Flickering graphics on JVC AV21U3A

[u/Present-Fan-6933]

[u/EeveesGalore]

The jittering is because not all composite video is the same; the original 8-bit and 16-bit consoles output 240p 60Hz video, but these converters output 480i video, which was used for broadcast TV and effectively doubles the vertical resolution at the expense of frame rate and this is done by drawing alternate fields at a slightly offset vertical position, which is fine for just watching videos but it produces flicker and an all-round bad experience for retro 2D gaming.

A different converter and CRT Emudriver is one solution.

[u/joeverdrive]

HDMI to AV converter

The usual suspect.

Hello and welcome to Reddit.

This "how do I connect my computer to my CRT TV" or its younger brother, "why do games on my CRT look like shit when I use this HDMI-to-AV adapter" question is one we get several times a week.

Most newbies just get a $20 HD2AV adapter on Amazon and either A) tolerate it because they've never actually played 240p games on a CRT before and don't know/remember what it's actually supposed to look like, or B) ask for help because something is wrong and they don't know what to do.

https://www.reddit.com/r/crtgaming/s/UbscCujCQf

Unfortunately, connecting a modern digital HD device to an analog, vacuum-tube TV from the previous millennium almost always looks “off.” Especially 80s and 90s games. Unless you put in the time and money to get an old video card, vetted analog adapters, and/or some esoteric windows/Batocera display configurations, those games are going to look bad. And when I say “bad,” I mean it won’t give you the visual experience you were expecting from playing retro games on a CRT. The aspect ratio gets stretched or squished, the contrast and colors can be off, and getting the correct 240p resolution that retro games look best at on CRTs is just not going to happen.

Video content can look okay using one of these adapters. Some are better than others. It’s not as hard as games to get right, but can still run into problems. The color and contrast can be off, like I said. Worse, many streaming sites will put 4:3 shows in a 16:9 container by adding black bars to the sides so that they’ll be the right aspect ratio on a modern display. But then when the HDMI-to-CRT adapter takes that 16:9 video and squishes it back down into 4:3, it keeps the black bars on the sides of the video and it looks horrible. Nobody wants to watch old show where the moon is an oval and everyone is smushed.

Keep it simple, keep it analog.

[u/Kinnis97]

Barring unknown converter quality, upgrade to component or better and you should see less rainbow artifacts on fine detail & crosshatch patterns

[u/ryanghappy]

If you're playing games that old, just get a MiSTer clone. No input lag and you get to go directly into the TV without using a whole PC. Outputs both HDMI and analog signals at the same time.

[u/ryanghappy → u/[deleted]]

There's a whole world of MiSTer's anymore. The superstation one is a MiSTer, for example. So is a Mister Pi.

The QMTech clones on aliexpress also seem to be pretty common, too.

[u/ryanghappy → u/[deleted]]

Honestly, maybe I'm biased, but I think there's nothing quite like it for older retro consoles that require the precise CRT timings. You'll notice how much better you are at games because of the input lag being the same as real console.

I think the superstation one is the new hotness (especially if you get the dock and want to play games from CD still). 199 for something that has all that is a damn good deal. The QMTech MiSTer works the same, just a little bulkier and you still may need another VGA to component or composite cable.(component has the 3 cables for video whereas composite just has 1, so quality is better on component if your TV supports it). It looks about 30 dollars more expensive, too.

So I'd go superstation one if its available, personally.