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>The displays were usually so mushy that everything looked kind of smooth Only in countries lacking a standardized high image quality connector like SCART. I

>The displays were usually so mushy that everything looked kind of smooth Only in countries lacking a standardized high image quality connector like SCART. I remember my old SNES with a SCART cable looking extremely sharp and clear on our 25" Philips CRT TV.

ekianjo 7y ago
Even on SCART you could not see the pixels at the regular distance where a TV would be.
- wetmore 7y ago
  I bet you underestimate how many children played Mario scooted up close to the tv.
  - sneak 7y ago
    I still associate my NES with the smell of ozone.
  - ekianjo 7y ago
    I bet your overestimate anecdotal evidence for an actual phenomenon :-)
KozmoNau7 7y ago
Unless you bought an actual RGB cable for your SNES, it was running composite video.
- rasz 7y ago
  Shipping with lowest common denominator was always the case, but in countries with SCART being standard RGB cables were also a standard upgrade offered by every place selling consoles.
  - KozmoNau7 7y ago
    In the majority of third-party cables, those were just SCART cables with only the composite video hooked up, not actual RGB cables. You had to go for the official cable. And the vast majority of people hooked up the console with the included cables and never gave it any more thought. You're looking at the past through rose-colored console nerd glasses. And not all TVs with SCART were RGB capable.
    - rasz 7y ago
      Im looking at the past from the perspective of someone doing computer/console accessories retail in ~2003-5. Additional free RGB cable, memory card or second pad were the difference between average and good console shops. I still have my ps1 and xbox stashed away with RGB SCART cables.
- laumars 7y ago
  You've made this point in a few places but composite is still sharp enough to see the pixels on your average screen for your average 8 and 16bit console game. Also home computers have had RGB since the 8 bit era. Whether it's a BBC Micro, Amstrad CPC 464 (all released early 80s, all used RGB monitors and RGB cables) through to the IBM PCs with VGA cables. In fact anti-aliasing techniques for 3D games started out in the CRT era because even back then computer monitors were sharp enough to show a jagged line along the polygon edge. I do agree that LCDs are sharper (and also worse for scaling) then CRTs and that RGB is sharper than composite; but it's still a fallacy to say the average 80s and 90s gamer didn't see pixels because they did. Source: I used to write games on said machines as well as still being an avid retro gamer and collector (as it happens most of my consoles are still hooked up via composite to the same TVs that I've owned since the 90s. I'm more than happy to share photos if you want)
  - KozmoNau7 7y ago
    You're arguing against a point that I did not make. Pixels are absolutely visible when using a composite connection, however they are distinctly more fuzzy than if you use S-video or RGB or component video. The horizontal bleed is especially noticeable, which was deliberately used for transparency effects on consoles like the Sega Megadrive/Genesis, which couldn't do proper transparency in hardware. I had several consoles hooked up to my composite/S-video/RGB capable CRT TV (in 240p, too), including a RetroPi hooked up via a HDMI->composite/S-video converter (before I got a proper SCART RGB module for my Pi3). The difference when switching the converter box from composite to S-video was profound, a very clear difference in sharpness and color quality. The difference from S-video to RGB was much smaller, but still noticeable. These days I mostly play games on emulators on my PC, I don't really have room for a CRT TV anymore. I absolutely abhor all the pixel art scaling algorithms, I much prefer a gentle CRT-emulating fuzz (similar to a good RGB signal) and subtle scanlines, which seems to best replicate what the games look like on the actual CRT. I was also there for the console boom from the C64 all the way up to the Xbox360, at which point I mostly lost interest. I have a background partially in electronics, including CRT TVs, and I used to work at a TV manufacturer during the CRT to LCD transition. So I'd like to think my credentials are in order.
eloisant 7y ago
It was still nearly not as sharp and clear as an LCD.

ekianjo 7y ago

Even on SCART you could not see the pixels at the regular distance where a TV would be.

wetmore 7y ago
I bet you underestimate how many children played Mario scooted up close to the tv.
- sneak 7y ago
  I still associate my NES with the smell of ozone.
- ekianjo 7y ago
  I bet your overestimate anecdotal evidence for an actual phenomenon :-)

KozmoNau7 7y ago

Unless you bought an actual RGB cable for your SNES, it was running composite video.

rasz 7y ago
Shipping with lowest common denominator was always the case, but in countries with SCART being standard RGB cables were also a standard upgrade offered by every place selling consoles.
- KozmoNau7 7y ago
  In the majority of third-party cables, those were just SCART cables with only the composite video hooked up, not actual RGB cables. You had to go for the official cable. And the vast majority of people hooked up the console with the included cables and never gave it any more thought. You're looking at the past through rose-colored console nerd glasses. And not all TVs with SCART were RGB capable.
  - rasz 7y ago
    Im looking at the past from the perspective of someone doing computer/console accessories retail in ~2003-5. Additional free RGB cable, memory card or second pad were the difference between average and good console shops. I still have my ps1 and xbox stashed away with RGB SCART cables.
laumars 7y ago
You've made this point in a few places but composite is still sharp enough to see the pixels on your average screen for your average 8 and 16bit console game. Also home computers have had RGB since the 8 bit era. Whether it's a BBC Micro, Amstrad CPC 464 (all released early 80s, all used RGB monitors and RGB cables) through to the IBM PCs with VGA cables. In fact anti-aliasing techniques for 3D games started out in the CRT era because even back then computer monitors were sharp enough to show a jagged line along the polygon edge. I do agree that LCDs are sharper (and also worse for scaling) then CRTs and that RGB is sharper than composite; but it's still a fallacy to say the average 80s and 90s gamer didn't see pixels because they did. Source: I used to write games on said machines as well as still being an avid retro gamer and collector (as it happens most of my consoles are still hooked up via composite to the same TVs that I've owned since the 90s. I'm more than happy to share photos if you want)
- KozmoNau7 7y ago
  You're arguing against a point that I did not make. Pixels are absolutely visible when using a composite connection, however they are distinctly more fuzzy than if you use S-video or RGB or component video. The horizontal bleed is especially noticeable, which was deliberately used for transparency effects on consoles like the Sega Megadrive/Genesis, which couldn't do proper transparency in hardware. I had several consoles hooked up to my composite/S-video/RGB capable CRT TV (in 240p, too), including a RetroPi hooked up via a HDMI->composite/S-video converter (before I got a proper SCART RGB module for my Pi3). The difference when switching the converter box from composite to S-video was profound, a very clear difference in sharpness and color quality. The difference from S-video to RGB was much smaller, but still noticeable. These days I mostly play games on emulators on my PC, I don't really have room for a CRT TV anymore. I absolutely abhor all the pixel art scaling algorithms, I much prefer a gentle CRT-emulating fuzz (similar to a good RGB signal) and subtle scanlines, which seems to best replicate what the games look like on the actual CRT. I was also there for the console boom from the C64 all the way up to the Xbox360, at which point I mostly lost interest. I have a background partially in electronics, including CRT TVs, and I used to work at a TV manufacturer during the CRT to LCD transition. So I'd like to think my credentials are in order.

eloisant 7y ago

It was still nearly not as sharp and clear as an LCD.