Arcade Machines look WEIRD in Slow Mo - The Slow Mo Guys

Are you sure you know what you're looking at when you're down the arcade?
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Filmed on the Phantom V2511
An Arcade Machine looks Crazy in Slow Mo - The Slow Mo Guys

[@theslowmoguys]

Dan’s underground tunnel was reported to have made it all the way to directly underneath Austin the last time we heard. When we went over to it to check for potential emergence holes, it became clear that he either made a wrong turn or had some unfinished business to attend to first, as his tunnel continued under Texas towards the city of Las Vegas. Seems as though he’ll potentially work his way back down the tunnel he dug after he’s finished at the roulette table.

[@tomstravels520]

Another $200 on black?

[@zesanurrahman6778]

what a coincidence I was thinking about yesterday whats inside arcade and its like a old pc. lol

[@nicholasvinen]

He should have made a left turn at Albuquerque!

[@BelieveThePanda]

Big money! Big money! Daddy needs a new pair of shoes!

[@blobfish.]

My favourite part of this is it suggests Dan has made it as far as Austin, but instead of just getting out of the tunnel and getting a lift to Gav's house he's hellbent on still tunnelling 😂😂

[@OfficialMaxBox]

I so appreciate you replaying the first slow-mo but with the image being persistent. Immediately satisfied the thought as it arised.

[@MrE_]

Yes

[@lazernarwhall]

upload plz :)

[@timbarrier2071]

FDA needs to regulate a warning label across all things screens. 🤓📖↙️ Entertainment is so present & powerful like a drug that comforts our oxygen deprived brains… Label should say: This drug isn’t for those who are easily hypnotized (fancy word for manipulated).

[@timbarrier2071]

🤣🤣still love their content tho.🤪

[@ameenbaig8726]

*arose

[@smartereveryday]

Persistence of vision is awesome

[@Cavothain]

No

[@yelwinaung1608]

It is. That's what allows us to play these games.

[@fusionsigh]

Hi

[@knutolabersas5601]

you are awesome.

[@Ki113dbysw0rd]

it's kind of the leading factor why LED lighting isn't horrendous to us in its current form

[@broosc]

It's actually crazy to me that this kind of ultra fast technology existed 40 years ago

[@redpheonix1000]

It also really goes to show that you don't need much to fool our eyes!

[@andybalthazar]

Right!! If you’re talking about CRT, that goes way back 80 years. Proof time travelers exist.

[@benslack8056]

Well people landed on the moon 50 years ago so not that crazy 🦫

[@limdaoyuan7218]

@@G.Freeman92 you are prob just a troll

[@thedickghost]

Fun thing is that this isn't really computing anything, there are no "where to move next" instructions being sent, its all analog. just a cleverly modulated signal strength controlling the magnets inside, which determines where the electrons end up. It's amazing how ingeniously these things had to be made before we could just code a microcontroller to do it for us.

[@benjaminsmith3625]

Good timing to mention Mat/Techmoan. His video today is a "scope clock" with vector graphics on an oscilloscope tube.

[@theslowmoguys]

Haha what are the chances!

[@gris4985]

@@theslowmoguys A Techmoan/Slow Mo Guys colab would be great, that guy has a veritable treasure chest of cool vintage tech.

[@jasonblalock4429]

@@gris4985 What does a Nixie tube look like in slo-mo? I'd like to see that.

[@TimWochomurka]

@@jasonblalock4429 i second this

[@BLenz-114]

@@jasonblalock4429 I don't think it would look any different, actually. Each number is just a metal cutout that glows when it is active. There might be some flickering to see, but that would be it. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[@TexasGreed]

Really cool. I was always so impressed by how futuristic the HUDs in 80s fighter jets are. This really shows how much they could do with relatively weak computers back then.

[@WhoLover]

Well, back then, it was a LOT of efficiency with coding and the like. See: Tim Follin with his music on the NES and Retro Game Mechanics Explained

[@creativenamegoeshere2562]

@@AxxLAfriku ?

[@protonneutron9046]

back when people knew how to program well.

[@creativenamegoeshere2562]

@@protonneutron9046 people still program well, just with different software and hardware.

[@protonneutron9046]

@@creativenamegoeshere2562 No, not as well. I've looked at code for over 40 years. The education level of coders is much lower today, on average, than it was 30-50 years ago.

[@mazda9624]

5:25 is one of the funniest moments I've seen on KZbin just because of all the other arcade cabinets being normal and then Tempest just doing it's own thing

[@BilisNegra]

"I'm feeling like Techmoan, but without the Mancunian charm". It's nice to see how Gav kind of looks up to Mat as a YT celebrity, even if this channel has 12 times as many subscribers.

[@EyMannMachHin]

TBH, every time I see Gav in a Labcoat I really want to read new episodes of my favourite webcomic, Schlock Mercenary. Unfortunately it's author went into a hiatus.

[@DinnerForkTongue]

What Mat are you referring to?

[@BilisNegra]

@@DinnerForkTongue You are not familiar with the Techmoan channel maybe? Well, I take it for granted as a well known one, so it sounds a bit strange to me, but if you take a look you won't regret -hopefully-.

[@DinnerForkTongue]

@@BilisNegra Highly appreciate the recommendation!

[@Gary_Hun]

To me, the mentioning of Techmoan came out of total nowhere, is there any occasion where they crossed paths that you may know of?

[@iluvpwny7565]

Just thinking about how programmer back then coded something like this with such a limited resources gave me a chill.

[@AlRoderick]

The math for vector graphics is actually a lot easier than raster, because you can draw elements to the screen as you finish calculating them instead of in strict top to bottom order.

[@Wabajak13]

How cool would it be to invent something like this 40 years ago and then just now be able to see it slowed down

[@DeathBringer769]

Necessity is the mother of invention. Having too much resources can actually be crippling, ironically enough.

[@vidarton]

@@Wabajak13 you could of course tune the scan speed down in your engine :) but I get what you were going for

[@hardwirecars]

@@DeathBringer769 ea vs an indie dev

[@3DPDK]

I love how the younger viewers are impressed that this was done with "ancient", 40 year old technology, but don't realize that people were drawing shapes, text, and images on oscilloscopes (a vector graphic CRT) a century ago - right around the turn of the 1900s. To the younger generation's credit, though, it has been game graphics that has driven the advancement of monitor and display technology.

[@Carstuff111]

Well said. The funny part is, we still have analog transceivers in use today for the digital age. A friend of mine works for a local news company and he was surprised to see how analog 100,000+ watt transmitters can still be, despite the digital broadcast.

[@Observ45er]

I did vector laser images with a HeNe laser and mechanical galvo scanners in the 80s that I choreographed to music. (classical laser light show) I take out a projector on Halloween each year. I use the Radio Shack Color Computer with SW I wrote and used General scanning Galvos. It used the 6809 and a clock around 900kHz. In the display processor I was squeezing clock cycles to to some rotations real-time. .. I though about writing an Asteroids game, but moved on to other things. . .

[@hansiraber]

do you have any reference for the claim that there were shapes, text and images on any oscilloscope at the turn of 1900.

[@3DPDK]

@@hansiraber Off hand, I suggest you look up the artistic works of Mary Ellen Bute Nemeth who began incorporating oscilloscope *Lissajous pattern* imagery into film animations in the 1930s and 40s. These are cyclic patterns very similar to what you get from an old Spirograph. CRT Oscilloscopes have been around since the very late 1800s and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out if you apply control voltages to both electron beam deflector axis you can draw what ever cyclic signal your electronics can create.

[@hansiraber]

​@@3DPDK nemeth started working with lissajous patterns in the 50s, as far as i can tell. was, or wasn't there anything going on "right around the turn of the 1900"? because i have zero knowledge of this.

[@King_Geedorah]

Went to an arcade and played asteroids and was amazed at how crisp and nice looking the display looked, it's cool finding out how it works and why its so distinctly different than other types of displays. Great video as always!

[@BLenz-114]

Yeah, I had head the phrase "vector graphics" many times over the years, and understood what a vector was, but never really thought that the lines would actually be made in a very different way than a standard display. I guess I just figured that there was vector math in the way things were calculated.

[@AutPen38]

I was lucky enough to grow up in the era when vector games were new. There was something quite magical about them. The Star Wars game in particular used to draw a crowd whenever someone put 10p in the machine. We were unsophisticated kids that were easily fooled by illusions. Some coloured lines flashing on a screen made us feel like we were actually flying down the trench on the Death Star. I think the vector games have remained "magical" unlike some of the raster/sprite games of the same period. As the displays were often only 256 pixels wide, blocky/pixelated games of the era look unclear and jerky to modern eyes, but the vectors still seem sharp and fast. There are some good emulations via MAME etc that reproduce the flickering and glowing of the lines quite accurately, but a real vector arcade machine is something special.

[@blobfish.]

After seeing your previous videos on various screens, this completely blew my mind. It's so different! I opened this video thinking "well how different can it possibly be", and you sure showed me. Thank you for continuing to point Phantoms at everyday items, the results are so fascinating. PS: Nice to see a few seconds of Dan in the sponsorship 😂

[@melvinest]

YES!

[@redandblue1013]

“Hello I’m Gav.” *…* It just ain’t the same 😔

[@createausernametrue]

The slow mo guy

[@evilcartmensolo7198]

It was such a cool feeling going to these arcades in the 80 with all the sounds and being so dark so you could see the screens plus all the people. Too bad most people will never know it. Good video.

[@Wabajak13]

I've always adored vector displays. Any time I'm at an arcade I'm drawn to any game using them with their intense contrast and vibrancy.

[@jasonblalock4429]

Yeah, when I was a kid, vector games were my favorites. Even if much newer/prettier games were around, I'd still be playing Asteroids or Star Wars/Empire Strikes Back.

[@Observ45er]

I did vector laser images with a HeNe laser and mechanical galvo scanners in the 80s that I choreographed to music. (classical laser light show) I take out a projector on Halloween each year. I use the Radio Shack Color Computer with SW I wrote and used General scanning Galvos. It used the 6809 and a clock around 900kHz. In the display processor I was squeezing clock cycles to to some rotations real-time. .. I though about writing an Asteroids game, but moved on to other things. . .

[@Eledore]

Finally a good explanation how Vector graphics works. You can talk all about it, but this just SHOWS what happens! So this is of great educational/explanatory value. Thanks Gav!

[@NicolaiAAA]

I had always wondered why screens flashed when they were recorded, and Gavin answered that. Ever since it just gets more and more interesting with all the different ways technology brings visuals to our eyes.

[@imjody]

4:33 - My mind is absolutely blown away. I can't believe this is a way that developers used to use this as a way of displaying information on a screen! SUPER COOL. Thank you for this, Gav! 😁

[@jamesslick4790]

In the 80's "Tempest" was my best game. I held the whole "High Score" list on three different machines at one time, LOL.

[@brookeggleston9314]

Same!!!

[@1mariomaniac]

Niiiice. I wasn't around at the time but I've been a fan of Vector games for a while. My personal favorite is Lunar Lander because I'm a huge space nerd lol.

[@edaskire9917]

My dad used to have the old cocktail table version of tempest. Loved playing it growing up, really cool to see a little bit more of how it worked.

[@RegularOldDan]

Growing up, I was always fascinated with vector-based graphics and absolutely loved games like Battle Zone, Star Wars, and Tempest, precisely because they were so different than the other sprite-based games of the day. Awesome presentation of the tech!

[@sethchapman8001]

This was really cool. Especially since Tempest, Battle Zone, and Star Wars were 3 of my favorite arcade games in the early 80s. I really dug the vector graphics.

[@shoesncheese]

Same. I was also terrible at Tempest. I dropped so many quarters on these.

[@brookeggleston9314]

@@shoesncheese I also dropped many quarters on Tempest, and became really good at it. I haven't seen it for decades, and it was great to see it again!

[@wilting_alocasia]

Just wanna say how incredible Gav is for keeping this channel going so strongly! We all miss Dan a tonne and I can't wait for him to be back, but Gav, you're amazing!

[@pthelo]

I missed it - what happened to Dan?

[@JackSilver1410]

I love that out with all the advancements in display technology since the CRT TV, it's still basically the same thing. The images have gotten sharper, the animations have gotten smoother, but it's still a line tracing down the screen too fast for the eye to follow.

[@JamieAubrey]

I'll keep using this joke Somewhere: "And I'm Dan" Dan: "NOT AGAIN"

[@Raze_134]

I've never seen graphics like this before. That Star Wars game an Tempest look like a lot of fun

[@brookewestonctc]

I remember seeing that Star Wars game in a cinema decades ago. It looked increadible, so much sharper than anything else.

[@mixtlillness9825]

Those games were fun to play back in the day.

[@qmangillett]

I was a CRT tester a few years ago and it's really cool to see these in slow mo. The science that goes into producing these even today is impressive and pretty labor intensive depending the kind of tube it is. Size, how many guns are in it, type of coatings, how the coatings are applied, the housing (shield), how the wiring is setup. Can get complicated quick.

[@cloverasx]

I'm glad you're going down the rabbithole of "things right in front of us;" it's so fascinating to see everything we see on a daily basis be shown as what it truly is.

[@jeremypnet]

There’s another downside in that the more stuff you had on the screen, the longer it took to draw a frame. Eventually, it gets to the point that there isn’t time to draw everything.

[@jasonblalock4429]

I still don't understand how Atari was able to pull off their Star Wars / ESB flight sims. It's crazy how much they had going on, yet maintained a smooth - and quite high for the time - framerate.

[@HenryLoenwind]

And then there is the problem with elements that are obscured by other elements. What is trivial on a raster screen (first paint the background, then paint the foreground over it) becomes complicated and very time-consuming in vector space---you basically have to do the same calculations as a ray-tracing machine needs to do. (For every line you want to draw, you need to split it at all points where a ray from your eye intersects both the line and the border of any closed shape that is closer to the eye than the line.) This gets incredibly slow very fast, so rendering into a frame buffer instead directly onto the screen makes perfect sense. Especially once the frame buffer resolution matches the screen.

[@AutPen38]

For a time, the vector games were the "fastest" games, because they were so stripped down (and designed and coded so brilliantly, using a "less is more" philosophy), but the consumer wanted more realistic graphics. When faster CPUs and graphics chips were invented, and pixel resolutions could go up, larger bitmap sprites took over the arcades. The vector games have retained a certain magic though.

[@El_Smeghead]

I always knew there was something different about the display on these type of games. Thanks for the info Gav 👍👍

[@EddieOtool]

I am amazed at the speed all of this happens. Unfathomable. Way more impressive to me than refreshing a "simple" grid of dots.

[@perrymalcolm3802]

Great u start with Tempest! I’m 62 now n in 81 was finishing my undergrad in psychology. One of my last courses was the psychologiy of perception. I liked Missle Command n then when it came out, Tempest. I used to half-kid my friends that most likely the designers were hip enough to structure the flicker rate to such a degree to stimulate our eyes’ Rods n Cones enough to ensure we would become “addicted” to play again. 😄 it was a great era

[@AndersEngerJensen]

Nice to see Techmoan mentioned. 😁🤓

[@JackVance5]

This is somehow way more impressive to me than modern screens

[@jaimejimenez8858]

There is so much to learn about the world in slow mo. Thank you Gav for sharing your findings and promoting curiosity!

[@lnyenhuis3765]

Tempest was my absolute favorite game back in the 80s. My sister and I would waste many quarters at our local arcade playing this. So nice to see it, especially in slow mo! Thanks for the memories .

[@CraigPetersen12f36b]

Back in the early 80's I had a full size Tempest game complete with coin chutes. I had a side job repairing these machines and always favored X-Y displays over raster scan. Another good one is Major Havoc.

[@ScorelessPine]

I don't know the chances of it happening, but if you've ever heard of the channel Retro Game Mechanics Explained, he's done a deep dive into the programming and mechanics behind Atari's Quadrascan vector based arcade games about 10 months ago, and it's very interesting, it would be so cool to see a collaboration between you two on it, or related topics. When you are able to go so deep in understanding what each line of programming does, and then immediately go see it in action in slow motion, that is the coolest thing in my opinion. Here's the video he made on Atari Quadrascan: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qZ62pXiGiLd-eNU and here's a link to his channel if you want to check it out, he does a lot more really cool topics, even going so far as to manually decompress a Pokemon sprite by hand during a livestream for charity: kzbin.info

[@Cyromantik]

Great recommendation, thanks!

[@glabberify]

Never stop doing what you do, everything is quality and simply amazing to see.

[@andrewwmitchell]

Thanks, loved seeing this in slo Mo. I grew up pumping coins into Battle Zone and Star Wars. I played Star Wars again a few years back and I was amazed how much muscle memory came back.

[@WhoLover]

And vector was 80's technology. Imagine what we could do now.

[@Retrotude]

Current modern displays can't even come close to replicating the stunning, almost literally radioactive luminescence these old machines have even today. Not even a 4K HDR screen.

[@WhoLover]

@@Retrotude absolutely, but imagine if someone used modern technology to build something new like vector from the ground up

[@Wabajak13]

Imagine a vector type projector. Except then I think you'd have to paint your walls in phosphor.

[@brookewestonctc]

Purely in terms of visuals, those CRTs are as good as it gets, they haven't been bettered. They were bulky, power hungry, deadly if opened, dangerous if damaged, and could cause eye-strain, which is why LCD panels have replaced them, but the response time, colour reproduction and ability to scale to any resolution without blurring at all is unmatched.

[@brookewestonctc]

@@Wabajak13 They exist, and have done for decades - they use lasers, no need for phoshpor coatings. Fast moving lazers trace a pattern, and it looks to the observer like a solid line.

[@GonzoDonzo]

I always loved vector screens. It just has these incredible contrast and the lines were as bright as a laser. Which after seeing how it works, its essentially the same theory for creating an image with a laser

[@drivers99]

Another key point about vector displays is they can change the brightness by changing how slowly they draw a line or stay on a dot. The bullets in Asteroids are brighter than anything on a raster display because it keeps the beam on one spot for longer.

[@dennism644]

Fascinating. Love this channel.

[@namemycactus]

This is not only very cool to watch but very interesting to learn about. Gav's a great teacher lol

[@Command908]

Wow that is mind boggling, thanks for showing this Gav, never would of thought something like this was going on.

[@SeanBZA]

Oscillofun is this brought to life with current technology. Also you can get the slow motion display simply by varying the readout rate for your raster display, obviating the need for the slow motion camera, plus the modern versions can sort of do flood filling, by drawing multiple lines in an area, to fill it in, and letting the eye integrate the lines into a solid block.

[@blackdragonslp]

This Display technology reminds me of show-lasers used for lasershows. They can also only display lines. But instead of an electron beam, they unse a combined rgb laserbeam and e very high speed mirror system.

[@EyMannMachHin]

Which is literally the same idea, except the elctron beam is guided by magnetic fields and makes the phosphorous on the screen light up, while the laser is bright enough to leave a trace on your retina even when reflected from a wall. I wonder if anyone actually programmed a lasershow display to play the old vector games. That would be totally rad.

[@RailRide]

@@EyMannMachHin It happened in 2010 at Anthrocon: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hWmUdZV5lq-FsJI

[@N4CR5]

@@EyMannMachHin Yes Laseroids (asteroids via laser) is built into one of the leading control software/hardware providors. It's fun playing it on a 100x100m projection on almost any surface you can point a 30+W laser at.. in the right conditions you could do 300x300 lol.

[@LunDruid]

I've always loved vector graphics.

[@Gosuminer]

I've been into retro arcade games for a long time and was always intrigued by the ingenuity of the developers of Tempest. It is so nice to actually see footage of what I only imagined for such a long time. On another note I would again suggest to take a look into FPV drones. The rotation of the props when they do sharp flips and rolls will probably make for an interesting video, crashes even more so.

[@IRONSILVER22]

Very clear demonstration of vector displays! Thank you!

[@alanshurvinton9578]

Hi Gav, fantastic video as always. Love to see how our eyes are fooled by display technology. Would you ever consider pointing the Phantom at a DLP projector? It would be incredible to see the DMD device and colour wheel working together. With new faux 4K system, the DMD is flashed multiple times tin increase the perceived resolution.

[@Charlie-dx6bv]

Well this shines a new light on arcade games!

[@Z3t487]

@ТоммуFan 🅥 No.

[@Bigelowbrook]

When I was a kid, I put many quarters into Tempest and Battle Zone. Good times....

[@robobob408]

To think we’ve advanced so much with technology and that even an amazing showcase of an arcade machine is only a blip in the exponential growth of screens.

[@SullySadface]

Tempest is hypnotizing, even on a 50hz camera

[@El_Smeghead]

Nice Techmoan shoutout. Love that guy!

[@mikej557]

My mate dan doesn't find those flashing lights horrendous. He loves em so much, he's doing a special weird dance on the floor.

[@NexxuSix]

Thank you so much for showing Tempest. This is by far my favorite game. I now have a greater appreciation for vector graphics. Well done!

[@Stoney_Eagle]

I love vector based graphics, my logo is a svg. Infinitely scalable 😁 When will you compare all the other types of screens? This was definitely cool to watch!

[@Observ45er]

I did vector laser images with a HeNe laser and mechanical galvo scanners in the 80s that I choreographed to music. (classical laser light show) I take out a projector on Halloween each year. I use the Radio Shack Color Computer with SW I wrote and used General scanning Galvos. It used the 6809 and a clock around 900kHz. In the display processor I was squeezing clock cycles to to some rotations real-time. .. I though about writing an Asteroids game, but moved on to other things. . .

[@JamesHBall]

You can see exactly the same effect by actually drawing the images on the CRT but slower - osci-render which is a project I've been working on lets you render vector graphics on a CRT oscilloscope, just like this, and it has a frequency control which lets you reduce the frequency well below 1Hz, creating the same frame-tracing effect you see in slow motion :)

[@eddvcr598]

I’ve always wondered why Battle Zone and Asteroids looked so different. I’m mesmerized by how intensely crisp and bright the shapes are. Thanks for explaining and showing what’s going on!

[@BillW-NJ]

Thank you for providing the best explanation and demo of vector graphics I have seen since learning about it decades ago.

[@RolandSchlosser]

That's a lot of neck hair xD

[@PhillyWilly18]

I’m surprised I had to scroll this far down before a comment mentioned Gavin’s neck hair! I really didn’t want to be “that guy” and comment on his appearance of all things when the video’s content was so interesting and informative, but my GOD were my eyes immediately drawn to it when the SimpliSafe ad started around 6:30! I couldn’t look away 😆 The weirdest part is that the rest of his beard seems at least somewhat manicured! I wonder if he was growing it out on purpose or somehow forgot about his neck while shaving? Or maybe his electric razor died halfway through? It’s so stupid and unimportant and inconsequential, and yet here I am typing an entire comment about it because I need to know why it is the way it is now 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@Plague_Doc22]

3:48 This wound be a sick screen saver.

[@KjellOlavForberg]

That's amazing! Love it!

[@Cobrass67]

amazing stuff! love learning about the tech

[@gracengeier1149]

Saw an "unfortunate" comment so I just gotta say, even without Dan these videos are still great! You do an awesome job despite the lack of Dan. I think we all miss him in these videos but, until you two can properly meet up we'll all still enjoy the slow mo guy/s :)

[@Sheridantank]

What happens when people live off fear and the media and government sells it. We aren't ever getting back to normal, all over a disease with a death rate similar to common cold.

[@coconutmallman]

To be honest CRT displays amaze me more than any other technology we have today

[@KayOSweaver]

I loved Battle Zone and Star Wars when I was a kid at the arcade. Seeing them here brought back fun memories.

[@Tom55data]

I worked in the field of protein crystallography in 1980's and beyond and wrote software that had to draw complex views of data. The 1980's used the Evans and Sutherland computers which were vector graphics engines, and you could only draw a number of lines before you brain could see the flicker of the image. The computer code draw lines, and these were drawn exactly in order in the computer code, and you had to limit the number you drew. All code was "wire-frame", just like this. We also worked on the earliest version of stereo in the 1990's where the monitor was over clocked to double its refresh rate (and not interlaced), then you drew the left/right scene in the bottom and top of the view - which would then wrap round when you over-ran the monitor to 100Hz. (Europe), to create the stereo. We drew 2 dots on the screen which used 2 sensors to hand made LCD glasses that would alternate flash, so the eyes would see the alternate scenes. SGI computers replaced these vector machines with the first "high-performance" raster graphics in the 1990 - and these cost from 100,000 to some 500,000 $/£ each and some the size of a small desk with an 18 inch cooling fan.

[@Deckard-ig4qd]

This makes me want to see a Vectrex working in slow mo (although it's probably very similar I suppose)

[@StormsparkPegasus]

It's not just similar, it's the exact same tech. Vector monitors. They're really weird, but also completely unnecessary today because of how high raster resolutions have gotten. People will look back on vector displays decades from now and think "how the heck did they do that back then?"

[@carylittleford8980]

Yes, and some of the homebrew that displayed bitmap graphics on a Vectrex.

[@Rhythmattica]

Oscilloscopes FTW! I love mine....

[@StormsparkPegasus]

@@Rhythmattica Oh yeah that's true, a lot of oscilloscopes even today use these types of displays. So I guess they aren't entirely in the dustbin of history.

[@jasonblalock4429]

For that matter, arguably the first video game ever made was a ping-pong game hacked onto an oscilloscope, so you could say that vector graphics were the FIRST video game graphics.

[@D44RK_Iced_Yogs]

I haven’t watched you dudes in forever! I remember when you two dudes were just in ur backyard filming!

[@RetroReloaded]

It's always good to see these guys

[@muckerwood]

When I went to the bowling alley arcade as a kid ('76-'83ish), I went past the video stuff and headed straight for the pinball machines. I always fascinated about having a row of pinball games in my mancave.

[@patrickradvanyi6390]

did they ever make a hybrid display, one that used the vector for the objects and the scanning for the background?

[@brookewestonctc]

You mean with two elecron beams? I don't think that would be possible, as magnetic fields are used to bend the beams, and the fields would interfere with eachother. If you meant with a single electron beam, then that would be massively inefficient, as it could only be doing a raster update or a vector update, but not both.

[@patrickradvanyi6390]

@@brookewestonctc what if they each hit from a different angle, say one is 45 degrees below the screen and the other is 45 degrees above the screen.

[@cyberyogicowindler2448]

Vectrex has a vector screen but draws the text font in raster graphics over it in software.

[@martythestines]

I miss you and Dan! Can't wait for another KZbin sponsored run. I know KZbin Red is dead, but we need an 8 episode seasons/series(8 weeks), every 6 months. Ill pay the channel $20 a year for that! SOOOOO WORTH IT!

[@darkblades1201]

Oh my God I forgot about Red lol

[@oscartomlinson11]

What's happened to Dan?

[@jesseboyce4579]

This is so amazing!!! Thank you so much for covering this in slow motion!!!:) I have always wanted to know and see what it looked like!!!:) cheers fellas!:)

[@AtrociousNightmare]

That was SO interesting! Grew up with that stuff, and finally I saw how they worked!

[@_AntonioRipoll]

#BringBackDANtheMAN

[@NoChannelNews]

When covids over can slow mo guys be dan with andrew

[@RonLaws]

loved it! Vector graphics have always had their own visual charm among all the raster graphics

[@sneezerb]

I’d never heard of screens like this before, thanks for making a video on it!

[@bradybrady10b7]

How is Dan’s tunnel going Gav?

[@kaukospots]

If anyone is curious about how this works from a technical level, Retro Game Mechanics Explained has a video on the Atari Quadrascan and it's really interesting to see how it works and how different is from traditional rasterized game rendering.

[@R0BL0W]

Best Christmas present ever is a new slow mo guys vid 🎄😍 thanks Gav

[@HalfWarrior]

Thanks for the video; I played these games all the time as a young kid at arcades in and near a local mall.Really cool to see!

[@shadowldrago]

Where do you guys think Dan's tunnel is at by now?

[@usernameloading...2851]

I miss Dan I haven't seen him for a while, he was one of the Slow Mo Guys and now this channel should be named, The Slow Mo Guy

[@analogbug16]

When one lives in England and the other in Texas it’s kinda hard to film together during COVID.

[@romanb.6528]

I finally found a video showing the beam traversal in a vector monitor. Thank you very much!!!

[@byronnakatsuka3585]

Love the video Gav!

[@Sophistry0001]

I wonder if developers for vector graphics games had to consider how long each element on screen takes to draw, and if they had too much stuff that took too long to draw that it could bog down the TV and start to look like flickering to us. I wonder if that's why they couldn't just have the machine fill in the inside of shapes.

[@brookewestonctc]

I was thinking the same thing. They don't have a frame rate like traditional games do. Other games have to fit all their processing in to the time it takes for a frame to update, while these don't have that limitation, and just draw as soon as they're ready. There has to be some sort of internal timing to keep the gameplay speed consistent (other games used the refresh rate - it's why PAL Sonic plays slower than NTSC Sonic), so I guess they can't exceed that.

[@crusty.computer]

Absolutely. The advantage of vector graphics were that you could draw a lot of lines on the screen really fast, but you had to worry about being able to finish drawing the complete frame before the phosphor started fading out, otherwise your display would flicker horribly.

[@Sophistry0001]

@@crusty.computer So it's like a draw time budget in terms of how many graphical elements are on screen at any given time. Interesting stuff, I knew CRT electron beams and all that but I didn't realize vector graphics were fundamentally different in that regard

[@Observ45er]

@@Sophistry0001 Yes we did. It was a major consideration. My system has a 4 ms time from stop to stop, for one line. It limited the number of points and you had to decide how much flicker you would allow. .. I have faster scanners, but moved on before I ever built up enough to use them .. I did vector laser images with a HeNe laser and mechanical galvo scanners in the 80s that I choreographed to music. (classical laser light show) I take out a projector on Halloween each year. I use the Radio Shack Color Computer with SW I wrote and used General scanning Galvos. It used the 6809 and a clock around 900kHz. In the display processor I was squeezing clock cycles to to some rotations real-time. .. I though about writing an Asteroids game, but moved on to other things. . .

[@cyberyogicowindler2448]

Some Vectrex games do start to flicker in situations with much on screen.

[@notbriann]

How are the electrons from the electron gun "aimed" to form the vector lines? Is there a motor or is there a electrical way to precisely aim them like that?

[@WhoLover]

I'm not sure, entirely, I think it had something to do with magnets but it'sa fuzzy memory. Retro Game Mechanics Explained did a video on Atari's Quadrascan, it's worth a watch

[@TeslaPixel]

electrons have charged so can be directed to a desired point with electromagnets

[@nicholasvinen]

There are coils of wire wrapped around the screen and depending on the applied voltage, they defect the electron beam a certain amount up/down or left/right.

[@JamesEsau]

Electromagnets. Interestingly if you turned those off/cut the wires, you'd just end up with one bright spot (roughly) in the middle of the screen.

[@TheSurprisePizza]

Electrons are fired towards the screen from the electron gun at the back of the display. By default, they'd hit right in the middle of the screen, but because electrons have a (negative) electrical charge, they can be deflected left/right and up/down by carefully controlled electromagnets at the edges of the screen. In a normal CRT, the electron beam is scanned from left to right across the screen, working it's way down line by line. In a vector display, the program can direct the beam wherever it wants, allowing it to draw lines wherever it wants.

[@dfpguitar]

never knew these type of games existed in 1981. I thought it would be really flat and dull looking stuff but this is gorgeous.

[@IronSalamander8]

Love Tempest and other classic vector games like Asteroids, Battlezone, and Omega Race, so this was cool to see!

[@zane_slade]

I really miss Dan

[@BheemNationalist]

What happened to him?

[@randomness420]

@Zeloric covid restrictionists make it impossible for them to see each other,., It’s as stupid as it sounds

[@JayGee6996]

@@damienallbran strange how they’ve not even done one though

[@D44RK_Iced_Yogs]

@@damienallbran I still remember when these two dudes were in dans backyard, hard to see that they weren’t really living together, never really thought about it. I mean they did just say Dan’s house so it make sense

[@Nayson]

@@BheemNationalist abducted by aliens. (Stuck in England because Covid)

[@dzleeyt]

Fun fact for those that wish to understand video editing- That part where he showed all the brightest pixels line by line?, it was done one singular frame at a time, meaning he cut a picture and layered it for every single led. Now- UNDERSTAND WHY EDITORS ARE UNDERATED?

[@that1geekychick]

As someone who can't safely handle a flashing screen, I really appreciate that you lead with that when appropriate. So many channels don't give the warning until several minutes in after I've invested time I'll never get back, or worse, not at all.

[@cmeride79]

Wow, what an education! And I've been looking at this stuff from an I.T. point of view for years! Guess you just never know what you're really looking at ... until you *slow it down* ... thanks, Gavin, for the education and - as always - the video! Love, love, love it ... ; ) 🎸🔮

[@plixplop]

I love the look of vector arcade games, it seemed so "high tech" at the time. My childhood dentist in the 80s actually had an Asteroids game in the waiting area that required no quarters! I was obsessed with it and it made checkups worthwhile. I'm curious if vector and scanline graphics could be combined on the CRT? Was there ever a game that perhaps alternated frames between a vector pass and a standard scanline pass? Seems like that could result in some cool graphic effects.

[@jakraziel]

I don't think so but we used to get urban legends about it.

[@Renville80]

I don’t think it is possible with a conventional picture tube as it would mean changing how the deflection coils would be driven. The best way to accomplish that would be two screens and the Pepper’s Ghost illusion effect.

[@EyMannMachHin]

@@Renville80 I guess that would be the easiest solution, like some games used a reflection image over the CRT to simulate a hi res backdrop.

[@ethanpoole3443]

I do not know whether it was ever actually utilized in an arcade, but CRTs can absolutely be made with multiple electron guns each with their own deflection/beam steering (though typically electrostatically deflected rather than magnetically as such CRTs were most common in certain dual and quad trace oscilloscope to avoid or reduce chopper circuit artifacts caused by rapidly switching between the different inputs to draw the multiple traces concurrently…but with just one electron gun the beam has to be frequently chopped, or broken up into short segments, in order to draw all the traces in real-time as it switches between the individual input channels). Some early hybrid digital + analog oscilloscopes used dual electron beam CRTs with independent deflection in order to draw analog traces with one beam (like a normal single-beam analog scope) while using the second electron gun to draw the dot matrix text and cursors, on screen time and voltage markers, etc.. So it certainly is possible to overlay both bitmapped raster graphics and vector graphics with the same CRT provided it has at least two electron guns, each with independent deflection.

[@Observ45er]

It is just more to draw and that takes time to move the beam around to all the places regardless which scan you used. .. I did vector laser images with a HeNe laser and mechanical galvo scanners in the 80s that I choreographed to music. (classical laser light show) I take out a projector on Halloween each year. I use the Radio Shack Color Computer with SW I wrote and used General scanning Galvos. It used the 6809 and a clock around 900kHz. In the display processor I was squeezing clock cycles to to some rotations real-time. .. I though about writing an Asteroids game, but moved on to other things. . .