Does anybody else rock a CRT?

[Video]

It's fine, you likely originally played on an 80's set and the edges get lost to overscan. Newer sets have tighter control l on the picture, so you get to see the wonderful world outside of what designers intended you to see, such as missing or misscolored tiles around the border. It's even more obvious on say, a LCD type tv, as it would have no overscan( unless the game is putting images WAY outside of where it should be, some jaguar games do this)

[Asaki]

It's even more obvious on say, a LCD type tv, as it would have no overscan...

Some LCDs still have overscan. Sometimes it can be adjusted in the service menu.

[DJ Clae]

Most LCDs have an overscan setting. Make sure you turn it off. Check instructions for your TV.

[Tempest]

I use crt monitors when possible and my main gaming tv is a Sony PVM 1943MD which is really nice. I really need to save a spare crt just in case the PVM dies.

[keepdreamin]

It's fine, you likely originally played on an 80's set and the edges get lost to overscan. Newer sets have tighter control l on the picture, so you get to see the wonderful world outside of what designers intended you to see, such as missing or misscolored tiles around the border. It's even more obvious on say, a LCD type tv, as it would have no overscan( unless the game is putting images WAY outside of where it should be, some jaguar games do this)

There's two different overpriced accessories that you can put between console and LCD. One of the features included in these stupid expensive toys is an option to pull in an over scan mask on a horizontal/vertical pixel row, line by line.

 

My Genesis for example has a tuned profile to mask overscan. No borders.

[Video]

I think people misunderstood me when I said lcd doesn't have overscan. LCD are set resolution, 640x480 as an example. A console designed to work on crt relies on the fact you likely won't see the entire image due to overscan to hide things at the edge of the screen. Since LCD are a set resolution, all that assumed hidden stuff is going to be visible because there is no overscan. Everything will be visible.

 

I guess a console could do an odd resolution, like 720x480, which would be similar to a crt s overscan, though that may show an entire screen of garbled images. That would depend on the console/computer, and how the LCD displayed the image.

[keepdreamin]

I think people misunderstood me when I said lcd doesn't have overscan. LCD are set resolution, 640x480 as an example. A console designed to work on crt relies on the fact you likely won't see the entire image due to overscan to hide things at the edge of the screen. Since LCD are a set resolution, all that assumed hidden stuff is going to be visible because there is no overscan. Everything will be visible.

I guess a console could do an odd resolution, like 720x480, which would be similar to a crt s overscan, though that may show an entire screen of garbled images. That would depend on the console/computer, and how the LCD displayed the image.

We understood you. That's why I said there's two overpriced gimmicks you can put between the console and LCD that will mask out the visible overscan borders with blackness.

 

No mask:

 

Mask applied:

[christo930]

I use a CRT console tv from 87 for tv , movies and retro video games. Does anybody else rock the cathode ray tube? Pics of your tv would be cool to see, ill post a pic or two of mine.

 

I own that exact TV. It just quit on me about a year ago and I have to recap it. It sounds great and the picture is pretty good (when it's working). I'm pretty sure my parents bought it in 1987 or 88 at Sears.

I like the swivelling action of the TV and the 6 speakers I think it has.

[DJ Clae]

I understand what you mean. I think it's very stupid that overscan still exists at all on LCD screens. It's a relic that should have been done away with. It probably only exists because the first HDTVs were CRTs.

[Asaki]

I think people misunderstood me when I said lcd doesn't have overscan.

I understood you, but I have definitely seen HDTVs with overscan. Our old TV had it, so I when I had the PC hooked up to it (via VGA), I had to mess with the video card output settings a little bit.

[atarilovesyou]

Quick question, guys. A friend just disposed of a beautiful bug HUGE HItachi...widescreen...I think it's rear projection? Never got the make and model, but it had all sorts of inputs, short of an HDMI. We had to break it in two parts. The bottom consisted of the guts, and three bulbs....red, blue and green? And the top part was basically the screen and MDF board housing. Was this how rear projection tvs worked? The bulbs were on the bottom, pointing up on an angle. The bottom of the base had all the speakers and such. It was HEAVY. While I'm sure you could play classic systems on it, I'm thinking that light gun games probably wouldn't have worked, correct? Or were there setups with those bulbs that did allow for light guns? I always thought that you needed a tube that produced scanlines in order for light guns to work. Any ideas?

[CatPix]

You're correct, basically rear projections TV are videoprojectors with a self-contained screen.

I think, that technically old ones works like CRT TV, but that because it's projected, most light guns aren't able to read the picture properly.

They are amazing to play on, if they aren't too worn out. Be careful of screen burning, do not touch the lamps.

[+GoldenWheels]

Quick question, guys. A friend just disposed of a beautiful bug HUGE HItachi...widescreen...I think it's rear projection? Never got the make and model, but it had all sorts of inputs, short of an HDMI. We had to break it in two parts. The bottom consisted of the guts, and three bulbs....red, blue and green? And the top part was basically the screen and MDF board housing. Was this how rear projection tvs worked? The bulbs were on the bottom, pointing up on an angle. The bottom of the base had all the speakers and such. It was HEAVY. While I'm sure you could play classic systems on it, I'm thinking that light gun games probably wouldn't have worked, correct? Or were there setups with those bulbs that did allow for light guns? I always thought that you needed a tube that produced scanlines in order for light guns to work. Any ideas?

If it had the individual red green and blue lamps it was an older one. I had a big 55 inch Sony RP tv and as I recall it had only one (fairly small) lamp. I've only seen the triple lamps in the BIG, DEEP older RP tvs.

[CatPix]

Tri-tubes were either for older models, or high end ones. A separate bulb offer more light compared to a single one, as you can put a bit more power in, and they also last a bit longer.

By the time mono-tubes became common, Plasma then LCD TV came out.

[BawesomeBurf]

We have two 27" CRTs here. Both have issues; one has a very low volume output, and the other randomly goes dim. We'll probably be getting rid of them soon and just use LCDs. I'm getting to the point where I just don't want to deal with those bulky, heavy TVs anymore.

[NinjaWarrior]

I have a 19' Symphonic TV

 

I also have a 6' IMA TV I use for DXing

[Gentlegamer]

Anything pre-HDMI is played on CRT

[Oldschool80skid]

I have a 24" & a 27" Sony Wega Trinitron CRT Tvs currently.

 

Tomorrow I will be picking up a 20" KV-20FS120 for $15.

 

I also still have a 19" Daewoo that works great.

 

No shortage of CRTs in my household.

 

The Daewoo and 27" inch were purchased new at retail. The 24" was purchased 2 years ago for $20 and is in pristine condition.

 

I wonder how long CRTs will be available for so cheap before they become scarce and dare I say 'Rare'?

Edited July 14, 2018 by Oldschool80skid

[TeddyBear89]

This thread makes me feel a lot better about my hoarding! In addition to the two 27" CRTs I use for gaming I have 3 more in reserve tactfully stored away in my house.

 

I am divorced and wonder if some of my fellow old school gamers who are married wish they could stockpile a few extra CRTs but would catch considerable grief from their better halves. Let's face it - these big-ass tube TVs don't store well and are heavy and unsightly to many gals who just don't understand our need to be prepared!

[Tempest]

This thread makes me feel a lot better about my hoarding! In addition to the two 27" CRTs I use for gaming I have 3 more in reserve tactfully stored away in my house.

I worry about when/if my PVM dies on me since so many of my consoles now depend on RGB. I was lucky when someone sold me a spare for a very nice price, but those days are long gone and now everyone and their mother is looking for them.

[Asaki]

I almost bought another CRT yesterday, but there wasn't room for it in the vehicle... ¬_¬

[youxia]

I worry about when/if my PVM dies on me since so many of my consoles now depend on RGB. I was lucky when someone sold me a spare for a very nice price, but those days are long gone and now everyone and their mother is looking for them.

 

Ignore the PVM craze and just get a decent RGB CRT consumer set. They're still around at free-to-moderate prices.

Sadly, this will slowly change for teh worse in the next decade or so...

[Asaki]

RGB is pretty rare in the USA. I'm almost tempted to try one of those "RGB straight into the tubes" hacks.

[F34R]

This thread makes me feel a lot better about my hoarding! In addition to the two 27" CRTs I use for gaming I have 3 more in reserve tactfully stored away in my house.

 

I am divorced and wonder if some of my fellow old school gamers who are married wish they could stockpile a few extra CRTs but would catch considerable grief from their better halves. Let's face it - these big-ass tube TVs don't store well and are heavy and unsightly to many gals who just don't understand our need to be prepared!

I'm 22 years married, and I have four crt's in one ex-office game space lol. No issues at all from the wife.

2x27" (one FV310 and the other FS120)

1x Sony PVM 20L2MD

1x Ultrak KM1900cn

 

Still looking for a 20L5 and/or 14L5, then I'll probably stop unless something comes up unexpectedly. My FV310 was still NIB sealed when I got it six months ago. I paid more than what is expected of old CRT, but I didn't catch any grief about over paying for it.

Edited July 18, 2018 by F34R

[SiberianSpForces]

I almost stopped and picked up a 32" looking Sony flat screen tube TV that's on a curb. I read where some of them have hdmi and aren't ideal for retro gaming. I may check it if it's still there, though it'll be hard to hide a big box like that...