The Siemens that created a monster

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!

R-Type II

R-Type II

Strider (Japan)

Strider

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...

Philips with detachable speakers

While riding my bike to the train station last Monday morning I spotted a retro Philips TV on the curb. I made a mental note of where it was and picked it up in the car that night after work. Turned out to be in great condition with hardly a mark on the casing and the remote sitting neatly by its side. Nice! The only downer was that some scum bag had come along and snipped the power cord and also the speaker extension cables (this TV has a cool detachable speaker system). Grr! I hate these copper recyclers!

Tonight I got around to pulling the back casing off and attaching a new power cable. Fingers crossed as I powered on... static on the screen, check... press the channel button... green led, check... picture? Check!

The chassis is super clean (looks just like new) and the picture is quite good. It's an older style Philips tube but the focus is still very good. Colours are less vivid than the later Black Matrix tubes. Perhaps a tube swap in the future? We'll see...

I'll need to find out the code for the Service Menu (some pincushion effect present) but the signs are good for this TV! Smooth picture that's well suited to retro arcade games. Very stable image.

Looking forward to spending some more time with this one as Philips is a brand I'm not very familiar with in terms of SCART gaming. I've ticked off Grundig, Sony, Loewe on my journey and Philips has been an obvious omission. More photos to come after I spend some time tuning this one up...

Philips 28GR5775/30B (Made in Belgium)

Philips A66EAK51X03 tube (Made in France)

Strider

Cabal

Altered Beast