List of recommended TVs for emulation

[Cyber]

RGB MINI-LED vs QD-Oled

RGB Mini LED: The Truth Behind the Hype Series 2

LG Flagship an LCD TV!? Micro RGB evo May Hint at Mundane G6 OLED? | CES 2026

[Cyber]

Greetings @Nesguy, the first post of this thread is getting a bit long in the tooth. Don’t you think an update is long overdue?

Hope all is well.

[Cyber]

Question:

Will any OLED be just fine for CRT Emulation?

Answer:

Definitely not. OLED displays generally don’t have the standard vertical R-G-B/B-G-R striped subpixel layout that subpixel aware CRT Shaders rely on in order to map modern display subpixels to emulated CRT Phosphors.

So only a handful of low TVL Masks can be acceptably emulated and only on WOLED. Due to QD-OLED’s triangular subpixel structure, the CRT-Subpxel Mask emulation is always off/inaccurate.

Only recently OLED panel makers have started to address this.

In addition to that, accurate emulation of Masks/Phosphors and Scanlines demands that most of the pixels of the display are turned off/darkened which makes things very dark. Add BFI/Beam Simulator/Pulsar aka Backlight Strobing and it gets even darker.

The solution? Shaders which compromise accuracy for the sake of brightness or very bright screens.

MiniLED screens far outshine OLED displays in this department. Even a Mid-Range miniLED can be brighter or just as bright as the brightest OLED displays, especially in sustained brightness.

Luckily OLED panels can squeeze some more brightness out of lit pixels the more unlit pixels are off so that can offset the brightness deficit relative to miniLED a bit.

miniLED can’t do that per pixel energy conservation so must rely instead on having much higher brute force sustained brightness potential. Due to their standard subpixel structure, many more mask layouts can be properly emulated and represented via the LCD subpixel structure which is not too dissimilar from an Aperture Grille CRT’s Phosphor structure.

Lastly, while modern OLED displays might be better at handling burn-in, there is always the risk of those emulated scanlines and scanline gaps wearing out unevenly.

[yepes]

Related to this, if one were to buy an OLED TV in 2026 for emulation (due to the wider viewing angles and deeper blacks), which model would you recommend?

I know miniLED TVs perform better in most cases, but viewing angles still lag behind OLED TVs, so some people might prefer the latter.

Thanks in advance!

[Cyber]

PlainOldPants's Shader Presets

Don’t make the mistake of getting a QD-OLED display for CRT Emulation. The G5 would definitely be the better bet but do note that it uses a different subpixel layout from all other previous WOLED TVs. So it may not be compatible with current CRT Shader Mask Layouts. However, based on my understanding of these things, adding support for this new layout should be a relatively simple process. I suspect that all that would need to be done is whatever subpixels LG display swapped around might have…

PlainOldPants's Shader Presets

It’s hard to say where things will be in a decade. I’m hoping that LG Display is going to retire the white subpixel as they improve efficiency with RGB Tandem OLED and reemploy MLA, despite the cost issues of implementing it. That might be the ultimate for CRT Emulation if it materializes in a few years. Right now folks are sleeping on the TCL QM851G, QM9K and QM8K for CRT Shaders. I have a TCL QM751G and it totally rocks with CRT Shaders but all of those I’ve listed there have way more bright…

Let's talk about the beam simulator, displays, etc

Hmmm… First I’d like to say a warm welcome back to one of the forefathers of accurate CRT emulation! While you’re at it salivating at the thought of a 31.5" 4K , 240Hz HDR1200 display, don’t forget to check out the specs and prices on these behemoths! The TCL QM851G is brighter but the QM6K sports an RGB Subpixel Layout! Also the CRT Beam.Simulator seems to be producing mixed results, especially on LCD panels. I’m not sure if you’ve tried it before but there’s an option to protect LCD’s f…

Please show off what crt shaders can do!

These are from my brand new CyberLab Megatron miniLED Epic Death To Pixels HDR Shader Preset Pack Be sure to click/tap on Download Original Image to view them in the most optimal fidelity. For a long time now, I’ve noticed while experimenting with lower scale factors that sometimes when the viewport is smaller the image looks more authentic and has a special vibrancy and sharpness to it which looks and feels better and more CRT like to me. I’ve noticed every time I’ve switched back and forth …

Sony Megatron Colour Video Monitor

Hey y’all, are there any updates on when we might see a LG G5 compatible settings? We used to have a CX and loved using this shader, and would love to get it up and running again on the G5 Thanks for all you do!!

Sony Megatron Colour Video Monitor

Hi Cyber, firstly thanks for all your hard work and effort over the years its greatly appreciated by me (and I’m sure the community at large). When users go to RTINGS they see multiple Peak Luminance values as it relates to different window sizes so it’s a bit confusing. Which Window Size are we to use when we go to RTINGS to determine our display’s Peak Luminance value to use in our RetroArch or Sony Megatron Colour Video Monitor setup? Is it 2% Window Peak Brightness, 5% Window Peak Brightne…

@yepes

if one were to buy an OLED TV in 2026 for emulation (due to the wider viewing angles and deeper blacks), which model would you recommend?

The brightest you can get that doesn’t compromise on gaming or other features/strengths that would also benefit emulation and then secondary uses.

So any WOLED with an MLA panel, LG G3, G4. You can go tandem OLED but as stated before, it’s untested and unproven if current CRT shader subpixel mask layouts would be compatible.

So there might be a little lag before they’re actually fully supported as help would be needed from users and / developer who actually have access to the TVs to fully test the subpixel layout.

Nobody talks about this but it took years before RWBG/WOLED TVs had decent CRT shader support and advocacy to develop, test and implement them in shaders was mostly a done by a tiny handful of vocal folks who had those TVs in the community.

So LG G4, G3 would be easy recommendations although I don’t recommend OLED TVs for this.

LG G6, LG G5, Panasonic Z95B with the caveat about the new subpixel layout and uncertainty about Panasonic’s tonemapping, gaming features and the OS.

[Sega_64X]

I really like the OLED image for emulation, even if it’s not very accurate.

I used to be afraid of burn-in, but a recent test by R-tings showed that LCDs in general suffer much more from it.

I’m starting to get burn-in on my LCD monitor myself, after only 2 years of use…

Longevity Burn-In Test: Updates And Results From 100 TVs

[Cyber]

@Sega_64X

I really like the OLED image for emulation, even if it’s not very accurate.

Interesting statement. While I also like the OLED image for emulation, have you ever experienced good CRT Shader Presets on a good miniLED display with >=720 local dimming zones, Peak 10% Window 1,466 cd/m², Sustained 50% Window 860 cd/m² with BFI before in order to actually compare how it might fare?

Also, not all OLED displays are incapable of accurate subpixel CRT emulation. RWBG/WOLED displays are very capable of accurate CRT emulation, however they are limited in the subpixel mask petterns that they can accurately simulate vs a display with a standard R-G-B/B-G-R vertical subpixel stripe.

[Sega_64X]

No, before buying an OLED I had a regular LED, I even considered a miniLED, but I found the OLED image more pleasing.

[Cyber]

TCL X11L is my new reference MiniLED TV! 10,000 nits is real