Just recently, my parents’ widescreen TV died (well, it actually works just fine; it’s just that, the menu screen won’t let you out), and so I helped in the endeavor to find a new one. Long, very frustrating story short, we found that Insignia is horrible (should I really have to make this many adjustments to the picture…for it to still look like crud?) and TV’s pretty much have no RCA ports anymore. (You know, the three colorful ones you use to plug consoles into the TV? I know, I didn’t know the real name before this day, either. They’re composite ports, another thing I learned while doing tons of research into the matter.) In the end, we managed to find a Sony TV that actually possessed the old-timey composite RCA ports (the others either didn’t have it at all or had this weird green/yellow split), and we got everything up and running again, but boy, was it difficult.
And you know, call me selfish, but don’t really, because that will cut me deep, but this got me strangely worried about my own TV situation. I love my video games (don’t we all, or else why are you here?), and it distresses me quite a bit to think that, in the future, if my TV succumbs to the same fate as my parents’ and joins the great big…place with TV’s in the sky, what if I can’t plug in my old consoles?
Because I have tons of them. The SNES goes into the coaxial cable thingy, which is no longer the same size on new TV’s and will no longer connect, and the rest go to RCA. I suppose the PS3 can do HDMI and maybe the 360, too, but what about my…deep breath…N64, GCN, PS2, Xbox, and Wii? And the SNES. What. Will I Do! Aside from convincing my parents to relinquish their new Sony, what if by the time my TV kicks the bucket, croaks, buys the farm, counts sheep (wait, I think one of those aren’t right…), I can’t find ANY TV’s with the ports I need? What if…I never get to play my darlings again? Is that the fate that awaits me? Aside from buying every game over again in digital versions every time a new console comes out? The ones available in such a form, at least. (I already know once the SNES finally, okay, I’ll just say it, dies, I may have to say bye-bye to “Illusion of Gaia”. And this is, sniff, hard for me to accept.)
So I’m aware I kind of (definitely did) went into a (psychotic) tirade, but this bugs me. Not everyone wants to get rid of their old things. There are still people out there who want to continue using the things they spent their hard-earned money on. I mean, they have devices that allow you to plug three consoles into RCA ports, but in order to connect said device to a TV, it, too, requires RCA ports. Doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose of the thing? What do us gamers do, I say? What other solution is out there for us? Really, please tell me, because I want to know.
So, have you guys faced this problem? Do you think such a dreadful fate awaits us gamers, or is there another solution? Or am I just being a weirdo? Is there some kind of magical device that allows consoles to still connect to TV’s so callously lacking in the miracle that is RCA? Or perhaps games can connect to computers in some way? Help me, dear friends! I can’t face a world without games more than 5 years old! I just can’t! Pretty much all of my good games are old! (That’s why I kept my parents’ old TV as a backup, in case I ever need it. Because I think I can save it. Or to quote a certain character from Wreck-It Ralph, “I can fix it!” At least, I’m going to try. Because it has so many lovely RCA ports, and I love it forever. No, not as much as you, my current TV.)
The Duck Has Faced the Veritable Apocalypse of My Gaming…And I Didn’t Like It
No need to worry Duck, it’s looking like you just didn’t find the right TVs. I don’t pretend to know the state of all the major brands out there, but I can tell you that the good ol’ RCA port is still very much alive and well. It’s just morphed a bit.
Personally, I like the Vizio brand. Been using them for 8 years now. Most recently I got one of their smart tv’s over the summer and not only does it have the usual HDMI ports, but it also has component hookups and even a coaxial jack. In regard to the RCA port, it’s become standard to merge that with the component cable hook up, all you have to do is plug the yellow plug into the green receiver, plug the red and white into the usual places and BOOM! you’re in business!
If Vizio’s doing that then you can be certain that the other tv makers are doing the same. Also, in regard to the SNES, if you haven’t already, you’ll make your life much easier if you use the RCA cable from your N64 or Gamecube rather than using the coaxial cable.
As for future TVs, if there isn’t a standard HDMI to RCA adapter out there already, you can be certain to find one on the internet. One way or another we’ll be cable to continue using our favorite consoles!
The guy at Best Buy said the green ports sometimes work with yellow and sometimes don’t, and you don’t know until you try it. Which scared me a little. But, I’ll keep Vizio in mind. And you can use the N64 or GCN cables with the SNES? I had no idea. I have the SNES plugged into a VCR (because VCRs are still awesome), which is plugged into a DVD player, which is plugged into the TV. Kind of weird. And that’s what I’m doing when I buy the Wii U. My TV has no HDMI ports, so people said to just use the RCA cables from the Wii. I will. I will do that. Anyway, thanks. Vizio will certainly be on my mind if my poor CRT ever goes to retro TV heaven.
Jacob hit the nail on the head about the RCA ports — we also have a Vizio TV and we can connect old consoles to it as he said. (I second Vizios — they are good, solid TVs that tend to be lower in price than your big name varieties.)
If you aren’t doing so already, keep a close eye on Amazon for adapters. Though the prices range widely, they really do make just about any shape, size, and model a console-happy gamer could ask for!
Thanks, I’ll be looking into Vizios in the future then. And yeah, I assume you can find pretty much anything on Amazon, but there’s always that part of me that asks, “What if I can’t?” I need to stop thinking that way, though. I always scare myself. Phew, it looks like my old consoles will be okay, after all. What a relief.