Current version is fine, some sharpening could be added… Further improvements are not necessarily trivial though, since the ntsc filter has it’s properties.
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I understand there are limitations to what can be achieved given the filtering options that are available. It’s not necessarily sharpness that needs to be increased, but high-contrast edges should favor darker colors. This is what happens when you use composite, all the small dark details shrink or get crushed and you wish you had RGB (this also results in black lines becoming bolder). If it’s possible to do anything further, that would be great. If not, I appreciate your efforts regardless 
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I think i will code it in curved space, to catch the original ntsc look. It already looks quite nice and much sharper, but not the same though. Maybe better. 
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Did you just say new code? 
::heavy breathing::
(just for reference)
There are a lot of good direct-captures here that illustrate what I’m talking about. Highlights reverse-bloom (wilt?) / there’s a loss of detail. Some black lines become bolder, but others blur out/become lighter, depending on the adjacent color.
https://www.chrismcovell.com/gotRGB/rgb_compare2.html
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The NTSC passes are controlling most of the blending though. I think the new release will be something better regarding sharpness, but still less adjustable compared with the the standalone version.
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Hi. I’m new to this shader. Is there a readme file? What’s the difference between crt-guest-advanced & crt-guest-advanced-hires? Is the regular crt-guest-advanced good to use with 480p content or do I need to use the hires version? Is the hires version made for 4K screens & the regular version for 1080p screens?
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Hello there!
There is a readme file for the more early versions, could be helpful. Otherwise i’ll wait a bit to write a new readme/guide so i don’t need to update it afterwards.
The hi-res version has a wide filter, suitable for high resolution content (i.e. PS2 games…). Has nothing to do with display resolution / output resolution though.
Even the fast version is very fine. De-facto all versions are suitable of running such a content. The regular version has the most ‘candies’ though. Some experience is needed with the interlacing settings, but shouldn’t be too hard.
Naa…the biggest difference between 4k and 1080p is how you setup masks. 
If a preset works nice on 1080p it should run nicely on 4k (with mask correctures).
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New Release Version (2021-07-13-r1):
Notable changes:
- NTSC preset related changes, most modes tweaked a bit. A sharpen filter is added for more sharpness control.
- Edit: small fix.
Download link:
https://mega.nz/file/JsoEgTCZ#rcUoTudHe5SOhG5lJLV9pVa04nabmk7e9F5i1VFBXnM
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Rising substractive sharpness can make black dots appear quickly.
Even more if pushing the other sharpness parameters as well.
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Edit: i think it should be fixed now. My drivers sometimes ignore stuff…
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It’s good now thank you. 
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Sharpening filter looks damn good! Haven’t played around much with the settings, but it’s a big improvement over previous versions even with the default settings. Great work!
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Maybe i went a bit conservative with ‘Substractive sharpness’ default values, but raising it higher works quite nice with blend modes 0.0 and 1.0. Anyway, hopefully i’ll manage to finish the new ‘readme’ in summertime.
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What do you think about a custom scaling mode that scales the screen vertically like “v-size potentiometer” does on a real CRT monitor?
The difference with regular scaling is that “v-size potentiometer” only changes the (black) spacing between scanlines, but does not alter the scanline shape itself.
It think it would be a quite useful feature as for example PAL and NTSC spacing of scanlines could be easily configured: the scanline beam itself on real CRT is same for both NTSC and PAL signal, but only the black spacing between the scanlines is altered (more black spacing between scanlines for NTSC).
I think it would be pretty neat if we could have this analogue vertical scaling feature of real CRT implemented.
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how? 
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It’s not really doable without changing the scanline shape and black spacing would, for example look like an annoyance with most scanline setups, especially -1.0 and 1.0.
Maybe it’s just not yet properly defined regarding the shader implementation though.
How about “dark” spacing between scanlines, would that be more appropriate?
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Definition is very important here since modern displays have their features and resolutions and every analogue approach isn’t directly translatable, only maybe visually. Asymmetric scanlines, viewed from the shader perspective, can be easily added and would look quite nice, even better in some situations (1080p, 4x scaling…). Pursuing something greater to get a worse result is not an option though.
Here is a test version (main shader file only) with a new parameter for ‘Scanline Dark Spacing’:
https://mega.nz/file/8lYQQZ6A#P3HVMl1E9Iek-zEULRNA3rbJLm0UsouRx48Ho1VDKd8
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This is why you use a NTSC filter for PSX games.
(Beetle PSX Hardware, 4x internal resolution with downsample to native res)
Check the red pixels under the circle platform on the right. Also notice the shading in the darker areas. The stone brick highlights are blended properly too.
I think its neat.
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