CRT SCR$ Project, hosted at archive.org, is a preservation drive aiming to build a collection of high-resolution (and hopefully quality) photographs showcasing software from the standard-definition (SD) era displayed on CRT TVs and monitors. It's something I've been working on for years, and I have just released a major update (v0.3) featuring tons of new material.
CRT SCR$ Project - The Book Edition is a newly released photo book based on this collection. The content on archive.org is and always will be free, but it also takes a lot of funds and time to develop. So, instead of starting a Patreon or something similar, I thought it'd be nice to have a tangible reward for those who'd like to support this project. The book costs 10 USD (about 9 EUR) and is available for purchase at www.crtartbooks.com
The book also serves as an easily accessible general overview of the CRT era, showcasing photos of live CRT displays connected to original computers and consoles. It includes:
-more than 460 pages featuring hundreds of high-resolution photos of live CRT screens (with or without TV bezels, close-ups, darkroom shots, and miscellaneous photos)
-10 CRT TVs and monitors
-over 25 consoles and microcomputers
-hundreds of games ranging from well known hits to obscure underdogs
-comparison sections showcasing differences between different inputs and CRT tech (e.g. RF vs composite vs S-Video vs RGB, or slot mask vs aperture grille)
-PDF bookmarks for every page
-tags for easy searching
Here are some example spreads from the Amiga section, (you can see some other ones on the shop page).
What has it all got to do with MiSTer? Not all that much, though I believe both the collection and the book might be of interest to fellow retro-enthusiasts here, not only CRT fans. It's also possible they could be of some use to core and shader developers, since many of the images are very zoomable, thus showing the phosphor world quite well, and also pretty accurate when it comes to screen dimensions. Colours are another matter, since it's extremely hard to be 100% accurate in this regard.
Also, some images in the collection (not the book though, this is 100% OG HW) were taken using MiSTer and I made some comparison shots with original hardware. You can find them now in the collection using the "mister" tag, and I will post the gallery of these here later too.
The CRT SCR$ Project is a work in progress, and will be updated in the near future. All the future editions of the book will be available for free to those who purchased it previously (you will receive an automatic notice about new downloads).
I'm always on the lookout for photo contributors. Due to my limited hardware resources and budget, I managed to cover only some of the most popular retro hardware so far (the current platform/CRT list is available on the archive.org page). So, if you have a CRT TV or monitor connected to an original console or microcomputer and are willing to take some photos, please get in touch!
Some of the "most wanted" platforms include:
Microcomputer: Enterprise, Acorn Electron, Sinclair QL, SAM Coupe, Commodore PET, TRS-80, ZX 80/81
Console: Neo-Geo, Sega Master System, PC-Engine, 1st generation consoles
CRTS: Commodore and other branded monitors, any other interesting TVs that are not Trinitrons
The full list of the hardware featured in this project so far can be found on the archive.org page.
