The end of the CRT era...

Also, the love of CRTs will never die as long as LaserDisc viewing purists exist. To me, I can enjoy LD on my 22" LCD in my bedroom and a huge plasma just as much as I am able to on a CRT.

 

I have two 20" colors hooked up and available for use with cable company supplied SD converters, one hooked to a VHS recorder which is usable, and two 12" BWs in the garage of the type that were $39 stacked up in piles in grocery and drug stores for a time. They work, have some sentimental value, and I have enough space to keep them for now, maybe even for quick spares for the 20"s. But if these break they will be gone.

Most importantly I have the family 1959 or 1960 console RCA BW, 21" I guess, it's not really 4:3 but more like 4:2.8 or so, in the garage. When it was last used at all in c.1975 it worked but could use a tune-up. I watched The Beatles live on Ed Sullivan on that set.

I have thrown out several many many CRTs over all the years, of course, TVs and computer monitors, for breaking or going screwy.

 

I worship at the altar of Plasma TVs - tubes are only for Amps, not for TV Sets

 

I bought a 55 cent used Miles Davis Workin' cd a little while ago that sounds fantastic and is in perfect condition.

The CD era is NOT over.

Now about the price of tea in China......mmmm...not in the market.

 

The CRT era started back up for industrial momitors a few years back. The LCD monitors meant to replace them were not tough enough to last the test of time, Two years ago I got a new CRT monitor for my Jr. Pacman game.

 

Do my wiggle scopes, spectrum analyzers and curve tracer count?

-Pat

 

I fired up my old top of the line Sony XBR 32 flat screen CRT tonight just for the hell of it.

I ran a few of my best color and B&W DVD's into it and compared it to my Samsung 42" flat panel. The Sony sounds much better, it should it has a lot of room for speakers and a bass labyrinth. But that's where it's superiority stopped. It fell flat on it's face with the color and B&W DVD's, the Samsung totally blew it's picture quality out of the water, it was not even close. No surprise. Even a cheap Dynex 32" flat panel in my wife's office looked better than the Sony XBR. And that XBR was king of the CRT's back in it's day.

I need to get that Sony hauled off to the dump.

 

I ditched my last CRT projectors a few years ago. Sad to say goodbye to a Vidikron Vision 1.

 

I hooked up my vintage Nintendo 64 to my high end 2011 Samsung plasma. I was appalled at how poor the image was. I then read up and realized that the current hdtvs simple don't have the circuitry to handle the low resolution signals from the old game consoles. If you are into 1980s and 1990s video games, a CRT blows away the he panels unless you invest hundreds on special upscalers. I'd consider getting a smaller crt if you still have your Nintendo around.

 

I still have my gray tube TV from the 90's. I use it for older game consoles.

 

That"s absolutely correct. In fact, I still prefer the color fidelity of crt tubes. Love your avitar! I just got into Lego last year, went crazy and have at least 100 sets piled up in boxes, many are the high end ones. What a fun but time consuming hobby.

 

CRTs could display any resolution flawlessly, from the poorest one to HD. LCD has fixed resolution. Anything short its native resolution will artifact. Throw your obsolete tech and buy new. Repeat every ten years; it's called consumerism

 

Thanks, the exclusive direct to consumer Lego sets are always a fun build. I started collecting them in 1999 with the Statue of Liberty and have bought most of them ever since. Especially now that I have two young kids. They love it when daddy opens up a new big box and the bags come tumbling out.

 

I remember I saved up $350 bucks and bought a 20"trinitron in 1995 or so. It was the special v series with stereo speakers and an S-video input. Wish I still had that one!

 

One of the reasons I held off buying a 4K TV just now was how poorly regular TV SD broadcasts reportedly appear. Maybe in five years.

Though I absolutely do not miss the bulk that those CRTs bright. My 40" Sony sits nicely in my lounge. The CRT equivalent would be out of the question.

 

What are you watching in SD? Is the BBC really pushing that much SD content? I'm an OTA and streaming guy. I deleted the SD sub-channels from my TiVo's channel list. I even coomplained when RedBox refused to stock the Blu-ray of "bridge of Spies."

 

I still have one two page CRT monitor hooked up to an old Mac tower that is dedicated to running a great Linotype Hell color scanner. The scanner no longer has software support but the optics and color are excellent. Every time I look at it I think I should swap out the old CRT monitor.

 

Still have my Sony HD XBR CRT with 6x9 screen for our main TV.

Love the Picture!

 

I watch BBC channels in HD, but other channels broadcast in SD. I stream and watch Blu-ray the rest of the time. All of the BBC main channels are available in both HD and SD.

 

I think you're right about that... I don't know jack about video games, or TVs either for that matter but I remember a few years ago when I was ready to put the last CRT (27" Sony) in the house out to the curb (back when they would actually take them), the wife told one of her friends and the friend's son was at the house with a buddy to load it into his pickup the same day. They were really pumped and it was because they wanted to run old school video games on it.

So kept it out of a landfill and got more use. Wouldn't surprise me if it was still working. Man those Sony TVs were built like a brick. Type of house

 

Got $150 for my 32" Sony Wega 8 years ago, bought a 48" Mitsubishi 1080p CD and ain't ever looking back (tho the Mitsu is long gone now as well). No amount of the "nostalgia" factor is gonna get me near a crt or, for that matter, a VHS or Beta machine, ever again.

 

No CRTs left. Until about two years ago, we had an old Sony 13" portable television that we'd bought for an old spa-room in our old house. It didn't get tons of use so was in really top condition which is why we packed it up and shipped it with our stuff when we moved south. I had it hooked up to a digital converter for a time, just to play with it, but we unloaded it in a garage sale for not much money. That was the last CRT. I do still own one of those old Sony Watchman TVs, a little black & white set that no longer works since the digital transition. It seems awkward to attempt to hook such a tiny TV to a digital converter, since there's no antenna input. It DOES work if you rig up alligator clips to attach to the whip antenna. I'm not sure if the Watchman uses a CRT or not. It behaves like one.

Harry

 

still have a 36" CRT...

 

it's a shocker how bad VHS looks these days...

 

I've got a working 28" Sony XBR CRT top of the line sitting in the garage because it now cost $45 to throw one out.

Free for the taking.