Were composite video colors that bad, in practice?

RetroArch Additions Shaders
#263

I believe this Japan data is correct.

2 Likes
#264

Regarding the Super Cassette Vision, it did indeed have an RGB terminal.

Only extremely wealthy users who purchased the Super Cassette Vision would have connected it via RGB. Most users used RF.

1 Like
#265

I think this post by @ynnad4, needs a bit more prominence as there are interviews with actual developers of various systems and they speak to their intentions with respect to this very topic we’re discussing. So read this if you want to hear from at least some of the “horses’ mouths”.

4 Likes
#266

It makes sense for a developer to take into consideration what cable the system came with and draw with that in mind. Assuming that 90% will just go on and use that cable. Most of them wouldn’t even know what s-video is or even know if RF is worse than Composite. That’s the late 80s/early 90s. Myself too, some years ago i believed composite over scart is the same like RGB scart, like “why do i need rgb scart for Wii, my console already plugs to scart” only from composite lol.

3 Likes
#267

Ha, also had an experience with the Wii when I got it from a family member years ago. One of the first things I did was making it able to play homebrew. So I’m tinkering with Dosbox and some small looking texts and I’m like “Why is everything so hard to read here?” (me having used a multi-console RGB cable for any other hardware for some time). Taking a look at the Wii cable: “Oh. Duh, of course”.

2 Likes
#268

I did play with those using Avisynth crt_display (more specifically the plus ver.)

ImageSource("Z:\dcb0c4db7f50cc379f797cddc831bc927a85f664.png") #or something else if you use video
SeparateFields().AssumeFieldBased() #lossless convert from 480i to 240p (use it only if the content is real 240p)
convertbits(16).ConvertToPlanarRGB()
Crop(20, 10, -20, -10) #remove overscan
crt_display(3, 5, blurh=1.15, scandist=1.05, cutoff=0.9, glowgain=0.125, halgain=0.03, cromaclear=0.75, softclip=0.75)
BilinearResize(1440,1080).ConvertToYUV420(matrix="Rec709").Convertbits(8,dither=1) #scale to display and make it digital video friendly

Edit: better and faster code

ImageSource("Z:\dcb0c4db7f50cc379f797cddc831bc927a85f664.png") #or something else if you use video
SeparateFields().AssumeFieldBased() #lossless convert from 480i to 240p (use it only if the content is real 240p)
convertbits(16).ConvertToPlanarRGB()
Crop(20, 10, -20, -10) #remove overscan
w = 1440 #display Width
h = 1080 #display Height
crt_display(float(w)/Width(), float(h)/Height(), blurh=1.15, scandist=1.05, cutoff=0.9, glowgain=0.125, halgain=0.03, cromaclear=0.15, softclip=0.75)
ConvertToYUV420(matrix="Rec709").Convertbits(8,dither=1) #make it digital video friendly

here the APNG of the 2 frames (since 1 frame in 480i = 2 frames in 240p)

I may open a topic about Avisynth crt_display in https://forums.libretro.com/c/general/off-topic/16 since maybe there are some peoples who do capture from real consoles or from VHS that they did recorded back then

1 Like
#269

composite in PAL nes maybe has problems https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpUfqzR8iaE&t=304s

Edit: additional to

this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDkanelvgQM

so old consoles can look bad in better connection than composite?

Edit #2: speaking of jail vertical hum bars (or jailbars), I remember them in mega drive (genesis)

image
image1222×911 338 KB

and nes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju2JIUcjIw8 too

sometimes they changed based on the edge of the pixel

so is there a shader that generate them?

#270

I never noticed jailbars on the NES, even with RF. The toploader is RF only, not surprised to see it have inferior output. The Mega Drive is known for jailbars. My composite shaders do cause jailbars to show up on the Mega Drive. I didn’t do anything to make this happen. It just happens naturally. If the TV has aggressive filtering, they probably won’t show up. Every TV is a little different.

#271

According to what I’ve read in reddit and elsewhere, it’s somewhat like a lottery; some machines are almost entirely free of it, while others have it heavily featured

here a VHS rec from real famiclone (nes clone)

https://streamable.com/xge2jl or https://files.catbox.moe/en81dz.mp4

you can see that they sometimes changed based on the edge of the pixel

#272

something like this https://youtu.be/OPX8cSzvPpY?t=944

#273

interesting video https://youtu.be/PqTJQt7jvTI?t=260

it will be nice if it possible to get that shimmering edge in shaders, it will give it that analog feel