I did it once before probably 4-6 years back and it was a huge hit, but back then more people still had crt tvs and there were a couple we were able to use at the church. It was still a pretty big hassle even with that going for us since we had to lug TVs all over, not to mention all of the systems I had to set up. What is a way I can streamline this? At the church there are quite a few newer style TVs that I can use, but as I understand it I would need a converter for each tv so that it does not lag or have distorted video. My friend told me the youth group has a pretty decent budget, but I don't think they'd be able to shell out a ton for each TV to get them properly running. Is there a cheaper converter option that still functions well enough to do the trick?

Thanks in advance for any help

Maybe cheaper to just set up a bunch of the mini-consoles....

What systems are you looking to hook up?

If it's 8 and 16 bit, I'd just get some Raspberry Pi Zero kits, a few USB controllers and load them up with ROMs.

Bust out Bible Adventures, it's sure to be a hit.

Depending on the TVs, you may not need additional hardware. A lot of modern TVs still have composite inputs. The picture won't be amazing, but it wasn't going to be anyway with 8 bit or 16 bit graphics. At the least, I'd try hooking them up to see. Some TVs even allow you to chose to display in the native 4:3 aspect ratio.

I'd rather not do emulators, part of the wonder of it is playing the old hardware itself.

As far as the systems, last time I did from Atari 2600 all the way up to dreamcast.
Nes, SNES, N64 PS2, PS1, the works

Bible games night is actually a solid idea.
All I would have to hook up would be a few systems and they could test out all the awful games.
Although spiritual warfare is a solid game

Then you're looking at considerably more expense to hook up all those systems to modern TVs.

Get a RetroTink for each system/TV. $100 a pop.
http://www.retrotink.com/...

 

Agreed, use the mini Classic consoles with HDMI built-in. Hack them to add any games you want. Unless those aren't the games you're trying to play. What systems are you shooting for? The 4-player ones might be better for bigger groups.

Be sure to bring Demons Crest  

How many kids are in the group? I'm just curious given how many TVs and consoles you mention.



How so? If the TVs have composite (and RF for the Atari). I know some don't these days but this hasn't been stated yet.

Have you checked thrift stores for CRTs? Big places like Goodwill and ReStore don't accept CRTs, but there's still a small stack of them at one of the religious rescue mission and one of the pet-based thrift stores by me.

If it's more about size/convenience than cost RetroTink would be the easiest "cheap" setup, but I wouldn't personally spend $100 per TV for a one time church event. I'd probably just let them live with the bad HDTV composite. Surely you need a CRT for at least the Atari though.

He did say he wanted undistorted video. RF on an HDTV isn't pretty.

 

Oh, gotcha

is it bad that i read that post subject headline and thought.......hmmm this sorta sounds like a setup that i'm not sure i'd be comfortable attending alone.....

I think last time we did it there was around 40 that attended. Although some played dodgeball instead of gaming.

We may just try using the composite video output for most game systems, and maybe I will lug my 200 lb tv in for Atari and duck hunt.

Ive been considering buying converter so maybe I'll just buy one retrotink and see if my friend would buy one so we at least have a couple tvs with good quality video

Thanks for all the suggestions!