What does the CAR9x8 naming means, does it make a difference and how can I use it correctly?
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CAR stands for Custom Aspect Ratio in the Settings–»Video–»Scaling menu where Integer Scale is set to On, Integer Scale Axis is set to X + Y, Integer Scale Scaling is set to Underscale and Aspect Ratio is set to Custom.
So 9x8x is shorthand for set Custom Aspect Ratio (Width) to 9x and Custom Aspect Ratio (Height) to 8x.
Of course it makes a difference. Over time I’ve noticed many quirks and anomalies with respect to many different aspects of shaders and their interactions with digital displays.
Once I see something, I can’t unsee it so I try my best to overcome or workaround it.
There are a couple reasons why I started using Custom Aspect Ratios which might be more aptly described as Custom Integer Scale values or factors.
1st is that I mostly use a big screen TV to play. At higher Scale Factors or Fullscreen the image is not as sharp and detailed. However, when that same image is scaled down to a smaller viewport (window) size it looks even more polished and refined to me.
It also provides for a brightness boost as most modern displays can get brighter when dealing with smaller window sizes.
What first led me to Custom Scale Factors though was the fact that the Mask and Scanlines Align differently depending on the Scale Factors used.
On certain scale factors, you can have the center of the horizontal slots intersecting neatly and evenly with the center of each scanline, while at other scale factors they don’t align as well.
Then sometimes every other scanline looks different. One half might look smooth, while the other half might look rough.
I’ve seen in CRT-Guest-Advanced where some scanlines are compressed to fit, while others are normal sized.
Those things may not matter to the average user but they matter to me.
Going down that rabbit hole led me to realize that if I got things perfectly aligned at one scale factor, for example 8x and I switched to 6x, then the Scanlines and the Mask might no longer be aligned.
Along the way, I also learned that you could adjust the entire mask in relation to the scanlines by adjusting the Vertical Center.
CyberLab Megatron miniLED 4K HDR Game BFI Turbo Duo_DC 3D Comb Filter Shadow Mask Epic CAR9x8x.slangp
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Tha’s why it felt a bit off. Recently I have been using your presets in shader glass and it gives a nice nostalig feeling good job making those presets.
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I really like the way your shaders look in the screen shots, however when I try the CRT royale pack, everything is really dark. I am on a 49UK6200PUA, an older LG 4k tv and I was trying to use the “CRT-Royale 4k SNES_PSX” shader, maybe that isn’t the right one?
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It could be more than that. it depends on what you’re seeing that feels a bit off to you. You can post some photos of the screen so that I can see what you’re talking about.
This is interesting. I wonder how well Shader Glass handles Retroarch slang stuff.
I’m glad to hear this.
Thanks, they also look great on a proper display too.
Hmmm, interesting, “really dark” isn’t a very specific way to describe something this. Can you post some photos of the presets in action?
Hmmm…According to the specs and information I researched, without getting into too much detail, this TV isn’t really well suited for these types of shaders and presets.
According to this the TV can only get to 200 cd/m². Sony Megatron Colour Video Monitor calls for a minimum of 600 nits, while I would consider 400 nits to be a good enough baseline for running CRT Shaders with mask and scanlines.
In addition to that it is said that the TV has an RBGW subpixel layout. That makes it even worse. You probably wouldn’t get any shaders or presets which match this subpixel layout.
Furthermore it uses a white subpixel to enhance brightness while not having the same number of RGB subpixels as a true 4K UltraHD 3840 x 2160 display.
You can post some pics so that I can see what’s happening then advise you from there.
it will only let me post one image and I don’t know if this is going to come through well in screenshots, but it looks like a crt with the brightness turned way down.
By photos and pics, I mean photos or pictures of the screen. Screenshots don’t really matter in this case.
Did you read and understand what I said about your display n this post?
I guess I’ll just play without shaders then, sorry for wasting your time.
It seems like we’re having a patience issue here. I never said you were wasting my time.
You indicated that you could only post one photo. That might be a temporary condition if you’re a new user. I tried to explain that a photo would be more useful than a GPU screenshot, especially in this case with your display being what it is, you seemed to understand that.
Your display appears to be a special case. I am merely awaiting the requested feedback from you in order to assess what is going on before charting a way forward.
I’m not the type to quit or give up easily when faced with a challenge.
That’s one of the reasons why I’ve made so many preset packs. My W420M preset pack was developed using a relatively cheap/low end LG TV which can’t do RGB 4:4:4 Full Chroma and that means that most subpixel masks won’t work or look correctly on it.
That didn’t stop me from persevering and eventually getting something that looked and worked well.
So it’s your choice if you want to give up and play without shaders then, if not and you want to try to figure things out then feel free to post a photo.
Alternatively, you can go through the shaders that come with RetroArch in the Shaders_Slang folder, you can also try one of the many other community shader preset offerings or even go through my presets and see what works well because all of my presets don’t share the same characteristics.
Most Shaders rely on clever programming to work around the challenge of losing brightness when trying to emulate a real CRT’s mask and scanlines. Unfortunately these tricks take the image further away from matching a CRT’s image.
Most of my presets don’t employ these tricks or use them very sparingly. So you just have to find the shaders and presets which will look best on your display.
In CRT Royale there’s a Shader Parameter called - mask_triad_size_desired, you can try adjusting that in integer values until you get something that looks suitable for your display. You can also play around with the Gamma Settings if you want to try to increase brightness.
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To be clear, the ones labled MiniLED aren’t strictly designed for MiniLED panels?
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No, they were just designed on a miniLED TV. You can use any preset or preset pack on any display you have.
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Ha, I was checking out that same post. Those are good shots
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I wish it was that good during my childhood. Both my TVs and RF modulators were state-of-the-art crappy engineering, whose manufacturers broke the realm of what was expected from low quality. Would something like those pics be achievable back then? Everything seemed so lousy (perhaps has to do with from where I come).
Also, was the OP using an RF out from his VCR? I never even heard of that. When I used something similar, it was for outputting an RF signal from the console to the VCR, which in turn would output to the TV using standard RCA cables (useful when that was the only input on the television). I’m kinda dumb, so I’m lost. Seems like OP is implying that RF was used into and out of the VCR. If that’s the case, why even use the VCR as a middleman? Why not plug directly into the TV?
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Best viewed in fullscreen or zoomed in, in HDR mode or on a screen with bright settings for the full effect. You can download the .jxr files as well for proper HDR viewing.
CyberLab Megatron miniLED 4K HDR Game BFI Turbo Duo_DC 3D Comb Filter Shadow Mask Epic CAR9x8x.slangp
.jxr image file with HDR image as well as SDR image with HDR to SDR tonemapping
.jxr image file with HDR image as well as SDR image with HDR to SDR tonemapping
.jxr image file with HDR image as well as to SDR image with HDR to SDR tonemapping
.jxr image file with HDR image as well as SDR image with HDR to SDR tonemapping
.jxr image file with HDR image as well as SDR image with HDR to SDR tonemapping
.jxr image file with HDR image as well as SDR image with HDR to SDR tonemapping
@Nesguy This is what I was referring to when I was speaking about Slot Mask also being viable once the alignment is nailed.
.jxr image file with HDR image as well as SDR image with HDR to SDR tonemapping
.jxr image file with HDR image as well as SDR image with HDR to SDR tonemapping
.jxr image file with HDR image as well as SDR image with HDR to SDR tonemapping
.jxr image file with HDR image as well as SDR image with HDR to SDR tonemapping
.jxr image file with HDR image as well as SDR image with HDR to SDR tonemapping
.jxr image file with HDR image as well as SDR image with HDR to SDR tonemapping
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Yeah, I can’t detect any moire pattern with that configuration. The triads are a bit elongated, but looks good.
Currently I’m using RRGGBX sans slot mask because the brightness with slot mask added is just a bit too dim, even with 1000 nits 
Every time I enable the slot mask and let my eyes adjust, I always find myself wanting that extra brightness. The real glow effect at 1000 nits using RRGGBBX is incredible.
The coarse dotmask is interesting, even if not commonly seen in TVs. Shots look good.
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Yeah, I recently switched back to the 4K Mask from the 8K Mask which I modified to be RGBX/BGRX. The 8K Mask was stubbier. I’ll probably revisit it if I could fine tune it to get that type of alignment. I think I did though but when looking for my example to show you it wasn’t as perfect as the 4K Mask.
The whole purpose of me going through the hassle of modifying the 8K Mask Layout was because I actually preferred the shorter Mask Height of the 8K Mask.
When I say I recently went back to the 4K Mask, I mean very recently, as in maybe one or two updates ago.
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Glad to see you’re still advancing these awesome presets along, Cyber!
I have some catching up to do, it seems. 
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Welcome back @Neofuuma! As long as I play games and have life, health and strength, I’ll be advancing these presets.
Right now I’m at a point where I just want to add some precisely sized reflective Bezels/TV Overlays using something lightweight like @Hyllian’s Uborder while keeping all of my preset settings exactly as they are.
What kind of display are you using? The brighter the better for these things.
@Hyllian, what would it take to port the latest version of CyberLab Megatron miniLED Epic Death To Pixels 4K HDR Shader Preset Pack to Uborder?
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