Rear Projection TV's & Lightguns?

Damien-King

So I'm probably going to be going about setting up a little console room and am thinking about screens.

This is literally going to be craic with my mates and a few beers so I'm not chasing perfection here.

one thing I was considering is just use one of my old short throw projectors, has composite in and audio & video can be handled my my lovely old brute of a marantz home cinema amp paired up with my 1984 small Bang & Olufsen speakers.

The only problem with this setup is im not going to be able to use my guncons. I've a nice little sony crt but its an awful small screen to be aiming at after a few beers.

A nice big old 4:3 rear projection Tv wouldnt take up half the room but Im not too clued up so your thoughts & experiences would be most welcome.

getting mixed information online around rear projection tvs, some say they support lightguns, others dont. could this be dependent on if tv is 50 or 100 hz?

Kimbot

Theres plenty of "Arcade Sticks" that you can use with your modern TV's and you can also replace the internals with updated boards. SO you could go that route and get a cheap stick and replace the innards with the new Pandora Box 10th edition and get the compatible light guns for it :)

Kimbot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5aUhOROyus

o1s1n

That's right, it'll work as long as it's not a 100hz rear projection TV (Which a lot of them are)

Sure some of the deluxe Time Crisis cabinets used rear projection to get nice big screens.

I'd say you might run into issues with the lightguns registering though if the power of it is a bit weak, I know some lightguns can be a bit light hungry.

Would definitely be a class setup, sometimes you just need a big screen don't you? I'd say it'd be great fun to get a PS2 and Time Crisis 2 going on.

Other option is to hunt for a monstrous CRT projector, they work too 😁

Damien-King

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121224104#Comment_121224104

I Dont really want to go down that route, I'd rather use my original old consoles and accessories with a TV. I already have an upright jamma cab with a multiboard, A cocktail jamma cab with a multiboard and another upright cab running maximus arcade.

Just asking about anyones experiences with rear projection TVs and Lightguns :)

Damien-King

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121224117#Comment_121224117

Yeah, I'm thinking that the newer 16:9 ones are more likely to be 100hz but I'd ideally want a 4:3 so probably more likely to be the older 50 - 60 hz

Good shout there on the light output, I'm sure its nothing pulling the curtains wouldn't help with.

I just think 2 player time crisis or point blank on a big (ish) screen using original hardware would be cooool

Id actually be happy enough with a biggish crt, and lets face it it's gonna look better, but some big screen pew pew pew would be a laugh

Actually came across a crt projector around 10 years ago, and by Christ it was a sizable lump of a thing. For once I did the sensible thing and left it. where would you even get something like that repaired?

o1s1n

The only way you're going to get one of those big CRT projectors calibrated/repaired is learning to become a CRT projector technician yourself 😁

I've heard they're an absolute nightmare to calibrate. Haven't seen one in the flesh myself but have watched a lot of vids and they look amazing. You get 240p scanlines in exactly the same way as a regular CRT and lightguns works perfectly.

Burn in is meant to be a massive issue though. I always wonder if scanlines would be likely to burn in with prolonged use.

dav09

I've seen rear projectors in the flesh and they are mental, and always broken whenever I've seen them. I'd say like @o1s1n said unless you're prepared to learn them inside and out stay clear, they typically dont last long if they have prolonged use.

But yeah there are newer guns you can get which would at least get it working as on option on LCD or CRT. If it was me I'd rather look for a 38" CRT (Hantarex made them I believe). But yeah I tried lift one once and no way could I even get it off the ground.

80s Synth Pop

I've a 50 inch 4:3 toshiba crt RPTV and love it. It works a dream for light gun games.

They are hard to come by nowadays but I saw 2x come up last year on adverts and posted about them here. Nobody took them so they went to recycling.

Very light weight considering the size.

Huge screen size and scanlines so big and juicy.

Example:

https://youtu.be/1G-Vb8yzXXI?si=uSbMK-eFUPmkTPE2

You need a darkish room though.

Be careful you don't get an lcd one by accident. Ask for the model number and check it out online.

Also you can get barco crt long throw projectors and project up to 80inch on the wall. They used to sell new for £30k but usually go for free or €100 if they come up (Rarer than the RPTV's) Light guns work with those too.

Example:

https://youtu.be/CxbrxXPBigk?si=CEcAioMY4L_xwfEr

You need a totally dark room for this.

For me the order of CRT greatness is:

1. RPTV 50 inch
2. Tri sync 29 inch
3. PVM
4. Consumer TV

Damien-King

That Toshiba rear projection job looks magnificent!

I remember seeing them on here. I was pre occupied looking after my wife who was receiving cancer treatment at the time.

Ligue1myown

I think it's going to be a real struggle to find 1. Rear-projections themselves aren't so difficult to find, but not many of the 1s I've come across online are in a 4:3 ratio (it took me months before I found 1).

I hope I'm not doing anything wrong by saying this, but I've a 4:3 CRT (I'm pretty sure) rear-projection TV that I could sell (I haven't posted any ads for it, as I'm still using it on a regular basis. However, I might be replacing it soon with a big 4:3 LCD, in which case it won't be of much use to me anymore). It's 100hz, & I've no idea if it would work with lightguns (I only use it to watch TV).

A 4:3 model will probably pop up on Adverts at some point, but it could easily be 6 months before that happens. I've tried looking elsewhere, but Adverts seems to be where it's at.

dav09

I have a Sega Top Skater with a 50 inch 4:3 rear projection on it that I got recently, hoping it's still in okay shape (haven't turned it on yet) but had the idea to use it for light gun games potentially, a bunch of arcade cabinets were made with big rear projection monitors like the late 90s/ early 2000's sega stuff like the DLX Naomi and Model 2/3 stuff, megalo etc. You might have the chance of finding someone selling one of them or just the monitor off of one in decent condition if you have the room for something that big too, I've seen them come up a good bit.

tonyotonyo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121239815#Comment_121239815

That crt projector is the business. Would love to play the house of the dead games on that

Damien-King

a 4:3 rear projection tv?

keep me posted. I could always pop down with a ps1 and lightguns and see if it works?