3 ms·

But in practice, VGA and SVGA CRTs always used RGB connections, so that's not relevant to games.

• cubefox 5d ago
  In Europe, TV CRTs and game consoles also commonly used RGB connections (SCART), so the distinction between CRT and connection matters.
  • mrob 5d ago
    Those are the SD CRTs the article talks about, not the VGA or SVGA CRTs used to play DOS games.
    • cubefox 5d ago
      I 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 ago
        Not 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.
      • ahartmetz 5d ago
        >due to VGA Notably, the OG VGA card from IBM could already do 640×480 with 16 colors and 720x400 in text mode.
        • cubefox 5d ago
          And TVs supported 480i and later 480p. It was only the old consoles that ran at considerably lower resolution.
          • mrob 5d ago
            480p ("EDTV") wasn't very common. Most people upgraded directly from SDTV to HDTV.