what do you think of CRT TVs and monitors? do you still use those?

[robkies]

do you still have CRT TVs lying around somewhere in your house? i have a sony trinitron i bought on ebay months ago and it's great. i use it to play old games and watch movies im planning on buying a CRT monitor for PC. what about you? if you still have one, what do you use it for?


~Admins note: removed unnecessary words from the title to keep it more open!

[Cobra!]

I got a CRT monitor not long ago, and I love it! It actually works great, and I prefer watching videos and DVDs on it because the colours are a lot better than on the LCD!



I still need to get a TV, though. I watch my movies on VHS and Laserdisc, formats designed to be watched on CRTs, and a bunch of retro systems.

I volunteer for a small broadcasting organisation, and they are looking to get rid of a small CRT field monitor and asked if I wanted to get it. I told them I'll take it, so I hope I'll get it this week!

The monitor only supports composite, S-video and SDI, but I hope to get converters to the latter so I can play SCART, VGA and component stuff!

[Nullcasting]

  CRTs are lovely!
A lot of older games were designed with the display of the CRT in mind - see https://twitter.com/crtpixels?lang=en for some really cool examples of what happens with pixel art and 3D model shading when the limitations of the CRT are used deliberately. I try to break out the Toshiba crt i got for christmas (it makes a terrible whining noise and I adore it) when i'm playing my childhood games for that reason.

[robkies]

I got a CRT monitor not long ago, and I love it! It actually works great, and I prefer watching videos and DVDs on it because the colours are a lot better than on the LCD!



I still need to get a TV, though. I watch my movies on VHS and Laserdisc, formats designed to be watched on CRTs, and a bunch of retro systems.

I volunteer for a small broadcasting organisation, and they are looking to get rid of a small CRT field monitor and asked if I wanted to get it. I told them I'll take it, so I hope I'll get it this week!

The monitor only supports composite, S-video and SDI, but I hope to get converters to the latter so I can play SCART, VGA and component stuff!

yo look im on tv! nice monitor!

[robkies]

CRTs are lovely!
A lot of older games were designed with the display of the CRT in mind - see https://twitter.com/crtpixels?lang=en for some really cool examples of what happens with pixel art and 3D model shading when the limitations of the CRT are used deliberately. I try to break out the Toshiba crt i got for christmas (it makes a terrible whining noise and I adore it) when i'm playing my childhood games for that reason.

oh i know about that account lol, it's one of the first accounts i've ever looked up on twitter from what i remember. i know a lot about CRTs, like how luma composite blends in the pixels to make dithering look better, how 3d models look better, the colors, rgb outputs, etc... i usually never play old games on LCD displays now, unless im playing on handheld consoles of course, CRT monitors are the best

[Memory]

I treat my CRT like a photo model. When doing photo or video sessions with old computers, a CRT is really the archaic thing that surprises people to see and that takes the center of the action. Look how huge they are!

For daily use, it would be impractical. My desk is too small. Sitting too close in front of it makes the brain mush.

The Eizo CRT is the single best screen I've ever used. Flat glass front, those have a high image quality. It's twice as heavy as a normal CRT.

[Cobra!]

I got a Sony Trinitron today! It looks great!


Unfortunately, I found out PVMs typically only have mono audio, and this one is no exception. I'll need to find a way to just feed the audio to my headphones or external speakers.

Another problem is the only thing I can connect to it right now without adaptors is S-video. The only console I have that supports that is 3DO, so been playing that on it, and it does the job nicely!

[robkies]

I got a Sony Trinitron today! It looks great!


Can't figure out how to get audio out of it, though...

ay looks pretty cool
also, have you tried using headphones?

[Cobra!]

ay looks pretty cool
also, have you tried using headphones?

Not yet, but a problem with using headphones directly from source is that I can't adjust the volume. So if it's too loud or quiet, tough!

Another neat feature I just noticed about this TV is that it has a 16:9 mode which automatically letterboxes it. That will be useful for any games that benefit from widescreen mode!

[robkies]

Not yet, but a problem with using headphones directly from source is that I can't adjust the volume. So if it's too loud or quiet, tough!

Another neat feature I just noticed about this TV is that it has a 16:9 mode which automatically letterboxes it. That will be useful for any games that benefit from widescreen mode!

oh yea my sony trinitron also has 16:9 mode, i guess its a feature lol. also, idk if PVMs support universal TV remotes but you should try it, maybe you can adjust the volume that way

[Cobra!]

oh yea my sony trinitron also has 16:9 mode, i guess its a feature lol. also, idk if PVMs support universal TV remotes but you should try it, maybe you can adjust the volume that way

No I mean the PVM only supports mono no matter what (Only one AV audio port per "line"). If I wanted stereo sound from my console, VCr, etc. I'd need to plug my headphones straight from the device itself, and I can't adjust the volume from that unless the game supports it.

[robkies]

No I mean the PVM only supports mono no matter what (Only one AV audio port per "line"). If I wanted stereo sound from my console, VCr, etc. I'd need to plug my headphones straight from the device itself, and I can't adjust the volume from that unless the game supports it.

ohhh, well my TV can adjust volume while using external audio devices iirc, kinda weird your tv can't do that honestly. i know that some headphones have audio adjustment built-in, so maybe buy one of those? idk if you really need them tho. but yea smaller sony TVs were usually only mono, mine included

[Memory]

I love the aspect ration of CRTs, mainly 5:4 for monitors. To me they offer the same information from a document without extra space being taken up from a wide monitor. My issue though is that CRTs are heavy and IIRC they were the ones that had issue with screen burn-in.

[Cobra!]

My issue though is that CRTs are heavy

Oh definitely. I had to carry this Trinitron for miles taking it home, and my hands are still sore!

I've been playing my 3DO for a while on this TV, and I feel a deep sense of comfort. Like "THIS is how it's meant to be played!".
I mean, I imagine most people didn't have PVMs for their games, but I mean on this 4:3 CRT, the kind of display old consoles like this are built to be played on!

[elliebees]

I *love* CRTs !!    I have three CRT TV's that I've hooked up to Chromecasts so I can stream on them, and a CRT monitor for my computer. The smallest TV I have is a little portable one with a screen about 11cm corner to corner. It was quite the project to get streaming because it's from the early 1980s. I ended up putting it through about 5 adapters to get it to work

Here it is when I finally got it set up:



[Edited to add the image ! Accidentally hit post too early  ]