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The article is about SD CRTs (480i for NTSC or 576i for PAL, or more commonly for games 240p/288p progressive scan using non-standard timing, often underscanned
by mrob 5d ago
The article is about SD CRTs (480i for NTSC or 576i for PAL, or more commonly for games 240p/288p progressive scan using non-standard timing, often underscanned with pixels left unused in the borders).
VGA MS-DOS games usually ran at 320x200, but VGA CRTs supported up to 640x480 resolution. There was hardware line doubling from 200 lines up to 400 lines so you actually got two scanlines per pixel. It wasn't LCD sharp but the individual pixels were easily distinguishable. And lots of people played these game on SVGA CRTs so the pixels would be even sharper.
- cubefox 5d agoThe sharpness of the pixel is in the display connector, not the resolution.
- mrob 5d agoIf you assume a SD CRT, as the article does, then yes, the display connection makes the most difference (although there are still differences between individual CRTs). But that does not cover all CRTs relevant to pixel art. If you display low resolution art on a CRT designed for high resolutions it makes a big difference in pixel sharpness.
- cubefox 5d agoIf you use RF or composite on a high res screen, including LCD or OLED, the result would be similarly fuzzy.
- mrob 5d agoBut in practice, VGA and SVGA CRTs always used RGB connections, so that's not relevant to games.
- cubefox 5d agoIn Europe, TV CRTs and game consoles also commonly used RGB connections (SCART), so the distinction between CRT and connection matters.
- mrob 5d agoThose are the SD CRTs the article talks about, not the VGA or SVGA CRTs used to play DOS games.
- cubefox 5d agoI still think this isn't really true: > If you display low resolution art on a CRT designed for high resolutions it makes a big difference in pixel sharpness. Basically, PC CRTs would always be quite sharp, due to VGA, no matter whether it (the CRT) had a low or high resolution.
- Ekaros 5d agoNot always true. I just recently watched video about Tandy VGM-225. Which had bad picture. Most likely due to being reused cheap TV. You can't magic more resolution out when you do not have enough "subpixels"... That is the grid of holes is too coarse compared to resolution. Then again this is early 90s CRT most likely with design from 80s just upgraded to display VGA. Later and more expensive CRTs got much better.
- mrob 5d ago>PC CRTs would always be quite sharp, due to VGA, no matter whether it (the CRT) had a low or high resolution. VGA CRTs are always "high resolution" compared to the SD CRTs discussed in the article. If you display a mode 13h DOS game on SD CRT, which is possible with special hardware, it will not look as sharp as it would on the VGA CRT is was designed for. This sharpness from using higher resolution CRTs is in addition to the sharpness from using RGB connections. And if you somehow manage to connect a VGA CRT over composite, it will be less sharp but still sharper than a SD CRT over composite. The point is there are two factors here: the sharpness of the CRT itself and the sharpness of the connection method. The article only talks about SD CRTs, so the CRT's sharpness isn't going to make much difference there. But when you consider MS-DOS games, which used sharper CRTs, the CRT's sharpness becomes important.
- AdeptusAquinas 5d agoHa I remember SVGA. Darn we're old. But pixel art was definitely a style of it's own then and thats what my modern efforts attempt to replicate, at least