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Older Systems and High Def TV's

Started by Paisa49, 12/06/2008, 03:20 PM

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Paisa49

I recently got an LG LCD TV, and I've hooked both my TG-16 and Sega Saturn up to it via a couple of RF switches. I've learned that these systems look terrible if the TV is kept in 16:9 ratio, so whenever I've played so far I've changed to 4:3. When I play my Saturn, and turn it off, the TV looks like it's in black and white. Only after I switch channels does the color come back. Could the Saturn or TG-16 have any adverse effect on the TV?

PCEngineHell

Nope. I also suggest to stop using RF hookups though. Thats the worst of the worst, esp on such a new tv.

guyjin

Your TV should have a setting like "aspect" or "1:1" - these are preferable to whatever you're using now (probably "fullscreen".) also, AV cables would be better.

CrackTiger

It depends on the game. May wide resolution 16-bit console games look fine in wide screen. Forgotten Worlds CD is one.

It's usually the distortion from upscaling and refresh rates that ruin the image of older game systems.
Justin the Not-So-Cheery Black/Hack/CrackTiger helped Joshua Jackass, Andrew/Arkhan Dildovich and the DildoPhiles destroy 2 PC Engine groups: one by Aaron Lambert on Facebook, then the other by Aaron Nanto!!! Him and PCE Aarons don't have a good track record together! Both times he blamed the Aarons and their staff in a "Look-what-you-made-us-do?!" manner, never himself nor his deranged/destructive/doxxing toxic turbo troll gang which he covers up for under the "community" euphemism!

kid_rondeau

Has anyone here had a problem with a video lag? I was playing China Warrior and there was a split second gap between pressing the buttons and the actual strike. It caused me to mess up all the bonus stages!!

Arkhan Asylum

Quote from: kid_rondeau on 12/06/2008, 07:37 PMHas anyone here had a problem with a video lag? I was playing China Warrior and there was a split second gap between pressing the buttons and the actual strike. It caused me to mess up all the bonus stages!!
Lol,isnt that just how that game plays...? :)
This "max-level forum psycho" (:lol:) destroyed TWO PC Engine groups in rage: one by Aaron Lambert on Facebook "Because Chris 'Shadowland' Runyon!," then the other by Aaron Nanto "Because Le NightWolve!" Him and PCE Aarons don't have a good track record together... Both times he blamed the Aarons in a "Look-what-you-made-us-do?!" manner, never himself nor his deranged, destructive, toxic turbo troll gang!

Paisa49

Quote from: PC-ENGINE HELL on 12/06/2008, 03:44 PMNope. I also suggest to stop using RF hookups though. Thats the worst of the worst, esp on such a new tv.
Neither of my systems are modded. If I were to get both systems modded, how much would it run me, and what type of mod should I do (i.e. s-video, composite video, etc.)?

gundarN

You just need to buy a component cable for your TG-16 (assuming it's like a Core-Grafx II), I get a fantastic picture from mine on a Sony HD TV.
I think I use an S-Video cable on my Saturn and also get a great picture.

I don't tend to worry about the aspect ratio and leave everything on 16:9.

The picture quality I get now is much, much better than on my old CRT.

Joe Redifer

QuoteI don't tend to worry about the aspect ratio and leave everything on 16:9.
Ug.  I'd hate to play games or watch TV at your place.

SignOfZeta

Quote from: gundarN on 12/07/2008, 05:02 AMYou just need to buy a component cable for your TG-16 (assuming it's like a Core-Grafx II),
Except that there is no such thing. I think you mean composite, which is indeed a very good upgrade. I have a feeling he's playing with a TG-16 though since he's using RF.

QuoteI don't tend to worry about the aspect ratio and leave everything on 16:9.
Double what Joe Redifer said, because I'm double the asshole.


Anyway, while I think things will change, the fact is that just about any flat panel on the market today will make your old game systems look like utter crap unless you buy some $2000 box from Faroudja or somebody. I can only recommend keeping you CRTs around, assuming they are decent.

I recently hooked a series 2000 PSP to my friends otherwise fantastical 60" LCD. It looked terrible. Iron Man in Bluray though was amazing.
IMG

Duo_R

Zeta - I tested my Duo-R with Component Video today on my 47" Bravia 1080P, and I gotta say it actually looks nice!

Of course alot of work involved to get this - RGB Modded Duo, with Amp (better PQ) and a RGB to YUV converter.

But with the correct modding skills, and a box that can be purchased around $60, good PQ on a LCD is possible. I will be submitting a full review later, with tests of the component Video on 4 TV sets (2 HD, 2 CRT) with lot's of side by side photos of Composite VS Component!

There is one thing that Zeon pointed out to me that the LCD's have trouble with - correctly displaying shadows (I will display in the photo examples). However this is a minor annoyance, the picture really does look good. I do agree however that CRT's are going to be the best bet, but good PQ is possible on HD set.
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Duo_R

#11
some initial snaps of my Sony Bravia 47" HDTV 1080p (using RGB to component box):


/img0405zg1.jpg


/img0359lt8.jpg

Closeup:

/img0361ik2.jpg


This TV is really optimized for HD, the SD stuff never really looks good. However, I had a pretty good image coming from the RGB Modded Duo > Component Video box. Full review hopefully coming soon, with tests on high end and low end CRT's and LCD TV's (1080P and 720p).

Keep in mind these are snaps with a digital camera NOT screen captures. The images don't do full justice to how it looks on the TV.
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CrackTiger

My newer 1080p Sharp Aquos LCD makes older systems like TG-16 look way nicer than my old LCD. Plus now the refresh rate is fast enough for them to be playable. :P

Still, I'll only play older consoles on it under special circumstances and it's not nearly as nice as a CRT.
Justin the Not-So-Cheery Black/Hack/CrackTiger helped Joshua Jackass, Andrew/Arkhan Dildovich and the DildoPhiles destroy 2 PC Engine groups: one by Aaron Lambert on Facebook, then the other by Aaron Nanto!!! Him and PCE Aarons don't have a good track record together! Both times he blamed the Aarons and their staff in a "Look-what-you-made-us-do?!" manner, never himself nor his deranged/destructive/doxxing toxic turbo troll gang which he covers up for under the "community" euphemism!

TurboXray

The only thing that's missing is the faux scanlines  :wink:

Golgo13

I went and hunted down one of the last CRT's in production here, because I got so sick of my old school consoles looking like I was playing them on an Emulator.  I really worry about the future when we cant find CRT anymore.

Duo_R

all you will have to do is go to thrift stores or the dump......  :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Quote from: Golgo13 on 12/12/2008, 12:42 PMI went and hunted down one of the last CRT's in production here, because I got so sick of my old school consoles looking like I was playing them on an Emulator.  I really worry about the future when we cant find CRT anymore.
Add my YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/sOg93QUtlg0
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guyjin

I dunno about you guys, but I've started a CRT hoard already.

Keranu

I really need a new CRT right now.
Quote from: TurboXray on 01/02/2014, 09:21 PMAdding PCE console specific layer on top of that, makes for an interesting challenge (no, not a reference to Ys II).
IMG
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Paisa49

#18
Quote from: guyjin on 12/12/2008, 11:50 PMI dunno about you guys, but I've started a CRT hoard already.
Around what year did new CRT tv's cease being produced?

Also, could anyone on here provide a resource that shows a modded TG-16 with the different styles of video outputs on a high def TV? I wouldn't mind changing from RF to something else if the difference looks that much better.

guyjin

Quote from: Paisa49 on 12/16/2008, 11:21 AM
Quote from: guyjin on 12/12/2008, 11:50 PMI dunno about you guys, but I've started a CRT hoard already.
Around what year did new CRT tv's cease being produced?
They haven't, yet. But someday soon, they will be. and I'll be ready.  :mrgreen:

gundarN

Getting as good 4:3 (non widescreen, non 100Hz) CRT is pretty tricky at the moment.
I have one sitting at my dads house ready for my Guncon2 and all the Namco shooters released on the PS2.
Plus I can rotate it for any Tated shooters.

I would still like a better one and am constantly on the lookout.

PCEngineHell

Jeez, its not that hard. Hit your local wal-mart, or craigs list. If all else fails, pawn shops always have crt sets.

NecroPhile

Quote from: PC-ENGINE HELL on 12/19/2008, 05:09 PMJeez, its not that hard. Hit your local wal-mart, or craigs list. If all else fails, pawn shops always have crt sets.
No CRTs at my local Walmart (or any other local retailer for that matter) can be considered good, unless you happen to like geometry problems.  Like you say though, there's plenty of quality sets on the used market.
Ultimate Forum Bully/Thief/Saboteur/Clone Warrior! BURN IN HELL NECROPHUCK!!!

PCEngineHell

Typically any major geometry issues can be solved via service mode calibration, or inside the tv itself. When it comes to that kind of worry, what you need to do is browse the sets for sale, write down model numbers,prices, then head back up for research. Look up, see which have service mods available, and reviews if any,are present for you to read up on so you will know if the tv model has alot of reported problems.

Heres a few links to get people into reading up on how to's:
http://www.stevelarkins.freeuk.com/tvtools.htm
http://www.howtofixcomputers.com/forums/video/crt-monitor-geometry-problem-143160.html
http://www.artofhacking.com/files/TVMODES.TXT
http://myweb.accessus.net/~090/how2adj.html

gundarN

I'm looking for someone to be upgrading their CRT to LCD and getting it for free.
Trust me, there aren't any quality CRT (non-widescreen) sets available in the UK.

Digi.k

the pc engine looks like pap cause its composite.. I'd love to do a RGB upgrade anyway this is the saturn on LCD and hooked up via scart.

IMG

IMG

Duo_R

that looks amazing. Have u compared Saturn S-video to your RGB Scart? I haven't noticed a huge difference fro S-video to Component Video and I hear that Saturn RGB / Component should look amazing.


Quote from: Digi.k on 12/20/2008, 06:40 PMthe pc engine looks like pap cause its composite.. I'd love to do a RGB upgrade anyway this is the saturn on LCD and hooked up via scart.

IMG

IMG
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Digi.k

#27
Quote from: Duo_R on 12/21/2008, 03:25 AMthat looks amazing. Have u compared Saturn S-video to your RGB Scart? I haven't noticed a huge difference fro S-video to Component Video and I hear that Saturn RGB / Component should look amazing.
ya

composite
IMG

RGB
IMG

s-Video
IMG

saturn leads.  If you in Europe and you have CRT with RGB connection this will give you almost "monitor-like" picture
IMG

Arkhan Asylum

Man.  I was given the option:

"Do you want an LCD HD doojoo TV, or do you want a new CRT + $$ for xmas"

I immediately thought "man the Turbo would look like ass", and picked the CRT.


Then I went and took the cash and got Exile and Vasteel, lol.



I tried the turbo on our 52" toshiba.  I cried.      CRTs are just the only way to play the old games. 



who else here would buy a 52" widescreen CRT if they were existant!? 

*raises hand*
This "max-level forum psycho" (:lol:) destroyed TWO PC Engine groups in rage: one by Aaron Lambert on Facebook "Because Chris 'Shadowland' Runyon!," then the other by Aaron Nanto "Because Le NightWolve!" Him and PCE Aarons don't have a good track record together... Both times he blamed the Aarons in a "Look-what-you-made-us-do?!" manner, never himself nor his deranged, destructive, toxic turbo troll gang!

guyjin

A 52 inch CRT would be about 3 feet deep and weigh half a ton, at least.  :shock:

Joe Redifer

I wouldn't want it to be widescreen because all of those old games are 4:3.  Stretching them to 16:9 is plain wrong!  I like circles to be circles, not ovals.

Anyway, I have a 34-inch CRT HDTV and the old systems still look like ass on it.  4:3 SDTV CRT is the way to go.

MotherGunner

Quote from: guest on 12/08/2008, 08:18 PMMy newer 1080p Sharp Aquos LCD makes older systems like TG-16 look way nicer than my old LCD. Plus now the refresh rate is fast enough for them to be playable. :P

Still, I'll only play older consoles on it under special circumstances and it's not nearly as nice as a CRT.
Hey Black, whats the refresh on that?  60? 120?  Can you post a link to which model it is?
-MG

SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM (If you want peace, Prepare for war)
SI VIS BELLUM, PARA MATRIMONIUM (If you want war, Prepare for marriage)

Ceti Alpha

I think my brother is getting himself a new LCD TV, so I told him that his flatscreen CRT is mine.  :mrgreen:
IMG
"Let the CAW and Mystery of a Journey Unlike Any Other Begin"

Arkhan Asylum

Quote from: guyjin on 12/21/2008, 05:49 PMA 52 inch CRT would be about 3 feet deep and weigh half a ton, at least.  :shock:
So you gotta hire a crew to bring it in, and then install it on a titanium shelf with supports and stabilizers.

Big deal :) 



itd be neat to have a TV that large, with picture in picture

LOL genesis on left, PCE on right!  oooo
This "max-level forum psycho" (:lol:) destroyed TWO PC Engine groups in rage: one by Aaron Lambert on Facebook "Because Chris 'Shadowland' Runyon!," then the other by Aaron Nanto "Because Le NightWolve!" Him and PCE Aarons don't have a good track record together... Both times he blamed the Aarons in a "Look-what-you-made-us-do?!" manner, never himself nor his deranged, destructive, toxic turbo troll gang!

Digi.k

#34
nothing beats RGB its soo good I class it better than component connection

saturn hooked upto LCD television via RGB.. pc engine via composite is crap tho.. I need to get one modded to rgb..
IMG

IMG

IMG

IMG

Ceti Alpha

Looks nice, but no stretching.  [-X  :P
IMG
"Let the CAW and Mystery of a Journey Unlike Any Other Begin"

SNKNostalgia

Sony WEGA Trinitron 27" from 2003 FTW!!! I still find the 1999-2005 Trinitrons to be the best SDTV option after a lot of comparison. My component video for PS2, GC, Xbox, and Neo Geo AES looks amazing on it (Xbox 360 looks the best it can for a SDTV). S-video is damn good on it with my Duo, SNES, Genesis, Neo CDZ and flawless on the Saturn. Even composite for my NES resolution is enhanced to almost S-video due to the color trap from the comb filter built in. You still get the shimmering, rainbowing and dot crawl on the NES. This of course also works well for the S-video making it almost component video quality (especially the Saturn).

Also, be carefull with some HDTVs as they won't accept anything less than 480i/p hooked up with component video. My parents Westinghouse from 6 months ago won't accept my PS1 games played on my PS2 hooked through component video. Weird huh!? Composite or S-video, anything and everything works fine on it. The TV does have a good display for a not so great brand TV. I hear this is a random "could be bad parts or good parts mid level HDTV brand" depending on which model. The 360 looks great on it. My only complaint is the black levels and could have better color and contrast levels, but not bad really.

Duo_R

Finally got component on the Saturn working properly! I will have to test that on my HD soon (it handled the Turbo in component so be interesting to check out the Saturn). I played some games last night, X-men VS Street Fighter looked pretty awesome, as did Darkstalkers III. However, I booted up Panzer Dragoon Saga....anyone noticed this game did NOT age well? I am starting from scratch, but so far it looks pretty dark, blocky and the cinemas are pretty bad. I know this game was never about mind blowing graphics, should I keep playing???
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geise

Quote from: Duo_R on 04/20/2009, 02:44 PMHowever, I booted up Panzer Dragoon Saga....anyone noticed this game did NOT age well? I am starting from scratch, but so far it looks pretty dark, blocky and the cinemas are pretty bad. I know this game was never about mind blowing graphics, should I keep playing???
Yes!  It's one of my top 2 favorite rpg's with only being 2nd to Ys Book I&II.

Digi.k

I love panzer dragoon Saga.. sure the FMV doesn't look hot but the story and stuff later on makes it a great game

heres an article about aspect ratio scanlines and modern tv's

http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/660

IMG

Joe Redifer

I keep getting a page load error with your link.

Ceti Alpha

Quote from: Joe Redifer on 04/21/2009, 02:56 PMI keep getting a page load error with your link.
It eventually worked for me, but it took a while to load up. In fact, it's still trying to load as I type this....oh wait...it just loaded up.
IMG
"Let the CAW and Mystery of a Journey Unlike Any Other Begin"

NecroPhile

Quote from: Joe Redifer on 04/21/2009, 02:56 PMI keep getting a page load error with your link.
It worked fine for me.  It's an interesting read, so thanks for the link Digi.k.
Ultimate Forum Bully/Thief/Saboteur/Clone Warrior! BURN IN HELL NECROPHUCK!!!

nat

Yeah it loaded fine for me too, except that 95% of the images didn't load.

Digi.k

#44
hmmm it was running a lot better earlier.. I think it might be high level of traffic

OK, I'll try to copy and paste whats on the site then..

A couple of years ago I got into a fiery argument on a forum with someone who thought he knew the 'right way' to display a video game, and all other ways were simply wrong 'cause the designers wouldn't want it that way..  He went through great lengths to add screen curvature, scanlines and even reflections of overhead lights to try and replicate the appearance of gaming on a CRT monitor.

He was obviously deranged.

Still, there was a hint of fact in there: modern fixed-resolution displays don't do a very good job of displaying older games.  No matter how they're displayed, some changes are made and compromises have to be accepted.

First, a crash-course in TVs:

Older CRTs (the big, heavy, glass tube-style TVs (basically everything pre-LCD and pre-plasma)) use a firehose approach to drawing images on the screen.  Imagine three big, sweaty firemen spraying their three hoses back and forth along the back of a giant drive-in movie screen that's been painted with red, green or blue stripes.  There's a grid in between the firemen and the screen, so that each fireman's hose will only spray one colour, the grid prevents their stream from hitting any other colour.  They spray in sync: special signals tell them when to start again on the other side of the screen, and when to start at the top.  For their entire working lives they zigzag right and left, from top to bottom, over and over and over.

Basically, that's how the old TVs worked: three electron guns sprayed electrons at different coloured phosphors, which would light up based on the intensity of the beam.  It was never very accurate: sometimes the beams would drift out of alignment, failing components caused all kinds of undesired visual artifacts, and even the Earth's magnetic field would wreak havoc on the display.

For all these problems, they had some capabilities that the modern fixed-resolution LCDs and plasmas can't match.  While modern displays have caught up or surpassed CRTs in many respects, in two specific criteria the old units are better than modern displays: image scaling and refresh speed.  I'm going to focus on the former, for now.

Generally speaking, older screens used a 4:3 horizontal:vertical aspect ratio.  In other words, the screen was one third wider than it was tall.  Most modern TVs are widescreen, which presents a simple problem: what do you do when you have an image 1/3 wider than its height, on a TV that's nearly twice as wide as its height?  If you leave it the same ratio, it'll have unused black space on the sides (fig. 1).  If you zoom in, you lose the top and bottom of the image (fig. 2), and if you stretch it horizontally, it looks a bit funny (see below).

IMG

LCDs and plasmas (and DLP projectors) are fixed resolution displays, and they don't scale images well.  Photographs and TV shows and movies look just great when you zoom in or stretch them a little.  They use a technique called resampling to create an image that's not quite entirely unlike the original, but bigger.

Pixels, however, are hard-edged pointy little things which look really terrible if you stretch them at all.  Resampling a pixel makes it blurry, and half the appeal of pixel art is its clarity...  Even if you're not a pixel-art fan, they often look out of focus.  Many people won't notice, or won't care, and they might as well stop reading here.  ;)

The alternative method of making them larger is hard-scaling.  Rather than stretching them, you simply duplicate one horizontal or vertical row at a time until the proper size is reached.  The problem with this approach is...  Well, it's really ugly.  The only appealing option on a fixed resolution display is to hard-scale an integer value: 2x, 3x, 4x etc.  Rarely though will this ever fit your screen without leaving gaps, and filling the gaps is what CRTs do best.

IMG
If you resample pixel art, you get unattractive blur.
If you don't resample, you get really ugly, hard pixels.
It's never easy to scale things on a fixed-resolution display.

CRTs had a little secret skill: when an image needed to be stretched vertically, the firehoses just moved from top to bottom a little quickerr, adding just a tiny fraction of a millimeter between each sweep of the beams.  If you needed to fill the horizontal screenspace with a smaller image, you just updated the signal a little slower, so as the beams swept side to size (you couldn't change this speed) a pixel might cross one red phosphor, or two, or maybe two and a bit.  The thing is, a CRT's never really looked pixel-perfect to start, so a little bit of futzing with the image was rarely noticed by the user.

IMG
Richter has undergone massive changes in size.
Smaller changes are virtually unnoticable.

Arcade games, consoles and even computers often took advantage of this, and created a RAM- and CPU-friendly smaller image that would be stretched out to fill the screen with no more effort than a tweak of the synchronization signals.  The vast majority of SuperNES games created a 256-horizontal-pixel image, but TVs felt most comfortable displaying a 320-pixel image.  No one playing SuperNES back in the day ever complained about this 25% difference in size, they simply never noticed.

IMG

It was very common.  Almost all NES and SuperNES games did this.  Most PC Engine games did too, and many MegaDrive games.  In the arcade, Ghosts n Goblins used this effect.  The sequel, Ghouls n Ghosts, used a higher-resolution screen.  Even though the firehoses were spraying at the same speed, more pixels were pumped out for every line in the sequel, ultimately resulting in more detail.

On the SuperNES, games like Super Ghouls n Ghosts and R-Type II had to re-draw the arcade sprites to be 20% smaller, so when stretched on the SNES TV screen, they'd look right to the player.  If you didn't know it was being done, you'd likely never notice.  I have to assure you, on a CRT it's just invisible, unlike how these examples appear on your LCD monitor.

IMG
Left: Super NES.  Center: SNES stretched.  Right: Arcade.

In the images above, you can see how the SuperNES sprites are nearly identical to the arcade.  They're a little bit blurry, but you'd never notice the difference on a CRT.  This little visual trickery confers an immediate 20% savings in required storage space, which is a very valuable savings in the days of cartridges.


Scanlines
In the Castlevania images above you can see 'scanlines'.  These black gaps between each each illuminated line are a key feature of older games and CRTs.  To my old-gamer eyes the graphics of old look much better with scanlines applied.

Modern fixed-res displays have trouble displaying pixels that aren't exactly the same number they were designed for and they can't easily manage the scanlines between 'em.  You can fake the appearance of these scanlines, but like the pixels themselves, it tends to work best at when enlarged by a whole number (2x, 3x).  Consider these two examples:

IMG
Left: R-Type LEO (2x pixels)
Right: 50% scanlines applied

The scanlines above are not quite accurate.  On a real CRT the illuminated lines are slightly thicker than the scanlines.  If you enlarge the pixels 3x and apply a 1x scanline on every third row...  Well, this is pretty much my ideal way to view old games on a fixed res, high-res screen:

IMG

Trying too hard to replicate the failings of old hardware is probably a sign of mental illness, but we do it anyway.  I can't abide the idea that it's better or that the games were designed that way, or even that the designers intended them to be played with scanlines...  It's just a silly pursuit which we engage in because we are chasing a personal ideal, a fleeting and enjoyable memory.  I love this stuff.  =D

While peaking of aspect ratios so far I've focused on older games that stretched themselves horizontally to fill the screen, but there were other examples of designers taking advantage of the CRTs capabilities.  Capcom's CPS-1 and CPS-2 arcade platforms used images 20% larger than most, and compressed them to fit the screen.

IMG
Top: original image (384 x 224 pixels - 1.7:1)
Bottom: screen size (320 x 224 pixels - 1.33:1)

You may ask why, but Capcom more likely asked why not.

There was no compelling reason not to.  Their arcade hardware was world-beating at the time, with gobs of power to spare, and with as much storage space as they could ever use.  There was no reason to skimp like there was on the consoles.  Second, it looked better.  Any arcade running a good quality monitor could display more than 320 pixels on a horizontal line, and by feeding a top-quality signal to the display, the games would scintillate with detail that a lower resolution game simply couldn't match.  Arcades with old, cheap monitors would not suffer, as the extra detail in the firehoses would automatically be shown to the monitor's maximum capacity.

Remember that the old systems weren't digital.  Analogue displays could be very forgiving.  An LCD or Plasma monitor has one signal for each pixel, everything calculated and pre-determined long before the signal ever reaches the glowy side of the monitor.  On a CRT, the additional detail would be sprayed against the phosphor with absolutely no regard to their landing point.  Sometimes the signal would change from one pixel to another while the beam was still on a single phosphor, but this would just change the colour shown, blending the two pixels together as the beam moved on.

Anyway, it makes sense in my head and it's pretty cool to think about.  Hence this page.  I hope it was interesting.  =)

Another example of the aspect ratio switching that went on.

In the 8- and 16-bit days virtually all the games for NES and SNES used the same 256x224 resolution, where the MegaDrive used 320x224 most of the time, and the PC Engine waffled between the two (and many others besides).

Splatterhouse 2 for the Genesis / MegaDrive used a normal 320x224 resolution throughout the game, but the sequel did not: the title screen was 320x224, the game itself used a more standard resolution of 256x224.  Again, no one noticed, 'cause the TVs gamers were using stretched the image with no obvious change in clarity.    This sort of 'cheating' was not at all uncommon.

IMG

Digi.k

#45
Cont...

I put together some comparison snaps of scaling options in the GENS (Sega Genesis / MegaDrive) emulator.  These are 2x-pixels scaled up in six different methods: pixel doubled, scanlines (50% brightness), and four different resampling methods.  These methods are detailed (often excruciatingly) over on Wikipedia.

IMG

For your viewing comparison, I've doubled these images up again, so you can see how the scaling algorithms affect the image.  As you can see the resampling methods are quite different: the interpolated system essentially blurs the images, where the SAI and SuperEagle try to knock off corners and create diagonals where none exist.

IMG

There are other methods available, and some emulators go to great lengths to create a pleasing image for the player.  In lieu of perfection, my favourite method is hard-pixel scaling, 'cause it suggests the most clarity.   Sometimes though, you want to go the extra mile.  The SNK and Capcom emulator Kawaks will even render the game using a multi-coloured faux-CRT shadow-mask filter that is so extreme you can't help but love it:

IMG

Here's another shot, from Capcom's Ghouls n Ghosts, showing CRT emulation, and raw pixel doubling.  For comparison, the last shot is my 1/3 scanline method, which I gotta say looks pretty sweet.  =D

IMG

IMG

Finally, here's something I just tried and immediately fell in love with.  First, the lesson: on the old CRTs, a brighter signal (more power to the firehose) would result in a wider scanning beam, which in turn would create an illuminated line that was thicker, and would encroach on the dark spaces (scanlines) between the beams.

Here's my attempt to emulate that:

IMG

Original link is here: http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/660