When I first got into the whole MAME / SCART thing, I had no idea about how video modes worked. I still don't have a great technical understanding of modeline construction but I now understand the importance of a SCART TV's ability to resolve vertical lines.
When I first got into GroovyMAME, I soon discovered the limits of my Loewe CT1170. Amazing picture quality (thanks to the E3000 chassis) but the circuitry only accepts a narrow range of video modes. Basically, anything that moves away from 50 or 60 Hz creates image distortions and, at 60 Hz, the TV won't display modes with more than 224 lines. That's pretty frustrating since so many games in MAME have 240 vertical lines!
When I tested out a Siemens for the first time I was pretty blown away when I saw R-Type running with 256 lines correctly displayed!
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| R-Type II |
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| R-Type II |
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| Strider (Japan) |
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| Strider |
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| Mortal Kombat |
This turned out to be one of several key discoveries that fueled my desire to test as many SCART TVs as possible. You may ask, "why not stop at the Siemens?" Well, the Loewe had better focus and colors... the Siemens was more compatible... so, surely there is a TV out there with all of these qualities in the one unit?
The search continues...
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