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intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Tue Nov 14, 2017 10:11 pm

Rather than try to explain it myself, I think you should read this short post about the Commodore 1702 monitor. This is one of the best CRT monitors ever made. It will work with old consoles (like the NES, SNES, Genesis, etc.) or 8-bit machines like the C64. But it was also good enough for film directors to use to check color hues and bleeds for film production back in the 80s and 90s. If you're using classic Amiga hardware, you can't go wrong with the 1080 or 1084 or 1084s for starters.

But from that post:
LCD, Plasma and OLED screens are all fixed resolution devices. Their screens are made up of hundreds of thousands of tiny squares, each of which can change colour to become part of a larger image. For the image to look sharp and clear, it needs to be the same resolution as the screen, meaning it has to be made up of the same number of tiny squares. So when you give it an image which is too big or too small (Say watching an old VHS tape on a modern 1080p TV, or trying to watch a 1080p blu-ray on a 720p TV,) the image has to be stretched or squished to fit within that fixed grid of squares. The results are seldom pretty. Text especially tends to become hard to read, and everything gets a bit fuzzy.

The old fashioned Cathode Ray Tube on the other hand functions as more of a projector. A "Light gun" at the back of the 'tube hurls a pattern of electrons forward, causing little specs of phosphorus on the inside of the glass to light up and create the image. This gives it a great deal of flexibility when it comes to input resolution. So long as the resolution is lower than the number of openings in the front of the glass (Called the mask,) you'll end up with a nice looking picture. And even when the resolution exceeds that limit the results are usually okay, the image just loses fine detail. This makes a CRT monitor ideal for playing old games on, watching home movies or any number of videos which would become chunky and awful on a fancy new high definition LCD TV.
Hope that helps you in your quest. :)

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mmaj_aad

Posted Wed Nov 15, 2017 12:43 am

Yes, it helps thanks!

But few questions left.

So long as the resolution is lower than the number of openings in the front of the glass (Called the mask,) you'll end up with a nice looking picture.
What is the "mask"? Is this phrase mean: If resolution of game is lower that screen resolution - picture will be nice? Or not?

The 1702 gave you a beautiful crisp image and handy front A/V inputs in a tiny stackable package.
Unfortunally, I cann't buy this monitor because my wife cann't use it (vision problems).
I want to buy modern monitor (big and with high framerate) and it has only vga input.
Is it important?
I know that VGA is also analog interface but... I don't know: is exist defference between RCA and VGA (exluding resolution)?

If you're using classic Amiga hardware, you can't go wrong with the 1080 or 1084 or 1084s for starters.
Unfortunally, I don't have original Amiga hardware yet.
I play on old pc.
I want to buy Amiga hardware, but I don't know when can allow to buy it to myself (due prices on Ebay for Russia is very expensive).
But I working on it :-)

And again.
Resolution of 1084s is 640x256.
Resolution of monitor that I will buy: from 640 x 480 to 2048 x 1536.
Will be (theoretically) quality of 1084s equal to 640x480 on "modern" CRT monitor for retro games?

I seen screenshots of Monkeys Island in the beginning of topic.
CRT for me looks the best choise but brightness... Stop is it because it was from photocamera? Real color is same as on another screenshots?

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walldog

Posted Mon Dec 23, 2019 12:16 pm

When I first started back to retro gaming around mid-2000s I was on this quest to go LCD/flat screen etc. Didnt know any better. Now over time I'm 180 degree and on quest to go back to CRT. All my retro computers Amiga, C64 and Tandy are on CRT. Only one on LCD is A1200 and Im fine with that. I also have a Vampire A500 same thing but I am finding those being in boxes lately more than used as I just cant get enough of the A500 on a 1084 CRT Monitor. The entire experience is what got me into retro gaming computing to begin with. Good old wb 1.3 is what I am trying to stick with on this machine as well.

My retro consoles like NES etc I admit are on LCD TV however I have the retrotink adapter to try to get as close as possible to 4:3 CRT look. Also with no lag. I admit its pretty close. If I had room ID go CRT on those as well but this is acceptable and pretty nice considering.

Enjoyed this post





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