Star Fox (SNES) S-Video vs Composite

[Hobie-wan]

Look at the screenshots here, which will be from an emulator. http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/star ... Id,164494/

Do you mean the checkerboard shading on the ships and the shadow on the ground? If so, dithering like that is a way to create 'more colors' than the system can create and doing the shadow that way was probably faster than making a transparent one. Remember SF only runs at 15-20 frames per second as is, they didn't want to make it any chunkier than it already was.

[CRTGAMER]

Strange how some games look better. Can you post a couple screenshots in S-Video, Starfox and one of the good visually games?

HD CRTs hard to come by new, you might find one cheap at the Swap Meet or Goodwill. You can tell by the Component and or DVI-HDMI hookup in the back. Plus HD CRTs very heavy compared to even a regular CRT of the same size. Mine weighs almost no kidding 200 pounds.

[elvis]

Strange how some games look better.

I don't think it's strange at all.

Highly detailed, high resolution 2D looks nice when it comes out of a clean signal to a sharp display.

StarFox is some of the earliest 3D out there. Low resolution polygons, huge amounts of dithering, big fat vectors drawn in an era long before concepts like anti-aliasing that create mile-high jaggies. The poor quality RF signals are doing a very nice job of blurring the living daylights out of the game.

In the pre-computer special effects days, camera men were known to smear Vaseline on camera lenses when special effects and make up didn't look right. In the modern era, a good dose of digitally added blur can fix a lot of issues. In the case of StarFox on SNES over RF, it sounds like exactly the same "advanced techniques" are at work.

[CRTGAMER]

Strange how some games look better.

I don't think it's strange at all.

Highly detailed, high resolution 2D looks nice when it comes out of a clean signal to a sharp display.

StarFox is some of the earliest 3D out there. Low resolution polygons, huge amounts of dithering, big fat vectors drawn in an era long before concepts like anti-aliasing that create mile-high jaggies. The poor quality RF signals are doing a very nice job of blurring the living daylights out of the game.

In the pre-computer special effects days, camera men were known to smear Vaseline on camera lenses when special effects and make up didn't look right. In the modern era, a good dose of digitally added blur can fix a lot of issues. In the case of StarFox on SNES over RF, it sounds like exactly the same "advanced techniques" are at work.

Still would like to see screenshots. Is it just the game programming or a video to LCD issue.

[Hobie-wan]

In the pre-computer special effects days, camera men were known to smear Vaseline on camera lenses when special effects and make up didn't look right. In the modern era, a good dose of digitally added blur can fix a lot of issues. In the case of StarFox on SNES over RF, it sounds like exactly the same "advanced techniques" are at work.

Star Wars (Ep 4) used panty hose stretched over the lens hood to get the star shaped glare in some of the Tattooine shots.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Well, I have a CRT TV, from around 1999-2000, and the games look worse on it. Probably because I can see the scan lines or whatever they're called and the fact the image isn't right up against the screen like an LCD (I sit about 1.5 feet from it). I'm fine with slightly worse color and clarity than CRTs. I'd eventually like an HD CRT, but I can't afford it right now.

I'm happy with every SNES game's quality on my LCD except Star Fox. I'm just trying to find out if that's how it's supposed to look, or if something is wrong with my cord, game, SNES or TV.

That's how it's supposed to look, like the others said above there weren't any digital shortcuts at all when it came out, so it is what it is.

Also, if your CRT looks like crap I seriously suggest you look for a Sony Trinitron, you've never seen TV if you haven't seen a Trinitron in action.

Seriously gorgeous picture quality on those sets.

[Kebo]

Look at the screenshots here, which will be from an emulator. http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/star ... Id,164494/

Do you mean the checkerboard shading on the ships and the shadow on the ground? If so, dithering like that is a way to create 'more colors' than the system can create and doing the shadow that way was probably faster than making a transparent one. Remember SF only runs at 15-20 frames per second as is, they didn't want to make it any chunkier than it already was.

Sadly, it looks considerably worse than that. It's just like the checkerboard on the backs of the wings which you can see better the more you zoom in. But mine seems much more exaggerated and starkly contrasting with what's around it than that screenshot. It just looks ridiculous, really. There is no way I would play the game that way over composite, I just want to make sure it's not just me.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Look at the screenshots here, which will be from an emulator. http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/star ... Id,164494/

Do you mean the checkerboard shading on the ships and the shadow on the ground? If so, dithering like that is a way to create 'more colors' than the system can create and doing the shadow that way was probably faster than making a transparent one. Remember SF only runs at 15-20 frames per second as is, they didn't want to make it any chunkier than it already was.

Sadly, it looks considerably worse than that. It's just like the checkerboard on the backs of the wings which you can see better the more you zoom in. But mine seems much more exaggerated and starkly contrasting with what's around it than that screenshot. It just looks ridiculous, really. There is no way I would play the game that way over composite, I just want to make sure it's not just me.

That's exactly how it's supposed to look, it even looks that way on my HDCRT. It's just how any and all SDTV signals will look on an HDTV.

[Kebo]

Look at the screenshots here, which will be from an emulator. http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/star ... Id,164494/

Do you mean the checkerboard shading on the ships and the shadow on the ground? If so, dithering like that is a way to create 'more colors' than the system can create and doing the shadow that way was probably faster than making a transparent one. Remember SF only runs at 15-20 frames per second as is, they didn't want to make it any chunkier than it already was.

Sadly, it looks considerably worse than that. It's just like the checkerboard on the backs of the wings which you can see better the more you zoom in. But mine seems much more exaggerated and starkly contrasting with what's around it than that screenshot. It just looks ridiculous, really. There is no way I would play the game that way over composite, I just want to make sure it's not just me.

That's exactly how it's supposed to look, it even looks that way on my HDCRT. It's just how any and all SDTV signals will look on an HDTV.

It's supposed to look that way with S-Video but not composite? Or both? My composite version of it looks pretty good, my S-Video of it looks pretty bad.

[CRTGAMER]

It's supposed to look that way with S-Video but not composite? Or both? My composite version of it looks pretty good, my S-Video of it looks pretty bad.

Pics Pics Pics. In S-Video and Composite for comparison.
Of both Starfox and a game you consider a good image.
A sure way for everyone to see what the problem is.