About TV screen simulation

Spectaculator can simlulate the picture quality of old 1980s televisions on modern LCD displays.

TV Picture Effect

Meaning

Scan Lines

Mimics the scan lines present on old TVs and CRT monitors. This option can be selected in addition to the options below. NOTE: Scan lines are not available if an overlay filter has been enabled.

Pixel Smoothing

Smooths the Spectrum's display at high magnifications. Disable if you prefer sharp but blocky pixels. This option can be selected in addition to the options below.

RGB Monitor

Best possible picture quality (TV effects are effectively disabled). This is the default setting.

Scart (RGB)

Simulates a TV picture obtained by connected a Spectrum to a TV via an RGB scart cable. This is slightly inferior to the RGB Monitor setting.

Composite Video

Simulates a TV picture obtained by connected a Spectrum to a TV via a composite video cable. The picture quality is worse than Scart (RGB) but better than Aerial (RF) Input.

Aerial (RF) Input

Simulates a TV picture obtained by connected a Spectrum to a TV via an aerial (RF) lead. This was the only method of connecting Spectrums to TVs back in 1982. The picture quality is relatively poor and typical of 1980s TVs.

Sample TV screen effects

../../_images/dd_spectrum.gif

Original ZX Spectrum output

../../_images/tv_aerial.gif

Aerial (RF) input with scan lines

../../_images/tv_composite_video.gif

Composite video input with scan lines

../../_images/tv_scanlines_only.gif

RGB monitor with scan lines

What would you like to to?

Note

  • If the zoom size for the window is less than 200%, TV screen effects are automatically disabled.

  • The display will appear slightly darker with Scan Lines enabled.

  • For best performance on slower computers, use RGB Monitor as this effectively turns off TV picture effects (except scan lines).

  • A selection of Render plugins and Overlay filters which work with Spectaculator are available to download from here.