-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
DF Direct! Modern Games Look Amazing On CRT Monitors... Yes, Better than LCD!
- Thread starter Fuzzy
- Start date
John will know more than me, but I do know that these 16:9 CRT televisions often don't play nicely with 240p retrogaming. It may try to 'deinterlace' the video, and it may buffer all legacy SD video, creating lag. It will most likely scan either 1080p or 1080i natively, and may scan 480p natively as well. The actual displayed horizontal resolution will be far less than 1920.
So, I should connect my SNES Classic instead of my actual SNES?
But it should be ok for PC use?
I mean, try everything you've got. I'm making generalizations.
For PC use it should handle 1080p/60 or 1080i/60. Text may be blurred because like I said the actual optical resolution of the set won't resolve 1920 pixels across; the wideband video amplifier and the shadow mask or aperture grille won't be that fine because it's a TV not a PC monitor. That kind of horizontal resolution wasn't really a thing on consumer CRT outside of 3CRT front projectors.
Yeah, I'll still have my ultrawide monitor, but I'll be using the TV for nostalgia gaming.
I mean, I've mostly been playing neo retro fps and source ports (not Doom) at 800x600 60hz to 120hz and it's all good. I play Doom at 640x400 70hz with 35hz tick rate (CrispDoom).
You should be able to play a lot of stuff on the consumer HD tube, let us know how it goes.
When using the crt as a gaming or htpc screen it'll do fine, it's Windows that's going to look like shit text wise. I used my Sony XBR970 as a htpc display with my computer and all my DVD and Blu-ray rips looked like I was playing them from my PS3 from XBMC(Kodi now), even stuff with subtitles. Games also were fine.
But the actual OS? Uh. Usable, but not pretty.
But the actual OS? Uh. Usable, but not pretty.
My biggest concern would be lag but maybe at a native timing it won't lag.
If you want usable text I'd try making a custom modeline at like 960x1080 or 1280x1080.
That's the problem. Afaik it's physically impossible to do that.
tbh with the rather huge negative impact on enviroment (inevery aspect: production, energy consumption and recycling) CRTs should be left dead.
We are already on the edge of absolute disaster with our planet. "Better motion quality by reviving CRT production" etc should be at the end of our to-do list atm.
As it's a consumer TV set rather than a monitor, the line count isn't likely to be significant. Those types of displays are perfectly suited for systems that do 480p like Xbox, GC and the Wii. Could be great for PS3 and 360 as well.
Cool, I plan on having the Wii and Wii U connected to it, and using it to play older PC games that don't play well with my Ultrawide monitor. I guess I'll see how it pans out. Interestingly, the only Toshiba CRTs with HDMI I've been able to find info on were monitors as opposed to TVs. I guess I'll find out when I pick it up tomorrow.
Last edited:
I've been using a 19in CRT monitor as my main HDTV thanks to space limitations - and it being the sole monitor I have heavy enough to deal with being knocked about.
I need to tune the focus pots at some point, a task that absolutely fills me with fear at doing. But otherwise, the colours and contrast are a lot more striking than any of my LCD panels.
I hope it can keep performing in a long and illustrious life, but I dread the cathodes that drive the gun are going to die sooner rather than later. And replacements - and personnel that can install them - seem to be non-existent anymore.
I have big hopes for LED based technology. It's definitely the future for anything modern.
But I feel a heavy CRT future for anything involving older machines. There is so many games formatted around CRT-based assumptions (such as darkness levels, response times, or resolution) that running them on an LCD panel can often either be quite ugly, or frustrating.
LED-based panels are going to certainly solve the dark or contrast-relate issues, and I can foresee response times being resolved into the future.
But resolving either 3D games looking completely awful at a low resolution being scaled by the panel, or the difficulties in hooking up older machines to newer screens, is definitely a difficult matter.
Also I'm broke-ass, and my easiest avenue to test 120Hz videos and games is my CRT.
Most HDTV CRTs, the actual TV types, tend to be fixed scanrate, or have an overtly narrow scanrate. I don't like them. They suffer the same scaler problems as LCDs.
Apparently it's a physical limitation of trying to make more flexible flyback converters run on bigger tubes.
This's the same sort of reason that PC CRT monitors dropped 15kHz support - it became physically impossible to manage.
I hope that a restoration scene for CRTs can take place - I'm inside Australia, and I've simply been unable to find people around my corner of the country that can service the things.
Everyone I know is in Europe, or the US. And they're getting expensive, or good models rare enough, that it's more worthwhile to repair and upgrade existing tubes.
I need to tune the focus pots at some point, a task that absolutely fills me with fear at doing. But otherwise, the colours and contrast are a lot more striking than any of my LCD panels.
I hope it can keep performing in a long and illustrious life, but I dread the cathodes that drive the gun are going to die sooner rather than later. And replacements - and personnel that can install them - seem to be non-existent anymore.
I have big hopes for LED based technology. It's definitely the future for anything modern.
But I feel a heavy CRT future for anything involving older machines. There is so many games formatted around CRT-based assumptions (such as darkness levels, response times, or resolution) that running them on an LCD panel can often either be quite ugly, or frustrating.
LED-based panels are going to certainly solve the dark or contrast-relate issues, and I can foresee response times being resolved into the future.
But resolving either 3D games looking completely awful at a low resolution being scaled by the panel, or the difficulties in hooking up older machines to newer screens, is definitely a difficult matter.
Also I'm broke-ass, and my easiest avenue to test 120Hz videos and games is my CRT.
Most HDTV CRTs, the actual TV types, tend to be fixed scanrate, or have an overtly narrow scanrate. I don't like them. They suffer the same scaler problems as LCDs.
Apparently it's a physical limitation of trying to make more flexible flyback converters run on bigger tubes.
This's the same sort of reason that PC CRT monitors dropped 15kHz support - it became physically impossible to manage.
I hope that a restoration scene for CRTs can take place - I'm inside Australia, and I've simply been unable to find people around my corner of the country that can service the things.
Everyone I know is in Europe, or the US. And they're getting expensive, or good models rare enough, that it's more worthwhile to repair and upgrade existing tubes.
PSA: Carrion base resolution is 640x360p. Was able to make a custom modeline for 640x360 120hz and drive a VGA monitor with the game running at its base res.
Mad props to the devs for letting it run at base resolution with no hackery needed!
(I don't consider adding custom modelines to Windows hackery, that's just part of living the VGA life)
Had some mad fun tonight playing Doom 2 via Crispy Doom at the native resolution of 640x400 (classic DOS Doom games rendered 320x200) at 140hz (double the original refresh rate and quadruple the original framerate). Give it a try!
I know this is an older thread now, but I happened to find this review last night which I thought was excellent at going into detail about why CRTs are so good:
I've still not been able to find anything worthwhile where I am. I'm pretty sure most were scrapped/recycled years ago.
I've still not been able to find anything worthwhile where I am. I'm pretty sure most were scrapped/recycled years ago.
Why *are* they so good - and why haven't any panel manufacturers tried to capture some of those benefits?
Eg could you 'scan' a fixed resolution display and have each pixel with a 'fade' time to simulate a CRT refresh? Woudl that bring any motion resolution benefits?
Eg could you 'scan' a fixed resolution display and have each pixel with a 'fade' time to simulate a CRT refresh? Woudl that bring any motion resolution benefits?
I have one of these CRTS that I got for free in the hospital I work at (they were throwing it out for a modern tv):
That's not my photo but it looks pretty identical to that except it has bigger speakers attached on the side.
However it the image needs to be aligned correctly and I don't have the balls to do it. Seems super awkward :( It's mis-aligned so a good bit of the left is cut off.
That's not my photo but it looks pretty identical to that except it has bigger speakers attached on the side.
However it the image needs to be aligned correctly and I don't have the balls to do it. Seems super awkward :( It's mis-aligned so a good bit of the left is cut off.
It doesn't operate quite the same way, but that is what black frame insertion tries to do - which is why "120Hz BFI" on the CX OLEDs was a big deal in my opinion.
It drops the persistence (image hold time) from 8.33ms to 4.17ms at 120Hz, or 16.7ms to 4.17ms at 60Hz (rather than 8.33ms on older models).
The drawback is that it flickers badly, and loses a lot of brightness at 60Hz. Its implementation is far from ideal.
It looks like the adjustments for that particular monitor are made with potentiometers on one of the boards on the side, rather than magnetic strips on the neck of the tube - so it's not quite as bad.I have one of these CRTS that I got for free in the hospital I work at (they were throwing it out for a modern tv):
That's not my photo but it looks pretty identical to that except it has bigger speakers attached on the side.
However it the image needs to be aligned correctly and I don't have the balls to do it. Seems super awkward :( It's mis-aligned so a good bit of the left is cut off.
I would recommend using a plastic screwdriver so you can't short anything out.
The board is loose here because he has just replaced all the capacitors on it (not sure why he didn't fix it in place first).
It would be tedious, but you could probably make those adjustments without it running if you're really hesitant about it. Note: that does not mean all of the internal components are safe to touch - they may still hold a charge. The main danger inside a CRT is the anode, which is connected to the tube - and not something that you would be near when adjusting that board.
Fortunately the majority of PC monitors have digital geometry controls, and I believe that's also true for later PVM/BVM models.
Yea I basically never use the ULMB mode in my monitor, even if I can hit the refresh rate cap, because it's just too dim.
Of course CFT looks better than LCD it always has. When I got my first HD TV for my Xbox 360, I was as amazed by the size as I was underwhelmed by the way the image looked. They took a lot of space and weighed a ton, but damn I miss those old CRT and TVs. I'd love to see in person modern games on such screens.
I still remember playing Gears of War on CRT and then changing it to a Samsung LCD TV, and I was extremely disappointed by the motion blur and how slow it is when you move the camera, I'm still disappointed with the TVs, but I hope the QLED with HDMI 2.1 will make it better.
I can't believe I gave away my FW900 years ago. I have fond memories playing Outrun 2 on the Xbox connected with BNC cables. The picture quality was SO SHARP! Living in a small Brooklyn apartment and the FW900 is such a beast. I replaced it with a Sony 55" W900a TV, the best 1080p IMHO.
Maybe I'll find another FW900 someday.
Maybe I'll find another FW900 someday.
