iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Emily Young @eayoung.net · 14/04/2026

I had no idea there was a place you could go and just grab microcontrollers/SBCs and electronics supplies

A photograph of an aisle at an electronics store, showing hinged racks filled with electronics supplies like microcontrollers, camera/wifi/LCD modules, capacitors, resistors, etc.

The sign reads:
35
Bread Boards
Tools
Headers
SBC Accessories

201644

Emily Young @eayoung.net · 27/03/2026

I had the dumb idea to hook up a Koryuu composite-to-component transcoder to the RetroTINK-4K to see what it'd look like. While the RT4K has more robust filtering, the result of being able to dial in the sample rate over component is even composite video pixels get really sharp!

A screenshot depicting the main menu of the 240p Test Suite for NES, ported by Damian Yerrick. The "Sharpness" option has an arrow next to it. This screenshot was taken with a real NES connected to a Koryuu transcoder over composite, connected to a RetroTINK-4K via component cables. The sample rate per line was set to a multiple of 341 (240p). The text is very sharp, but has subtle colour splotches around each letter. In addition, the screen has subtle diagonal lines across the green/brown background, and there are sawtooth-like artifacts on the character graphic and text box's border, a consequence of the fixed-function comb filter used by the Koryuu transcoder.

Text:

240p Test Suite Menu

PLUGE
Gradient color bars
SMPTE color bars
Color bars on gray
Color bleed
Monoscope
Convergence
Gray ramp
Solid color screen
IRE
Sharpness
Chroma crosstalk
Overscan
Safe areas
CPU clock speed

←1/2→ | ↑↓A: Select | NTSC

1431

Emily Young @eayoung.net · 17/03/2026

I don't really have a conclusion to this because between now and when it launches presumably there will be a lot changed, but on aggregate... Man I really don't get Digital Foundry's coverage at all. Shout out to 18 years ago. Source: www.deviantart.com/pixeloo/art/...

An image from 2008 called "Real Super Mario" by Pixeloo. It depicts a hyperrealistic version of Mario's head, with individual pores, wrinkles, eye veins, ear folds, stitching, stubble, and generally way too much detail. It is extreme in its uncanny valley effect.

2781

Emily Young @eayoung.net · 17/03/2026

Worse still, this makes background elements that are partially obscured appear to be taken as having the same depth as the objects in front. There are details behind this support that are further away, but are flattened to the same relative contrast as the support itself.

A demo screenshot from Resident Evil Requiem with "DLSS 5 OFF", showing the overpass supports. through the gaps, road signs can be seen further into the distance, with localized lighting.

A demo screenshot from Resident Evil Requiem with "DLSS 5 ON", showing the overpass supports. Through the gaps, the road signs contrast less and "fade" into the overall contrast level of the supports, reducing the depth and rejecting the objects' local illumination.

1490

Emily Young @eayoung.net · 17/03/2026

In addition, emissive lights within the scene are muted substantially, in an apparent attempt to normalize the image. This is something that can probably be tweaked, but it's shocking that this was the first demo they showed given how much is wrong with it.

A demo screenshot from Resident Evil Requiem with "DLSS 5 OFF", showing the streetlight behind Grace. It is visibly brighter than the rest of the scene, suggesting that it is on and emitting light.

A demo screenshot from Resident Evil Requiem with "DLSS 5 ON", showing the streetlight behind Grace. It is no brighter than the rest of the scene, suggesting that it is either off and not emitting light, or broken/dim.

A demo screenshot from Resident Evil Requiem with "DLSS 5 OFF", showing the reflection of a car's brake lights reflecting off the fender of the car behind. The reflection is bright and contrasts against the background. The red colour is casting/splashing around the area, tinting both the rest of the fender and the rear of the car ahead. The pillar/lamppost next to the reflection has a gold/bronze tint, presumably from the light above.

A demo screenshot from Resident Evil Requiem with "DLSS 5 ON", showing the reflection of a car's brake lights reflecting off the fender of the car behind. The reflection is no brighter than the scene around it, and the colour cast of the red brake light is largely removed. The pillar/lamppost next to the reflection is largely pure black.

1310

Emily Young @eayoung.net · 17/03/2026

However, lighting and facial detail is only part of the story. Background elements also get touched, and this is often unfortunate. In the first Resident Evil screenshot with Grace, store signs are less legible, and background textures have less definition.

A demo screenshot from Resident Evil Requiem with "DLSS 5 OFF", showing a sign in a store window for what appear to be a pack of cigarettes on a purple background. Beneath, the sign reads "THE REAL DEAL" against a yellow background.

A demo screenshot from Resident Evil Requiem with "DLSS 5 ON", showing a sign in a store window for what appear to be a pack of cigarettes on a purple background. Beneath, the sign reads "PNZ REAL DEAL" against a yellow background. The image is sharpened, and texture is added to the purple background.

A demo screenshot from Resident Evil Requiem with "DLSS 5 OFF", showing the building behind Grace. The textures suggest concrete and stonework, with visible grain.

A demo screenshot from Resident Evil Requiem with "DLSS 5 ON", showing the building behind Grace. The texture has been smoothed out and has lost definition. The texture is smoothed more like marble, and the brickwork is barely legible. Interestingly, this is one case where contrast appears lower than the original.

1300

Emily Young @eayoung.net · 17/03/2026

In the daytime shots Nvidia provides, it looks somewhat natural in direct light, save the added makeup & removal of colour grading. In dark scenes, extra light comes from nowhere. Tellingly, sharp shadows are drawn where none existed, implying a very bright light source nearby.

A comparison shot from Nvidia's DLSS5 website, showing the "Zorah" demo in a daylit scene. A seam divides the middle of the female character between "DLSS 5 OFF" on the left and "DLSS 5 ON" on the right; The left has a warm, muted colour grade, with subtle facial shadows. The right increases contrast and sharpness, while adding light and grading the scene in cooler tones. The character's face appears much shinier on the right, with visible lipstick and eyeshadow, with prominent eyelids.

A demo screenshot of Resident Evil character Leon S. Kennedy from Resident Evil Requiem, with "DLSS 5 OFF". Leon has a determined look on his face in a dark scene with subtle lighting. He has short facial stubble, and his eyes glint with what is presumably the sole light source. Shadows are soft and subtle, implying the light source is weak or far away, implying a moonlit scene or a streetlight some distance away. The direction of specular light reflections and details mostly or entirely in shadow strongly suggests light coming from only one direction.

A demo screenshot of Resident Evil character Leon S. Kennedy from Resident Evil Requiem, with "DLSS 5 ON". Leon has what now looks like a confused look on his face in a dim scene with stark lighting. He has longer facial hair, and his eyes glint with multiple light sources, implying studio lights or a row of lights such as a warehouse. Shadows are harder and sharper, implying the light source is strong or close by. The areas newly-highlighted by specular reflections (lower eyelid, under-chin hair, visible ear) imply light is coming from the front, below, and to the sides. Leon's chin has been given additional shape from the shadow, giving him a more chiseled look with a more prominent cleft chin.

1351

Emily Young @eayoung.net · 17/03/2026

I'm not good at it, but lighting is one of the most fundamental parts of photography and especially film. Every shot is lit with purpose so the camera captures the image as intended - not necessarily realistically - which usually means the face is well-lit, even in dark scenes.

A still from one of the shots used in one of Emily Young's videos, showing her under a desk and checking the framing of the shot. The light is set up to bounce off the floor, which lights her face mostly naturally in this dark scene, but her arm and clothing in the direct path of the spotlight are brightly lit and shining, showing the difference between the direct output of the light and the intended effect.

1330

Emily Young @eayoung.net · 17/03/2026

Skin isn't that shiny normally, and there isn't enough light in that scene for there to be that much visible red in the ears. What we're seeing is a model trained on professional photo/video shoots where subjects are wearing makeup (yes, men too) and/or blasted by studio lights.

A selfie of Emily Young, taken in 2024. The sun is to her back, backlighting her hair and leaving her face in indirect light. The shadows of her face are soft and indistinct due to being lit by bouncing light rather than direct light.

A still from a video by Emily Young, showing her in an environment with high-powered lights. Shadows are more distinct and her skin has specular highlights that reflect the lights illuminating her. One of the lights is visible in her glasses; A softbox with honeycomb to diffuse the light and control the amount of spill, specifically used to reduce this effect. However, it is very difficult to eliminate in such intense direct light.

A still from a video by Emily Young, showing her in a more open environment with high-powered lights further away and diffused by both the soft box and bouncing from the ceiling. Shadows are slightly less distinct, but her skin still has some specular highlights that reflect the lights illuminating her. The lighting conditions are many times brighter than the room is normally.

1420

Emily Young @eayoung.net · 17/03/2026

"Character rendering is transformed."

A screenshot from Nvidia's DLSS5 announcement, showing a character from Starfield with "DLSS ON". The face appears to be replaced by a diffusion-generated one, with differently shaped and coloured eyes (the right eye, viewer left, is substantially larger than the other), and apparently incorrect perspective. Next to the "DLSS OFF" shot, it looks as though the face has been lasso selected in Photoshop and rotated/moved. The chin appears broader than the original.

A still from Nvidia's DLSS5 announcement demo reel, showing the "DLSS OFF" version of the same character. The face is generally symmetrical.

121315

Emily Young @eayoung.net · 12/03/2026

TIL that the NES "blacker than black" palette entry 0d is not just blacker than black, but imitates a sync pulse that can cause TVs and scalers/capture devices to lose sync. What's more, The Immortal on NES used it to gain 1 more shade of grey. I've yet to be able to run it.

A screenshot of The Immortal for NES; It is largely scrambled and illegible due to the capture device (a RetroTINK-4K) detecting the game's use of "blacker than black" palette entry 0d, which mimics the usual voltage for a horizontal sync pulse and causes each line of the image to end prematurely and disrupts the normal timing for horizontal sync.

71348

Emily Young @eayoung.net · 27/02/2026

What happens when you try a more aggressive setting like the minimum 0.50MHz? Well...

A screenshot of the main menu for Artemio's 240p Test Suite on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. This screenshot was captured using a "2-Chip" SNES, which is known for bad horizontal blur. This screenshot uses a 0.50 MHz high pass filter on the RetroTINK-4K, where the horizontal blur is not eliminated, and instead a new form of horizontal blur artifact emerges.

1250

Emily Young @eayoung.net · 27/02/2026

I led with a bright SMW screenshot, but text and darker scenes gain a lot from this.

A screenshot of the nighttime opening scene of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, where Link is asleep in bed receiving a psychic message from Princess Zelda. This screenshot was captured using a "2-Chip" SNES, unfiltered but otherwise captured at the highest quality possible. This screenshot displays the characteristic heavy blur this hardware is notorious for, particularly in darker areas with less contrast such as the pots, floor, fireplace, and wall trim.

The text reads "Agahnim has seized control of the castle and is now trying to open the seven wise men's(...)"

2100

Emily Young @eayoung.net · 26/02/2026

Messing with the RetroTINK-4K's latest experimental firmware, shrugged at the new high-pass filter until I tried it on my 2-chip SNES... RT5x's pre-emph did similar, but the RT4K seems to have finer control. A 2.00 MHz HPF (3.00 for hi-res modes) very nearly fixes the smear for me.

A screenshot of Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo Entertainment system, cropped to the upper left corner to show the lives counter (x 5) and red text reading "MARIO". This screenshot was captured using a "2-Chip" SNES, unfiltered but otherwise captured at the highest quality possible. This screenshot displays the characteristic heavy blur this hardware is notorious for.

111504

Emily Young @eayoung.net · 17/08/2025

Randomly looking around wplace, and lo and behold there's a trans flag near where I grew up?? I want to be their friend

A screenshot of wplace showing the region around Topsail Beach in Newfoundland, Canada. Pixel art includes Ramona Flowers from the Scott Pilgrim video game, Leon Kennedy from Resident Evil, Night in the Woods headshots, Kingdra from Pokémon, Misako from Retro City Girls, a transgender flag, a bisexual flag, one each of a brown, green, and purple heart, and some incomplete artwork. Visible text reads "I NEED FRIENDS", "I AM FRIEND", "YURI", "Hi", "Leon", and "UwU"

102361

Emily Young @eayoung.net · 01/08/2025

I'm dangerously close to 100k subs???

A screenshot of the YouTube dashboard, cropped to the current number of subscribers to Emily Young's channel. The number reads 99,982. Transcript:
Channel analytics
Current subscribers
99,982

1023310

Emily Young @eayoung.net · 12/07/2025

NEW VIDEO: How a simple mistake ruined my new PC (and my YouTube channel)

A close-up photograph of a CPU socket, showing the LGA pins. The pins appear straight and normal. Just above them is pixelated white text with a red shadow, reading "Please no..."

2629522

Emily Young @eayoung.net · 22/06/2025

Today in pointless knowledge: Via 86box, Windows 95 can achieve very high refresh rates, but at least in this configuration it taps out at 1,238 Hz. I can specify higher, but it won't actually switch to it.

A screenshot of a plain Windows 95 desktop, showing the Advanced Display Properties dialog window. The refresh rate list is expanded, with "1238 Hz" highlighted by the mouse. The display adapter is listed as a Voodoo3 PCI.

1025720

Emily Young @eayoung.net · 29/04/2025

Honestly the most amazing thing about the Canadian election is that non-Canadians actually lost sleep waiting to see if PP would lose his seat. Which he then did.

2440420

Emily Young @eayoung.net · 01/04/2025

I'm here. And so are you. Happy #TDOV2025! Hope you all had a good one, all things considered!

A photo of Emily Young with shelves of retro consoles and computers in the background. A screwdriver in the blue, pink, and white transgender flag motif is being held up next to her.

24125855

Emily Young @eayoung.net · 27/03/2025

So... This is what's been going on the past little bit. If you're in the Discord, you know that it's pretty much been resolved now, but I've had to adjust plans for the new workstation build video, and also a video about the things that led me to this tragedy.

A magnification photo of an AMD LGA socket, showing many uniform metallic triangular shaped pins in a grid. In the centre of the image is a large number of pins that are no longer uniform, and some are folded in on themselves.

262533

Emily Young @eayoung.net · 28/01/2025

NEW VIDEO: I Left Linus Media Group - What do I do now? youtu.be/ELnX3gEHuHI

1321637228

Emily Young @eayoung.net · 20/01/2025

Still screaming about this branding

273414

Emily Young @eayoung.net · 20/01/2025

Feels weird going through all these old videos getting footage for editing... First of all seeing me so large, but also just... Memories.

134294