I dont' think reshade scales up from a buffer so CRTs on that are probably going to be moirey...

leileilol wrote on 2023-05-06, 21:54:

I dont' think reshade scales up from a buffer so CRTs on that are probably going to be moirey...

Crosire is working on that if i remember, but that means a visit to reshade forums, also there is the addon version.

Hm, how about RetroArch's own ffmpeg core then? Viable?
My thoughts are along the lines of taking arbitrary video sources of the 'correct' resolution (say, real hardware RGB captures), applying a shader on playback, then capturing that using OBS or somesuch.

VileR wrote on 2023-05-08, 18:18:

Hm, how about RetroArch's own ffmpeg core then? Viable?
My thoughts are along the lines of taking arbitrary video sources of the 'correct' resolution (say, real hardware RGB captures), applying a shader on playback, then capturing that using OBS or somesuch.

Capturing Retroarch through OBS sucks quite a bit. Despite being 1:1 capture, OBS produces a ton of artifacting and image distortion during the capture. I've even seen VGA emulation converted by OBS into vertical scanlines!

Here's an example of what I mean, where I used a special core inside Retroarch that allows me to capture any window within Windows called "WindowCast"(which is useful to apply MegaBezel shaders and effects to a pixel art Steam game ) and apply my VGA monitor shaders:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kPeaAnuL8I

Those vertical scanlines are not present on my monitor, at all, when I am playing. Also, the shadow mask is visible(80s VGA monitor being emulated) on my screen but not on the capture.

I haven't tried the built in capture in a while, but probably should. That kind of defeats the purpose, however, for being able to stream gaming on Retroarch.

I don't have one on my own but there are people swearing on such devices called upscalers.
The main purpose is to upscale low resolutions of old video consoles/pc for high resolution TVs (Full HD up to 4K).
As a side effect many also offer CRT filters/shaders and such things.
What I read it seems to pretty work well.

Recent devices are: Retrotink 4K, OSSC Pro, Morph 4K for example.
An older device but very popular is called "Framemeister".

It’d be interesting conceptually to do an actual simulation of the beam, glass and shadow mask. Not for any actual practical use or purpose, but just as a fun simulation to make, especially if you tried to go really far on the physics accuracy.

midicollector wrote on 2024-04-13, 05:59:

It’d be interesting conceptually to do an actual simulation of the beam, glass and shadow mask. Not for any actual practical use or purpose, but just as a fun simulation to make, especially if you tried to go really far on the physics accuracy.

Raytracing!! 😃

For such things, vector calculations are needed.
An GPU, FPU or SIMD (MMX/SSE/AVX) could greatly improve performance here.

Jo22 wrote on 2024-04-13, 07:46:

Raytracing!! 😃 […]
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midicollector wrote on 2024-04-13, 05:59:

It’d be interesting conceptually to do an actual simulation of the beam, glass and shadow mask. Not for any actual practical use or purpose, but just as a fun simulation to make, especially if you tried to go really far on the physics accuracy.

Raytracing!! 😃

For such things, vector calculations are needed.
An GPU, FPU or SIMD (MMX/SSE/AVX) could greatly improve performance here.

Even with such I do not think anything below a 4K monitor would have the pixel density required to make the effect work..

The closest yet to a Tandy CM-5 Color RGB monitor:

Particular problems with emulating this CRT properly have been the staggered slot mask pattern of the phosphors. Contrary to general public belief of 80s CRTs--that they must have horizontal scanlines, this RGB tube has prominent, visible vertical lines that slice through the image, as well as the horizontal scan pattern. Now, most PC monitors don't have any scanlines at all, but because the dot pitch of this tube is so high @ ~.66, the granularity of the image on the real device is quite perceptible.

The Mega Bezel shader suite with Retroarch has allowed me to come close, however the core I was using, Dosbox-Core, only rendered images in 640x400, and not 320x200, which caused problems with achieving granularity. So hurdles overcome since the last update:

1) Staggered Slot mask implemented, which requires 1440+ on the vertical. (thanks to rucukokt for the screenshots of his tube, which match mine)
2) Switched to Dosbox-Pure core, which properly outputs DOS at adequate lower resolutions, at 640x200 for Text prompt mode and 320x200 for most games.

DOS text was a huge challenge to overcome, as the graininess simply was not matching the actual display. Now it comes quite close. Finally the Thexder has a proper "metallic" feel to the image, and other games and DOS text look even closer to the real display. Also notice the phosphor glow "trail." The real tube has this.

More refining is needed, but this is the closest yet to a staple, classic CRT tube used to a wide swath of mid to late 1980s PC gamers.