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Advantages of CRT over LCD

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Re: Advantages of CRT over LCD

#101
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Adding one not-missed item to the list: the annoying high pitch whine

That's only for TVs, though. Computer monitors had higher refresh rates and were not audible.

I could hear them. They can't have been that high.

Re: Advantages of CRT over LCD

#102
post #51
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 th…

Modern graphics driver finally have the ability to do integer scaling[1][2], but they only learned that a few years ago. There are also some TVs[3] that can do it, but to my knowledge it's still an extremely rare feature, despite being so simple. Sharp-Bilinear[4] is also worth a mention, this is only available for some emulators, but allows integer-scaling-like quality without being restricted to exact multiple of t…

Integer scaling still isn’t as good as CRTs because the gaps between the pixels don’t change. The grid of black between pixels is a key tool to make pixel art (and low resolution content in general) look good

Re: Advantages of CRT over LCD

#104
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Adding one not-missed item to the list: the annoying high pitch whine

That's only for TVs, though. Computer monitors had higher refresh rates and were not audible.

I remember that I always noticed the sound when someone turned on a TV or CRT in my house when I was growing up. I miss that.

Re: Advantages of CRT over LCD

#107
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

50ms network latency is not the same thing as 50ms controller to display latency. If your network latency is 50ms, you still have extremely low, almost zero latency for most operations like using the mouse to change the look direction. 50ms display latency would make a modern FPS utterly unplayable. Games like SSB are extremely latency dependent.

My point is, it is not worth to change the whole lcd technology just for games like ssb. Which is probably 1ms latency for lcd is enough.

> it is not worth to change the whole lcd technology just for games

Nobody suggested this. {Parent} was merely pointing out one advantage of CRT tech over LCD tech in a specific use case.

Re: Advantages of CRT over LCD

#108
I had a 20” Sony PVM (20M4E) for a few years for retro games. Playing anything intended for analogue video was an absolute joy. The characteristics of the display were factored into the creation of the art in a fascinating way (and sometimes even the characteristics of the display signal, like the transparency effects in Sonic the Hedgehog that only work over composite video).

I ended up selling it due to space and practicality concerns, plus some of the corner geometry was starting to drift in a way that would need physical adjustments to the tube to correct. I used the money to buy a RetroTink 5X scaler; it’s not the same by any stretch, but it’s a best-in-class scaler so at least I’m not adding a ton of latency and visual artefacts to the process.

I find it remarkable how much display tech can affect our perception of what is essentially the same image, and how this manifests with different types of content. It’s not even just legacy stuff—OLEDs have very different motion characteristics to LCDs due to the pixel response time, for example.

Re: Advantages of CRT over LCD

#110

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…

You get the same with OLED TVs. You often have a practical choice between 4k @ 60HZz and 1080p @ 120Hz, whether you're using a PC or a console.
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