Retro hardware advice with the caveats left in.
RetroRGB tracks the small, consequential details that make old consoles behave on modern and CRT displays. The show favors grounded buying advice, testing caveats, community updates, and repair-minded explanations over nostalgia gloss.
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RetroRGB is built for the part of retro gaming where enthusiasm meets wiring diagrams, firmware notes, and the awkward reality of old hardware. It is not mainly about ranking games. It is about making consoles, controllers, CRTs, capture devices, scalers, and emulation projects behave well enough to enjoy them. Supporter Q&A episodes often start with a concrete setup problem. A laptop needs to feed a CRT. A PlayStation drive still acts strangely after a laser swap. Someone wants a fair video comparison between consoles in different locations. A controller advertises very low latency numbers, and the real question becomes what those numbers do and do not prove. The show answers those questions with practical boundaries rather than blanket certainty. Cheap hardware gets credit when it solves the actual job. Expensive or specialized gear has to justify itself through use case, compatibility, latency, signal quality, or long-term flexibility. Weekly roundups widen the lens. RetroRGB follows firmware releases, revived projects, arcade and computer cores, Raspberry Pi emulation work, wireless Saturn-style controllers, open source NES PPU replacements, and mods for systems like the SNES. The coverage is dense, but it is rarely cold. Mistakes are corrected in public, listener comments are treated as part of the knowledge base, and community developers are named when their work moves a project forward. The show can spend several minutes on why a device is exciting and still conclude that most people probably should not buy it. That is its useful tension. It likes clever hardware, but it likes tested hardware more. It also understands that many setups are built from what someone already owns. An old OSSC in a drawer might become a downscaler. A budget converter might be fine for watching cartoons on a CRT. A GBSC-based solution can be remarkable in the right context and imperfect in the wrong one. RetroRGB rewards listeners who enjoy the details behind the advice. It is a steady bench-side briefing for retro hardware hobbyists who want fewer surprises after the package arrives.
Made for: RetroRGB suits retro-gaming hobbyists who care about original consoles, CRTs, scalers, cables, controller latency, capture quality, and community-built hardware projects. It is especially useful for listeners who want practical setup guidance before buying or modding gear.
What sets it apart: The show stands out by treating every recommendation as a real signal chain with cost, compatibility, latency, testing limits, and failure modes attached. It is enthusiastic about community hardware without letting excitement outrun the caveats.
Retro-gaming news, interviews, nerdversations and more!
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
RetroRGB turns retro hardware preservation into practical judgment about signals, scalers, repairs, modifications, and the compromises behind each setup.
RetroRGB treats old gaming hardware as equipment to be understood, compared, repaired, and kept useful. The host moves between news roundups, supporter questions, product assessments, and interviews, bringing the same practical attention to video signals, scalers, cables,…
That OSSC in your drawer might be a downscaler in disguise.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A brisk episode that turns spare hardware and emulation into plainspoken advice.
This episode jumps from a beginner NAS setup to a revived wireless Saturn controller project, then lands on a solid case for ReplayOS as a Raspberry Pi emulation option because it keeps the front end and launcher together. The practical stretches work best.
A practical Q&A about capture chains, downscaling, and budget-conscious hardware choices.
RetroRGB's 400th supporter Q&A keeps its focus on practical hardware choices, moving through capture chains across separate setups, the limits of a cheap HDMI-to-USB capture device, and what changes when one scaler gives way to another.
A practical hardware roundup where reversibility, cost, and a flamethrower all matter.
Weekly Roundup #505 frames retro hardware less as nostalgia than as a set of engineering tradeoffs. It begins with Mark from the retro channel's revised SNES digital audio mod, which adds a 3.5 millimeter jack for optical or coax digital audio and can sit where the RF jack used…
A cable question becomes a practical guide to building a flexible retro display setup.
The Q&A turns a retro-hardware problem into a clear tour of tradeoffs, starting with Scary's launch-model PlayStation 1 and its uneven behavior with some pressed CDs, despite pressed PlayStation 1 games working as expected.
A practical retro-hardware review about prototypes, video outputs, and the setup friction behind small accessory choices.
RetroRGB's Weekly Roundup frames retro hardware as a series of practical choices: what image to mount, which output to use, and when prototype rough edges still matter.
A grounded account of how Randy Linden's early Commodore 64 tinkering led to a Super Nintendo development workaround.
Randy Linden's path into game development has the neat shape of someone learning by taking machines apart and making them answer back. A Commodore 64, a first BASIC program at 11, and an underwater Centipede clone called Bubbles written in assembly at 13 set the tone.
A grounded Q&A on cables, converters, media players, and scaling tools for old screens.
This Supporter Q&A makes retro-display setup feel less like gear worship and more like a chain of practical choices. It weighs lower-cost component cables against HD Retrovision, tests how much a cheap composite converter can really do for a laptop on a CRT, and follows DVD…
Hardware news with bite, memory, and receipts.
Hardware reverse engineering with the bench clutter visible.
Bob interviews Randy Linden, a veteran programmer known for early emulators and game ports.
This episode features an interview with Steve (Cosam), the designer of the Neptune board, discussing the development of this retro gaming console project and its historical context in Sega's video game history.
This episode features an interview with Frank Cifaldi from the Video Game History Foundation discussing recent discoveries of unreleased games and Sega Channel content, highlighting the foundation's non-profit work and fundraising efforts.
This episode discusses the release of the new Game Boy Advance EverDrive GX Pro by Quicks, highlighting its enhanced features like save state support, multiple emulation capabilities, and a higher price point compared to previous models.
The host discusses a power strip ideal for retro gaming setups and asks for recommendations on similar products with individual power control, then briefly mentions a VR mod for Breath of the Wild.
In this Q&A episode, the host answers supporter questions on retro-gaming hardware and media.
This episode answers supporter questions about affordable alternatives to HD Retrovision cables for retro consoles and solutions for connecting a laptop to a CRT TV for watching TV shows or gaming.
This episode provides an update on the RGB Pi 2 hardware issues, including signal drops and color channel problems, and discusses its specific use case for retro gaming enthusiasts.
The host responds to a Patreon supporter's question about the Ghoulie Kit controller, discussing its low latency features and his personal approach to controller testing.
This episode is a weekly roundup covering updates and fixes, including Downloader version 2.0, gaming cores like Quix and Taito SJ, and computer system splits.
This episode addresses a technical question about PlayStation 1 drive issues and mod chip behavior in a Q&A format.
The roundup opens with a request for help tied to a beginner-focused video.
The show opens the 400th supporter Q&A with thanks and an easy, familiar hangout feel.
RetroRGB Weekly Roundup #505 leads with Mark's reversible SNES digital audio mod, which uses a 3.5 mm jack for optical or coax output and mounts in the RF jack position.
RetroRGB Supporter Q&A #399 opens with a launch PS1 that reads pressed games but fails on some audio CDs and all CD-Rs, and the answer starts with a $30 Stone Age Gamer laser rather than a pot tweak.
This week's roundup opens with Rhys's deep dive into the Pico IDE.
This episode features an interview with Frank Cifaldi from the Video Game History Foundation discussing recent discoveries of unreleased games and Sega Channel content, highlighting the foundation's non-profit work and fundraising efforts.