Retro.
Ps3.
I haven't really felt old until this very moment.
this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2026
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2 GTA games landed on it. Think of how long that is. It was out for 11 years, nearly forever in console time. A literal generation of time passed.
If anything ps3 was the point where they started designing with HD in mind. You want ps2 and lower. So for one example, the textures in Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast version) result in a pseudo-3D effect on a CRT, but become noticeably flattened on an HD display.
You could also give the famous Symphony of the Night a try, and see if the art really does match that example picture. Really anything ps1 era, and SNES as well.
My retro system is a PS3
I'll just be over here, dead. 💀
The Ps4 was released 47 years ago.
Feel old yet?
Seriously, it was rare/very short lived to see a PS3 played on displays that weren't LCD'S or plasmas
It launched in 2006. A 40" was still more than $1000. A 32" Crt TV could be had for $~400~300. I'm guessing a lot of these wound up attached to CRT tv's
Dude, I was there and this is not true. Ps3 is what pushed me to opt for HD, and 90% of the time I spent on that system was in HD. That shift happened everywhere very quickly, especially by the time Skyrim came out - the text of which is damn near unreadable on a CRT.
One of the things that sold the PS3 was it's blue ray player. At a cheap price. As someone who also "was there" I never saw anyone playing blue ray on a crt. Like I said, it was short lived to see any ps3's being played on one as well
The last of the CRTs were 720/1080i. I didn't have one but for HDDVD/ BD disks it was killer to watch compared to an LCD. Plasma was a very deep pocket purchase, even for someone who could afford an early PS3/Xbox 360 HDDVD.
Speak for yourself, I used to play my Xbox 360 on a bad boy like this one
spoiler
Do you have any xbox360 recommendations? I just found a broken one looking in the garbage.
Maybe stylized racing games like Blur. Or COD: Black Ops for the atmosphere. The 360 had a ton of great games. I remember playing GTA4 and Turning Point: Fall of Liberty on the CRT back then. Though I really can't recommend the latter.
Thanks. I had a working xbox 360 gifted from a friend the RROD on the first disk of Mass Effect 2
The adapters probably cost more than replacing the tv at that point. That wouldnt have RGB, or even a video right? What did it have other than coax?
I assume svdieo and left right audio
At least here in Europe we had SCART for CRTs. SCART is multipurpose connection, that supports variety of cables, including RGB. There was no adapter needed.
Ah, it was what we called RCA for long time of my youth here. Left right audio, and shit video connection. (Grew up in U.S., Florida)
I also had my 360 hooked up to a CRT, though mine was of the 90s school of design.
it was on a crt when I first got it. It was some years before I got the LCD TV it was still hooked up to.
I only had a projector when i got my ps3
It was glorious!
I used a projector and optical out to a receiver with a duel boot of yellowdog Linux on my first PS3. The "bread box" I guess they called it later. Great machine.
Yeah i tried linux on it too but.. at the time it was pretty useless for a gamer with a brand new console
I regret selling it these days
A gen 1 genesis with component on a crt is just about peak 16 bit gaming. So fucking clear.
PS3 comes with Composite cables. Why not use them instead of trying to downscale HDMI back to SD and adding lag?
The D24 is a 1080i monitor. I'd been reading around and it seemed that was a better way to connect it them the component cables.
Not sure that HDMI to component would be any better than just going straight component if your PVM doesn’t accept HDMI. Even if it does accept HDMI, it probably would be better to do straight component anyway. I would defer to your research as I’m not an experts on PVMs.
But personally I would probably just play ps3 on an LCD rather than a CRT. Most games, especially the last half of the generation were designed to plan on an LCD and it’s the easiest to connect and get good picture quality.
Checking on this the HDMI can be converted to HD-SDI which is a digital signal. The BVM internal DAC's are reported to be better than what game systems came with. However I'm not sure if it is worth the cost /effort.
It's just that I have one, so in this case I wouldn't have to drop ??? $$ to get a different retro system and a game. It also plays PS1 games so that opens things up a bit.
Try to get yourself a console with a lightgun like a NES. Those game are basically only possible on a CRT.
I don't think that's going to be in the cards. I might see if there are places I can rent/borrow one.
That there is a Gem in the CRT community. Please use it for GameCube! Id give my leg to try a BVM
Is there a specific game?
Star Fox Assault, Rogue Squadron 2 and 3, Battalion Wars, and Chibo-Robo! are all good games.
Super Smash bros Melee
The biggest difference you're going to see for fidelity on CRT displays will be improvements for 2d and early 3d games. There are some SNES games with some great art styles that are better suited to CRT. If you like RPGs, I'd check out Shadowrun, Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, and Super Mario RPG. For 3D games, FFVII is one that particularly stands out for me as looking pretty bad on modern monitors but pretty good on CRT. Even something like Goldeneye for N64, which looks comically bad on modern screens, was a lot nicer looking at the time.
Admittedly, especially in the case of Goldeneye, some of this may just be that the games looked comparatively better before later 3D gave it us a better basis for comparison, but CRT is at least a factor. SNES games really shine with CRT, though. The art styles had really come into their own in that final 2D console generation, and a lot of them look much better than what followed on the first 3D consoles.
And that's not a coincidence. Not all, but the best pixel artists took the limitations and quirks of the tech from that era into account when designing. Not only the CRT technology with scanlines and other properties, also the cable connection you got plays a huge role. Not only on SNES, but also very apparent on the Mega Drive / Genesis. Nowadays I play old systems on emulators only and don't want to miss a good Shader which simulates old CRT effects. They get pretty close to the original thing (depending on the shader and depending on to what monitor you compare).
Let's not forget possibly the most iconic one, Dracula from Symphony of the Night
99% sure this one is fake, every time it gets posted its mentioned that his eyes are doctored
I was about to comment with incredible surprise that a single red pixel for his eyes could blend across 6-7 pixels on a CRT.
Hmm, never read that. I will test this myself with bunch of different Shaders, if any of them has a similar effect. It might be because there are many Shaders that simulate the CRT effects and can be customized.
Would the Nintendo switch remakes of the Square game through HDMI also carry the improved look?
I don't have a switch so I don 't really know. Emulators that simulate CRT blur aren't terrible, but they're not really the same. I think most of the remakes tend to have more modern looking pixel graphics, though, so it's not going to be quite the same as genuine CRT blur.
I was thinking of running the switch games though the crt.
If it’s not doing any processing to the image maybe, it’s certainly worth a try.
In my opinion, PS3 is in it's trash/waste phase and not quite retro yet. And it's a correct opinion.
So it's in the perfect buy it now phase. Like when goodwill would have 4-5 Snes on the shelf and a shopping bag of games for $20
The PS3 is still just a bluray player in my eyes, I don't remember too many people getting one for gaming at the time it was released.
For hdmi to Rca, i just got something chap on Amazon. You can get crazy and go down a rabbit hole, but it worked fine for running my Chromecast and laptop on a crt.
When it launched I took the day off work and rented a movie theater to play it. ( I knew the projectionist so I only paid the theater) I then rented all of the ps3 games from blockbuster. The wireless controllers worked from the front row of the theater to the booth.
It was awesome for gaming.