CRT and Stuttering - False memories?

[Jason38]

It was interesting I was at a garage sale and someone was giving away a NEC CRT so I took it. I tried to hook it up to a Windows 10 machine and thought I was going to die from the flicker. 5 minutes made me feel terrible. It's strange though because when I hook my Sony Wega KV-20FS120 and play N64 it doesn't feel terrible like the NEC hooked up to Windows 10.

That's to be expected especially if you used it in a TV room style manner.
(brightness was set to a comfortable level, you used a room with sufficient lighting, etc)

Makes me wonder if I would get a different result with Windows XP and older hardware?

Nope. Same problem happens to other people.

The explanation is simple. My elementary, it is very simple in Sherlock Holmes terms. The reasons are mutlifold:

(1) Brightness of Windows themes. Windows has a lot of white-colored windows. Bright = harsh.
(2) Loss of acclimation. One is no longer used to it.
(3) Default refresh rate of Windows 10 is automatically 60Hz.
(4) Viewing distance to a CRT. Viewing too close to 60Hz.

You must use NVIDIA Control Panel, AMD Catalyst Control Center, or ToastyX CRU to properly configure a higher Hz such as 85Hz. It partially compensates for the factors above, and back in the day, 75Hz, 85Hz options were easily available, but is configured through a different mechanism today than it was yesterday. Did you raise refresh rate from the default 60 Hz setting?

I've heard of this over and over enough and it just essentially boils down to (1)/(2)/(3)/(4) and similar factors.

I can't notice the motion blur with the LG ultragear and this is something that almost always bothers me and causes me eyestrain. I play Sonic on it and can't notice it causing me any strain.

Use a higher refresh rate when using PC games, but stick to games that allow framerate = Hz.
Too low Hz = too much flicker
Too high Hz = too hard for framerate to match Hz

Find your goldilocks Hz. I recommend at least 100Hz for impulse-driven viewed displays viewed at computer-viewing distances.

We're familiar with this at Blur Busters...

This is an awesome answer thanks. I will try messing with it again on the weekend because I love the quality of CRT. I thought it was windows 10 because I couldn't change the refresh rate but didn't think about changing it with the control center. It's strange because my LED monitor lets me do it with windows 10 but CRT wouldn't go above 60hz.

[Chief Blur Buster]

That's because of the EDID / DisplayID system that transmits Plug-n-Play information between the display and computer.

Most old CRTs did not have this, and Windows 10 does not unlock >60Hz by default.

Make sure you don't exceed the specs of your CRT -- horizontal scanrate and refresh rate. Make sure you check the rear of the CRT for the scanrate ranges, and keep within that with Custom Resolution Utility. Use the old blanking interval feature (CRT sized), not the CVT-Reduced (designed for digital displays) -- CRTs can't handle reduced blanking intervals.

[Jason38]

That's because of the EDID / DisplayID system that transmits Plug-n-Play information between the display and computer.

Most old CRTs did not have this, and Windows 10 does not unlock >60Hz by default.

Make sure you don't exceed the specs of your CRT -- horizontal scanrate and refresh rate. Make sure you check the rear of the CRT for the scanrate ranges, and keep within that with Custom Resolution Utility. Use the old blanking interval feature (CRT sized), not the CVT-Reduced (designed for digital displays) -- CRTs can't handle reduced blanking intervals.

I was able to set the CRT to 100hz refresh rate. I having a timing option I can play with CVT, CVT reduced blanking(Didn't use this), GTF, DMT and manual. It was set to manual and I switched it to CVT. Not sure if it's the best option. I read somewhere else on your forum this is an old feature for CRT as a guard delay. I still prefer the LED for computer use(reading web pages) but you are totally right if I distance myself away from it gaming on it is good. Thanks again for the suggestions.

[rasmas]

I'm interested on this thread because i'm using a CRT right now because i could not get used to the LG Ultragear 24GL600F-B myself (i wonder if i got a faulty unit), and i'm trying to find good CRTs, because the one i'm using is blurry on text, does not allow me to see too good to distant enemies, flickers,i sometimes see double images too,... but still, i guess because of motion blur, i like it more than the others TFTs i've tried.

Well, as i'm using a CRT connected by VGA to my (a bit old) GPU, i tried to see some youtube videos of Diablo 2, and i see them good enough and i cannot notice double images on these videos, could you try a video to see if it happens to you there too? Maybe videos, as have stable frames, are not affected?

Keep in mind i have no idea and i don't know (and often i don't easily understand ) a lot of things .

...
You must use NVIDIA Control Panel, AMD Catalyst Control Center, or ToastyX CRU to properly configure a higher Hz such as 85Hz. It partially compensates for the factors above, and back in the day, 75Hz, 85Hz options were easily available, but is configured through a different mechanism today than it was yesterday. Did you raise refresh rate from the default 60 Hz setting?
...

I had no idea about that, Thanks!
Although not sure if my monitor (Mitsubishi Diamond Plus 73) supports more than the 1280x1024 60Hz i have now, because, yes, it shows higher resolution and refresh rate but i saw some specifications online that seems that to get higher Hz i must set lower resolution, and the higher resolution does not fit my aspect ratio (and i didn't see it supported on these specifications).
Anyway it is a very useful info in case i can find better CRTs.

[Jason38]

Does every LED monitor cause you strain?

[Chief Blur Buster]

You can use any aspect ratio. CRTs do not care. 1920x1080, 1423x761 or whatever. You can use the analog vertical picture resize knob to make the aspect ratio correct.

You can also remove vertical resolution without removing horizontal, e.g. 1280x900 in order to get enough bandwidth to raise refresh rate from 100Hz to 120Hz.

Even, 3000x900 and 1000x900 behaves the same on a CRT. The only thing that changes is horizontal resolution and how horizontally compressed the Windows desktop becomes at default picture aspect ratio.

Focus on the scanrate specs, and vertical resolution specs -- the horizontal resolution is arbitrary for sake of convenience. Just make sure that the blanking intervals scale properly. e.g. doubling horizontal resolution requires you to double the horizontal blanking interval numbers.

Just don't exceed horizontal scanrate limit and don't exceed vertical scanrate limit. And don't make those blanking intervals too small.

[Jason38]

You can use any aspect ratio. CRTs do not care. 1920x1080, 1423x761 or whatever. You can use the analog vertical picture resize knob to make the aspect ratio correct.

You can also remove vertical resolution without removing horizontal, e.g. 1280x900 in order to get enough bandwidth to raise refresh rate from 100Hz to 120Hz.

Even, 3000x900 and 1000x900 behaves the same on a CRT. The only thing that changes is horizontal resolution and how horizontally compressed the Windows desktop becomes at default picture aspect ratio.

Focus on the scanrate specs, and vertical resolution specs -- the horizontal resolution is arbitrary for sake of convenience. Just make sure that the blanking intervals scale properly. e.g. doubling horizontal resolution requires you to double the horizontal blanking interval numbers.

Just don't exceed horizontal scanrate limit and don't exceed vertical scanrate limit. And don't make those blanking intervals too small.

This is gold! Thanks I have so much to learn about screens! My resolution was at 1024 X 768 going to change it and raise it to 120hz.

[rasmas]

Does every LED monitor cause you strain?

Well, i've tried 5 by now and i feel (at least) they are not better than this (not good) CRT... On the other hand i have been using a TFT for years until it broke but while i've been using it i have been having eye strain and sometimes motion sickness, something i never had before getting the TFT. Allways thought it was just me but after trying this CRT while looking for a new TFT i even felt that i got my eyes better .

I know i can get used to TFTs, but not sure if i want to xD .

You can use any aspect ratio. CRTs do not care. 1920x1080, 1423x761 or whatever. You can use the analog vertical picture resize knob to make the aspect ratio correct.

Very interesting, didn't thought about it, although (in my case) i think i'll get a bit too small screen. But still very interesting.

You can also remove vertical resolution without removing horizontal, e.g. 1280x900 in order to get enough bandwidth to raise refresh rate from 100Hz to 120Hz.

Even, 3000x900 and 1000x900 behaves the same on a CRT. The only thing that changes is horizontal resolution and how horizontally compressed the Windows desktop becomes at default picture aspect ratio.

Focus on the scanrate specs, and vertical resolution specs -- the horizontal resolution is arbitrary for sake of convenience. Just make sure that the blanking intervals scale properly. e.g. doubling horizontal resolution requires you to double the horizontal blanking interval numbers.

Just don't exceed horizontal scanrate limit and don't exceed vertical scanrate limit. And don't make those blanking intervals too small.

I admit i'll have to read this several times because i don't understand many concepts xD . But you know a lot of this .