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Advantages of CRT over LCD

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Re: Advantages of CRT over LCD

#21

Post by beebeepka »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #8
Veliladon wrote: post #2

The biggest advantage is that CRTs can have variable geometry pixels which match a lot of older resolutions and aspect ratios. While it's a lot easier to deal with non-square pixels on higher resolution displays (i.e. 1600x1200 can properly emulate a 1.2:1 rectangular pixel of a 320x200 display) CRTs still have effectively infinitely variable shaped pixels.

Let's not forget that you could freely adjust the refresh rate to resolution ratio to the maximum bandwidth supported by the monitor. On my old 21" CRT, I would have the desktop at 1600x1200 @ 75Hz for maximum productivity and when gaming I would switch to 1024x768 @ 120Hz for "pwning n00bs" in Unreal Tournament '99/Quake 3 Arena. Meanwhile my 2019 4K display is a fixed 60Hz regardless of how much I lower the resolut…

There was nothing quite like Quake 3 in 800x600 @ 120hz. The smoothness and incredibly low input lag. I maintain that it was better, in many ways, than my current position 1440p @ 180hz setup.

Sadly, UT99 was capped at 85 or 90 hz. It was very noticeable, especially at the time when my body was still young. I am still twitchy but not even close to what I could pull off 20 years ago.

Mid 2000s to early 2010 were tough for monitor enthusiasts. LCDs were total crap and the vast, vast majority of gamers, let alone regular consumers, couldn't even wrap their heads around the whole FPS / Hz thing.

The stupid 3d TV push didn't help much either because the masses were convinced all these TVs could do 100/200/400 etc. refresh rates even though the hdmi input was capped at 60 hz. Scary times

Re: Advantages of CRT over LCD

#22

Post by dtx1 »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #10
Veliladon wrote: post #2

The biggest advantage is that CRTs can have variable geometry pixels which match a lot of older resolutions and aspect ratios. While it's a lot easier to deal with non-square pixels on higher resolution displays (i.e. 1600x1200 can properly emulate a 1.2:1 rectangular pixel of a 320x200 display) CRTs still have effectively infinitely variable shaped pixels.

I never could reconcile the "variable geometry pixels" with my meagre understanding that they all had a matrix / mesh / mask at front, I think for separating individual colour pixels... Didn't they? Edit : here it is - shadow mask and trinitron. These feel like extremely fixed, physical native resolution? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_mask

So TechnologyConnections made two Vids about that very topic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX649lnKAU0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea6tw-gulnQ

It's...complicated.

Re: Advantages of CRT over LCD

#23

Post by forgotpwd16 »

jagger27 wrote: post #4

Have there been any attempts to make something like a CRT with phosphors and an electron gun in a thinner form factor? What if we had a grid of smaller electron beams targeting a small display section instead of a single large one? Can it be done without vacuum tubes today?

There're two competing technologies, before LCD came to dominate the display sector, utilizing electron emitters energizing phosphors in thin form factor, essentially an evolution of CRTs, SED (surface-conduction electron-emitter display) and FED (field-emission display).

Re: Advantages of CRT over LCD

#25

Post by chizhik-pyzhik »

greenn wrote: post #5

In the Super Smash Bros. Melee competitive scene we still use CRTs for in-person tournaments because of the input lag on LCDs. Most original hardware available to play the game doesn't have a digital display output unless you have an early model GameCube and purchase a ~$100 HDMI adapter. Even if you get the hardware setup for modern digital output, most LCD monitors still have poor response times without spending th…

> work by modders to reduce the input lag introduced by the game engine itself

Can you link something about this? are people rewriting the core engine of melee?

Re: Advantages of CRT over LCD

#26

Post by system2 »

greenn wrote: post #5

In the Super Smash Bros. Melee competitive scene we still use CRTs for in-person tournaments because of the input lag on LCDs. Most original hardware available to play the game doesn't have a digital display output unless you have an early model GameCube and purchase a ~$100 HDMI adapter. Even if you get the hardware setup for modern digital output, most LCD monitors still have poor response times without spending th…

I can't think of anything else than some arcade games requiring the lowest possible latency. People are okay with 50 ping games so 2 ms really doesn't matter to most players.

Re: Advantages of CRT over LCD

#27

Post by Dalewyn »

Veliladon wrote: post #2

The biggest advantage is that CRTs can have variable geometry pixels which match a lot of older resolutions and aspect ratios. While it's a lot easier to deal with non-square pixels on higher resolution displays (i.e. 1600x1200 can properly emulate a 1.2:1 rectangular pixel of a 320x200 display) CRTs still have effectively infinitely variable shaped pixels.

LCDs and their ineptitude with non native resolutions deeply annoys me.

Sure, pixels in an LCD are fixed, but even resolutions that are multiples of 2 of their native resolution look like crap. 4K monitor? Surely it can handle 1080p, it's just dividing by 2; four physical pixels for one logical pixel, right? Nope! Looks like horseshit. Seemingly LCD monitors can't divide by 2.

CRTs can handle any resolution within their spec range, so I could render a game at a lower resolution to have more video processing power for other stuff. LCDs? Gotta render everything at native or it looks like horseshit.

Re: Advantages of CRT over LCD

#28

Post by VyseofArcadia »

I do wish display manufacturers used more display tech in parallel. I'd love the option to buy a modern CRT or a modern LCD or a modern OLED, etc. There are advantages and disadvantages to each, but it seems like on the market, CRT being fat outweighed all other concerns.

Pun intended.

Re: Advantages of CRT over LCD

#30

Post by tshaddox »

NackerHughes wrote: post #20
TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #3

Missing from the article: "Advantages of LCD over CRT"

1. they're Thinner And Lighter™ 2. ...err... 3. ...that's it...

And also vastly higher resolution, pixel density, contrast ratio, brightness, color depth, and display sizes. Oh and vastly lower energy consumption and heat output.
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