RF Generation Message Board

I found a new HDTV that I think I'm going to buy to replace the CRT in my game room. It's a 32" LCD for $470, so definitely not a bad deal, I've been watching prices for a few weeks and that's the first one I saw for under $550.
So, now I'm wondering what systems like the NES and 2600 or even SNES and Genesis look like on an HDTV. Will the games look any better on an HDTV? My biggest concern is that the NES Zapper won't work with TV, so I'm going to have to figure out a solution to that problem. Are there any other accessories that won't work; the Super Scope and Menacer will work won't they?

Really? What makes you think that? I figured it wouldn't matter but I had never thought about it too much before.

I am fairly certain all lightguns only work on CRT televisions...

i have had my nes on a hdtv. it loked pretty good, however it deends on the tv and how it handles standard def such as a NES. being that the TV is HDTV wouldnt make the picture any better, infact could potentially make it look worse because the TV is trying to blow up a standard def picture to a high def panel in the TV. it all depends on the quality of the engine in the tv really.

i am almost sure that the zapper doesnt work on LCD tvs due to the way that whites and blacks are shown and also due to the respose times., or somthing like that. however i am not sure that plasmas have the same issue. i was going to bring in a NES into where i used to work ( a TV and HiFi shop) because we had a demo room. but i never got a chance to do it before i quit. when i wos playing on the NES on a LCD i never had the zapper to try. however i will have to give it a go and see the results

I ended up buying the TV, I called Best Buy and they said there was one left and the others went pretty quick, so it was pretty much now or never.

I've always heard that it was because the Zapper needed the light beam to bounce off the glass of the TV and since LCDs or plasmas don't have that glass, they don't reflect the light correctly.

I believe the problem with lightguns is actually or also because of the frequency the TVs run at because there are also problems with 100Hz CRTs. I'll dig my zapper out later and try it on my PC's LCD through the TV tuner.


Edit: Once again, Hydrobond comes up with a better answer than me.

The problem with the light gun on new TVs is not that is is plasma/LCD/DLP, its that the extra processing required for an HDTV upconversion eats up a fraction of a second, which causes the light gun not to see the target box on the TV when you pull the trigger.  (The target box would appear later than the gun expected it to.)  Most HDTVs have a game mode which bypass this extra processing, so you may still be fine.

The zapper is not a "gun" in the sense that it doesn't emit anything, it only records what is sees on the TV.  It acts very much like a one pixel digital camera. (A black and white one.)   Nothing has to bounce off of the screen, glass not required.

The super scope will not function on anything but a CRT display, however, as it relies on the scanning of the cathode ray in order to determine position on the screen.

James:  I deleted my post instead of editing it.  There wasn't a reply when I deleted it.  It figures someone would get a post in before I finished editing.  Anyways, great timing.

Having taken Hydrobond's answer about the time delay into account, I realised there was a noticeable delay between pulling the trigger and having a flash on the screen while playing Space Gun on the Master System. It wasn't a long delay but it was definitely just after releasing the trigger.

The NES zapper wont work.  Things like the Super Scope, Menacer, Activater, Wii motes should because they use a sensor device to detect signal.  Congrats on the purchase of a flat panel.  I picked one up from Dell two weeks ago.  It's a 37in Vizio, so far I love it.  Excellent picture quality and easy to use.

^There is no reason why the NES Zapper shouldn't work, as long as the TV has a game mode to make the frame line up with when the trigger if pulled.  The Super Scope requires a CRT to function, so it wont. 

NES Zapper: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NES_Zapper
Super Scope: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Scope#Detecting_a_target_hit

I have my 64 hooked up to my HDTV and for the most part it looks the same, the only major difference that I've noticed is the text looks stretched and weird. 

I've got all the systems hooked up to the LCD, but some of the older systems looked better on the CRT, so I think I'm going to do a little rearranging in my room. I'm going to put the CRT back where it was and put the LCD on the wall behind it. I'll hookup the VCS, NES, Genesis, and SNES on the CRT and everything else on the LCD.

When i plugged in the NES and the Zapper into our CRT in the kitchen (Flat and wideScreen 28 inch i think) the zapper seemed to work when it wanted to. Playing DuckHunt, i hit 2 ducks, but then it wasn't reading all the other shots. I changed the brightness on the TV, it even had a gaming mode, but that didn't work, even though it probably should have. Would this have to do with the screen being flat, rather than most older CRTs having a curved screen?

Check to see if there is a game mode on the new television.  That should fix the problem with the NES zapper.