I had to google RetroTINK to figure out what you were talking about.

A single sentence at the beginning of your post would have saved me a bunch of reading - first, this post, and then, the first page of the RetroTINK website.

Something like "If you're looking to play retro games at higher resolutions, I tried out a video scaler to see how it does."

It should be pretty obvious I have no problem with off-topic posts here... but usually I at least know what I'm reading about.

You know… I totally thought I did. Guess not.

It's a scaler to play old systems on modern HD displays.

A single sentence at the beginning of your post would have saved me a bunch of reading - first, this post, and then, the first page of the RetroTINK website.

Something like "If you're looking to play retro games at higher resolutions, I tried out a video scaler to see how it does."

It should be pretty obvious I have no problem with off-topic posts here... but usually I at least know what I'm reading about.

The instructions tell you not to use composite video, but most people do not have their NES, SNES, or Genesis modded to output component or RGB. The results are pretty lousy with composite video, and in fact look worse than composite into a CRT. The image remains pretty crisp and vibrant on both an old Toshiba, and a Trinitron television. There is also a texture that none of the CRT filters manage to replicate. Overall, the image is far more pleasing on a real CRT if you have composite video in. The scaler also exacerbates chroma cross talk, so you will see exaggerated rainbow banding that is not present on a real CRT.

Component is a different story, as it retains its sharpness when scaled and looks pretty good. So for systems like the PS1, PS2, or OG Xbox, this is a pretty good way to play on modern displays.

There are two major advantages to using the RetroTINK. The first is the input delay. It scales the image with no noticeable latency, and is a huge improvement over a flat panel's built in scaling from analog inputs. You can play high action games with acceptable delay if your modern TV has a good game mode. A CRT still feels more responsive, but this is the closest you'll get.

The second is that it handles mixed signals really well. A non trivial amount of games switch resolution outputs frequently, which will sometimes confuse digital TVs or other scalers. Many PlayStation games will swap between 240p and 480i for example (Chrono Cross is notorious for this, wth the game being 240p and the menus being 480i). The RetroTINK can manage the switch without even so much as a dropped frame. You won't even know it's doing anything.

It also has very good sync. Genlock results in no delay or screen tearing, and if you want to capture the output then you can use a triple buffered mode. It's harder and harder to get good capture for old games these days, but this scaler would be really good for this.

Overall, I'd say if you have a CRT, don't toss it out. Especially if you have only composite video options, it's going to be preferable and look better than the RetroTINK. But for higher quality connections it's a pretty good alternative.

But nothing beats the original. So hold onto those ancient particle accelerators.