Sony Megatron Colour Video Monitor

RetroArch Additions Shaders
#2226

I’m not sure if @MajorPainTheCactus ever clarified which of the peak luminance values from RTINGS users should use. Seeing that that’s one of the first steps in using the shader and then a user is faced with a myriad of choices, how can one be sure which is the correct one?

For me, I just use some initiative and maybe trial and error but for others things like this might be a bit difficult.

As for the above two screenshots, when playing video games, other picture modes don’t exist for me so I’d definitely stick to the Game Mode values.

Only in Shader Parameters. If you find and read the setup instructions they state this.

This is also stated in the Setup Instructions that These settings are for SDR only. Don’t worry, I’ve forgotten that and asked about different colour spaces while using HDR Mode myself.

Whichever looks good to your eyes.

Aspect Ratio is set in the RetroArch Video Scaling Menu. I just set which works best at any given time. Sometimes I even use custom aspect ratios.

You might have to combine it with a shader that does curvature and other geometry adjustments.

Vivid as in heavily oversaturated and clipped? Because that’s how they might look if you enable SDR while in HDR Mode. They might also look more vivid than the HDR Presets if you’re incorrectly loading an HDR preset while HDR is not properly enabled on your machine. HDR tends to look washed out on a system in SDR mode. It will also look washed out if your Peak Luminance and Paperwhite Luminance settings are too low.

This is something I don’t have to do while using the Vulkan driver. It’s only if I’m using a D3D driver that I also have to enable HDR in Windows.

It might be possible. CRT-Guest-Advanced shaders are also subpixel level accurate and they work pretty well with curvature. There are even Megatron base presets in Mega Bezel Reflection Shader. I’m sure those default to Curvature - On.

It’s nice to have options, especially when not all displays display the RGB CRT Mask Phosphors correctly.

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#2227

Thank you for your collaboration, @Cyber !!

I’ll continue doing some tests. In me there is always a concern about what is necessary and what is personal taste. I always try to be within the recommended range first and then go out to test what is merely optional;

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#2228

@HyperspaceMadness, I would love to see the MegaBezel fully functioning with Megatron. Some of the presets are color washed. We need, we need. Update!

Guys, where can Megatron’s official updates be downloaded? Do they include the improvements and suggestions presented in this thread?

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#2229

Sony Megatron Color Video Monitor is generally kept up to date via the Online Updater.

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#2230

About Peak Luminance:

I have doubts about this parameter. Is it really necessary to keep the exact values (or as close as possible)? The default value configured in the preset is 1000.00. If I have to lower this value to 560 (which I’m supposed to use on my TV, according to Rtings), I end up reducing the brightness. Why not keep the default setting? Does this bring any significant loss?

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#2231

After setting the Peak Luminance to the 560, what happens when you set the Paper White Luminance?

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#2232

I do not change this parameter and keep the original 200.00. If there is any ideal proportion relationship for these two parameters I would like to know. :thinking:

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#2233

Dude, you obviously completely missed all of the Sony Megatron Color Video setup instructions. Tip: They’re in the Shader Parameters. They’re also in the first post, I think. They should also be in the GitHub Repo.

I also have some setup instructions in the readme file of my preset pack.

Anyway, once you set your display’s Peak Luminance Value, you then need to set your Paper White Luminance to whatever looks best to you.

There is no magic proportion. Just use your eyes. You can use your favourite games, probably a white background and/or the 240p Test Suite to assist with getting this right but this would have a significant effect on the overall brightness of the Shader on your display.

@RetroCrisis, we really need a Sony Megatron Color Video Monitor dedicated to the 3 most important setup steps after installing the Shader.

  1. Turning HDR On in RetroArch if using Vulkan or On in RetroArch and Windows if using D3D.

  2. Locating the Peak Luminance Value according RTINGS, other display reviews or the display’s spec sheet.

  3. Setting Paper White Values according to what simply looks best to the user for their particular display and possibly using their favorite games, a white screen and/or the 240p Test Suite to assist.

I have a strong feeling that a significant portion of users might be failing on the first few steps and missing out on this awesome Shader.

Edit:

Step 0. Update RetroArch and all Slang Shaders via the Online Updater. With a warning to manually reapply Shaders which may be newer than the RetroArch Online Updater provides.

3 Likes
#2234

This is probably effected by the display’s tonemapping and possibly by the max luminance value in the EDID/Windows as well. I will have to look into this more at some point.

For now, i would suggest trying to get things looking good with trying Peak Luminance at 560, and falling back to 1000 if you can’t get a good result.

Interesting. I’m guessing this is another Windows 10 vs 11 thing.

Yep, and different people are more sensitive to different things.

2 Likes
#2235

Well, I made some changes based on your emphatic comment. This actually improves things a little. Thanks Cyber!

Sometimes I want to understand a little more technically, Sorry! :v: :blush:

I end up forgetting to touch what is strictly optional (user taste). I was understanding that one parameter was the compensation for the other. Hence, I thought I could choose to control just the Peak Luminance parameter. I was naive and less curious. :upside_down_face:

And yes, I believe, there are several people, failing to experience Megatron’s potential, due to the times I read comments of disappointment with the results obtained here.

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#2236

@MajorPainTheCactus

This might need a bit more prominence.

Maybe even a heads up about what users would see and have to deal with once within Shader Parameters?

1 Like
#2237

This one’s for you @MajorPainTheCactus and @guest.r!

Please show off what crt shaders can do!

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#2238

Hey guys!

I don’t think I’m going to post any new discoveries, but I noticed a few things in my tests with Megatron. I would like to better understand what is happening here. Recommendations are very welcome.

I notice there is a correlation with these three parameters outlined in green:

image
image748×407 20.2 KB

I can use 4K Display Resolution on a 1080p monitor and have similar results to what 1080p resolution gives me, if I also choose a higher TLV. Is this behavior expected?

But one thing caught my attention the most. Should I or should I not use an integrated scale, in the Retroarch settings (Settings/Video/Scaling/Integer Scale)?

In this test I used a 1080p monitor. I also tested 4x3 aspect ratio, Full and Core provide.

It seems to me, by activating the integrated scale, I have better uniformity with darker horizontal lines separating pixels. I’m not sure which of the two forms is what I should expect from the shader.

I can’t take screenshots in HDR mode. But in these images I took with my cell phone camera, you might notice the difference in the white logo. Please compare these two images:

Integer OFF:

Integer_OFF
Integer_OFF1630×917 617 KB

Integer ON:

Integer_ON
Integer_ON1631×918 615 KB

I’m sorry for the bad images. But in any case, if you want to reproduce the scenario, I used these parameters:

Dusplay’s Resolution: 1080p

Screen Type: aperture grille

Resolution: 800TVL

Preset: crt-sony-megatron-viewsonic-A90f±hdr

You can also try other combinations, but it seems like the horizontal lines will always be there, in most cases. :thinking:

2 Likes
#2239

Expected behavior. The selected TVL will be (approximately) correct if Display’s Resolution matches your actual resolution. Lowering the Display’s Resolution setting doubles the approximate TVL, increasing the Display’s Resolution setting halves it.

You should use Integer Scaling as your default. There are exceptions where you will want to use custom scaling values, but they are rare unless bsnes is your SupFam core of choice.

Those are scanlines. You could get rid of them by editing a saved preset to read

scale_type_yX = "source"
scale_yX = "9.000000"

under “shaderX = “shaders_slang/hdr/shaders/crt-sony-megatron-source-pass.slang”” for 4K (scale_yX = “4.000000” for 1080p), but i would sincerely question why you are using a CRT shader at that point.

Also, i would strongly recommend you try prepending an NTSC shader for at least gen 1-4 console games. For gen 5+ console games (PS1/Saturn/N64/etc.), that clean RGB/monitor look has more of a place, but before that an NTSC shader generally gives the image a softer, more “finished” look in my opinion, tho it can look kind of blurry rather than soft at 1080p compared to 4K.

3 Likes
#2240

Those lines in the first shot may indeed be because of the non-integer scaling. Looks quite severe though. The last time I noted this Major Pain said he had trouble seeing it with low resolution content like NES, but here are two parts from shots I took with integer on and off with the Viewsonic sdr preset at 1080p and resized x2, the lines are not quite even in the second example

Scaling-integer
Scaling-integer844×808 55.8 KB
Scaling non integer
Scaling non integer871×765 74.8 KB

The downside with integer scaling may be that you have larger borders, this depends on the core/content . You can try integer + integer overscale option, in most cases it should not cut off too much for consoles like NES.

There should be no difference between 600/800/1000 TVL at 1080p. This is because the TVL is calculated from the pixel size of the mask, but the minimum is 2 pixels. Therefore the best you can have is 1080/2 = 540 which is the actual number. If you choose 300 TVL it will use 4pix mask = 270 TVL. To get a 3 pix mask, choose 4k resolution and 800 TVL setting.

3 Likes
#2241

Thanks to @Azurfel and @Jamirus for their contributions.

I don’t know if I understood this instruction correctly. Sorry. I saved a preset with the modifications I made and added these parameters and nothing changed. Would it be this?

image

Again, I don’t think I understand. Shouldn’t I use a crt type shader?

Regarding this, I need to confess: I never liked the blurry look of NTSC shaders. I don’t understand why many people like to use them, other than for the nostalgia factor, because, even in the past, they no longer seemed good to me. Unless I don’t know how to use it correctly, If you could send me a preset ready for me to test, it might also help me understand what you are trying to show me.

This solves. Great!

Thank you very much!

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#2242

Hey, @Cyber, hich of your presets use the HDR/Megatron code?

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#2243

None of my presets use any of Sony Megatron Color Video Monitor’s “code” but I do have presets I have customized for use with Sony Megatron Color Video Monitor.

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#2244

Is there any reason why HDR would work properly in Windows using an Intel IGP but refuse to even show up as an option in RetroArch?

I’m posting this here for some more visibility. Maybe someone here can test and confirm if Sony Megatron Color Video Monitor works on their Intel IGP in HDR mode.

3 Likes
#2245

Tanks a lot @Cyber. Im gonna look that!

3 Likes