As part of my professional degree I did some research on the suitability of using CRT's for the purpose of displaying eye sight test charts. This was before LCD's. One of the things I learned is that each pixel on a CRT does not have a square wave luminance distribution. In other words the pixel was brightest in the centre and gradually dimmed out towards the periphery. It mean that light from one pixel blended over the top of the light from an adjacent pixel. This is what made graphic seems smoother on CRT's and less pixellated(but also made CRT's of the time unsuitable for eye sight test charts!)
