RGB resolution

Paragon (1520)

22-02-2021, 17:06

I have obtained an RGB cable for my Sony MSX2+, whilst I appreciate the resolution is limited by the computer, can someone explain why a composite video signal is good, but the RBG signal appears as good as HDMI? The enhanced versions of Nemesis and other wonderful games look so much better!

By sdsnatcher73

Paragon (1507)

22-02-2021, 18:34

The difference in image quality is mostly because in composite all color information is encoded in a single analog signal. With RGB the 3 colors are separately encoded over 3 signal lines and even then the synchronization pulses are in a separate signal. You could compare it to MP3 versus WAV, the composite signal is a lossy encoding of the pure RGB signals (although composite could have had a different input than RGB).

By djh1697

Paragon (1520)

22-02-2021, 19:30

Thank You, I guess that the upscaling of the Sony Bravia I am using also helps, I couldn't read 80 columns with the CV signal, RGB is very clear.

By Grauw

Ascended (9578)

22-02-2021, 20:45

RGB is a very sharp high quality analog signal. Composite video can’t hold a candle to it! In fact flat screen TVs are rather bad at processing RGB. You’ll get even greater quality with a high quality RGB->HDMI upscaler like the OSSC.

By sdsnatcher73

Paragon (1507)

23-02-2021, 05:20

The less the TV does with the RGB signal the better. The problem with LCD TV’s is mostly the quality of the ADC (Analog to Digital Converter). CRT’s were analog devices and an analog input signal thus made sense (VGA is also analog RGB). LCD TV’s are mostly digital (the actual driving of the panel). Therefore a quality ADC with no post processing is key to getting a good quality image on LCD. In my experience most early LCD TV’s (which were still 4:3) don’t do any post-processing and generally give a quite acceptable output.