/vr/ - Retro Games

>>2489772
Yes and no.

>>2489742
The SNES produces a NTSC (or PAL) TV signal which includes sync pulses for both H and V blank. The TV hardware locks onto these timing pulses to properly sync with the incoming signal using phase locked loops (PLLs). In other words the signal itself does not tell the electron beam where to go, just when to go, and indirectly at that.

Given the SNES generates a valid NTSC signal using hardware, certain aspects of that hardware can be integrated into the computer system. Specifically whenever the SNES generates a V-Blank, it also generates a NMI to indicate to game programs that it's time to update the registers. Knowing when to insert the blanking signals is done by internal timers. Signal timing can be read out as X, Y coordinates from certain graphics registers at any time (useful for things like the Super Scope).

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