HDMI vs. CRT. Is there a difference or am i crazy???

sirhenrythe5th

Hi Folks.

My primary PS3 is hooked to my SONY 55"Triluminous - LED via. HDMI.
I use Scanlines (Horizontal #2) with AdvanceMame for Arcade and the PiCRT -Shader for all other systems to get some kind of retro-feeling as far as the image is concerned. So far so good, i enjoy it.

Now i made a second experience:
Last year i bought a CRT to use it with a N64 with an everdrive attached (also great, but this is another topic).
So i decided to buy a second pi and hook it up to the CRT.
I was afraid to get problems, but it worked like a charm from the beginning.
I removed shaders and scanlines and started playing.
And maybe i am crazy, but my opinion is: the games work better.
I can only explain it with the" general game flow", it is maybe just a question of milliseconds, but it is a fact that i beat a lot of highscores without doing anything different.
Also i realized some visual speed ups, i.e. "Elevator Action Returns" for the TAITO F3 System. The Helicopter at the opening of Level1 does not stutter any more. Just one of lots of examples.

So for the Tech-Experts here on Board: is this explainable, or just my imagination and I am crazy? 😊

I could imagine that the picture does not have to be calculated and interpolating as much, as it has to to be displayed on a digital device with shaders etc. Analog Signals go through the cable and nothing more is necessary, might this be so?

However: i dont use my HDMI RP3 at all at the moment. I am pretty impressed by the colorful PAL CRT-Image and its performance 👍😎

mediamogul

@sirhenrythe5th

It's not your imagination. It's pretty well documented in the retro-gaming community that input lag is little-to-none when dealing with a CRT, as the image is being displayed immediately. It's also another reason, aside from refresh rate, why light gun games (specifically NES titles) won't function properly.

sirhenrythe5th

@mediamogul thanks a lot, that makes sence.

I really love my flat HD TV, and I love using it with my PS3 or Bluray Player, but i will prefer CRT for Retropie from now on.
Playing all these great retro games on a big HD TV makes a lot of fun.
But on a CRT it is absolutely amazing!, thats the way it should be imo ☺

sirhenrythe5th

just a small update: The Pi connected to my CRT was an 3B.
The other one connected to my HDMI was a 3B+.
I decided to remove the 3B+ completely to make space for the Pi4 later in autumn/winter this year.

Therefore i changed the 3B in the CRT-Setup against the 3B+.
And so i can compare the performance between CRT and HDMI as it is exact the P3B+ (no OC, all default) that has been doing his job with a HDMI-Signal all the time.

I made this just yesterday and am still impressed: it is not only the input-lag - it is the whole Performance!

Easy example: "DoDonPachi II: Beestorm" using FBNeo (Version: built from source a week ago).
It is playable ok on HDMI for sure!!! but it has speed issues while booting up (the IGS-Logo is stuttering a lot while scrolling over the screen) and you can recognize speed-issues and sound-clips when a lot of enemies are on the screen.

On CRT:....PERFECT! I could not believe it, it is a performance that i would suggest when i upgrade the CPU or whatever, but just changing from digital to analog picture-signal can make such a difference. Awesome!!

Kookamunga

Also something to consider is the shader you're using, as well as the resolution the Pi is running at. I currently cap my Pi to either 1280x720 or 640x480 depending on the emulator. Running the Pi on a CRT would kind of automatically limit the resolution, so that probably plays a big part in the performance improvements you've noticed.

However, It cannot be denied that overall, a CRT will perform better, even with these considerations, as your LCD TV has to process the video signal, whereas the CRT just takes it and displays it if it can.