Do light guns work on plasma or front projection screens? I have heard they don't work on either but is that the truth?
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Q on light guns
Started by Clock, Sep 23 2003 4:09 PM
8 replies to this topic
#2 OFFLINE
Ze_ro
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Posted Tue Sep 23, 2003 6:49 PM
Hmm... you may have heard right... this one mentions "Compatible with VGA video cards and CRT monitors" in it's technical specifications. Seems to me that if they only mention CRT, then it probably doesn't work with LCD and other technologies.
It should be possible to make a light gun that doesn't use the monitor at all, but rather a seperate detector (I think this is how the SNES Super Scope 6 works). I don't know if there are any like this for PC's though.
--Zero
It should be possible to make a light gun that doesn't use the monitor at all, but rather a seperate detector (I think this is how the SNES Super Scope 6 works). I don't know if there are any like this for PC's though.
--Zero
#3 OFFLINE
Clock
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Posted Wed Sep 24, 2003 4:46 AM
I forgot to mention it's for the Xbox - I haven't got a gun yet until I know it's compatible either with a front projection cinema system or a plasma screen.
#4 OFFLINE
Harry_Dodgson
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Posted Wed Sep 24, 2003 5:20 AM
I have tried using a DC light gun with my 3-LCD projector and a 14" LCD VGA screen and I can verify neither of those two combinations work. It does work with every kind of CRT that I tried it with including my 34" widescreen TV.
If you deal with a local mom-n-pop type store, you can usually convince them to let you try it out before you buy the system. If you are going to spend that much, it's worth their time.
At this time all light guns pull the location off the TV screen. Maybe someday they'll get gyro-position sensing guns and won't have to do that annoying white-out that they do to get the most brightness into the optical sensor.
The PS guncon has some kind of video signal sent directly to the gun, but I don't know what it uses it for as you still have to align the gun with the screen.
I liked the SNES "bazooka" as it was very accurate and it had the mode (only used in a few games) where the "cursor" stayed on the screen and you could line up the target perfectly before firing.
If you deal with a local mom-n-pop type store, you can usually convince them to let you try it out before you buy the system. If you are going to spend that much, it's worth their time.
At this time all light guns pull the location off the TV screen. Maybe someday they'll get gyro-position sensing guns and won't have to do that annoying white-out that they do to get the most brightness into the optical sensor.
The PS guncon has some kind of video signal sent directly to the gun, but I don't know what it uses it for as you still have to align the gun with the screen.
I liked the SNES "bazooka" as it was very accurate and it had the mode (only used in a few games) where the "cursor" stayed on the screen and you could line up the target perfectly before firing.
#5 OFFLINE
JB
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Posted Wed Sep 24, 2003 9:23 PM
As I understand it there's 2 types of light gun.
The modern type, such as the Super Scope and GunCon, watches for the strobe as the electron beam goes by and refreshes the pixel. This won't work on a flat screen display, or an LCD or DLP projectr, of r obvious reasons(no CRT = no electron beam = no scan).
The OTHER type, the NES Zapper and Konami Justifier, is far simpler. It turns the screen white and target areas are a diffrent "shade" of white. It just uses brightness and should work on anything bright enough.
As a side note, the "zapper style" gun can be confused by farting with brightness and contrast settigns enough. The "GunCon style" can't.
Thought: Perhaps the GunCon uses the composite tap to watch for VSync.
The PS probably wasn't designed with lightguns in mind.
The SNES was, so the gun could use the console's internal sync, which I don't believe a GunCon can.
The modern type, such as the Super Scope and GunCon, watches for the strobe as the electron beam goes by and refreshes the pixel. This won't work on a flat screen display, or an LCD or DLP projectr, of r obvious reasons(no CRT = no electron beam = no scan).
The OTHER type, the NES Zapper and Konami Justifier, is far simpler. It turns the screen white and target areas are a diffrent "shade" of white. It just uses brightness and should work on anything bright enough.
As a side note, the "zapper style" gun can be confused by farting with brightness and contrast settigns enough. The "GunCon style" can't.
Thought: Perhaps the GunCon uses the composite tap to watch for VSync.
The PS probably wasn't designed with lightguns in mind.
The SNES was, so the gun could use the console's internal sync, which I don't believe a GunCon can.
#6 OFFLINE
Ze_ro
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Posted Thu Sep 25, 2003 12:09 AM
JB said:
As a side note, the "zapper style" gun can be confused by farting with brightness and contrast settigns enough.
Easier yet, fire at a light bulb and you'll get a direct hit every time.
--Zero
#7 OFFLINE
Raijin Z
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Posted Fri Sep 26, 2003 11:52 AM
Guncons work differently than any other lightgun. They get their own copy of the video feed, and compare it to what they see when you fire, according to my weeklong experiment, and common sense. I mean, gee, the Guncon doesn't work if you don't hook its video cable up to the video feed, so let me think....
At least I think....
At least I think....
#8 OFFLINE
Jasoco
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Posted Fri Sep 26, 2003 2:35 PM
JB said:
The OTHER type, the NES Zapper and Konami Justifier, is far simpler. It turns the screen white and target areas are a diffrent "shade" of white. It just uses brightness and should work on anything bright enough.
My theory was correct!
At least I know that even when I have bought myself an expensive Plasma display TV, my NES Light Gun games will still work.
#9 OFFLINE
JB
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Posted Fri Sep 26, 2003 3:36 PM
Raijin Z said:
Guncons work differently than any other lightgun. They get their own copy of the video feed, and compare it to what they see when you fire, according to my weeklong experiment, and common sense. I mean, gee, the Guncon doesn't work if you don't hook its video cable up to the video feed, so let me think....
At least I think....
At least I think....
There's no RAM, no processor of any signifigant level, and no CCD, just a simple 1-element photosensor.
Does it work if you hook it's video tap up to some OTHER AV source? Like a DVD player?
...
I should test that myself.
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