Master Malstrom,
I was surprised to see you post that you have your old consoles plugged into a modern TV. That means you are getting input lag as the picture needs to be scaled. You were so right when you wrote years ago about playing on original hardware vs emulation (or VC or whatever) because of the FEEL. Once you play these consoles on a CRT for a while you won’t want to go back. The effect is subtle, but real. My advice is to grab a decent CRT for gaming NOW. Not long ago you could get one easy for free as people were just chucking them out, but most were thrown in rubbish tips and destroyed so they are already starting to become a little rare and sought after for retro gaming.
I don’t know if CRTs with Scart RGB inputs ever came out in the US, I took the time to track one down here in Australia (they were sold here for a while but were never common) and it was well worth the effort. Just be sure to avoid the later 100hz models.
I used to have them all plugged into a CRT, but I got this current TV which plays them all fine without the lag. It is a TV designed for gaming. I don’t think they make them anymore as I was wanting to buy another one. If it was lagging, I’d know about it for my movements in hard as nails NES games are precise.