Former Sega Engineer Simulates CRT Display on Mac
A former engineer from Sega and Facebook has developed a CRT display simulator for macOS. The software recreates the characteristics of old cathode-ray tube screens, including flicker and geometric distortions.
Yoshihito Kondo, an engineer with prior experience at Sega and Facebook, has developed a software simulator for macOS that mimics the behavior of old cathode-ray tube (CRT) displays. The project, named famicom-rf-hackrf-decoder, has been released as open-source software under the MIT license on GitHub.
The simulator utilizes a HackRF One software-defined radio (SDR) to receive the VHF RF output from a Famicom game console, specifically designed for the NTSC-J analog television standard. The software then fully decodes the NTSC-J color signal and displays the result in real-time on the user's desktop using the SDL2 library.
Kondo has focused on replicating the unique characteristics of CRT displays, such as scanlines, flicker, and geometric distortions. He notes that the Famicom's video signal deviates from broadcast standards, which can lead to issues like jitter and color instability on traditional screens. To address this, the simulator employs multiple background processes to manage these artifacts and provide an authentic visual experience.
A notable feature demonstrated by Kondo is the ability to "tap the screen to fix the picture." While the precise mechanism is not fully detailed, speculation suggests it might involve the MacBook's lid angle sensor, simulating the effect where physical interaction could temporarily resolve display issues on older CRT monitors.