Retroarch on a CRT

RetroArch General
#1

I have a converter box to connect my laptop to my CRT tv. IT looks amazing. I have a fee questions. My current settings are:

  • 640x480
  • crop overscan unchecked
  • maintain aspect ratio unchecked
  • integer scale off

Is there anything settings I should change? Are there any shaders I should add on top of that?

Finally, if I take a screenshot, it results in a 320x240 image. Even if I have set the resolution to 480p or higher. I don’t mind, I am just curious why. It might be something with how the converter works.

I am grateful for rgui, as it scales so much better than Phoenix.

Finally, why do the games look so much better? It looks to be more than just the resolution being closer to native. I heard something about lcds having square pixels, while crts have non-square

I would highly recommend one these things, as its the best of both worlds, and the games look great with no need for shaders. They are very sharp. I greed up with rf and composite, so this blows me away.

#2

CRT TVs don’t have a horizontal resolution. The NTSC signal is an analog waveform (no discrete pixels), with a certain bandwidth which restricts high frequency content (detail).

#3

CRT’s are just better at displaying low-res content. Basically, if you look at say a SNES game on an LCD, you can see the pixels since its a fixed pixel display. And on a CRT, you don’t see pixels - exactly what Maister said. Then of course you have access to scanlines which clean up the image even more and eliminate the flicker. The best part of a CRT though is the lack of input-lag. Its too bad someone hasn’t come up with a way to implement the benefits of CRT technology into newer higher-res displays. I will admit though I’d love to see what some of these new shaders can do. Just a question Tripulent - do you have any way to output 240/224p res. with your laptop? I’ve always wondered if something like that were possible so I can try some of the other cores that don’t work on Wii in low-res (CPS3, PS1, etc.)

#4

It’s like I’m really on GBAtemp.

If this turns into another CRT vs. LCD topic I’m locking it.

#5

? Didn’t mean anything by it…just nice that these games can be enjoyed no matter what you have.

#6

FWIW I’ve used retroarch on a CRT too— it’s great fun of having all the features of the emulator without having to worry about what shader to pick.

#7

It’s like I’m really on GBAtemp.

If this turns into another CRT vs. LCD topic I’m locking it.[/quote]

Well, the problem on gbatemp more than anything was that you had one or two guys in particular who constantly derailed any actual bug reports with their incessant whining about pixel-perfect graphics on their CRT and whatnot, and it just became close to impossible to actually use that thread for anything remotely resembling ‘feedback’. Not to mention that the moderators were irresponsible and instead of helping the devs actually banned the devs and let the heckling end-users basically do their thing.

I don’t think this thread so far shows any sign of it turning into this yet.

#8

Well, this really depends on what you mean by “newer higher-res displays”. Not so much newer, but hi-def CRTs do exist. I’ve actually been wanting to get one myself for a while. As much as I love my LED TV there’s something very nice/nostalgic about the way CRTs look, and it would make for a nice secondary display.

#9

A friend of mine has one of these, a 16:9, 1080i/720p CRT and it is indeed awesome and looks great, but it also weighs like 200 lbs (or ~93 kg for anyone on the metric system). For all of the great advantages of CRT displays, the size/weight drawback is simply insurmountable, IMO.

#10

http://forum.themaister.net/viewtopic.php?pid=3584#p3584 https://interpolation-shaders.googlecode.com/files/TVoutTweaks.cg

This is from the gamma thread. It seems pretty interesting and just what I am looking for.

What kind of conversion box are you using exactly ? is it just something that converts 640480p to 640240p , or a simple VGA to SCART converter ? because depending on the connection you are using , you may or may not need to set bilinear filtering in retroarch’s video settings. also make sure crop overscan isn’t checked.

It is a simple VGA to s-video converter, as that is the kind of connection my tv has. It is a late model shadow mask. S-video is also the connection most CRT the have, so I plan on using this as a baby sitting. A lot of people still have crts.

For overscan, I have checked it. With it off, there seems to be small blackbars.

#11

Tthis is exactly what I was referring to. These things look incredible. But yeah, I’ll give you that the weight factor can be a problem. In fact, it’s the only reason I haven’t picked on of these up for myself yet, considering how dirt-cheap they are nowadays.

#12

My friend got his for $60 on craigslist. If you have the space for it and don’t move around much, you should totally go for it. :slight_smile:

#13

I have a 30XS955, which is just like the TV linked up there but smaller. It is not a perfect display, at least not for older consoles. It line-doubles 240p in a weird way that results in a very blocky image, and on the NES and SNES, there is also a lot of screen tearing. It’s great for newer consoles, such as the PS2 and upwards, however.

#14

@GPDP Oh man, really? That’s a shame. Now that you mention it, I haven’t ever seen 240p consoles on my friend’s. He only ever plays Street Fighter 4 on it…

#15

Yeah, trust me, I have done a ton of testing. Pre-Dreamcast consoles just do not fare well on it. I ended up getting a Sony 27FS100 to complement it, because the way the 30XS955 handles older games was quite simply unacceptable to me.

#16

Also, sometimes a line will flow down the screen. It is not specific to retroarch, as MPC does the same. Is there some option to get rid of this? Perhaps it is something with vsync (which is turned on).