Much interesting @hunterk … So it’s something related to the signal, not to the hardware itself.
In the Magnavox I’d say it’s a combination of the two, as Duimon suggested! I’ll try to find more hi-res evidence…
@HyperspaceMadness have we something like that in our toolbox? 
I have a few monochrome monitors in storage. I can hook them up to my 5160 with a Hercules card and see what I see.
When I add GUEST-GDV-NTSC I think you would be able to use this for the NTSC effect,and the monochrome would go on top of that.
I hate to disappoint but, among my dozens of IBM PS/2 monitors, Apple monitors, and even one of those Magnavox color monitors, in my infinite wisdom I must have either ditched or hidden away somewhere real deep, all my monochrome monitors. I can’t find a single one.
I know I was concerned about storage space when I moved into my house but I can’t believe I didn’t save at least one. 
Now I will have to buy a couple when I get around to setting everything up. 
Just wanted to say thanks for all of this to all who have contributed and made this possible. I now can move on from “Death to Pixels” in Analog Shader Pack 3.0. I hope the “BendBombBoom__Aperture-Soft__Mask-1” preset remains just as good as it is now even though it’s still considered experimental. Can you freeze it and promote it to one of the standard or variations presets? Would it change as you continue to update HSM Mega Bezel Reflection Shader?
The “Newpixie-Clone_Smoothed_Rolling-Scanlines__STD__GDV” was very interesting although I might have preferred if the rolling effect of the scanlines was a bit more subtle and almost unnoticeable unless you paused the game and looked for it. I briefly looked at Smoothed-ScaleFX_Horz_Only__STD" and “Smoothed-ScaleFX_Antialias” and they both looked beautiful. But for now I think I’m sticking with the “BendBombBoom__Aperture-Soft__Mask-1” preset.
Honestly it shouldn’t change too drastically (looks wise) between updates, in most situations tbh.
The bigger issue will someone possibly needing to “remake” the preset if setting names change, but that’s honestly just a matter of typing or inputting numbers for the most part.
Or, great. I was just a bit worried due to it being in the “Experimental” folder and the fact that I liked it so much as it is now.
Multiple reasons it could be in the experimental folder tbh, BBB may still be messing with the preset itself, HSM “might” just be gauging interest in it, as he is maintaining everything (code wise) solo afaik.
If you’re concerned just make a copy of the preset somewhere, mainly so you can just “recreate” it via settings later if stuff changes later on somehow.
Here’s another shot of the Magnavox. It is pretty high resolution.
The discussion calls what looks like a mask in your shot, “Chroma Dots” and implies it is due to the connection type. (RCA vs DIN connector.) They talk about feeding it the luma from a component output for a perfect display. (Which is what we see here I think.)
They also explicitly state that it has no mask. 
Wow, so the real culprit here is the actual signal, not the display hardware. Looks like the ‘sharp’ monochrome comes from actual PCs good quality connection, while artifacts come up when used with old TV-consoles or bad connections.
Look at this Mario vs Duck Hunt: Mario loses!
Bonus: Mega Bezel Metroid
PS: quite an impressive pip-boy here!
I’d say it’s a combination. The HGC resolution was 720 x 348. With the luma component thing you could probably go SVGA. I think monochrome monitors were resolution independent.
Software was also probably a contributor.
The Tandy could display 16 colors on a 4 color CGA monitor.
Some scene intros on the Amiga managed 64k colors on a 256 color VGA.
CGA monitors are usually 16 colors capable, the Tandys just extended the capabilities of standard CGA similar to the PCjr.
One thing that’s also becoming evident when looking at screenshots ( I used to take a lot of them for databases) is that game content specifically was often not optimized for high resolution monochrome options (Hercules on PC, Atari ST high res 640x400 mode, to a lesser extent also true for early Macintosh). Graphics just were scaled and dithered, higher res mostly used for better fonts.
Also, you might be interested in this nerdlypleasures blog post about monochrome PC graphics, he’s describing e.g. some things about transfer from color to monochrome displays.
A really, really interesting lecture.
Btw, I feel so a privileged and lucky gamer: my first memories are a C64 hooked up to a b/w tv, later a c128D with a color tv, an Amiga500 with a c1084 monitor… straight on to a 486DX2 pc! Somewhat I feel like I played the best versions of many games, expecially in that time window Amiga had way better colors than early gaming PCs (Lucasarts games anyone?).
I know this may be an unpopular opinion, but we tend to create insane ‘sweet bounds’ to hardware limited games: today I fell really lucky to be able to control and simulate limitation to get ‘just a taste’, without being drowned by artifacts, getting the best version EVER of our beloved games… for free.
We’re basically making our homebrew enhanced editions, 20-30 years later. And this, my friends, it’s pure magic.
Im using the mega bezel with my sony HD crt sending an 1080i signal and it looks awesome to my eyes, i think im using guess dr venom shader, i love how it looks but in white parts of the image the scanlines are non existent, with other colors they can be seem but not too much, is there any option where i can emphasize the thickness of the scanlines or whe darkness of its color? i think if i can find that option i wont need to buy more crts.anymore. BTW Im adding pictures so you can see what i mean, ahh HSM Mega Bezel is running on a real 1080i/480p 4:3 crt! photo_2021-08-28_17-14-15|375x500
Hi there, this would really be a question about Guest-DrVenom settings. @guest.r might have some suggestions. Off the top of my head there are a couple things which could accentuate the scanlines:
Here is the default guest settings
Here’s scanline 2
Here’s the scanline shape center which adds more dark scanlines in bright areas
This is scanline vertical deconvergence which has a similar effect
Thank you so much, i’ll try those options
Just sharing my latest presets with the community. I’m quite satisfied with these settings for now. Pictures won’t tell the whole story as there’s a bit of subtle movement going on in there so feel free to try them out.
I recommend using Arcade - Sharp for arcade games, Composite - Pure for NES and similar systems and Composite - Sharp for the 16-bit era systems and everything else except games that rely on dithering to generate additional colours and transparency effects that aren’t being handled well enough by the Composite - Sharp preset. For those cases, I recommend using my Blending and Transparency Edition preset.
With that said, for the best viewing experience of these screenshots I suggest you right click on the image then click, “Open link in new tab”, “Open link in new window” or “Open image in new tab”.
Then click on the new window or tab and press the F11 key for a fullscreen view.
This also works when viewing the albums on imgur.
[Updated 10/11/21]
Presets are updated. Screenshots and video clips are not.
CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels (Composite - Sharp)
Note: Please download and loop video clips when playing for optimal viewing quality and experience.
CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels Composite Sharp.slangp
#reference ":/shaders/shaders_slang/bezel/Mega_Bezel/Presets/Base_CRT_Presets/MBZ__2__STD__GDV.slangp" g_cntrst = "0.500000" GDV_AFTERGLOW_THRESHOLD = "7.5" // BP = "16" glow = "0.050000" SIZEH = "7.000000" SIGMA_H = "2.300000" halation = "0.250000" h_sharp = "1.000003" shadowMask = "6.000000" maskstr = "0.4" maskDark = "1.000000" GDV_DECONVERGENCE_ON = "1.000000" deconrr = "1.000000" deconrb = "-1.000000" deconrry = "1.000000" deconrby = "-1.000000" beam_min = "1.000000" beam_size = "0.000000" vertmask = "1.000000" HSM_INTERLACE_TRIGGER_RES = "600.000000" HSM_FAKE_SCANLINE_RES = "240.000000" MDAPT_MODE = "2.00000" HSM_CURVATURE_MODE = "-1.000000" HSM_FAKE_SCANLINE_OPACITY = "0.000000" HSM_FAKE_SCANLINE_ROLL = "0.000000" HSM_CORE_RES_SAMPLING_MULT_SCANLINE_DIR = "1600.000000" HSM_DOWNSAMPLE_BLUR_SCANLINE_DIR = "70.000000" HSM_DOWNSAMPLE_BLUR_OPPOSITE_DIR = "60.000000" g_crtgamut = "1.000000" g_hue_degrees = "0.000000" HSM_SCALEFX_ON = "1.000000" SHARPEN_ON = "1.000000" SHARPEN = "0.250000" CONTR = "0.090000" g_sat = "0.000000" GTU_ON = "1.000000" compositeConnection = "1.000000" signalResolutionI = "304.000000" signalResolutionQ = "261.000000" spike = "2.000000" gamma_c = "1.640000" deconsmooth = "1.000000" addnoised = "0.140000"
Note: If you’re using Higan or BSNES, the resolution setting in the core options can influence how your final image looks in terms of sharpness and softness. In games that you might prefer a crisper, sharper look for example Super Mario World and Super Mario Kart, you can try switching it to 512 x 224. Conversely in games that use dithering to create extra colours for example U.N. Squadron and TMNT: Turtles In Time and Final Fight, 256 x 224 might be the better choice. You can save your choice in Quick Menu…Options…Manage Core Options and save per game.
The following 2 video clips show my CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels (Composite - Sharp) preset combined with the built-in Blargg NTSC Composite filter in the Genesis Plus GX core.
https://mega.nz/file/kYxySCKI#szeKGsQbg5YWFIJMooKw7WG5t-85uBhWxnQQUjNnoCo
https://mega.nz/file/ZUwUhAqL#G7JGAiWbhItVWvsU41peplF6ND-HIkMgswHo3n-BozA
This next one’s for the CRT purists like @Nesguy, @Brainbin74, @Duimon and even myself sometimes when I’m feeling for that extra bit of nostalgia.
Note: This preset needs the “CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels Composite Sharp.slangp” preset to be in the same “…\Retroarch\Shaders” folder for it to work.
CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels (Composite - Pure)
Note: Please download and loop video clip for optimal viewing quality and experience.
CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels Composite Pure.slangp
#reference "CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels Composite Sharp.slangp" halation = "0.150000" h_sharp = "5.000000" HSM_SCALEFX_ON = "0.000000" HSM_DOWNSAMPLE_BLUR_SCANLINE_DIR = "0.000000" HSM_DOWNSAMPLE_BLUR_OPPOSITE_DIR = "0.000000" g_hue_degrees = "4.000000" signalResolutionI = "83.000000" signalResolutionQ = "145.000000" g_sat = "0.050000" addnoised = "0.200000"
If you’re also looking for the infamous " Rainbow effect" you can use my presets above and also enable Blargg’s NTSC Composite filter in the Genesis Plus GX Core Options. It might even work with my Composite - Pure preset as well but I haven’t tested it yet.
What I’ve noticed is that once the Blargg NTSC Composite Filter is enabled and used in conjunction with my Composite - Sharp preset, dithering based transparencies also work fine, whereas without the Blargg filter set to composite that particular preset didn’t do the transparency effects properly. So I went back to the drawing board and came up with this next preset. It’s not a one size fits all solution as it can cause some artifacts due to false positives in certain games but when it works, it works beautifully!
CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels (Blending and Transparency Edition)
CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels Blending and Transparency Edition.slangp
#reference "CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels Composite Sharp.slangp" MDAPT_MODE = "3.000000"
Note: This preset needs the “CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels Composite Sharp.slangp” preset to be in the same “…\Retroarch\Shaders” folder for it to work.
So now you can get the best of both worlds. Extra colours, transparency effects and the rainbow effect without blurry graphics as if Vaseline was smeared all over the screen.
My next mission is to test this combination out with my Composite - Pure preset and also to test it with the global Blargg NTSC Filter in the main RetroArch settings to see if it works the same way!
CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels (Arcade - Sharp)
CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels Arcade Sharp.slangp
#reference ":/shaders/shaders_slang/bezel/Mega_Bezel/Presets/Base_CRT_Presets/MBZ__2__STD__GDV.slangp" g_cntrst = "0.500000" GDV_AFTERGLOW_THRESHOLD = "7.5" // BP = "16" glow = "0.050000" SIZEH = "7.000000" SIGMA_H = "2.300000" halation = "0.200000" h_sharp = "3.000001" shadowMask = "6.000000" maskstr = "0.4" maskDark = "1.000000" GDV_DECONVERGENCE_ON = "1.000000" deconrr = "1.000000" deconrb = "-1.000000" deconrry = "1.000000" deconrby = "-1.000000" beam_min = "1.000000" beam_size = "0.000000" vertmask = "1.000000" HSM_INTERLACE_TRIGGER_RES = "600.000000" HSM_FAKE_SCANLINE_RES = "240.000000" MDAPT_MODE = "2.00000" HSM_SCALEFX_ON = "1.000000" HSM_CURVATURE_MODE = "-1.000000" HSM_FAKE_SCANLINE_OPACITY = "0.000000" HSM_FAKE_SCANLINE_ROLL = "0.000000" HSM_CORE_RES_SAMPLING_MULT_SCANLINE_DIR = "1600.000000" HSM_DOWNSAMPLE_BLUR_SCANLINE_DIR = "100.000000" HSM_DOWNSAMPLE_BLUR_OPPOSITE_DIR = "100.000000" g_hue_degrees = "4.000000" spike = "2.000000" gamma_c = "1.460000" deconsmooth = "1.000000" addnoised = "0.120000"
For lower end systems, you can replace the Base CRT Preset reference shader line with this:
#reference ":/shaders/shaders_slang/bezel/Mega_Bezel/Presets/Base_CRT_Presets/MBZ__3__BASIC-EXTRA-PASSES__GDV.slangp"
1080p and 1440p users can now enjoy presets that are optimized for those resolutions providing almost the same look and feel of my existing presets which were all designed, tested and targeted towards 4K display users!
Thanks again to all who made this possible!
Click the link below to download
CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels Shader Preset Pack 10-11-21.zip
