Thinking of building a MAME box... (1 Viewer)

[Chris Bardon]

I have some old parts sitting around, and I'm thinking about building a second box for Mame/Mp3/video playback to hook into my TV. Problem is, anything I've had up until this point that does TV output has looked like crap-text is almost completely unreadable, and the resolution is garbage. Any suggestions for what to use to get decent TV output (keeping in mind that money is an object).

 

[Colin Dunn]

TV output never will look as good as a computer monitor. NTSC composite or S-video has much lower resolution than is possible using a super VGA RGB interface.

Video output for games will probably look fine, but GUI and text displays will probably be ugly.

Most HTPC users connect to projectors via RGB SVGA interface to preserve the fidelity and resolution of the computer video signal. If you are using a direct-view or RPTV set without RGB inputs, you are stuck with the limitations of the video out...

 

[BrianB]

TV output never will look as good as a computer monitor. NTSC composite or S-video has much lower resolution than is possible using a super VGA RGB interface.
Video output for games will probably look fine, but GUI and text displays will probably be ugly.

For MAME & other emulators, SVideo works great - I've got such a setup at home. These games weren't designed to be played on ultra crisp monitors.
The best place for info on "Mame Boxes", whether hardware or software, is BYOAC. Great set of guides, links, and a great messageboard.