SFF Retro gaming can be a bitter pill to swallow as no matter how small the PC is, you still have a monster of a monitor in the form of a CRT to deal with. I have a 22 inch Dell/Sony myself, and it absolutely dwarfs my retro PCs. It makes my modern SFF PCs like my recent 3.9L emulation build look positively minuscule. For years retro gamers have been trying to use shaders to make LCDs behave more like CRTs, and PhilsComputerLab has taken a look at how well modern CRT shaders compare to the real thing.
Phil tested Wing Commander and Monkey Island 2 against on an Acer CRT with the ultra portable UPERFECT UGame K118 portable LCD. The image quality results were surprisingly good. The newer shader methods got very close to emulating the look of the CRT, while also giving better color and contrast thanks to the modern panel. However, the smooth feel of a CRT still eludes LCDs as modern panels use a sample-and-hold method of picture display. While that does eliminate flicker, it comes at the cost of blurred motion that can stutter its way across the screen. Black frame insertion, high refresh rates, and OLED panels help, but it’s still not the same. It’s also not something that can be seen properly unless you actually use a real CRT. There are whole generations that probably have no idea what it actually looks like.
…but are shaders good enough for you? CRTs are dying out, and sadly are the people who know how to repair them. It’s only a matter of time before they’re gone for good.
Check out Phil’s video, and make sure you subscribe. Let me know what you think in the comments.
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