These Are Not Pixels: Revisited
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN links it whenever someone equates CRT phosphors with pixels, as the clear explanation of why they are not.
What it is
Technology Connections follows up on his analog TV video to clear up the debate over whether CRT phosphor dots are pixels. He explains the shadow mask, color triads and how they relate to the scanned picture.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 1 different months, 2018 to 2023.
What Hacker News said
Recommends ChuckNorris89 · 2023-03 · on “Raster CRT Typography (According to DEC)”
Obligatory Technology Connections video explaining how CRT pixels aren't really pixels as we understand them. Definitely worth the watch. [this video]
Recommends comex · 2023-03 · on “A Pixel Is Not a Little Square (1995) [pdf]”
If you’re wondering what it’s talking about when it says the triads of red/green/blue rectangles on a CRT display don’t correspond to pixels, here’s a Technology Connections video that explains it: [this video] But on an LCD, the display really is made up of a bunch of solid-colored rectangle-ish shapes, and if the LCD is using standard RGB pattern, each red/green/blue triplet does correspond to one pixel. So if you zoom in, “a pixel is a little square” is very close to the truth. In other words, the article shows its age…
Cites pdkl95 · 2018-05 · on “Logo design trends of 2018”
> The traditional excuse for stripping away ornament has been about improving legibility, especially for small screens. This is a fallacy No, serifs really do have legibility issues, but not for small screens ; they cause problems at (very) small font sizes where glyphs are only a handful of pixels tall. > You can render a serif letter in seven pixels Yes, but that's pushing it and the legibility will depend on the quality of the font hinting, how the font rasterizer antialiases, and the way subpixels are utilized[1]. Legibility will even depend on the display technology: low resolution fonts on a CRT can be a lot harder to read compared to an LCD. (a shadow mask means phosphors do not align
Cites causality0 · 2020-06 · on “Accurate N64 emulation gets resolution upscaling powered by Vulkan (RetroArch)”
"240p" is not a meaningful statement when referring to CRTs. CRT phosphors are not pixels. For more on that: [this video]
Cites morsch · 2020-10 · on “3270font: A Font for the Nostalgic”
The electron gun draws through the shadow mask, which is fixed and independent of resolution. It's a debate long enjoyed by nitpickers. [LINK] [this video]