u/joeverdrive

My buddy told me he wants a device he can play N64 (mostly Mario Kart 64) on his big living room TV. His wife won't allow any consoles or cables to be visible. That's a little draconian in my opinion, but none of my business and it presents an interesting challenge. He has an N64, but it can't be hidden, and I don't want to make him get an upscaler. He has a Switch, but I've read the Nintendo Switch Online N64 experience is not very good. I'd like to build him a turnkey-ready Batocera console as a gift and see if I can meet the following goals:

• small enough to mount behind the TV panel and hide any cords

• powerful enough to run N64 (and earlier gen Nintendo consoles) smoothly without any distracting flaws or lag

• accept up to 4 wireless gamepads, also without any distracting lag

• be plug-and-play ready, requiring virtually zero config or tech support after I set it up for him

• Run around $100 for everything but the gamepad(s)

So far, I've put together a Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB) console with a spare 32GB Micro SD card I had lying around and paired an 8BitDo bluetooth N64 gamepad to it. It seems to work pretty reliably but sometimes the gamepad has brief connectivity problems and some N64 titles show graphical glitches that might be distracting (e.g. shadows in Mario 64). Even with a very nice case and Canakit power adapter it all came in under $100.

I've also ordered a small HP Elitebook 705 G4 mini pc on eBay for cheap that I'll try, too. It was $100 before tax and should be a little more powerful, but I'm concerned about it only having DP output ports and losing audio when converting to HDMI.

What do you think? Does anyone have any ideas? Is it completely unrealistic?

Last week I made a post complaining about how difficult it was to install the Batocera CRT Script. It wouldn't output 15khz no matter what I tried. I was sure I did everything right. I followed the guide to a T and got only recommended parts. None of the troubleshooting worked.

Well, the problem turned out to be me! I'm not very experienced with PC gaming, and when I saw that the AMD R5 430 OEM version was compatible, I figured that meant just the plain retail version. It's not. The OEM version has a DVI-I with analog output, and the version I had was just two DP ports.

I got a different compatible GPU (AMD R7 350X) in the mail yesterday and had it up and running on my D-Series successfully in five minutes. It looks and performs fantastic. I already have a SuperStation One, MiSTer Pi, modded Wii, and Raspberry Pi console. But I wanted to try out the Batocera CRT Script to see what the cost/performance/difficulty looked like. This old PC my work threw out can run Dreamcast, PS2, and XBOX smoothly, and some arcade games that aren't available on MiSTer yet. My 8BitDo wireless gamepads are plug-and-play, no lag issues. Switchres is integrated nicely.

If you have an old PC collecting dust, I strongly recommend trying it out.

I'm still trying to get Steam installed so I can show you guys some modern pixel art games, but flatpak doesn't launch.

Signal chain: AMD R7 350X > DVI-I to VGA adapter > WAKABAVIDEO VGA to YPbPr transcoder > TV component input

PC: Dell Optiplex 7090 SFF

TV: JVC D-Series AV-32D500 (1999)

Games:

• Dead Or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball (XBOX, 2003)

• Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix (Arcade, 1997)

• Earthion (Sega Genesis, 2025)

• Street Fighter III - Third Strike (Arcade, 1999)

I'm not sure how many of you have experience with Batocera on CRT TVs, but I got an old Dell Optiplex today, I've been trying to set it up with the Batocera CRT script since noon, and twelve hours later I can't get it to display.

• Dell Optiplex 7090
• Batocera v43 on a boot USB drive (couldn't get it to boot off the internal SATA SSD after four hours trying)
• AMD R5 430 because it was recommended for this build.
• CableMatters DP to VGA adapter the script instructions recommended.
• WAKABAVIDEO VGA to YPbPr component transcoder that the script instructions recommended.
• JVC D-Series with component input turned on

Everything is connected nicely. I followed the script to a T and this is what I get: a distorted, scrolling boot image then a black screen with music playing. Via SSH, I can see it's outputting on the correct DP port at 641x480 at 60.00074hz, which corresponds to the 480i boot video profile. But I can see from the distorted, rolling splash screen that it's 480p, which my CRT TV can't display. That's not 15khz. After the splash screen, music plays but the screen is black. I used the command line to try to change it to 480i using the batocera-resolution commands but none of the modes appear to be interlaced, or make any difference, even after reboot. Even the forceMode command appears to be broken. I reinstalled the script several times with different options to no avail. I was hoping Batocera would have a straightforward configuration process, and I followed all the steps as written in the guide, but it's been a battle every step of the way.

I've reached out to the Batocera team on Discord but maybe one person here has had success doing what I'm doing?

I miss when electronics were designed with rulers, not computers

This TV has one job: TATE

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I love firing up old 90s SHMUPs I never had the quarters to fully master as a kid and really exploring them. This JVC has component input and a G1 mod to give the 240p scanlines some extra definition, which is just a personal preference. Try TATE sometime!

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Some gameplay here: https://youtube.com/shorts/oKGEPs0s7TU

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Tube: JVC AV-27530 w/ G1 mod

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Game: Raiden II (PlayStation 1 port, 1995)

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Console: MiSTer Pi

I love firing up old 90s SHMUPs I never had the quarters to fully master as a kid and really exploring them. This JVC has component input and a G1 mod to give the 240p scanlines some extra definition, which is just a personal preference. Try TATE sometime!

Some gameplay here: https://youtube.com/shorts/oKGEPs0s7TU

Tube: JVC AV-27530 w/ G1 mod

Game: Raiden II (PlayStation 1 port, 1995)

Tube: Philips 9" PR0930X301

Game: Animal Crossing (Nintendo Gamecube)

A fun, clean little kitchen or desktop set. But if you've read this far, I strongly recommend you do not get this model TV! It's made by Funai. That by itself isn't bad, but unlike other Philips, Magnavox, and even Funai TVs, you need the original remote to change inputs. Universal remotes don't work. Hell, I even ordered the original remote (tested, working) and it doesn't work either! My research into the issue has revealed many people have this problem, suggesting that the IR receivers are prone to failure or something else. Here I'm connecting my Wii using an RF modulator, and it looks very good because of the small screen size. I'll find a student in need of their first CRT and give it away, but I thought it was cute enough to share first.

Tube: Sony Trinitron KV-16GW2 (1996)

Anime: Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack (1988)

These little standard-definition, curved widescreen sets never sold in the US because we didn't have the mountains of anamorphic widescreen content they had in Japan at the time. But today, I love using them for watching widescreen content with no black bars!

This example was for sale in Gifu City with original box, manuals, documents, and GAME PON decals showing how to use the big green button that adjusts vertical size. It arrived undamaged and appears to be in new condition! Many of these sets have burn-in from watching 4:3 content so that was a relief.

I'm thinking of repainting the whole thing but I'd lose the TRINITRON logo. Just sanding and painting the SONY logo really helped the look.

TV: Sony KV-8AD10

Pen: Testors Enamel Paint Pen, metallic silver

TV: Panasonic CT-316 (1977)

Game: Donkey Kong Classics (NES, 1982)

The knobs needed a lot of Deoxit and the green gun is weak, but 8-bit games and old cartoons look great.

What's the oldest color TV you got?

I love my Switch, and pixel art games always feel most at home hooked up to my CRTs. MTH is no exception! I'm very surprised how little lag there is converting HDMI to component 1080i with HDPT. Anybody else rocking the tube?

Tube: Sony Super Fine Pitch Trinitron KV-34XBR910

Console: Switch

Tube: JVC D-Series AV-27D500 (1999)

Game: Earthion (Sega Genesis, 2025)

Yes I know Konami did not make Earthion. I just wanted to show some gamin'

You'd think a handheld or even the giant flat panel would be perfect for this, but this is a CRT house!

Tube: Sony KV-6AD3

Game: Policenauts (PSX, English ROM)

What operating system are you using? What frontend? What cables and adapters do you use? What TV are you using?

And, most importantly, do you think it looks right?

UPDATE: 85 comments so far, only 8 of which answered my question with a description of their PC-to-composite-CRT setup. Please actually read the title (smh) so you don't waste your time typing out all the details of your pro RGB 15khz CRT setup because as much as I love it, I'm just gonna downvote it.

I was disassembling this Philips I got from a recycler and found a fucking black widow in it along with its egg sac