CRT Enjoyer Thread - CRTs >>>>> Everything else.

[Patrick Bait-man]

CRTs (Cathode-ray Tubes) were the standard display technology used from the 1950s to the 2000s commonly used by TVs and monitors, before being phased out by the rise of LCDs (Liquid-crystal Displays) in the 2000s due to their cheap production and being thin / lightweight compared to the average CRT.

Compared to LCDs, LEDs, OLEDs and the other display tech used today; CRTs are bulky, heavy, noisy, and old . But why would someone (particularly an autist like you) choose an aging CRT over a new $1000 OLED screen? Simple.

Reasons CRTs are better than DCDs (Diarrhera-crystal Displays)​

• CRTs have soul; there's nothing like the warm static glow of a glass CRT screen and all of the unique quirky noises they make.
• CRTs are strong, long-lasting and heavily resilient compared to the virgin LCDs that die after a few wimpy years
• CRTs have excellent image quality that went unraveled for decades before OLED was invented, with bright blinding screens and beautiful colors
• CRTs look good at any resolution, including god's chosen resolution of 640x480
• CRTs come in all shapes, sizes and styles giving every CRT a unique look compared to the boring black flat-screen LCDs of today.
• CRTs are big and heavy (considered a con), making them immune to being stolen by melanated individuals (which makes it a pro)
• CRTs had high refresh rates long before LCDs ever did, being the display tech for oppressed gamers like you and me

...and many more reasons to join the elite CRT master race.

 

[Kalsarikännit]

We need to find a solution to The Flyback Question, or CRT TVs and monitors will not survive.

Also the fear-mongering about dying from discharging the anode cap needs to stop. It's not hard to safely handle a CRT.

 

[Cat tit bingo]

I still have a spongebob crt for all my retro gaming, vhs and laserdisc needs

 

[Cats]

i gotta have scanlines on my Neo Geo and CPS arcade games.

 

[Green Kitbash]

A few years ago I missed out on a Sony FW900 and whenever I am reminded of that I want to blow up the entire planet

 

[SNU]

I like them. They make a soft high pitched hum. And they are warm like flesh but it is not flesh. It's always exciting to pull one apart because you're constantly worried you didn't discharge a capacitor. Then when you accidentally touch one and get a zap you do that "I almost died" laugh like oh hohohoooo.

 

[Gunty King]

Unironically agreed. Back in 2004 when everyone else was switching over to LCD flat screens since they were cheaper, for whatever reason my dad bought one of the last high quality consumer CRTs from Sharp, despite the sales person repeatedly recommending he buy a flatscreen. While he has since upgraded to a flat screen, that CRT stuck around the house and he gave it to me for my retro gaming purposes. It's one of the few consumer CRTs that has S-video and Component inputs, while still being an SDTV with the curved monitor meaning there's no input lag and lightguns work great with it. Image quality is phenomenal with it for old school games on the HD Retrovision component cables, and it still works just as well today as the day we bought it. The day that CRT kicks the bucket will probably end my interest in retro collecting. There's no point in playing retro games on anything but a CRT.

Spoiler

By the way you're wrong, 144p is not God's chosen resolution.

 

[Rock hard as a Flintstone]

We need to find a solution to The Flyback Question, or CRT TVs and monitors will not survive.

Repro H-STAT resistor packs for the snoy Trinitron enjoyers would help too.

 

[The Great Milenko]

You guys listen to music on wax cylinders too?

 

[WTBOnlineFather]

CRT is the new vinyl. It was cool until a few years ago when it became a meme too autistic even for /g/ and prices skyrocketed.
I would enjoy having one for retro gaming purposes but no way am I paying the current prices and I don't feel like thrifting for a functional one.

 

[Doktor Grimm]

Oh neat a CRT thread! Based on the general demographics of this site, I'm surprised one of these didn't exist already.

I'm a big fan of CRTs and vintage electronics in general, but I live in a fairly isolated area, so it's not an interest I get to engage with all too often. A few months back I was out walking and happened upon an enormous TEAC unit sitting on someone's front lawn amidst a pile of rubbish. Scooped it up and rushed it back home to find that, by some miracle, it still powered on! Now she sits on a table in the study beneath a stack of VHS tapes and practically runs like new (aside from some minor discolouration, which I intend to fix with some magnet strips off eBay).

Last week I invited some equally old tech-brained friends over and we had a CRT movie night. Objectively speaking, the Film Experience is better on a modern TV (especially when compared to an old consumer set like mine), but there's a physicality to actually having to push buttons and rewind tapes yourself that makes the experience more engaging in a sense. I'm certainly not shelling out $500 for a Trinitron anytime soon, but I'm glad I was able to rescue this one before it got dumped.

 

[seri0us]

They make a soft high pitched hum.

You may be too old to hear how annoyingly high-pitched it is.

CRTs are fine, but that sound especially as the tubes age is my biggest personal dealbreaker.

 

[Pierre D'Olnique]

All my CRT monitors broke down ages age but I still do have a gigantic CRT Trinitron TV in my basement. It's partially responsible for my back being in such bad condition, because as a wee lad I had to move it up several flights of stairs (with minor assistance). It weighs over 200 pounds, by the way.

 

[Rock hard as a Flintstone]

CRT is the new vinyl. It was cool until a few years ago when it became a meme too autistic even for /g/ and prices skyrocketed.
I would enjoy having one for retro gaming purposes but no way am I paying the current prices and I don't feel like thrifting for a functional one.

Are there any areas near you that have days for kerbside collection of hard rubbish? Get up early on one of those days and take a drive before the copper scrappers and other vultures descend.

You may be too old to hear how annoyingly high-pitched it is.

CRTs are fine, but that sound especially as the tubes age is my biggest personal dealbreaker.

Its less the tube itself and more the epoxy that holds together the thin slices of iron that form the core of the flyback transformer letting go with age and allowing them to resonate at the horizontal scan rate. Its annoying but if you're particularly sensitive to it, try a VGA/SVGA computer monitor, those have a high enough scan rate that the noise is pushed way outside the range of human hearing.

 

[Fastest Hand In The East]

I still remember CRT's "radiation" filters.

 

[JamusActimus]

@Buffalo Chicken Sandwich

 

[DumbDude43]

carrying these heavy ass monitors around for lan parties was a nightmare
i don't miss it

 

[Rock hard as a Flintstone]

thin slices of iron

Self correction, the core in a flyback is typically only made a couple of pieces of iron, the point still stands though.

All my CRT monitors broke down ages age but I still do have a gigantic CRT Trinitron TV in my basement. It's partially responsible for my back being in such bad condition, because as a wee lad I had to move it up several flights of stairs (with minor assistance). It weighs over 200 pounds, by the way.

I always figured it was the glass itself making Trinitrons heavy but shango066 has done the needful and shown everyone what an aperture grille tube looks like from the inside, fast forward to the 40 minute mark for the fun.

 

[Womble of Wimbledon]

I still had CRTs til about 2011. The only time I miss them is when playing PS2 games and older thinking they looked better on a CRT.

Children of today will never know the thrill and fear of touching your eyeball to the screen wondering if it will turn you blind.

 

[The Early 2000s]

Where the fuck do I find a CRT these days? I tried looking at pawn shops but they didn't have anything.