Welcome friend! I hope you enjoy the journey into the past that you can find here! I’m Nick and I’m a PC gaming enthusiast since the early 90s. Here I will use my vast collection of Era accurate PCs and CRT Monitors to create interesting tutorials that will not only answer common(and uncommon) questions but also give you a view into a bygone Era. Further, we will use this authentic Hardware to install and play into some of the best games of the last 45 years together. At a later stage I will also setup a Discord and maybe a Patreon for interested subscribers that want extra tech support or ad free videos, for example.
You know how in games there is super cool & mysterious ancient tech that is for some reason better than the modern that the characters have? Well CRT is like this but in real life. Tech that is more than half a century old, yet still better than modern monitors.
I love the CRT community coming together to publish information and test products. We have to get rid of all of the scams out there that want to take our money. I don't have a PC CRT yet but I have two CRT Teles. One is a standard SD set for my older consoles and the other is a massive 34" Sony Trinitron beast. I have disabled it's internal scaler so that it's passing the 1080i signal correctly at 8ms of latency. Hoping to grab a downscaler/interlacer one day so I can pass my PC signal to just to enjoy 34" CRT PC gaming as a novelty.
Cool find! I had a 1x speed SCSI CD-ROM drive that used caddies to load the CD's. I think that read CD-R's as well. I forgot the brand. It was used in some unix vendor's hardware like DEC (I'm leaning towards this one) or maybe SGI/Sun.
Can you mod a crt for freesync or gsync? I seen a while ago there was a version of cru that lets you make freesync resolutions that even work with non freesync monitors.
Haha that’s not even the lowest resolution possible 😅 And currently a CRT is the fastest gaming Monitor available. Many know this already. A few years ago comments like this were much more common 😀 Just read a bit more about it and you will understand
Thanks 😊 and sadly this is the only Card that does this, that I have drivers for. I mean I have more cards and I also have drivers for them but none of these supports more Hz under pure DOS. All they do is give you 85Hz for VESA Mode games and so on. The Text Mode stays at 70Hz then
Thanks! Well it's interesting that no other manufacturers addressed this, since you would do many things in the textmode, far back then. Maybe people weren't that sensitive to the flicker 😉.
Since you have so many CRT's I would love to hear your thoughts on technologies like LightFrame (Philips), SuperBright (Mitsubishi) and similar technologies that are used to boost the brightness of CRT monitors.
Well yeah I know them. Personally I don’t like them so much as I only play in dimly lit or dark rooms. I can imagine though, that they can be good if you play in bright rooms or in daylight. My worry would be that they wear out the Monitor faster though
@@RetroGamingBase i personally only have been able find more info about lightframe from Philips and they say it’s only the peak that gets raised while the average brightness stays the same. Another thing they say they have implemented is an ABL circuit, that checks the average brightness. Though I am not sure if superbright functions similar. Also if you are interested in the article about lightframe the article is named: What is LightFrame Technology?
Excellent video! I have the Delock 62967 display port to VGA adapter for my LaCie electron 22 blue model II PC CRT monitor. My video card is the 1050ti GTX OC edition low profile model. I have noticed you are using the Nvidia's control panel to set custom resolutions. What about using using CRU by ToastyX app? Can it handle more custom resolutions or I can just use the Nvidia's control panel? Thanks in advance!
What resolution would you want to drive? 160Hz is the max for many CRTs and they can usually still so this at 800x600 or so. 140Hz is often still possible at 1024x768
Yeah, totally! Check out one of my newer Videos, I even managed to get 500Hz progressive to test successfully. Have to try more and also do interlaced soon 👍
@@RetroGamingBase I have just seen it together with the comparisons between a bunch of models. Though I have a question where do you get all your monitors from? and do you get them shipped? also have you seen that Freesync is possible on some CRT's by forcing it through CRU (custom resolution utility)
@@ibleminen oh how I collect all of these is a longer story😅 I got some shipped also, yeah! I plan to make a future video telling this story in detail though 😀 Great info with the Freesync! I did not know this!
@@RetroGamingBase That would be really cool. Especially since most of the videos I have found on CRT's seem to be from North America and it seems to be more likely to find a good CRT over there compared to Western Europe. As a Dane I personally find it hard to find good/decent monitors locally and I haven't really wanted to risk buying from Ebay because of shipping.
From the beginning in the video where you're panning the camera, and just the motion clarity of what you were projecting on the CRT's is so clear and sexy.. my god
Yeah I think my video has helped to make them even more rare then they already were… I use the Delock one that I show here and I bought a few of them years ago.
I could only give you a link for Germany if that helps? I just googled Delock dp to vga adapter and searched for the correct box art. Be careful! Delock also has a cheaper one who is not good enough. You need the 2500x1600@60Hz one
www.otto.de/p/delock-62967-adapter-displayport-1-2-stecker-zu-vga-buchse-schwarz-computer-kabel-display-port-displayport-S098D0HV/#ech=28618109&variationId=S098D0HVCXUU I found it here
Are vga monitors 4:3 aspect ratio? I thought they were 5:4? I had it in my head that ntsc tv's were the only thing that did 4:3. I thought even pal tv's were 5:4 aswell.
Standard CRTs are all true 4:3 😀 You can run a 5:4 resolution like 1280x1024 on them but it’s not optimal. The only real 5:4 Monitors that I know are early LCDs with a native resolution of 1280x1024.
@@RetroGamingBase im from England things are different here U.K. pal sets had 700x570 .@50hz wich was allso 5:4 aspect so thats why its confusing its because things in uk are weird.
Actually would be interesting even in non Retro application. As an esport enthusiast, I wonder if you could drive the monitor in 200+hz in a more reasonable resolution. I'd actually consider that for my VALORANT/CS Sessions.
It can do 800x600 @200hz and that resolution is still officially supported by windows 11 and is totally useable in all games. Especially if you use sparse grid anti aliasing it will look like full hd on a CRT. Check out my very first video on this channel and see how you like the looks. The resolution there is only 640x400@255Hz and it also still works good in games 😀
Although you are focusing speed of hz on CRT monitors in your channel, but what really is amazing about CRT monitors are their amazing picture quality, sharpness and natural colors. Seriously... LCD monitors are trash compared to CRT monitors if quality of screen matters.
That’s so true bro! Take a look at my first video, there I use a special AA technology to make very low resolution gaming look pretty acceptable 😀 I just love how on a CRT 1024x768 looks like full HD or how 1680x1050 on a Sony FW 900 easily looks like 4K 🍻👍
My first experience of using CDROM was with the original Multimedia Upgrade kit from Creative labs, it came with the Sound Blaster Pro 1 and a Matsushita/Panasonic drive (used a caddy) and was for Windows 3.0 with MME (Multimedia extensions) so dates back to 1991/1992.
Oh wow! Yeah I know about this kit! It was the only way to get sound in Windows 3.0! I think those were the absolute first internal CD Rom drives. Could it be that they were SCSI?
Thanks for the video i really needed that. i am currently using a gtx titan x from 2015 bc it has dvi analog but i want to upgrade my gpu. greetings from deutschland
Some people in our discord have done some crazy things with interlaced. Personally, I have not done much there yet sadly, so I can’t answer that, sadly
If you own a GPU with USB-C you can use a cheapo converter that will do what all the expensive HDMI or DP converters do. Like my Vention which was about 20 bucks.
Any adapter that goes to a pixel clock of 360 to 370 MHz ? I have a Samsung 1100MB capable per spec of up to 160 Hz Vsync, 130 kHz Hsync, and 360 MHz pixel clock bandwidth. Does 2048x1536 at 80 Hz just fine, for example. In reality it can go a bit higher, but even per spec it's high enough for me. Just need a decent adapter to use it with a modern computer.
@@RetroGamingBase I find some Nvidia Quadro cards with 400 MHz RAMDACs (integrated), but no adapters... Apparently there are some that go to 300 MHz only. Currently I'm driving the monitor from an old HP laptop capable of 400 MHz also. But that won't run Windows 11, for example.
Yeah. But StarTech is better. I've a GeForce RTX 4090 GPU + StarTech DP to VGA adapter and... I can work 2560x1600@60Hz! - my video on 19th may 2023. 😍😁🥰
Good info! 😀 I need 100Hz at least though, or my eyes hurt. This Delock here can also do the 2560x1600@60Hz. At least it says so on its box, as you see in the video 😅
@@RetroGamingBase ok. 50Hz doesn't hurt my eyes, sorry but this is for TV or videos of 50fps only because we get pure smooth motion ( = single image). 😍😋😚👌👌 At 100Hz, we get double-image because any video has only 50fps capped. 😅😊
@@ricarnuninho80 oh yeah TV is ok. Just at computer monitor CRTs you need more Hz to make it flicker free 😀👍 Especially in bright pictures or while in windows you notice flickering below around 85hz. At least most people do 😅
@@RetroGamingBase 😊 But I don't like any real CRT 'TV' due to the weak focus, to the dirty picture (color, ghost...)... 🤮😅 I want any CRT 'monitor-computer' at 50Hz for excellent focus, for clear color... 😍👌🤗
Hey I found a LG 710e for 20$ and I have no idea if it's good the resolution is 1280X1024 60hz max But I read in Reddit it's not the max resolution the Max is 1536X1152 60hz it's like 1440p I don't know if this is true I will buy it if that's true I know that game in 60 HZ It's not ideal I will lower the resolution but i want to watch anime in Max resolution can you help me know the max resolution and if have a good deal
Trust me there, on a 17“ use 800x600 or 1024x768 max. Also look that you get 85Hz minimum as the CRT technology will put strain on the human eye when using 60Hz 😀 Good news is that on a 17“ those low resolutions will look like Full HD or 4K! This is not exaggerating and you will agree when you have seen it once 😀🍻
Very nice vid!! :) But i don't think, its 'the very first'... The 'first' were some kind of proprietary SCSI based, not IDE, mostly with Cadridges, weren't they? But super awesome, that it just worked out of the box! :D Nice!!!
Oh yeah, you are right of course! I think this one was among the first internal ones and someone else also mentioned the ones with cartridges… 😊 But there is only so much you can write on a thumbnail before it gets crowded 😅
@@RetroGamingBase it has a problem though where it does not connect properly the first time you boot your pc, you gotta unplug and re plug the adapter for it to kick in to the correct resolution, otherwise its in the wrong resolution and blury, but other than that it works fine
Best ones to use are the Delock you mentioned as well as the Startech DP2VGAHD20 which reliably does 375mhz, if you are lucky you can find a Sunix DPU3000 or the Delock/IcyBox clone which does 535mhz but less reliable for some than the startech. For HDMI the best right now is a LK7112 chipset based adapter you can find being sold from turkey. Good video
I still have a Sony Trinitron WEGA CRT. It’s approaching 30 years old and still works like new. 1080i, 720p, and 480p. It makes a seriously liquid appearance that just looks fantastic. And as you cited it’s not fixed pixel, making it by far the best way to game with older consoles and DVDs. The plan is to build a dedicated stand for it with shelves for every old console I still have, all feeding into an older Marantz AV receiver that can convert everything into component video format. I’m just thinking on how I’ll position it in the guest room.
@@RetroGamingBase the most important ones are the OG Xbox, Xbox 360, PS3, and GameCube. And I’ll also be plugging my old Marantz DVD player in for all those old irreplaceable DVDs I have. And it may sound funny but probably even my OG Xbox One and PS4. The CRT has DVI inputs which HDMI can feed into via adapters I have. I might even stick a PC on the thing. It’s a fun experience playing new games on CRT. The vibrancy and liquidity in all directions is just awesome. I really wish the old Sega Genesis and NES systems I had didn’t die. The Marantz receiver has an amazing ability to recover and reintegrate those old composite signals and make them look better than they ever did previously, and the Sony has a lot of visually enhancing features as well. Feeding all those old games into that CRT at 480p should have been quite the experience. Eh well.
@@kenshirogenjuro873 damn that sounds awesome! If you wanna share this with videos or pics then consider joining our discord and do it there 😀🍻 I’m sure many would love to see. Myself I don’t have any old CRT TVs, just Monitors
i just spotted one of these drives last week at a local one in NC. they are sadly not open on weekends and have plans as-is should nothing happen to drop by monday IF the guys open.
It's funny while just about all home music CD players by the 90's had a motorized drawer, somehow early optical drives missed the boat and had quirky loading systems. My first drive, a single speed used a cassette. You put the CD into a "caddy", then shove it into the big slot. Also, I believe that even during the rollout of the single speed drives, the sneaky basterds in the industry already had 3x, 4x, 8x, 16x drives on the drawing board and slowly released in succession as the market sales started to slow down with the current speed. Max profits!
Motion Rendering in Arcade Smash type games with pixallated explosions are second to none also on CRT monitors and in turn extremely gratifing to use for this case also. Thanks for the video. Peace
