My Game Room

[Atari 5200 Guy]

Hey guys!

I never shared pics of my game room before.  At least I don't think I have.  But it is currently getting overhauled.

Sorry for the crude picture.  Tablet cameras are crap.  But, I have decided to condense my collection down.  The 32" TV was the first to go.  It was simply too large for my needs and I never could find a stand capable of supporting its 112 pounds.  Good news is it went to a home in need that was trying to watch TV on a small 13" thing.  It got replaced with a 20" Memorex TV I found sitting on our apartment complexes "give-away" table.  A lot more manageable.

The second part was storing away games and consoles I rarely use.  Those have been placed in boxes and put in a closet.  Atari stuff remains which is not as small of a collection as I originally thought.  I am also seriously considering putting the Tandy VIS collection I have on that give away table.  I never use it and that space can be used for other things I will use.  Its drive cover plate recently just fell off anyway and the controller sucks.  Then again, I wouldn't want to cause a child to cry so...its up in the air at the moment.

Well, its not going to get done with me on here but it was a nice break.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

Well.  I found a piece of furniture I can use for a TV stand and hold the 5200.  It was a used end table I found at a yard sale a few years ago.  The 5200 fits perfect on it!  It can even slide under the TV when not in use.

I still have to figure out the rest and put away cables not being used.  Been at this all night but its been interesting actually.  I even freed up some space for another media shelf if I can find one close to what I already have.  Its slowly getting there.

 

[RickR]

That TV looks pretty nice.  Very flat picture tube.  👍

[Atari 5200 Guy]

Thanks, RickR!  You should a seen what it looked like when I found it.

It was filthy.  And, yep, took apart to check for bugs.  None found.  It was actually clean on the inside.  Small main board, too.  I was hoping it would be like the Apex I had that could switch between 50 and 60 Hertz but it  can't.  I've not been able to play Secret Quest since that Apex died.

And, yes, it is a true flat screen.  For those that do not know, CRT manufacturers before LCDs dominated the TV market researched and finally succeeded in making CRTs with a flat screen.  While not hi-def by today's standards they do offer better image quality.  So most CRTs during the early to mid 2000s will have a flat screen.  I recommend picking them up if you find them.  Sanyo went so far as to create a CRT wide-screen...about a 30" I think.  I wanted one but before I could get one LCDs phased them out.  Check out the CNET page for more info on that.

Whoops!  Forgot that link.

https://www.cnet.com/products/sanyo-ht30746-vizzon-30-crt-tv/

That TV I would love to find.

Edited December 22, 2018 by kamakazi20012

[RickR]

I think the secret was that the Sony patents on their Trinitron tubes finally ran out, so copy-cat  technology finally came to be.  You gotta be careful, though....some manufacturers would just add a flat glass cover over a rounded tube. 

The flat tubes are most definitely the way to go.  They look great.  But boy-o, they sure do get heavy the bigger you go. 

I have a friend that was offering up a HUGE Toshiba tube tv that had the flat tube, was about 42", and it even had HDMI inputs!  So sweet.  I couldn't do it, though.  The thing must have weighed 200 lbs. 

 

Edited December 22, 2018 by RickR

[Atari 5200 Guy]

Well, taking the back off this TV revealed a true flat screen.  Made by Hitachi!  So hopefully the quality is there.

I could not pick up that 32" by myself.  And it wasn't a flat screen.  The 20" TVs are not bad.  Those I can pick up.  Umm...200 lb TV?  That's OK.  I'm good.  But, you have to admit, some of those tube TVs were really good for their time.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

Well, accomplished something this evening.  I finished setting up the game room.

My tablet is just not a camera at all...but it is currently all I have at ten moment.  Computer rigs.  Right one is for ST stuff only.  Its not even allowed to go online.  Computer on left used for other things but mostly gaming.  It needs a memory upgrade.  2 GB just doesn't go far these days. TV and 5200 setup next to that.  I love how I can slide the 5200 under the TV when I'm done.  XE computer under hand towel.  On the shelf next to the TV is a XEGS setup on top, PSOne and Original with a SNES (decided to leave these out), 7800 on right of those.  Jaguar and XBOX on bottom.  Only the XEGS, 7800, and Jag are fully connected on this shelf.  The others are just there to be there.  And ...

The games!  What good are computers and game consoles without games?  Condensed down to mostly Atari games.  I honestly never realized just how many 2600 carts I had until I did this as not all of them were on this shelf.  Least played were in small boxes.  Not anymore.  Top shelves I gave up for my wife's TY collection and other things.

The TI has its own space.  All by itself, hardly used.  But I enjoy looking at it from time to time...not much into it otherwise.

That's it.  Its getting close to Christmas.  Merry Christmas everyone!  Many blessings.

Edited December 25, 2018 by kamakazi20012

[Atari 5200 Guy]

Well, I finally got the other CRT setup without getting it fixed. I can deal with it but after playing F-Zero on it I can tell the vertical section of the circuits has an issue.  I'm just not sure where.  The ship that comes down from the top when entering the pits comes up from the bottom of those lines on the Toshiba.  Its a weird thing to see but cool to see at the same time.  This is a much needed upgrade.

Any who...here is it partially setup.

I've still got a lot of organizing to do and there are some things that I'm going to have to consider parting with that are not being used...mostly old PCs that don't work anymore, there is one TI computer I never use nor have interest in, and we have videos, VHS and DVDs, that we simply don't watch any more.  Disney movies stay and I think we are going to go through and pick out some movies to keep.  The rest are most likely going.  I'm just not sure yet. I also am going to have to make custom shelves out of plastic crates to hold all my Atari games and some hardware.