I was going to purchase either the TG-16 ED or Genesis ED and since Stone Age Gamer had the Genesis one in stock, I ordered it.

The total cost of getting the ED along with a Genesis console (and all necessary hook-ups) was comparable to buying a NES with ED, about $300. I decided to buy everything piece by piece, picking up the bare model 1 console (modded with S-video and RCA audio that bypasses the headphone jack), the s-video and RCA cables, an OEM power adaptor MK-1602, and OEM controllers.

I was tempted to order the Master System Everdrive, but I noticed that the Genesis one handles SMS games. I'm not sure "how" it handles them, but this is definitely a space/money saver.

To play SMS games on your Genesis you will need a Power Base Converter, which is kind of like a Super Game Boy for SMS. I have no direct experience with Everdrives, but I imagine that you'd need a PBC and a SMS Everdrive to play SMS games on your Genesis, rather than playing SMS games through your Genesis Everdrive.

One of the things I'd like is to get the 3d scope working - I understand it does work with the Power Base converter...although I was reading feedback about the fail rate of the unit.  Speaking of Stone Age Gamer, they have a unit that connects to Genesis, streamlined...but no port for card games. (as far as I know)

by the by... I've also gone down the rabbit hole with this authentic retro gaming setup...I'm already 1 TV in  - a relatively nice 27" Sony Trinitron from '92 I got off craigs for $40...but then I read about RGB...talk about a rabbit hole...I am supposed to get a PVM 20" in the mail later this month ...but hooking up requires learning a lot more than I was expecting...but I'm going to do it right, or at least try to.

If I'm not overly enthralled by a true best in class CRT with RGB, I will be looking at a converter/scaler- but getting RGB out out of all the old consoles, sounds very cool too.

That's news to me. I didn't know there was anything like that for the Genesis. I checked around and the original PBC is expensive and big. Stone Age Gamer has a mini version for $40.

I'm going to go this route. Rather than buying the Master System console, I can save some space by buying the mini PBC and MS Everdrive. I've never played a Master System game and I only knew one person that had the console back in the 80s. At the time, I had no idea it was a Sega product; I didn't know what it was.

Edit: It appears there are 2 new PBCs. Here's one with FM support.

I also bought a 27" Trinitron recently. They're very hard to find. I've read it's important not to use an HD set of any kind when playing standard definition games using the original consoles. I recently tested out my NES and SNES on my 50" plasma and it didn't provide for a fun experience, due to the atrocious input lag and sprite blockiness with SNES games. Standard definition CRTs have input lag measured in nanoseconds, which is superior to any HD set.

I would want to buy a larger PVM but I can't find one. It would probably be cost prohibitive anyway because the 20" sets are expensive. When it comes down to it, I just want to play the games as accurately as possible. An SD CRT is fine for that purpose.

I can see getting into RGB taking more time than playing the games, what with the modifications and acquiring a PVM.

I had to buy another Genesis console, since the first one wasn't modded properly. But now I can play Genesis/Mega Drive games in s-video using the original Model 1 Genesis. It does play English patched ROMs, as do the other Krikzz products.

I almost bought a CDX console, since it outputs s-video without modifications. It has 2 problems though: a high price and poor audio reproduction (glad I did some research before clicking).

Jodo what have you done (to me)...I now have a Pc Engine DUO Rx arriving from japan (nicely modded with RGB), a second-hand Mega-Everdrive off ebay, a Turbo Everdrive from Stoneage, and a PVM monitor set to arrive...I found a Model 1 genesis at a dungy local flea market shop for $20...and got an SNES Jr' RGB'd off ebay.

Have you heard of the XRGB mini Framemeister?  Very nice product to connect retros to HDTV with minimal lag I'm hearing...but I have a nice CRT setup planned so not sure I'll need it anytime soon...

Of course, I'll slowly play each as I'm just playing 'Life Force' from the Salamander Psx deluxe pack (on a Ps2 thin) for the last couple of weeks

Sorry for infecting you with the retro-virus. My condition has stabilized into buying just one Everdrive per week. I picked up the Gameboy ED and Super Gameboy player today. I got the purple paint job so it will look good on my SNES. It's important to consider such things.

I haven't decided yet how to handle the TG-16/PC Engine. There are a lot of options for those consoles and I've seen almost all of them modded in various ways. If I get the Duo, it will be for one CD game only - Dracula X. It's been a dream of mine to play the original Dracula X. Some people dream of winning the lottery or living forever, but I dream of Dracula X on the Turbo Duo.

I've read about the Framemeister and it adds about 20 ms of lag. I was told by a retired professional gamer (who works with me) that when buying any type of HDTV/monitor for gaming, you want the lag to be 2 ms or better. CRT solves the lag problem because there is no lag. It's measured in nanoseconds, which is the same as "no lag" to a human being. He went on to tell me that there a lot of people that go online with CRTs and destroy people using LED/LCD/plasma sets. So if you're wondering why you get stomped sometimes, the other guy might be using a CRT. Myself, I won't touch anything other than a CRT for gaming. I experienced the lag problem recently with my old plasma and it wasn't fun. Plasma is noted for its exceptional picture, but the lag is atrocious. What happened is that I could barely beat the first level of Crisis Force on my plasma, yet could easily beat it on my CRT.

A Duo can play burned games. Just find the .iso file, burn it to a CD-R (mixed mode...I use Nero for it), toss it in the Duo and play. I had a stack of games sitting around on my hard drive, since I downloaded them awhile back to get the redbook audio off of them.

Oldschool games, you FEEL that lag. If you've been used to using wireless controllers and/or your TV has had lag, you should notice it immediately with a wired controller on a CRT. You can adjust somewhat to it over time, but when you go to the wired controller on a CRT, it's like taking ankle weights off.

Gotta give a shout out to the XRGB-Mini framemeister...I've already assessed an actual Sony PVM and , disappointed in it's size, I opted to use my 40" LCD that wasn't getting much love over the years...it is now!  RGB for PC Engine and component upscaling for PS2 tested so far...call me impressed (although was disappointed at first due to not having everything setup right with the framemeister).  The lag is negligable at least to my skill set  but in my case I have one of the better performing LCDs apparently (with just .16 ms of lag reported).

BTW if interested , I am selling the PVM on ebay:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/261897287561? … tkn=I82U4i

I might be getting a Turbo Duo and this article has me concerned about using burned discs. Mainly, this part of the article:

"PCE/TurboGrafx CDs are in the ISO/WAV format - aka. Mixed Mode, CD-ROM XA, or Mode-2.
Burned CDs can cause premature wear on NEC or TurboTechnologies optical lense hardware, but they will work.The damage occurs to the optical lense and can be replaced by a competent electronics technician.
If you intend to play your backup on NEC hardware, the CD should be of the 650 MB format, burned at 4X speed, and on brand name media. The difficult part is simply finding 4x/650MB media."

Much of what I want to play is on hu-cards and the Turbo Everdrive is a fine substitute. The only CD-ROM I really want for the system is Dracula X, so I will probably just buy it to ensure compatibility.

My recent reasoning failed. I assumed that since the prices for vgm are heavily padded when listed on ebay, the same was true for actual games. Dracula X for the Turbo Duo is usually listed at $200 on ebay and I thought it would be around $50-$75 on Yahoo Japan. No! It's more expensive! Lots of auctions for Dracula X start at 25,000 yen. This is very counterintuitive.