VGA CRT and brightness/contrast

[geiger9]

To those out there using a PC CRT or a VGA CRT (not sure what the appropriate term is), what is a good way to calibrate the brightness and contrast? My VGA output looks really washed out. I'm more used to using consumer TV CRTs and not VGA CRTs.

[FoxbatStargazer]

Max the contrast and lower brightness until it gets too hard to see. :p

Edit: also toggle the SoG switch to off if you have it!

I picked up a Compaq S910 for cheap that has a clear gamma problem, where the green and blue really fall off to nothing fast as it gets dark. To play darker games I pretty much have to crank brightness that leads to looking pretty washed out, and even then it has a red shift in those darker regions. As I have zero gamma controls I've gone back to flat panel for now. You might just need to hunt for a higher quality one.

edit: this strangely seems to be an SoG issue for me. I flipped the SoG switch back on again, adjusted my green down a bit on the monitor, and now the gamma is perfect, as compared side-by-side with a flat panel in Castlevania IV! However other sources like a Dreamcast VGA cable and PC VGA have severe gamma issues and red shift. Could it be that this VGA CRT is optimized for RGsB instead of RGBHV? Very odd! Something you may want to check on your monitor!

[pedroTFP]

Bump to ask: comparing side by side real hw NeoGeo and Mister Core; (same SONY PVM, 15 khz; same setting, NeoGeo on input 1 and Mister on input 2) Mister looks darker.
Maybe is gamma? How can I fix it without touching monitor controls?

[retrodroid]

Bump to ask: comparing side by side real hw NeoGeo and Mister Core; (same SONY PVM, 15 khz; same setting, NeoGeo on input 1 and Mister on input 2) Mister looks darker.
Maybe is gamma? How can I fix it without touching monitor controls?

Are you certain your monitor doesn't use separate settings for each input channel?

[Malan]

The way you describe it looks like a color range mismatch. Did you find any option related to "color range" or "16-235" in your monitor options? Try messing with it if you find it. If you're using a HDMI to VGA converter, try different options for "hdmi_limited" in the Mister.ini file.

Otherwise your best bet is to try some gamma filters in cores.

[pedroTFP]

Thanks, I solved with gamma settings (HDMI options have no effect on CRT image): side to side with real hardware (both on CRT, for Mister I use csync DB15->Scart RGB cable) now it looks the same.

[mecono]

Hi, I'm having a similar issue, I'm runing the CPS2 core and the picture looks really dark on my PVM. When you say "I solved it with gamma settings" can you give some details?

Thanks