Playing PC games on the TV

[Melf]

Being a big MAME fan, I've been considering options to play the classic arcade games on my 27'' TV in stero, as opposed to the 17'' monitor and dinky speakers on my PC (in a whole other room). I was thinking about getting a PC tower, in the range of about 800mhz, only Windows XP and MAME installed, and enough RAM to run everything. I'd like it to have RCA audio outs and s-video (if possible).

Is this feasible? I'm a PC gaming newbie and don't really know much about what's best, cheapest, etc. Any help is appreciated (notice I said "help" and not "trolling." ).

I also saw this. It looks pretty cool for actual PC games, but doesn't seem cost-effective for what I want...

From their site:

The price of the first DISCover® console from Apex Digital will be $399. Higher-end units will be loaded with options such as CD/DVD Burners and PVRs, and will be offered at a wide range of price points from a number of partners, including Alienware.

[Sl1p]

This thread was going good...until you brought up the DISCover as a serious solution.

My video card (The almighty Radeon 9800Pro) has S-Video out. It makes stuff look like crap but it's good for when I need to transfer stuff from my older machine, since I don't have a second monitor at the moment. I'm sure someone has a better solution than that.

[Melf]

But would it cost much to have an older model PC (around 800mhz) made just for it? I have no idea what video and sound card I'd need, which has what outs, etc.

Help!

[Videodrone]

I'd like it to have RCA audio outs and s-video (if possible).

Trust me you will only want S-video (even though you wll still be disappointed). If you serious want to use a TV to play game on a regular basis, a digital TV with VGA input is probably your only option.

But would it cost much to have an older model PC (around 800mhz) made just for it? I have no idea what video and sound card I'd need, which has what outs, etc.

Help!

Basically you need a videocard with TV-out and any sound card will do, you just need to get a mini-plug to RCA split-out to run into the TV or stereo.

[Melf]

Ugh. I need to use my regular WEGA. I could settle for composite but that would suck big time.

So no s-video and RCA audio out possibe then? I play my Genesis and SNES in s-video so I'm sure that MAME games wouldn't look that bad. I might well be wrong though.

*EDIT*

Saw the rest of your reply.

So, I can do that then? Around how much would something like this run me?

[Videodrone]

IMO I would spend the money and get a 19" monitor and a 5/6 speaker set up for your PC for about $250-$300.

[Melf]

The problem is, my PC is in a whole other room! I'd like to have a little tower set up in my game room just for this. I want to keep the gaming off my work PC.

[Videodrone]

Ugh. I need to use my regular WEGA. I could settle for composite but that would suck big time.

So no s-video and RCA audio out possibe then? I play my Genesis and SNES in s-video so I'm sure that MAME games wouldn't look that bad. I might well be wrong though.

*EDIT*

Saw the rest of your reply.

So, I can do that then? Around how much would something like this run me?

What kind of PC titles you wanna run? New stuff or stuff from 2 years ago?

[bbobb]

If you don't have VGA input on your TV do not under any circumstances try this. PC games look horrible at the low television resolutions. Even in S-Video it's going to be ugly as hell. But if you really want to punish yourself you could probably pick up a Video Card w/ S-Video out for under a couple hundred.

[Matt]

Depends on your TV, really. A friend of mine runs emulators through S-Video from his PC, and it looks pretty good. Not too much different from his Xbox MAME through component. Obviously it won't look as good as it does on your PC, but if your eyes are used to playing consoles it won't be nearly so bad as you think.