* extremely DJ Khaled voice* ANOTHER ONE * back to my voice * yooooooooo these have been fun can you believe this is episode FOUR and GREAT NEWS there's EIGHT MORE??? next episode premieres here 2pm ET august 1!!! not a holiday for you americans!!!!!!!!
Use a dvd recorded like a toshiba to upscale NES and SNES or others to your CRT = it gives the best result!!! @6:40 = i have been hunting for CRTs sine 2012... mate 10 years ago we were already digging for them. 1980s born gamers like me who were the end of Gen-X were always in the know of Consoles up to SNES looking amazing on CRT (the best are 2000s flat crt with great input options like "!color stream" component which has blue green red for color + audio.
The Brian Eno quote Amber was referencing is something I have saved and think about frequently! "Whatever you now find weird, ugly, uncomfortable and nasty about a new medium will surely become its signature. CD distortion, the jitteriness of digital video, the crap sound of 8-bit - all of these will be cherished and emulated as soon as they can be avoided. It’s the sound of failure: so much modern art is the sound of things going out of control, of a medium pushing to its limits and breaking apart. The distorted guitar sound is the sound of something too loud for the medium supposed to carry it. The blues singer with the cracked voice is the sound of an emotional cry too powerful for the throat that releases it. The excitement of grainy film, of bleached-out black and white, is the excitement of witnessing events too momentous for the medium assigned to record them."
The rise in retro gaming popularity may also have a lot to do with preservation and getting what you purchased. There will be no DLC, updates, or servers to worry about; you buy that game, you own that game. If you have the skills the game can then be backed up for posterity. Nostalgia (for whatever reason) may play a large part however, what companies have recently been doing seems to also be part of the growing retro market.
Before I finish the video, I got to the part where you're interviewing Thought slime and immediately thought about the one old Twitter thread about the commodification of childhood. My mother who's in her 60s looks at me with utter horror when I mentioned just how old contemporary Nintendo series are. Not to mention Halo and Yu-Gi-Oh, both of which I grew up with, have aged with me into adulthood. It's frankly horrifying to me as well.
I can not believe I am currently watch this @ the age of 27. I been Following this channel at least since the the Sound clown video. Keep up the good work!
Nostalgia had always existed as escapist fantasy in my mind. Simply a time when people had no expectations of me and I had minimal responsibilities. The world becomes more complex as we age and become (hopefully) more intelligent, but sometimes it's nice to remember what it was like living in blissful ignorance. Glad to have you back!
totally. i like how grafton frames it, that it is actually really nice to remember the past it only sucks when those warm feelings get clouded by a desire to RETURN.
Indeed, a good video as ever. I will not lie, you made a good joke about the way CRT enthusiasts just go on with how much better CRTs can be. Granted they can never meet the modern resolutions, but with the higher refresh rates, the way PC CRTs have an inherent sharpness and depth, and the exploits used by developers to improve those effects, they compound in big ways. I only really use one CRT but it's become my main TV, and one Steam Deck later, I can be playing the Cyberpunks and Red Deads on it too. Still probably gonna buy an ultrawide OLED monitor before the end of the year for my desktop lmao
The production value of this is amazing. I research literature and spend the majority of my time focusing on how a work of literature "evolves" throughout time. I see the parallels between literature/games/music/movies etc. and how looking at them through different lenses is extremely important to understand the media in different times. Sometimes it is rewarding to see that media in its "original" form... But it is also important to remember that media evolves alongside us (the consumers... eek). Anyway, I could go on all day!! Fantastic video!! Keep up the good work!!
Honestly, I do believe in a somewhat nefarious third party ruining things such as gaming and taking away those old memories of just being able to play a game without all the unnecessary crap. But that third party is corporations and game publishers, and their end goal is money and power.
"...accidentally keep pulling out their gun and shooting someone instead of saying hello". As someone who just started the game for the first time, this is accurate.
This is hilarious. As a computer graphics nerd in the 90s, I would obsessively research and drool over Trinitron monitors and their exceptional gamut ramges. Of course, I could never dream of owning one because they were so expensive. I'm highly amused they're expensive again after being totally obsolete. As for me? I've got zero nostalgia for those heavy, akward CRTs...I spent my youth stuck in a low-res oubliette that I'm happy to be free from!
Majora's mask 3d actually plays worse than the original without the mod that fixes everything 😂 better to play the ship of harkinian port of the original on PC
Im so glad This Exists is back, I know I say that on every video but I just want to do my part to help this get into the algo by commenting on it and engaging.
I cant tell you how happy I am this series is back. 2024 has been probably the roughest year of my life, but this has given me something to look forward to. Thanks man.
When I was a kid, I went over to a friend's house and brought my Wii. We were playing Mario, but I kept dying and I didn't know why. That's the day I learned about input lag. I had a CRT, they had an LCD.
I'm so happy This Exists is back, honestly, I could listen to Sam go off on like any topic at all, because he always finds ways to make them interesting, but talking retro gaming is speaking my language, so I'm extra happy for this one!
Holy shit! This Exists still exists??? The same intro and everything from back in the day?? Wow this just made my day. I think it's been like 6 or 7 years since I've seen this channel.
While I own a 55" OLED and it's absolutely fantastic, I am currently gaming on 3 CRTs-- two computer monitors in separate rooms and one CRT TV for my PS2/Retro games and I can tell you that flat screen panels (except OLED) are ruining the fun of gaming with their overly high resolution, sample and hold (lag) and backlight (blacks look grey) and instead of getting a PS5, I got a Steam Deck and hooked it up to the CRT monitor and they look FANTASTIC. There's just something missing from moderns displays (again, except OLED) that only CRTs can give, especially the warm glowy phosphorous tube that evoke a sense of awe and wonder, and I'm not even saying this because I'm nostalgic, I hate nostalgia and my childhood sucks! If you haven't gamed on a CRT monitor or TV in awhile, do try it again and you'd be amazed how quickly these things seduce you.
I love my Trinitron and i have spent the last decade or so speedrunning old games on real hardware. Besides the whole aesthetic and the way pixels blend together to give the illusion that images have more detail than they really did, i will say that Input Lag is real. Modern TVs can't draw the images from your console or emulator as fast as an old television can. You're going to have a MUCH tougher time trying to beat Mike Tyson's Punch Out or your favorite space shooter on a flatscreen television than you will on an old school TV. It's not all nostalgia bait and aesthetic!
So as somebody who is a this exists nerd as well as a complete CRT enthusiast this is the crossover episode I never expected. As somebody who has own probably 50 or so CRTs, from the cheapest shittiest black and white tubes to professional video monitors and broadcast video monitors, from Orion to Ikegami and Sony, I have a my own opinion to the question of whether or not CRTs are truly needed in order to experience video games and old media. It doesn't matter how much money you spend and what kind of equipment you have, whether or not you watch something on a iPhone or in a theater, whether you listen to music through a Bluetooth speaker or a seven channel surround sound system, or whether you play a game on its original arcade cabinet or on an emulator on our phones, the media doesn't change at it's core. Purists, I myself being one, will spend their entire lives chasing the dragon, to get but a glimpse of the feelings we had when we first experienced media that forms our views on the world surrounding us. I've spent thousands of hours refurbishing CRTs, changing out old capacitors bc all this stuff is from the '90s and 2000s, adjusting geometry and convergence, trying to look for the right set that has the right set of inputs, and constantly swapping out my setups in the ultimate desire to play games as I did when I was a kid. Turns out, I very rarely sit down to play games on them, as I use CRT shaders on my 4K PC monitor because it's more convenient. Sure, we can have deep conversations about Shadow masks, composite versus component versus s-video versus RGB versus SCART, so on and so forth, but if you're not going out there and actually experiencing the media then it can never be more than just a hobby. The best CRT I ever had was not the $1,800 Sony PVM that was professionally calibrated, but a $12 13-in Panasonic with only coaxial input, because I used it in my first apartment when I was 18. I had no money, barely enough for rent, my fridge only had water bottles and fruit and without any internet the only form of entertainment I had was watching VHS tapes I would get from the local thrift store. This video speaks on such a personal level I have to say thank you and congratulations to everyone involved with its creation, I believe in this current internet media landscape it is unfathomably rare to have content stopping you in your tracks and really contemplating. Bravo ❤
One thing I've noticed is that a lot of people seem to have forgotten that CRTs weren't as nice as they seem when you look at the technical specifications. Sure, they had amazing contrast, great response times, and did wonders to obscure the flaws of lower resolutions. But in every other aspects they can't hold a candle to even a basic LCD panel from 15 years ago: they warped the image, they constantly emitted an annoying high pitched noise just by being on, they were incredibly aggressive on the eyes to the point that they cause eyestrain after just two or three hours of watching TV, and your average TV wasn't as nice as a top of the line Trinitron but rather some meh cheapo TV with a fuzzy image and crappy color reproduction. There's a reason why we were happy to drop them like a brick and move on as soon as decent LCD/LED screens became affordable. Although I must admit that PC monitors were significantly better and still worth it if you can find a good one for a reasonable price, or still have a working one, mine all died over time and I can't be asked to seek one. In short: 80% hype, 20% actual substance.
I'm glad the channel is back. I used crt when they were affordable and electricity was affordable. So now I have to use lcd, I hope I can get one cheaper in other places there are but not here where
A while ago I learned that widescreen CRTs have been a thing since the 90s, and that HD signals had already been tested in Japan at that time. Those widescreen monitors should be great for playing modern games with a retro feel. Also, I guess another reason behind the rise of CRT usages for retro gaming revisits is that pixel art looks more refined and less pixelated in that lower resolution screen. Games with pre rendered graphics like DKC or MK for example look more convincing in CRTs as they don't look as pixelated compared to modern high resolution LCDs. Great video btw, it's my favorite of this revival so far. Been following this series since the weird Mario Hacks video.
I really resonate with what is said here about the link between fascism and nostalgia. It's an illusion that we have fallen from better times and those times need to be protected. Usually by means of oppression.
Wasn't Bill Clinton the president during most of the 90's? What does this have to do with conservatives? Yeah, things were generally better then. The economy was good, people could enjoy their games without thinking about politics, you wouldn't have your phone beside you to respond to a text while you were in the middle of playing a game, etc...
A few months the Retrotink 4k came out and essentially gives you full control to the most minute degree, making the image nearly identical as a CRT without the lag.
The reason I play retro games is because they’re fun. And there are a huge number of them I’ve never played. The reason I play on original hardware on a CRT, is because I value an “authentic” experience. Now, that’s not to say this is better or more correct, only that it is the display technology the systems were designed for. Emulation has its inaccuracies and original hardware either looks awful on modern displays, or with the right video scaler, look great but different. Also, light gun games.
This was the channel that introduced me to black MIDI and the Max Headroom incident. As for CRTs, I have a Sony 14M2U which is limited to 480i much like a TV and a Dell E770S which I'm currently watching this on at 1280x800 at 85 Hz.
I kinda have a holy grail. My Samsung Syncmaster 955DF CRT was abandoned for 10 years but i turned off and the image quality and brightness is still intact like a brand new monitor. 1856x1344 max res (basically 4:3 1440p), 0.20mm phosphor size (sharper than the market bubble of a Sony GD FW900 at 5000 dollars). It made my 1080p LCD look like a 720p display, the aliasing is very noticiable. I have an AMOLED Motorola phone, brighter than my CRT but loses color saturation for the highlights (i noticed this while watching Tron Legacy), less detail for specular lights (like metals) and loses detail for shadows. When you own a CRT like mine, it really is like a high end QD OLED with HDR.
This might be the most defensive video I’ve seen lol. You don’t need to let some weird tweet upset you so much. Also you seem to have said a couple of times here that old video games are easier than new ones?? What are you taking about?
Before really watching the video, there is a huge difference when playing old games on an HD screen vs a CRT. Effects that were meant to make games look good on CRT sets just don't work as well on an HD display. They used the scanlines to their advantage, to hide certain things or to give certain effects by approximation. And it just doesn't work when you play the exact same thing on an HD screen, specifically stuff like the waterfall transparency on Sonic 2 for the genesis. Edit: I see now that it was mentioned, but it wasn't so much talked about as I would have expected
Art is art. If you want to see it from the left side then that is fine and if you want to see it from the right side that is fine. I choose to let things speak to me and not to react so critically when I don’t understand the narrative.
Shit. This is the first time TE has showed up on my subscriptions since it came back. That's 4 months/episodes of not knowing. I'll go back and watch the others. In case it helps, I reckon I'm a pretty typical viewer of This Exists, so hopefully.that translates into an increase in views from here on. Good luck, always enjoyed your stuff
As I child I only had like 6 megadrive games and 5 of them were shit, so my love for retro games is definitely not nostalgia. There's just a lot of good games there.
I like this vid and all the new vids! I'm curious about the choice to use avatars for all the interviews though. It's kind of distracting. I would understand if they don't want to appear in a video, but they're usually introduced with their image in a zoom call or whatever, then they become an animated image that (sometimes) represents what they're talking about. Not a terrible choice, but like I said, kinda distracting. My only note! Loved this channel for years, and looking forward to learning about all the things I didn't know existed!
people are definitely divided on the vrchat treatment (i love it but i get it). on a creative level i feel like we did the "zoom window interview thing" perfectly with extremely online and wanted to try something weirder.
OK, real talk; I like the point about people not having to choose sides. So many people don't realize this, you can think both sides are idiots or both have smart and stupid ideas within or hate one or hate both or whatever and have all of that happen in a seperate area of nostalgia and your enjoyment of it.
13" crt for me is the perfect size, small enough to actually move around. And makes most games look great on it. Love playing my Atari 2600, Colecovision and N64 on it
Use a dvd recorder like a toshiba to upscale NES and SNES or others to your CRT = it gives the best result!!! @6:40 = i have been hunting for CRTs sine 2012... mate 10 years ago we were already digging for them. 1980s born gamers like me who were the end of Gen-X were always in the know of Consoles up to SNES looking amazing on CRT (the best are 2000s flat crt with great input options like "!color stream" component which has blue green red for color + audio.
Great Video, that CRT craze I feel is a north american thing, at some point last year I looked for CRT for a specific project, that required one for technical reasons, and the prices were not that crazy, you could get CRT TVs for 20-30 euros, which sounds fair. One factor I think is the second hand market in europe is very different, technology gets used until it breaks here. Maybe here, that nostalgia is not talking as much to people, or it talks to people that "grew out" of video games.
So happy I have notifications on, only now just recovering from the heart attack you gave me three months ago. My insurance and loved ones have other sentiments on the matter
Awesome video. I really do not like 3D mocapped avatars as a video conferencing stand in. They don't look good and do we really need to minimize the human element of communication more? To clarify further, it was a really cool video and I don't think it like super detracted from it or anything. I understand it as a creative choice.
We've had over 40 years of personal computers and gaming consoles now. One thing we should have already learned is that software and hardware have to work together and complement each other. And when they don't, things may not work right or perhaps not work at all. That's all it is. These retro gamers have discovered that a game written for a 386 pc running DOS works better on the retro hardware it was written for than on the latest, most powerful gaming pc. And gaming consoles tend to be even more proprietary than pc's. While this is interesting, my concern is more about the fun and playability of a game. An old sidescroller may well be more fun to play than the latest 3D immersive graphics first person shooter because of the differences in what the player has to do. So 3D virtual reality is great for SOME games, but not for ALL games!
Growing up in the 90's/00s (literally 1990), I think the most irritable thing right now is how no one want's to do something original. Every game is a reboot/remaster/sequel, every movie is a reboot/sequel - music and tv is a bit different and exclude indie gaming, but it sucks there isn't a big new thing from like Bioware, I want a new IP, not a new Dragon Age and then a Mass Effect in 4-5 years, I've turned the page already. Movies are in a terrible state right now, I used to the theater as least one time per week, sometimes more. Now, maybe 1 or 2 per year. There is almost nothing good to see! Nostalgic is fine, but I wish the nerds (like me...) would create great shits for others nerds like me to enjoy. I enjoyed my childhood, now I want something as an adult to enjoy, I don't need to go back in time all the time. I thought nerds would controlled the world, where are they :(
* extremely DJ Khaled voice* ANOTHER ONE
* back to my voice * yooooooooo these have been fun can you believe this is episode FOUR and GREAT NEWS there's EIGHT MORE??? next episode premieres here 2pm ET august 1!!! not a holiday for you americans!!!!!!!!
eight??? hell yeah
Use a dvd recorded like a toshiba to upscale NES and SNES or others to your CRT = it gives the best result!!! @6:40 = i have been hunting for CRTs sine 2012... mate 10 years ago we were already digging for them. 1980s born gamers like me who were the end of Gen-X were always in the know of Consoles up to SNES looking amazing on CRT (the best are 2000s flat crt with great input options like "!color stream" component which has blue green red for color + audio.
how meta Do we need to be with Ai music and this Exists to Have you be like uhhhhhhh
I am *so* happy that This Exists…exists again!
I guess hounding him on twitter worked. You’re welcome everyone.
you did it!
retro games not having my credit card onf file is probably the biggest selling point
I honestly thought this channel died years ago. I absolutely love the Black Midi and sound clown episodes. I'm so glad to see you're all still here!
It did die! It got better.
this is why i refuse to unsubscribe from literally any youtube channel ever
The Brian Eno quote Amber was referencing is something I have saved and think about frequently!
"Whatever you now find weird, ugly, uncomfortable and nasty about a new medium will surely become its signature. CD distortion, the jitteriness of digital video, the crap sound of 8-bit - all of these will be cherished and emulated as soon as they can be avoided. It’s the sound of failure: so much modern art is the sound of things going out of control, of a medium pushing to its limits and breaking apart. The distorted guitar sound is the sound of something too loud for the medium supposed to carry it. The blues singer with the cracked voice is the sound of an emotional cry too powerful for the throat that releases it. The excitement of grainy film, of bleached-out black and white, is the excitement of witnessing events too momentous for the medium assigned to record them."
fuuuuuuck yes. have you seen the eno doc yet? it is remaaaaaaaarkable.
@@thisexists I have not!! I might have to fix that
Hell yeah, This Exists is entering the EYEBALL ZONE.
Bonus: Shadiversity being used as an exempli gratia of a conservative pissbaby splatpants.
Too bad they couldn't get the STAR of the channel to make an appearance
The rise in retro gaming popularity may also have a lot to do with preservation and getting what you purchased. There will be no DLC, updates, or servers to worry about; you buy that game, you own that game. If you have the skills the game can then be backed up for posterity. Nostalgia (for whatever reason) may play a large part however, what companies have recently been doing seems to also be part of the growing retro market.
gamers : CRTs
::
guitarists : vacuum tubes
Before I finish the video, I got to the part where you're interviewing Thought slime and immediately thought about the one old Twitter thread about the commodification of childhood.
My mother who's in her 60s looks at me with utter horror when I mentioned just how old contemporary Nintendo series are. Not to mention Halo and Yu-Gi-Oh, both of which I grew up with, have aged with me into adulthood.
It's frankly horrifying to me as well.
I never thought I would see Thought Slime on a This Exists video. It's like two eras of my UA-cam watching colliding
I can't remember which one I found from the other, but they've at minimum given each other shoutouts before.
It's fun to see them collide, I feel the same!
I can not believe I am currently watch this @ the age of 27. I been Following this channel at least since the the Sound clown video. Keep up the good work!
Nostalgia had always existed as escapist fantasy in my mind. Simply a time when people had no expectations of me and I had minimal responsibilities. The world becomes more complex as we age and become (hopefully) more intelligent, but sometimes it's nice to remember what it was like living in blissful ignorance.
Glad to have you back!
totally. i like how grafton frames it, that it is actually really nice to remember the past it only sucks when those warm feelings get clouded by a desire to RETURN.
I am here to be scared of your opinions on CRTs in 15 hours.
same I got a trinitron pvm next to me lol
🤐
see it was fine!
Indeed, a good video as ever. I will not lie, you made a good joke about the way CRT enthusiasts just go on with how much better CRTs can be. Granted they can never meet the modern resolutions, but with the higher refresh rates, the way PC CRTs have an inherent sharpness and depth, and the exploits used by developers to improve those effects, they compound in big ways. I only really use one CRT but it's become my main TV, and one Steam Deck later, I can be playing the Cyberpunks and Red Deads on it too.
Still probably gonna buy an ultrawide OLED monitor before the end of the year for my desktop lmao
@@WedgeStratosMaybe the OLED monitor that you will buy is worse than a Samsung S90C OLED that has BFI and is 4K 144Hz.
"I'm thinking about Trinitrons all the time!" is the line of decade!
for playing older games is part learning gaming history & nostalgia
The production value of this is amazing. I research literature and spend the majority of my time focusing on how a work of literature "evolves" throughout time. I see the parallels between literature/games/music/movies etc. and how looking at them through different lenses is extremely important to understand the media in different times. Sometimes it is rewarding to see that media in its "original" form... But it is also important to remember that media evolves alongside us (the consumers... eek). Anyway, I could go on all day!! Fantastic video!! Keep up the good work!!
love this.
This is like that episode of Futurama where fry is rich and buys all that old stuff
Honestly, I do believe in a somewhat nefarious third party ruining things such as gaming and taking away those old memories of just being able to play a game without all the unnecessary crap. But that third party is corporations and game publishers, and their end goal is money and power.
"...accidentally keep pulling out their gun and shooting someone instead of saying hello". As someone who just started the game for the first time, this is accurate.
This is hilarious. As a computer graphics nerd in the 90s, I would obsessively research and drool over Trinitron monitors and their exceptional gamut ramges. Of course, I could never dream of owning one because they were so expensive. I'm highly amused they're expensive again after being totally obsolete. As for me? I've got zero nostalgia for those heavy, akward CRTs...I spent my youth stuck in a low-res oubliette that I'm happy to be free from!
Can we talk about how crash bandicoot just said majoras mask 3d FIXED the swimming controls!?
Majora's mask 3d actually plays worse than the original without the mod that fixes everything 😂 better to play the ship of harkinian port of the original on PC
I love seeing Thoughtslime represented as slimer !
I was somewhat surprised that he didn't use Bobby Duke as his spokesperson. :)
As the dude who behind CRT Pixels and the infamous Dracula comparison photo, I am very excited and nervous for this lol.
that's craaazy lol those comparison images might end up in this vid
nice account btw it's been v helpful
Stop being a liar
@@NinjaTylerBlackLmao go check the username in the account bio doofus
@@NinjaTylerBlacklmao go check the username in the account bio doofus
@@NinjaTylerBlacklmao bro check the username in the account’s bio
The New Boomers dreaming of the 50s
Crash Bandicoot in the end of time? Now I have seen everything
I grew up with a Daewoo CRT in my room. Yes, the car company also made tvs
When you drive your Daewoo to the Daewoo to pick up some more Daewoo.
This channel is nostalgic in itself. I watched the discography while I was studying and uni.
Im so glad This Exists is back, I know I say that on every video but I just want to do my part to help this get into the algo by commenting on it and engaging.
thank you for your service.
I cant tell you how happy I am this series is back. 2024 has been probably the roughest year of my life, but this has given me something to look forward to. Thanks man.
When I was a kid, I went over to a friend's house and brought my Wii. We were playing Mario, but I kept dying and I didn't know why. That's the day I learned about input lag. I had a CRT, they had an LCD.
I'm so happy This Exists is back, honestly, I could listen to Sam go off on like any topic at all, because he always finds ways to make them interesting, but talking retro gaming is speaking my language, so I'm extra happy for this one!
Breadtube is utter shit.
Holy shit! This Exists still exists??? The same intro and everything from back in the day?? Wow this just made my day. I think it's been like 6 or 7 years since I've seen this channel.
While I own a 55" OLED and it's absolutely fantastic, I am currently gaming on 3 CRTs-- two computer monitors in separate rooms and one CRT TV for my PS2/Retro games and I can tell you that flat screen panels (except OLED) are ruining the fun of gaming with their overly high resolution, sample and hold (lag) and backlight (blacks look grey) and instead of getting a PS5, I got a Steam Deck and hooked it up to the CRT monitor and they look FANTASTIC. There's just something missing from moderns displays (again, except OLED) that only CRTs can give, especially the warm glowy phosphorous tube that evoke a sense of awe and wonder, and I'm not even saying this because I'm nostalgic, I hate nostalgia and my childhood sucks! If you haven't gamed on a CRT monitor or TV in awhile, do try it again and you'd be amazed how quickly these things seduce you.
CRT look FANTASTIC
love seeing your content pop back up in my sub box, i remember marathoning your channel like yeaaarrrrs ago. hella crazy quality bump btw
I can’t be the only person who’s never heard crt refer to a cathode ray tv before and was very surprised by the content of this video
I love my Trinitron and i have spent the last decade or so speedrunning old games on real hardware. Besides the whole aesthetic and the way pixels blend together to give the illusion that images have more detail than they really did, i will say that Input Lag is real. Modern TVs can't draw the images from your console or emulator as fast as an old television can. You're going to have a MUCH tougher time trying to beat Mike Tyson's Punch Out or your favorite space shooter on a flatscreen television than you will on an old school TV. It's not all nostalgia bait and aesthetic!
So as somebody who is a this exists nerd as well as a complete CRT enthusiast this is the crossover episode I never expected. As somebody who has own probably 50 or so CRTs, from the cheapest shittiest black and white tubes to professional video monitors and broadcast video monitors, from Orion to Ikegami and Sony, I have a my own opinion to the question of whether or not CRTs are truly needed in order to experience video games and old media.
It doesn't matter how much money you spend and what kind of equipment you have, whether or not you watch something on a iPhone or in a theater, whether you listen to music through a Bluetooth speaker or a seven channel surround sound system, or whether you play a game on its original arcade cabinet or on an emulator on our phones, the media doesn't change at it's core. Purists, I myself being one, will spend their entire lives chasing the dragon, to get but a glimpse of the feelings we had when we first experienced media that forms our views on the world surrounding us. I've spent thousands of hours refurbishing CRTs, changing out old capacitors bc all this stuff is from the '90s and 2000s, adjusting geometry and convergence, trying to look for the right set that has the right set of inputs, and constantly swapping out my setups in the ultimate desire to play games as I did when I was a kid. Turns out, I very rarely sit down to play games on them, as I use CRT shaders on my 4K PC monitor because it's more convenient.
Sure, we can have deep conversations about Shadow masks, composite versus component versus s-video versus RGB versus SCART, so on and so forth, but if you're not going out there and actually experiencing the media then it can never be more than just a hobby. The best CRT I ever had was not the $1,800 Sony PVM that was professionally calibrated, but a $12 13-in Panasonic with only coaxial input, because I used it in my first apartment when I was 18. I had no money, barely enough for rent, my fridge only had water bottles and fruit and without any internet the only form of entertainment I had was watching VHS tapes I would get from the local thrift store.
This video speaks on such a personal level I have to say thank you and congratulations to everyone involved with its creation, I believe in this current internet media landscape it is unfathomably rare to have content stopping you in your tracks and really contemplating. Bravo ❤
damn this is so thoughtful and kind. sharing with everyone who helps make this show now. thank you!!!
Great video. Love the thought slime cross over.
Love that this channel is up again. Long live this exists!
Great video, but hahaha: older games were less punishing? Fire up some 8 bit games and get ready for a pixelated spanking 😂
Nothing like people who have no clue what they are talking about telling you it is all a vast right wing conspiracy.
Still bear the scars from Chakan: The Forever Man.
haha fair when i'm talking about "builds" that's what i mean - i'm just not smart enough to know what a good "loadout" is. i want to play metroid 2.
One thing I've noticed is that a lot of people seem to have forgotten that CRTs weren't as nice as they seem when you look at the technical specifications. Sure, they had amazing contrast, great response times, and did wonders to obscure the flaws of lower resolutions. But in every other aspects they can't hold a candle to even a basic LCD panel from 15 years ago: they warped the image, they constantly emitted an annoying high pitched noise just by being on, they were incredibly aggressive on the eyes to the point that they cause eyestrain after just two or three hours of watching TV, and your average TV wasn't as nice as a top of the line Trinitron but rather some meh cheapo TV with a fuzzy image and crappy color reproduction.
There's a reason why we were happy to drop them like a brick and move on as soon as decent LCD/LED screens became affordable. Although I must admit that PC monitors were significantly better and still worth it if you can find a good one for a reasonable price, or still have a working one, mine all died over time and I can't be asked to seek one.
In short: 80% hype, 20% actual substance.
I'm glad the channel is back.
I used crt when they were affordable and electricity was affordable. So now I have to use lcd, I hope I can get one cheaper in other places there are but not here where
A while ago I learned that widescreen CRTs have been a thing since the 90s, and that HD signals had already been tested in Japan at that time. Those widescreen monitors should be great for playing modern games with a retro feel.
Also, I guess another reason behind the rise of CRT usages for retro gaming revisits is that pixel art looks more refined and less pixelated in that lower resolution screen. Games with pre rendered graphics like DKC or MK for example look more convincing in CRTs as they don't look as pixelated compared to modern high resolution LCDs.
Great video btw, it's my favorite of this revival so far. Been following this series since the weird Mario Hacks video.
I really resonate with what is said here about the link between fascism and nostalgia. It's an illusion that we have fallen from better times and those times need to be protected. Usually by means of oppression.
Wait, my low hour 24" Triniton is worth something other than hurting my back when moving it? :o
Wasn't Bill Clinton the president during most of the 90's? What does this have to do with conservatives? Yeah, things were generally better then. The economy was good, people could enjoy their games without thinking about politics, you wouldn't have your phone beside you to respond to a text while you were in the middle of playing a game, etc...
“I’m thinking about trinitron all the time” I haven’t felt this seen in a long time
Awesome stuff, as always! I love what you do here.
First 2/3 of the video: fuzzy pixels on big box tvs are neat
Last 1/3: Political parties will weaponize your feelings for personal gain
A few months the Retrotink 4k came out and essentially gives you full control to the most minute degree, making the image nearly identical as a CRT without the lag.
Holy crap, dude! Welcome back. I guess This Returns.
The reason I play retro games is because they’re fun. And there are a huge number of them I’ve never played.
The reason I play on original hardware on a CRT, is because I value an “authentic” experience. Now, that’s not to say this is better or more correct, only that it is the display technology the systems were designed for.
Emulation has its inaccuracies and original hardware either looks awful on modern displays, or with the right video scaler, look great but different.
Also, light gun games.
This was the channel that introduced me to black MIDI and the Max Headroom incident. As for CRTs, I have a Sony 14M2U which is limited to 480i much like a TV and a Dell E770S which I'm currently watching this on at 1280x800 at 85 Hz.
I kinda have a holy grail.
My Samsung Syncmaster 955DF CRT was abandoned for 10 years but i turned off and the image quality and brightness is still intact like a brand new monitor.
1856x1344 max res (basically 4:3 1440p), 0.20mm phosphor size (sharper than the market bubble of a Sony GD FW900 at 5000 dollars).
It made my 1080p LCD look like a 720p display, the aliasing is very noticiable.
I have an AMOLED Motorola phone, brighter than my CRT but loses color saturation for the highlights (i noticed this while watching Tron Legacy), less detail for specular lights (like metals) and loses detail for shadows.
When you own a CRT like mine, it really is like a high end QD OLED with HDR.
This might be the most defensive video I’ve seen lol. You don’t need to let some weird tweet upset you so much.
Also you seem to have said a couple of times here that old video games are easier than new ones?? What are you taking about?
Wait a minute, this channel still exists? major surprise to see you in my recommendations again.
Before really watching the video, there is a huge difference when playing old games on an HD screen vs a CRT. Effects that were meant to make games look good on CRT sets just don't work as well on an HD display. They used the scanlines to their advantage, to hide certain things or to give certain effects by approximation. And it just doesn't work when you play the exact same thing on an HD screen, specifically stuff like the waterfall transparency on Sonic 2 for the genesis.
Edit: I see now that it was mentioned, but it wasn't so much talked about as I would have expected
Art is art. If you want to see it from the left side then that is fine and if you want to see it from the right side that is fine. I choose to let things speak to me and not to react so critically when I don’t understand the narrative.
Two of my favorite youtubers, together at last. Hell yeah!
Just watched the vaperwave video the other day, glad to see ya out here making stuff again.
Happy to see the channel come back!
This is why I pretty much never unsub from a channel! haha
Killer season so far. This Exists is back and better than ever.
when did you come back buddy? missed this content
this was a very thoughtful video on the topic I'm glad you covered it!
Sam x Linus collab. crazy to me
always a good day when a new episode of this exists drops
Shit. This is the first time TE has showed up on my subscriptions since it came back. That's 4 months/episodes of not knowing. I'll go back and watch the others.
In case it helps, I reckon I'm a pretty typical viewer of This Exists, so hopefully.that translates into an increase in views from here on.
Good luck, always enjoyed your stuff
thanks! youtube definitely punishes you for not posting regularly for half a decade.
He’s got very interesting hair
It’s nice to see you still exist.
As I child I only had like 6 megadrive games and 5 of them were shit, so my love for retro games is definitely not nostalgia. There's just a lot of good games there.
WELCOME BACK!!
HEY NICE TO BE BACK!!!
I like this vid and all the new vids!
I'm curious about the choice to use avatars for all the interviews though. It's kind of distracting. I would understand if they don't want to appear in a video, but they're usually introduced with their image in a zoom call or whatever, then they become an animated image that (sometimes) represents what they're talking about.
Not a terrible choice, but like I said, kinda distracting.
My only note! Loved this channel for years, and looking forward to learning about all the things I didn't know existed!
people are definitely divided on the vrchat treatment (i love it but i get it). on a creative level i feel like we did the "zoom window interview thing" perfectly with extremely online and wanted to try something weirder.
I can't get into this scene simply because, due to some mobility issues, I can't lift a CRT.
OK, real talk; I like the point about people not having to choose sides. So many people don't realize this, you can think both sides are idiots or both have smart and stupid ideas within or hate one or hate both or whatever and have all of that happen in a seperate area of nostalgia and your enjoyment of it.
When he gets 0 likes that's means I am dead. I will be here as long as you keep posting love these vids
this exists revivalism is sick I used to watch your show so much like 9 years ago
Whoa! If CRT's are really going for that, I'm sitting on a gold mine! A CRT gold mine!
I'm so glad youre back, sam!
I needed this crossover
Thought Slime is on This Exists!? Worlds are colliding!
A crossover to challenge the gods themselves
13" crt for me is the perfect size, small enough to actually move around. And makes most games look great on it.
Love playing my Atari 2600, Colecovision and N64 on it
Use a dvd recorder like a toshiba to upscale NES and SNES or others to your CRT = it gives the best result!!! @6:40 = i have been hunting for CRTs sine 2012... mate 10 years ago we were already digging for them. 1980s born gamers like me who were the end of Gen-X were always in the know of Consoles up to SNES looking amazing on CRT (the best are 2000s flat crt with great input options like "!color stream" component which has blue green red for color + audio.
Oh shit you're back
yeah hey wassup.
Great Video, that CRT craze I feel is a north american thing, at some point last year I looked for CRT for a specific project, that required one for technical reasons, and the prices were not that crazy, you could get CRT TVs for 20-30 euros, which sounds fair. One factor I think is the second hand market in europe is very different, technology gets used until it breaks here.
Maybe here, that nostalgia is not talking as much to people, or it talks to people that "grew out" of video games.
So happy I have notifications on, only now just recovering from the heart attack you gave me three months ago. My insurance and loved ones have other sentiments on the matter
tell your underwriter to DM me.
@@thisexists you're in my will now. Be weary of cross continental fees though.
so happy you're back
My Nostalgia is coming back
Dude. I owned a GDM-FW900.
YES
Hah! Mr Hob is in this vid. Poor guy. One day the GOD run will happen. ONE DAY!
I am thinking about Trinitrons all the time. *Nodding In Agreement*
Now I can REALLY enjoy the holiday.
I'm just gonna put down a few comments to appease the algorithm gods before my actual comment on nostalgia
lol you’re killing it tysm
You're a bass player, too?! Sweet.
Awesome video.
I really do not like 3D mocapped avatars as a video conferencing stand in. They don't look good and do we really need to minimize the human element of communication more?
To clarify further, it was a really cool video and I don't think it like super detracted from it or anything. I understand it as a creative choice.
is that a CRT in your ST cab???
We've had over 40 years of personal computers and gaming consoles now. One thing we should have already learned is that software and hardware have to work together and complement each other. And when they don't, things may not work right or perhaps not work at all. That's all it is. These retro gamers have discovered that a game written for a 386 pc running DOS works better on the retro hardware it was written for than on the latest, most powerful gaming pc. And gaming consoles tend to be even more proprietary than pc's.
While this is interesting, my concern is more about the fun and playability of a game. An old sidescroller may well be more fun to play than the latest 3D immersive graphics first person shooter because of the differences in what the player has to do. So 3D virtual reality is great for SOME games, but not for ALL games!
Yeah dude I missed your videos
Growing up in the 90's/00s (literally 1990), I think the most irritable thing right now is how no one want's to do something original. Every game is a reboot/remaster/sequel, every movie is a reboot/sequel - music and tv is a bit different and exclude indie gaming, but it sucks there isn't a big new thing from like Bioware, I want a new IP, not a new Dragon Age and then a Mass Effect in 4-5 years, I've turned the page already.
Movies are in a terrible state right now, I used to the theater as least one time per week, sometimes more. Now, maybe 1 or 2 per year. There is almost nothing good to see!
Nostalgic is fine, but I wish the nerds (like me...) would create great shits for others nerds like me to enjoy. I enjoyed my childhood, now I want something as an adult to enjoy, I don't need to go back in time all the time. I thought nerds would controlled the world, where are they :(
Absolutely nailed it on the exploitation of nostalgia though