Retro Gaming Hits and Misses (Part 1 )

I recently watched a YouTube video touting the merits of using a retro TV for retro gaming. 

Before the early 2000s, all television screens were 4:3 (also called 1.33), and most movie screens were in the widescreen ratio of 16:9 (or 1.85). Here's the difference in screen size:

This is why most movies on broadcast TV or on VHS began with this message:

In basic terms, "Formatted To Fit Your TV" meant that the original widescreen image had been cropped from a rectangle to a square. It also meant that you never got to see the whole movie as intended. Something was always going to be missing. 

This is not true with retro video games from the 70s to 2000's. They were programed to be in that squarish 4:3 ratio. What you see is what you were supposed to get. 

This put me on the hunt for a 4:3 aspect ratio TV. I have on old tube TV that I can play games on, but the screen is only 13 inches, and it still takes up most of the space a desk or a coffee table. A LCD (liquid-crystal display) TV is much lighter, thinner, and will use less surface space. 

I bought this Sharp LC-20AV6U at GoodWill for $4.99. It has a 20 inch screen and the original remote was included. The marketing information for this TV brags that it is "Featuring a distinctive side-speaker design...". Actually those speakers are there to impersonate a widescreen TV. 

Nice try, Sharp. But you're not fooling anybody.

I like that it still has the warning sticker about the 2009 broadcast change. 

I also like the ability to connect through the component, s-video, RCA, and antenna options. 

I tested the TV with a DVD player. All was good. I'll call this a "Hit!"

Hits and Misses (Part 2)

Okay, I had the TV, and now I wanted to play games on it. I dusted off this second generation PlayStation 2 (also called the PS2s Slimline). I bought it used in 2008 at Gamers (now closed). 

The PlayStation 2 is supposed to play PS1 games, and PS2 games that are in a CD (blue) or a DVD (silver) format. It is also supposed to play music CDs and single or dual layer DVDs. 

My PS2 would only play the DVD games and music CDs. It wouldn't play CD games or DVD movies. 

That was really weird. It wouldn't even display the "PlayStation 2" logo upon start-up.

Miss! 

I should not have been surprised. I haven't turned on the PS2 in many years. Machines that don't get used regularly can break down just sitting in a dark closet or on a high shelf. Sometimes I wonder if these forgotten items die from a broken heart. 

I suspected the laser was simply worn out. It's the metallic part above the black circle. 

There are many YouTube videos explaining how to replace this laser, so I bought a replacement from Amazon, and studied tutorials while I waited for it to arrive.

A couple of Phillips screwdrivers and a soldering iron is all you need. The soldering iron is for removing the "solder ball" that protects the laser from static damage while it is in the mail.

It's been awhile since I soldered anything, so I also bought a roll of Desoldering Wick Braid. This stuff is great. I just laid the braid over the solder ball, pressed down with the hot tip of the soldering iron, and the braid absorbed the solder instantly. Just cut off the used strip of braid and throw it away.

I didn't take any pictures of my laser replacement process. There wasn't anything in there that wasn't in the YouTube videos. I buttoned the PS2 up, connected it to my new TV, and held my breath as I waited for the PS2 logo to appear...

 Hit!

Thanks to the internet and a new lens, I'm back in the game. A few discs need to be tried a couple of times to work, but that's a minor quibble.  

Here's a retro setup - PS1, N64, and PS2. I'm using a mini jack cable to connect the TV's headphone jack to a computer speaker setup (two satellite speakers and a subwoofer).

Okay, but before you think just I'm bragging about my hits, I need to tell you about my next project. 

For me, fixing things is addictive. I love the rush I get when I can help something broken come back to life. I remembered that my buddy Rob had given me his original PS2 (also called the "PS2 Fat") about 15 years ago. I think that it had quit reading discs, and my trusty lens cleaner disc had failed to fix the problem. I found Rob's old PS2 Fat in a bin in my storage closet.

The console confirmed that it would not play DVD discs of any kind. Also, there was a strip of color distortion on the screen when I played a CD-rom game. I went back to Amazon...

Installing the Fat laser wasn't much different than working with the slim version. I used the solder braid to remove the solder blobs, and used the screwdrivers to install the laser. I then buttoned the PS2 up, connected it to my new TV, and held my breath as I waited for the PS2 logo to appear...

Miss! 

The results were exactly the same as before. Dang! I had to take the machine apart again, remove the new laser so I could return it, and then call this a fail. I decided to put it back together as it was, and see if I could find a different solution.

Then things really went south. A ribbon cable came loose, and I couldn't find where to re-attach it. I lost a small screw that had popped out and onto the floor, and in my frustration I broke the disc tray. I got so mad I scooped everything up and threw it in the garage can in the garage. 

Double Miss!!

Ten minutes later I had my torso in our stinky and mildly wet garage can trying to rescue what parts I could find amongst the sticky, bulbous bags of waste. As I type this the piles of parts are still out in the garage on top of our rain barrels. They laugh at me every morning when I walk by them on my way to work.

No, I do not always hit what I aim for, and sometimes I miss again because of my character flaws.

"I was playing golf. I swung, missed the ball, and got a big chunk of dirt. I swung again, missed the ball, and got another big chunk of dirt. Just then, two ants climbed on the ball saying, 'Let's get up here before we get killed!'" - Henny Youngman

Retro Gaming Hits and Misses (Part 3)

No, I didn't fix Rob's old PS2 "Fat" (using that nickname is a little uncomfortable), and my anger may (did) have made the situation worse.  And now Rob's old PS2 maybe a pile or two of parts... 

...  but they are good looking parts. The top cover looks flawless.

That got me thinking about finding a way to redeem myself. I decided to check eBay for a PS2 that needed parts.

I found two auctions that looked promising.

#1:

Item description from seller: "Kid got a hold of the drill and started drilling holes into it. They are only on the surface; nothing inside was damaged. Console works like a charm!"

I figured I could replace the top shell with mine. That would be an easy fix. I was a bit leery about the honesty of a seller who allowed a small child access to power tools. 

#2:

Item description from seller: "LAST TIME THIS THING WAS TURNED ON IT WORKED FINE SAT IN A BOX ECER SINCE I DONT HAVE CORDS OR ELSE I WOULD TEST BUT ID SAY IT WORKS"

I have cords and a disc tray cover, so that would be an easy fix, too. I was a bit leery of it sitting in a box for a long time and of the seller really having no way to test it (and the all-caps didn't help). 

I put in a low bid on auction #1, but I lost during the night. That was a good thing. The seller of auction #2 sent me a offer of 50% off his $30 price. The total was $32.10 with shipping. Not a bad price to pay for retro game redemption.

The seller's name on eBay is porkemon.

I like how the mailer box was decorated. Somebody was having fun.

The first thing I did when I opened the box was to attach my disc tray cover to the new PS2. Whew. That looks better.

What didn't look better was the TV when I tested this PS2. The console technically worked. I could turn it on. The problem was that the left side of the startup screen was blue when it was supposed to be black. The colors were also way off when playing games. DVDs, however, looked great. Huh?

Miss?

I took a deep breath and checked Google for someone with a solution. No dice. My next inclination was to grab my tool box, but then I stopped myself. Just because I could open it up doesn't mean that I should. Sometimes I have a tendency to "over fix" a problem. I forget to check the simple things first.

I checked the AV port that is on the lower right of the back. 

It looked dirty. Maybe that was my problem? (Notice that the Warranty Seal is still intact.)

I dipped a Q-tip in isopropyl alcohol and ran that back and forth across the contacts. The Q-tip came out covered with grime. That was encouraging. I went through six more Q-tips, but there was no change in the screen's discoloration. I then sprayed the port with DeoxIT D5 and let it sit overnight. 

One thing that I learned while working on pinball machines is that sometimes a machine can fix itself. It just needs to be used. Some people call this "playing through the problem." 

The next day I popped in Sled Storm (PS1 1999) and played for a few minutes. The screen looked yellow, but after losing a few races I noticed that the correct colors would blink on for a moment or two. I exchanged the game disc for a CD, and let the Pixies' Dolittle play. The startup screen was entirely black after a few hours of playing music. Is it a coincidence that the lead singer for the Pixies is Black Francis? 

The PS2 had fixed itself with a little cleaning. I didn't even have to cut the Warranty Seal. 

Hit! 

Now to explain that sound bar...

Retro Gaming Hits and Misses (Part 4)

I have been using this Vizio sound bar in our basement for years.

The sound bar was quite a revelation. An explosion on the screen made it feel like I was surrounded by debris and flames, and I didn't need six speakers to pull that off. Since it is only a 2.1 system (two enclosed speakers and a subwoofer), it really works well with my older, 2.0 DVDs. 

I found this Vizio subwoofer at GoodWill a couple of months ago for $6. I checked my phone to see if it was possible to connect two subwoofers to one sound bar. The internet said it was possible. I bought it hoping I could bring more thunder downstairs.

Miss!

I couldn't get the sound bar to recognize the other subwoofer in the room. Shoot! I almost put the sub in the garbage since I had no way to test it. In the end, I left it near my chair and used it as a small table/ drink coaster. I was just being lazy to be honest. 

I recently found a Vizio sound bar by its lonesome at the Many Hands Thrift Store. The price sticker read, "No cords, untested, $10." I flipped it over to take a picture of model label. That evening I remembered the picture and compared it to the label on the sub. They were both Vizio V3. I brought the sound bar home the next day and although it took awhile the two eventually paired. 

Back to Amazon I went.

The replacement remote works just fine.

Hit!

I'm using an optical audio cable to connect the PS2 to the sound bar and some wood scraps from school to raise the bar over the cords.

A lot gets lost in translation when you use a phone to record a television screen, but this is what it kind of looks and sounds like after all these hits and misses. This is part of the opening to Sled Storm (2002). 

I have to admit I'm impressed with the TV. I would have laughed at the idea of buying a 4:3 set a couple of years ago. Now I think I should grab a couple more while I can...

Retro Stereo on a Budget: Another Three-Legged Dog

R.I.P., Sony STR-AV330...

My Sony receiver stopped working when I accidentally slid the volume control all the way to the right. I immediately realized my mistake and turned the volume down, but it was too late. The Sony had gone dark. I removed the receiver's lid and discovered that I had blown a fuse.

I replaced the fuse, but that didn't fix the situation. The Sony kept blowing fuses. I don't know why. I didn't want to spend any more time or money on it, so I removed the receiver's legs and put it on the curb. That was during junk weekend, and the Sony was gone in 20 minutes.

I went back to shopgoodwill.com and won an auction for another Sony receiver that was missing its front leg. I guess I'm a sucker for those.

The Sony STR-VX550 pumps out 50 watts per channel and was manufactured in 1983. So, it meets my nerdy 1980 -1985 criteria. It was $48 with shipping, so it was close to my price target of $40. The auction listing stated that Sony "turns on," and that was all that was tested. It was true that it turned on. My problem was that none of the other buttons worked. Not. One. Other. Button. 

Goodwill auctions offer no returns or refunds, so I had purchased a Sony brick. Dang! I wasn't ready to give up, though. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, our hero:

I removed the lid and faceplate and did my best to spray the back of the switches with the DetoxIT. Then I pressed each switch about 50 times. I sprayed more DetoxIT and worked the switches again. Lather, rinse, repeat. 

Very slowly the receiver began to show signs of life. At first I could only activate the radio. A  few minutes later I could move the volume up and down and the balance from left to right. After two hours and a sore finger, I had most buttons reliably making contact. I had to clean a couple of switches again a few days later because they had stopped working. It is a work in progress. But at least it is not a brick.

For a guy like me, DetoxIT is quite a handy product. I just bought a second can. 

Since I had legs from the other Sony receiver, I was able to replace the missing one in seconds. I also soldered in a new 3V lithium battery for the radio's preset memory.

 Right now the receiver is paired with a Technics SL-P150 CD Player and Minimus 7 speakers. They're all on the freezer in the garage until I can be reasonably sure the button contacts have stayed clean. 

I was happy to learn that this Sony receiver works with a remote. That's a first for me with an old receiver. I could get an offical Sony remote on eBay for $25.

But this Gemini Universal Remote does almost everything the offical RM-S750 would do. I really like how these Gemini remotes work with older electronics. I bought another Gemini off the 'Bay instead of the Sony remote.

While testing the AM reception, I listened to a couple of sports radio personalities discuss the Star Wars "May the Fourth be with You" day. I thought that they were going to make fun of it, but instead one said something like this, "I'll be honest, I don't understand the guy who dresses up like Darth Vader and goes to those conventions and hangs out with other adults in costumes. But I bet he looks at guys like me going to a ball game and says, 'Look at that guy wearing a uniform to the ball park. What does he think? That he's one of the guys on the team?' I think it's the same for pro wrestling and NASCAR fans. I might not understand the Darth Varder guy, but I get him. I might not understand the rabid NASCAR fan, but I get him and I get the pro wrestler guy, too." 

Again, I am paraphrasing what I heard, but I think I captured the spirit of their conversation. It was refreshing to hear someone say, Hey, I'll admit that we're different. I don't really understand your enthusiasms, but I can respect them, and I can respect you. 

How Did You Spend June 7? (National VCR Day)

National VCR Day is exactly my kind of holiday. Most people threw out their VCRs years ago. I think I still have three (or four).

This is a great day to celebrate in the garage! I pulled this JVC Hi-Fi Stereo VCR out of storage and dusted it off.

I ran this old head cleaner tape through the JVC, but that was mostly for nostalgia. I don't really think these tapes do much.

It's unnecessary, but I wanted to see if this universal remote would work with the JVC.

They don't print VHS codes for these remotes anymore, but the DVD/VHS combo machine code 0692 was successful.

I haven't seen this videocassette message in quite awhile. (See, it is Hi-Fi!) I wonder what the movie will be?

Charlotte's grandpa and grandma dropped off a box of VHS tapes awhile ago, and we found The Princess Diaries in the mix. Fun fact: Garry Marshall also directed Pretty Woman. Thematically, the movies are close, and Hector Elizondo plays a similar role in both films.

Daphne really likes The Princess Diaries, and now Char has become a fan. The VHS image looks pretty good.

The Princess Diaries is probably better than the VHS movie tapes that I picked out.

Yeah, much better...

Happy VHS Day!

Bigger Can Be Better, but Sometimes Less is More

When we moved into our house five years ago, I was bummed that our large, widescreen TV didn't fit in the living room built-in. The house was built in the 2002, and the cabinet was constructed to hold those old tube TVs that are shaped more like a square.

I'd like to tear it out and replace the built-in with something more modern, but after the kitchen remodel project, that won't be in the cards for some time.

Having the golden pine stained a darker color was an easy update. This is a huge improvement.

Now it looks better, but it isn't any bigger. Luckily, modern TVs have a much thinner "frame" surrounding their edge. Now a larger television screen can fit into this same space. A 43" TV may not be huge, but it fills much more of the void.

That leaves me with an extra TV. *rubs hands together* I think it would be fun to have a space in the basement dedicated to retro video gaming. What I really need to do is to sell some pinball machines to make more room. I'd rather try that in the summer when I have more flexibility with my time. I'm going to use this desk for now.

(Wow. When I look at that picture, I can see how messy those cables look... I need to have only one system out at a time.)

I like how our older Vizio displays classic games in their proper 4:3 ratio.

My new TV automatically stretches the image of anything that uses RCA plugs, and it can't be undone. That bothers me.

The Vizio supports S-video, so I bought this cable from eBay for 5 bucks. It's a cheap upgrade for early Nintendo sytems.

For audio, a computer speaker system - two satellites and a subwoofer - works like a sound bar.

The speakers will add to the fun of playing Ridge Racer on the PS1. Once that game is loaded, you can swap the game disc with a music CD and listen to whatever you want while you race. I like Fu Manchu's "California Crossing."

A few days later...

Rats. The problem is that the Vizio is just too big for the desk. I had to push my chair 6 to 7 feet back to comfortably see the entire screen, and that just felt weird. Also, the retro games look so pixelated and washed out on a LCD TV. For the games to look correct, you really do need an old CRT TV. These games were designed to be displayed on tube TVs.

So, I'm using this Panasonic CT-1386 VY monitor instead. The price was right - free! The screen is only 13 inches, but you don't notice that when you play because you can sit so much closer to the desk. (Why is Earl in so many of my pictures?)

The Panasonic was manufactured in 1999, and it also accepts S-video. I can use the new cable with the Super Nintendo, the Nintendo 64 and the GameCube. I have a S-video cable for the PlayStation 1 and 2 on the way. I'll connect other systems using BNC to RCA adapters.

The Panasonic supports only one audio channel, but I am using the monitor just for video. For sound I can connect the console's audio cables directly to the computer speakers using female RCA adapters. The nice part is that a sound bar would block the buttons on the monitor. The satellite speakers don't do that.

The speakers sound pretty good.

The difference between the Vizio and the Panasonic is more than noticeable. Blu-rays look great on the Vizio, but these older games just shine on a tube TV. I wish I could get better pictures to share, but here are two from the opening of Ridge Racer 64. (Of course, there's a dog hair on the screen.)

Once the setup was ready, I brought Char downstairs to see it.

She was disappointed that the big TV was gone, but that changed when I fired up the GameCube. "Oh my gosh! That looks so good." Charlotte jumped out of the chair and ran to the back of the room. "I can read it from way over here! It's so clear!" It was almost time for bed, but I let her play Animal Crossing for five minutes. Char kept commenting how much sharper the patterns and the characters looked. When we turned it off, Char turned to me and said, "Dad, do not get rid of this TV. Promise?"

I promised.