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THE COMPREHENSIVE COMPARISON YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR!
This image, from the Mega Drive version of WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game, was chosen as our basis for comparison as it allows us to see how a variety of different image elements are affected by our choice of display technology. For fairness, we used the same PAL Mega Drive II and cables for each hardware capture, and the same cartridge across all tests.
It’s first important to look at how cable type affects the image before it’s even displayed. RGB preserves the sharpness of the art, which makes text look nicer, while the way the colours blend together via composite creates the illusion of greater colour depth, helping the digitised photo. The pixel art background elements depend rather more on personal taste. Simulations of cable types should be aiming for something like these images before any other effects are added.
FUSION 3.64 SETTINGS
Scanlines 75%
CVBS mode
This emulator is still highly useful despite last being updated in 2010, but its default filters are pretty basic by today’s standards. The scanline effect is uniform across the image, and the composite video simulation doesn’t have any of the rainbow fringing seen on our images from the real console.
OSSC SETTINGS
Scanline strength: 75%
Scanline hybrid strength: 75%
This popular scaling device offers hybrid scanlines that vary in intensity based on the surrounding colours, providing a more natural look which is quite appealing. When we add the RETROTINK 2X for composite support, which the OSSC doesn’t offer itself, the artefacts are obviously fully authentic.
RETROARCH SETTINGS
Borders: Top/bottom
Shader preset: crt-royale
Geometry mode: 2.00
We’re using the Genesis Plus GX core here. The default crt‑royale shader looks great. Using crt‑royale‑ntsc‑256px‑composite, the artefacts don’t look quite like those from real hardware, but do come closer than Fusion. The Geometry setting adds curvature, to more closely match our real CRT.
14‑INCH WHARFEDALE CRT SETTINGS
N/A
The small size and less precise nature of the CRT display helps the two video cables look like a closer match. You can still see rainbow fringing on composite, but RGB doesn’t look quite as sharp as it does via direct capture to an LCD screen. On a larger display, the difference will be more visible.