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One thing I haven't seen CRT shaders really replicate is the brain-melting flicker that comes with that technology. LCD was such a relief when it became common.

by okasaki 9mo ago

flohofwoe 9mo ago
This CRT shader actually has a flicker slider. But 'brain melting flicker' sounds more like you were gaming with a 50Hz PAL console (or home computer) on a professional computer monitor which was intended for higher frequencies (like 72Hz). Regular TVs normally had plenty of 'afterglow' to reduce flicker.
Sharlin 9mo ago
People have varying sensitivies to flicker, but the refresh rate of even basic cheap CRT monitors was something like 75 or 85 Hz, which most people found essentially flickerless. Higher-end monitors would go up to 100 or 120 Hz, one of the several ways that for some use cases they were superior to LCD displays for quite a long time. Televisions, at 50 or 60 Hz, were pretty bad of course.
- theragra 9mo ago
  It was fine back then, but now I can't tolerate even a minute of CRT TV or low frequency monitor.
- msephton 9mo ago
  The default flicker rate on this shader is 0.01 which is about 85Hz. Indeed it's almost imperceptable but adds a lot to the feel.
pezezin 9mo ago
Have you tried BFI (black frame insertion)? Many people swear by it because it improves the "motion clarity", but it has the side effect of significantly increasing flicker.
voidUpdate 9mo ago
They also don't replicate the 15khz whine that makes CRTs incredibly annoying for me to use
- pezezin 9mo ago
  That only applies to TV sets, computer monitors operated at much higher frequencies outside the human hearing range.
  - blincoln 9mo ago
    They weren't that high frequency. I could hear computer monitors into my twenties at least. I'd guess somewhere around 20 - 22 kHz. CRTs were largely replaced by LCDs by my late 20s/early 30s, so I don't have a good sense of when I stopped being able to hear frequencies that high.
    - pezezin 9mo ago
      VGA monitors had a minimum horizontal frequency of 31 kHz (480p at 60Hz), way outside the human hearing range.
  - voidUpdate 9mo ago
    And arcade monitors, or at least the ones I've been around do. I can hear an arcade machine in a different room
    - pezezin 9mo ago
      Most arcade monitors operate at the usual 15 kHz, although some later games operated at 24 kHz (medium resolution) and 31 kHz (high resolution).
zokier 9mo ago
Of course that is also available as a shader: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42506211 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42506211
TiredOfLife 9mo ago
All of them make my eyes water, som they are doing something right.
snvzz 9mo ago
This shader manages to do it, it gives a very realistically familiar unpleasant feeling of an old low refresh TV. (on a 144Hz monitor... it's supposedly less unpleasant with a 250Hz one)

One thing I haven't seen CRT shaders really replicate is the brain-melting flicker that comes with that technology. LCD was such a relief when it became common.

by okasaki 9mo ago

One thing I haven't seen CRT shaders really replicate is the brain-melting flicker that comes with that technology. LCD was such a relief when it became common.

flohofwoe 9mo ago

This CRT shader actually has a flicker slider. But 'brain melting flicker' sounds more like you were gaming with a 50Hz PAL console (or home computer) on a professional computer monitor which was intended for higher frequencies (like 72Hz). Regular TVs normally had plenty of 'afterglow' to reduce flicker.

Sharlin 9mo ago

People have varying sensitivies to flicker, but the refresh rate of even basic cheap CRT monitors was something like 75 or 85 Hz, which most people found essentially flickerless. Higher-end monitors would go up to 100 or 120 Hz, one of the several ways that for some use cases they were superior to LCD displays for quite a long time. Televisions, at 50 or 60 Hz, were pretty bad of course.

theragra 9mo ago
It was fine back then, but now I can't tolerate even a minute of CRT TV or low frequency monitor.
msephton 9mo ago
The default flicker rate on this shader is 0.01 which is about 85Hz. Indeed it's almost imperceptable but adds a lot to the feel.

pezezin 9mo ago

Have you tried BFI (black frame insertion)? Many people swear by it because it improves the "motion clarity", but it has the side effect of significantly increasing flicker.

voidUpdate 9mo ago

They also don't replicate the 15khz whine that makes CRTs incredibly annoying for me to use

pezezin 9mo ago
That only applies to TV sets, computer monitors operated at much higher frequencies outside the human hearing range.
- blincoln 9mo ago
  They weren't that high frequency. I could hear computer monitors into my twenties at least. I'd guess somewhere around 20 - 22 kHz. CRTs were largely replaced by LCDs by my late 20s/early 30s, so I don't have a good sense of when I stopped being able to hear frequencies that high.
  - pezezin 9mo ago
    VGA monitors had a minimum horizontal frequency of 31 kHz (480p at 60Hz), way outside the human hearing range.
- voidUpdate 9mo ago
  And arcade monitors, or at least the ones I've been around do. I can hear an arcade machine in a different room
  - pezezin 9mo ago
    Most arcade monitors operate at the usual 15 kHz, although some later games operated at 24 kHz (medium resolution) and 31 kHz (high resolution).

zokier 9mo ago

Of course that is also available as a shader: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42506211 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42506211

TiredOfLife 9mo ago

All of them make my eyes water, som they are doing something right.

snvzz 9mo ago

This shader manages to do it, it gives a very realistically familiar unpleasant feeling of an old low refresh TV. (on a 144Hz monitor... it's supposedly less unpleasant with a 250Hz one)