables from Retro Gaming Cables, as
their built-in RetroTINK hardware means
you’re getting a far better image quality
for the price.
If you want to convert existing cables,
you can pick up all manner of cheapo
SCART-to-HDMI adapters from online
stores – they tend to work, but that’s
about as positive a thing as you can say
for them. But for £10, who can argue?
If you do want proper, quality conversion
from your old console cables though –
and have £130-ish to burn – look for an
Open Source Scan Converter (OSSC). This
device can handle any console outputting
an RGB signal, converting it to an
HDMI-compliant one, and with plenty of
tweaking that can be done besides. It is,
in short, brilliant. Hope that helps a bit.WRITTEN BY IAN “DYNAMO” DRANSFIELD64 / wfmag.cc
Backwards compatibleRetro