Thief was the one game that gave me pause about getting rid of my Viewsonic but I ultimately I did because of space and because it weighed 75 damn pounds and moving it sucked. This thread has made me yearn for that old beast but I just don’t have the space to spare for a CRT monitor on my desk. Maybe one day I’ll build a retro gaming rig.
If only they didn’t take up a car’s worth of space on your desk.
Here’s a very nice article:
Heck yeah! I often choose to play a new game on the PS4 rather than PC because games look so fantastic on an OLED TV, especially with HDR. I wish gaming monitors would catch up, not necessarily with OLED technology (might be burn-in issues) but maybe MicroLED (years away?).
competitive super smash bros melee only uses crts because of the lowered latency. having played a lot on the emulator and then try on a crt with a console, it is remarkable how much “faster” it feels.
Are there latency differences when comparing old TVs to old CRT computer monitors?
I had a love hate relationship with my old FW900. It was a beautiful display but the clarity in text with LCD & digital connections means I can never go back.
It was right at the limit of what I can pick up by myself. I am not sure I could even do so today, 10+ years later.
I also had the largest CRT Sony made and that needed a full crew of movers. The cursing started immediately the second they saw it.
I wish I could see FW900 in action. I have 19" Belinea CRT in the cellar somewhere but I doubt that would have been worth bringing out, when I am gaming on 55" plasma.
I would be curious to know what DF think about CRTs compared to plasmas, since I was impressed with how much its image reminded me of CRT when I got it.
I have a 32 Panasonic that remains glorious.
I’m glad this started a discussion, as I expected it would actually be relatively quiet as a topic. I do a lot of gaming on a CRT (although not a CRT monitor) as I still have a Sony Trinitron for all my Pre-Wii consoles that I game on somewhat regularly. By the same token, I’ve also invested in the RetroTINK-2x to play those old machines on modern LCD TVs. There are definite trade-offs.
Ultimately, we lost this tech to convenience and of course size and weight. It’s certainly not the first time that happened and won’t be the last. It does make you wonder though if TV technology will forever be driven solely by TV watchers or if eventually we may get a more gaming focused line of TVs that either revive this sort of thing or come up with something new that can give us that sort of smooth picture and instant response of the past. The most damning thing related to modern displays is latency. It’s often really bad. Heck, even the Sega Genesis Mini has it when it comes to sound. The DF Retro review for that device has a very specific example of it if you want to see how our modern TVs and emulation of older games kinda wreck the past.
Anyway, if you are interested in finding a CRT monitor, do it quick. People are talking and it’s likely prices will be going up.
With currently technology is there a way they could have made them significantly lighter?
At a minimum I would guess they can’t make them significantly thinner due to the magnetic mechanisms it uses to aim the electrons, especially for larger screens. I know the deepness alone would be a deal breaker for a lot of modern desks.
I’ve often wondered if there will someday be enough demand for, like, artisanal small batch CRTs.
Actually, it looks like there kind of are already:
A little late to the party but I’d say 20" is probably the sweet spot. Like an idiot, I bought a 27" from Goodwill, forgetting just how damn heavy these things are (and fun fact - the flat screens are even heavier) and managed to throw out my back lugging it up the stairs. It’s currently sitting on the floor hooked to a toploader NES and mocking me.
Also, I’ve heard the one area that you still see a lot of CRTs is in broadcasting with the Sony PVMs still being best in class and accepting just about any input you can throw at them.
You know what sucks? Flyback transformers. I’ll keep my LED thankyouverymuch.
What’s that?
The high voltage (and able to shock you) electronics that drive a CRT.
Man. Makes me wish I kept my 19" Iiyama Vision Master Pro 450. What a great monitor back in the day.
Some people need to stop drilling.
I, as an extremely naive layman, can’t help but wonder if there can’t be some way to combine the best of the two technologies: The clarity, weight and thinness of an LCD combined with the darkness, color contrast, response time and speed of a CRT.