SCANLINE SCREENSHOT THREAD. BECAUSE 240p IS ALL THE P'S I NEED. (56k warning)

Looks almost like an arcade monitor. Very smooth lines and no staircase effect. Very nice.

The PS1 version of Metal Slug X is how I first found out about the series. The moment I saw a 30 second promotional review for it on Toonami in the 90s, I knew I needed to play it. I never saw anything quite so cool before.

All these years later and I’m still obsessed with the series and play it regularly. I think it would’ve passed me by had it not been for the PS1 version.

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I agree, for most people the PS1 and Saturn version started it all. A lot of people hate on the PS1 version but it’s a great stepping stone compared to it’s pricey counterparts.

Not really ready to share too many details but I got something new old stock (from 2004) today:

Think it’s looking very sharp!

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I got a new phone in August, iPhone SE 2020, and ever since I’ve struggled getting good CRT shots. I feel like my iPhone 5 was much better at CRT shots. Anyone else notice this? Maybe I’m missing some settings or something? I’m taking them the same as previously: same monitor, light, angle, etc. Below is a shot from tonight, notice all the light bleed into the black around the edges. This isn’t on the monitor. Ugh, I used to like adding to this thread but it’s been a struggle since getting a new phone.

On the plus side Touge Max G is awesome! I have more to say, but will post in @harborline_765’s touge racing games thread.

Touge Max G | ps1 rgb | PVM-1954Q

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The camera in the iPhone SE 2020 (I have one too) is so much better than the iPhone 5 (I upgraded from a 6s and the difference is still huge).

What mode are you using? And are you swiping the screen to adjust settings?

First thing I would try is using an alternate app to take photos. This will sidestep any fancy computation/ML stuff that is done to the photo.

I have Halide installed. But I think it costs money so you might look for another.

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I’m using the stock camera app. I haven’t changed much, original mode, 0.0 exposure, HDR off, Live off, flash off.

Cool thread of FF7 on a CRT vs Raw

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Everything looks better on a CRT. This is also something that lower end CRTs do better: the pixilation, dithering, and color banding just disappears.

Edit: the difference here is crazy:

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I love how it reads as woodgrain on the planks on the CRT pic vs raw

Pre-rendered graphics are probably the easiest way to illustrate the difference that a CRT brings to the table.

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The situation is a bit more nuanced. There are two things very obvious in these comparison shots. There is significant black crush in the CRT shots. Look at the dark areas, a lot of detail that is in the image is lost because it’s being displayed as pure black. Another thing that really stands out here is the color temperature. There is a difference between how monitors and TV’s come calibrated from the factory between the west and the east (japan). It’s a kind of cultural thing where in Asia they’re calibrated towards the blue, giving a much cooler image. You can notice this when looking at some of the wooden elements in the last shot above here, where they exhibit a more purplish tone, and the shadows in the back give a more blueish sheen. Both of these things can be adjusted by using the sliders available in your graphics card control panel, or the OSD in your monitor/TV. I don’t recommend crushing blacks this much though.

Another issue is the image continuity. Zoom in on the CRT shots, and you see every phosphor group being interrupted on all sides, and a bigger CRT will give distinct scanlines between each row of pixels.
This is also something that can be compensated for through software, or by using a display with similar properties. Remember, not all LCD"s are equal.

I’d like to close my statement with a closeup shot of my 480P EDTV, which has really nice large pixel segments with plenty of black space framing around them. I’ve made adjustments on both the display and PC side over time to approximate my ideal CRT reference point for titles like this.

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You would see a very big difference even with the TV calibration being correct.

And this is more a personal thing but phosphor groups being interrupted in the wrong spot is part of the charm. It’s why slot masks look so nice.

This is true, I really enjoy the slot mask look. But with modern LCD’s the pixels are so small, and there is hardly any gap left between them. That’s what actually makes this low res 2d artwork look so terrible on them. But as I said, there are software solutions for this issues. 1 single white pixel in the source material does not have to be translated into a 10x10 uninterrupted white slab as some kind of inevitable torment.

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Well put. A big deal is often made over pixel doubling or tripling being close to ‘native’ because it’s integer scaled, but in practice it rarely produces accurate results. At 9x scaling (pixel tripling) or even 4x (doubling) the gaps between neighbouring game pixels aren’t perceivable to the human eye, so you just get an overly sharp jumble of squares next to each other, when designers instead saw pixels as dot points that would be separated by a visible pixel grid, or by scanlines.

Wow, this is a great Twitter feed - thanks so much for sharing!

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Some good ones here. Gotta love how organic the art looks in the CRT examples vs raw pixels.




The rock and clouds here in the SOTN example are nuts.

Source: https://twitter.com/jackal27/status/1341438432904622082

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The charm of the CRT era and its free anti-aliasing will never be lost on me. It still looks amazing… and correct. I know we need other options, but man, nothing beats the real thing on a real CRT.

Nothing beats it, but we are closer than ever to matching it.

(But yea, CRTs are still magic in my eyes)

Let’s not also forget that CRTs also don’t use sample and hold technology - another huge advantage for both retro and modern games alike. This yields no loss of quality for fast moving images. And it’s probably the single biggest advantage they still have over modern displays.

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