Cheap, nice 27" CRT @ Walmart for classic gaming

[VideoFever1982]

Theres no point in playing the 2600 in hd especially if your setting up a vintage game room. It wouldn't even look right.

 

I humbly disagree. My HD set loves my Atari and NES.

I don't know why. Whats the point of seeing blips and squares in hd? Its not like your trying to get realism out of it. It just seems silly to me. Its like playing your ps3 on black and white tv made in the 60's

 

Well, you need to make sure you have a good connection and upscaler and all that... but I like to see my squares as squares, not all distorted like bubble tube CRTs wil make them. And flat-screen CRTs are just a step away from HD sets anyway.

Thats strange. I've neve seen squares distorted on older tvs. Some people must have very bad connection or something. You mean all of us who have been playing atari games since they came out have been complaining for the last 3o years? I haven't

 

You've seen it, it was probably just so subtle that it didn't bother you. Since tube TVs were the only option for so long, we stopped noticing the subtle distortion they introduce to the image. That distortion is there, though, and if you look at the same image side-by-side on a flat screen, you WILL notice it. You might not care, but you'll see it.

 

I'd rather not have that, is all I'm saying. If you feel you're getting a more authentic experience with an era-appropriate set, go for it. Everybody's different.

Thats all it is really. Just the day and age we lived in back then. I miss those days myself. Other then that, yes i would prefer an hd set if i'm playing anything from ps1 on up

[VideoFever1982]

Another nice addition to the game room as of last sunday. I was givin a 27" Emerson complete with remote, owners manual, rabbit ears and loop antenna, And a Toshiba 6-Head vcr loaded with original remote and manual. Everything in pristine condition. Looks damn nice when playing Genesis or TurboGrafx. Also just aquired an HD set for my newer hardware

[VideoFever1982]

Pics of above items:

[ls650]

Bah! You big spenders with your fancy-ass HD flatscreen TVs! I bought an old 20" inch color tube at the local Value Village for $25. It looks great with my older game systems.

[VideoFever1982]

Bah! You big spenders with your fancy-ass HD flatscreen TVs! I bought an old 20" inch color tube at the local Value Village for $25. It looks great with my older game systems.

LMAO. Thats what i'm sayin!

[phaxda]

Wow, somehow I missed this response to my post in this thread... I say, to each their own.

 

One of the reasons I play and collect classic games is because they are cheap. I love me my Wii and some Mario Kart, but that's one of the rare times I drop bucks on newer stuff. Lest you worry, I play those on my nice flatscreen. It has s-video and awesome sound. (I actually have it hooked up to a pair of vintage thrifted $4.99 AR-9 speakers, which rock.)

 

BUT...

 

For my Atari and Nintendo and Genesis and Intellivision, man, as long as it's got a good big screen (24" is fine), I don't care so much. I kinda want to play them how I did back in the day, yes, on a fishbowl screen with some wood paneling. My dream (still) is to someday have a game room with orange shag carpet and a console TV. I am old-school like that. My game room TV uses a very old VCR for s-video input and has a bunch of consoles plugged into via a maze of RF splitters. Works for me. And as far as the sound goes, it's pumping it through an old Heathkit AR-15 receiver that drives a pair of Baby Advent bookshelf speakers. You can diss my set, but the sound is pretty darn good.

 

Is the quality as good as the flatscreen in the living room? Well, no. But do I enjoy the experience, even with some RF interference. Hell yeah.

 

$260 that I could spend on another TV will buy me 130 bottles of 2-buck Chuck from Trader Joe's. You may say, "how can you drink that crappy stuff when you can get much better wine for 13 times that price" but I don't mind cheap wine. And I don't mind a cheap TV, either.

 

No "criticism" was intended, I was just expressing how I personally went about obtaining my gaming TV. I am actually curious to hear about other people's TVs--love those pictures of the console TVs earlier in this thread.

 

PS, if you think I am crazy for liking an old TV, check these guys out. The old TV hobbyist is definitely not that much different from classic gamers, when it comes to those old things that everyone else thinks is "someone's garbage" that's not worth dragging home from the Goodwill.

 

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=36

 

 

 

 

When I was looking for a TV, I just put an ad on craiglsist that I would pay up to $20 for a working older TV with woodgrain (that was the key) to play Atari on. I got a ton of responses and scored myself a beautiful old 27" Magnavox for $14. I just brought along a pair of rabbit ears for testing and was good to go! Honestly, I can't see spending a lot of money (and to me, $300 is some cash) at Wal-mart, when people are willing to give away comparable sets. And those older sets have some character! Someday when I have a house I am going to get myself a nice 70s/80s console TV.

 

 

I was living in Laramie, Wyoming when I posted this original message. In a relatively unpopulated area like that, there were NO decent used TVs.

 

If "character" means shoddy sound, no S-video, and a round fishbowl screen......if those things do it for you, then knock yourself out. I don't know how this enhances the experience of a classic console.

 

Personally, I love CRTs but I demand a new, flat, vibrant picture with S-video whenever I can get it, and composite at the least. I fail to see how these qualities could possibly diminsh classic gaming. When I game with the old 130XE on S-video, it's like having a 27" Commodore 1702 monitor. Even 80 column text is sharp. If grainy RF input was acceptable, I might have been able to haul someone's garbage home, maybe from a Goodwill store.

 

Plus, I hardly think $260 is a lot of money to spend on a brand new television set today. If it was such a big amount to me, I wouldn't be wasting money on gaming to begin with.....I'd be buying food and trying to establish a savings account. Maybe try that criticism on people who spend 10 or 20 times that amount on a television yet can't pay their credit cards and cell phone bills. There's a lot of those people in the world.

Edited October 10, 2008 by phaxda

[VideoFever1982]

Wow, somehow I missed this response to my post in this thread... I say, to each their own.

 

One of the reasons I play and collect classic games is because they are cheap. I love me my Wii and some Mario Kart, but that's one of the rare times I drop bucks on newer stuff. Lest you worry, I play those on my nice flatscreen. It has s-video and awesome sound. (I actually have it hooked up to a pair of vintage thrifted $4.99 AR-9 speakers, which rock.)

 

BUT...

 

For my Atari and Nintendo and Genesis and Intellivision, man, as long as it's got a good big screen (24" is fine), I don't care so much. I kinda want to play them how I did back in the day, yes, on a fishbowl screen with some wood paneling. My dream (still) is to someday have a game room with orange shag carpet and a console TV. I am old-school like that. My game room TV uses a very old VCR for s-video input and has a bunch of consoles plugged into via a maze of RF splitters. Works for me. And as far as the sound goes, it's pumping it through an old Heathkit AR-15 receiver that drives a pair of Baby Advent bookshelf speakers. You can diss my set, but the sound is pretty darn good.

 

Is the quality as good as the flatscreen in the living room? Well, no. But do I enjoy the experience, even with some RF interference. Hell yeah.

 

$260 that I could spend on another TV will buy me 130 bottles of 2-buck Chuck from Trader Joe's. You may say, "how can you drink that crappy stuff when you can get much better wine for 13 times that price" but I don't mind cheap wine. And I don't mind a cheap TV, either.

 

No "criticism" was intended, I was just expressing how I personally went about obtaining my gaming TV. I am actually curious to hear about other people's TVs--love those pictures of the console TVs earlier in this thread.

 

PS, if you think I am crazy for liking an old TV, check these guys out. The old TV hobbyist is definitely not that much different from classic gamers, when it comes to those old things that everyone else thinks is "someone's garbage" that's not worth dragging home from the Goodwill.

 

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=36

 

 

 

 

When I was looking for a TV, I just put an ad on craiglsist that I would pay up to $20 for a working older TV with woodgrain (that was the key) to play Atari on. I got a ton of responses and scored myself a beautiful old 27" Magnavox for $14. I just brought along a pair of rabbit ears for testing and was good to go! Honestly, I can't see spending a lot of money (and to me, $300 is some cash) at Wal-mart, when people are willing to give away comparable sets. And those older sets have some character! Someday when I have a house I am going to get myself a nice 70s/80s console TV.

 

 

I was living in Laramie, Wyoming when I posted this original message. In a relatively unpopulated area like that, there were NO decent used TVs.

 

If "character" means shoddy sound, no S-video, and a round fishbowl screen......if those things do it for you, then knock yourself out. I don't know how this enhances the experience of a classic console.

 

Personally, I love CRTs but I demand a new, flat, vibrant picture with S-video whenever I can get it, and composite at the least. I fail to see how these qualities could possibly diminsh classic gaming. When I game with the old 130XE on S-video, it's like having a 27" Commodore 1702 monitor. Even 80 column text is sharp. If grainy RF input was acceptable, I might have been able to haul someone's garbage home, maybe from a Goodwill store.

 

Plus, I hardly think $260 is a lot of money to spend on a brand new television set today. If it was such a big amount to me, I wouldn't be wasting money on gaming to begin with.....I'd be buying food and trying to establish a savings account. Maybe try that criticism on people who spend 10 or 20 times that amount on a television yet can't pay their credit cards and cell phone bills. There's a lot of those people in the world.

You hit the nail right on the head there man. Its about classic and reliving the "original" experience. Yes i have hd but its for the newer stuff. You have the same idea i have. I'd like to do a shag carpeted room with paneling and put my older sets there. My 25" Zenith from 1987, 19" Samsung from 1986, 27" RCA from 1990, and 27" Emerson from 1989. Most have wood sides. I also have 2 matching 13"s from 1985 as well.

[rolligames]

Wait till February they'll probably be a ton of CRT tv's on the curb from the HDTV signal change.

[+wood_jl]

Wait till February they'll probably be a ton of CRT tv's on the curb from the HDTV signal change.

 

Now you're talking! Maybe it'll be possible for collectors to get one CRT **per system** and ditch all the switch boxes and get a real arcade room set up....say, for $50?

 

Man, the kids (today) would laugh hysterically if they knew what was going though my head now!

[+pboland]

Wait till February they'll probably be a ton of CRT tv's on the curb from the HDTV signal change.

Heck, the people where I live are already starting to put there CRT tv's out to the curb. I saw three just two week ago, and one this week! The three I saw two weeks ago were all floor models from the early to mid 90's. I also noticed that my local Goodwill is getting more and more CRT tv's, but that is because it cost extra for the garbage company to haul away a CRT and Goodwill just takes them.

[VideoFever1982]

Wait till February they'll probably be a ton of CRT tv's on the curb from the HDTV signal change.

Heck, the people where I live are already starting to put there CRT tv's out to the curb. I saw three just two week ago, and one this week! The three I saw two weeks ago were all floor models from the early to mid 90's. I also noticed that my local Goodwill is getting more and more CRT tv's, but that is because it cost extra for the garbage company to haul away a CRT and Goodwill just takes them.

Same here. Many at the curbs and on the free sites as well as thrift. Not hard to find at the moment.

[atarian63]

Wait till February they'll probably be a ton of CRT tv's on the curb from the HDTV signal change.

Heck, the people where I live are already starting to put there CRT tv's out to the curb. I saw three just two week ago, and one this week! The three I saw two weeks ago were all floor models from the early to mid 90's. I also noticed that my local Goodwill is getting more and more CRT tv's, but that is because it cost extra for the garbage company to haul away a CRT and Goodwill just takes them.

Same here. Many at the curbs and on the free sites as well as thrift. Not hard to find at the moment.

Most states are going to make that kind of disposal illegal here shortly. We recycle them now at $1 per inch, $25 for your typical 25" crt monitor. I would expect that price to rise in feb as demand for that type service incereases. There are only a few places in the US that can properly/EPA handle disposing of crts,recycle the glass and recycle the lead. Requires a clean room due to lead and other toxins.

On another note we had an HD Tube type TV turned in, an 05 panasonic wide screen 1080i. Didn't know they made tubes that did that with HDMI to boot! So for the moment there are some real nice items still out there.

[VideoFever1982]

Wait till February they'll probably be a ton of CRT tv's on the curb from the HDTV signal change.

Heck, the people where I live are already starting to put there CRT tv's out to the curb. I saw three just two week ago, and one this week! The three I saw two weeks ago were all floor models from the early to mid 90's. I also noticed that my local Goodwill is getting more and more CRT tv's, but that is because it cost extra for the garbage company to haul away a CRT and Goodwill just takes them.

Same here. Many at the curbs and on the free sites as well as thrift. Not hard to find at the moment.

Most states are going to make that kind of disposal illegal here shortly. We recycle them now at $1 per inch, $25 for your typical 25" crt monitor. I would expect that price to rise in feb as demand for that type service incereases. There are only a few places in the US that can properly/EPA handle disposing of crts,recycle the glass and recycle the lead. Requires a clean room due to lead and other toxins.

On another note we had an HD Tube type TV turned in, an 05 panasonic wide screen 1080i. Didn't know they made tubes that did that with HDMI to boot! So for the moment there are some real nice items still out there.

Yeah they're out there. My sister -in-law has a Sony widescreen 1080i tube model. Heavier than a truck!

[snorlaxnut]

Now I will have to get a new TV for my gaming, soon! I had a 20" Magnavox for 12 years and it was great, but starting last Sunday when you turn it on after its been off for at least a half hour, the picture is all scrambled. It happens on every channel, even the VCR/AUX channel for my DVD player and systems. The scrambled picture would clear up after 30-40 seconds after the TV has been turned on, then stuff at the bottom of the screen (like local weather on The Weather Channel and stuff on news channels) would not show up for about a minute. Now it takes almost 5 minutes for the scrambled picture to clear up.

 

I have a 13" set thats good for my Atari 2600 , 8-bit, and Jaguar. But for my other systems (and TV & DVD watching) I have to get a set that's 20" or smaller. My TV cabinet can hold a 27" set, but the room I play my games in is on the second floor of my house. Carrying a 20" CRT set upstairs that's under 50 pounds is easier than carrying a 27" CRT set that's about twice the weight (which would still be hard if I had help to carry it upstairs).

 

This is the set I will try to get

 

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5633689

 

It's cheap, and has a QAM turner, so I might get some digital cable channels without getting a box from Comcast. If there was a Best Buy or Circuit City where I live, I would shop ther for a new set, but Walmart's my only choice.

[VideoFever1982]

Now I will have to get a new TV for my gaming, soon! I had a 20" Magnavox for 12 years and it was great, but starting last Sunday when you turn it on after its been off for at least a half hour, the picture is all scrambled. It happens on every channel, even the VCR/AUX channel for my DVD player and systems. The scrambled picture would clear up after 30-40 seconds after the TV has been turned on, then stuff at the bottom of the screen (like local weather on The Weather Channel and stuff on news channels) would not show up for about a minute. Now it takes almost 5 minutes for the scrambled picture to clear up.

 

I have a 13" set thats good for my Atari 2600 , 8-bit, and Jaguar. But for my other systems (and TV & DVD watching) I have to get a set that's 20" or smaller. My TV cabinet can hold a 27" set, but the room I play my games in is on the second floor of my house. Carrying a 20" CRT set upstairs that's under 50 pounds is easier than carrying a 27" CRT set that's about twice the weight (which would still be hard if I had help to carry it upstairs).

 

This is the set I will try to get

 

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5633689

 

It's cheap, and has a QAM turner, so I might get some digital cable channels without getting a box from Comcast. If there was a Best Buy or Circuit City where I live, I would shop ther for a new set, but Walmart's my only choice.

Hmm, second floor with a 20"? I had to take my 25" console, 3 27"s, a 43", and now a 31 widescreen HDTV Insignia which i just picked up for free today up to my 3rd floor. I have to replace the power supply in it. I'll post pics later.

[atarian63]

Wait till February they'll probably be a ton of CRT tv's on the curb from the HDTV signal change.

Heck, the people where I live are already starting to put there CRT tv's out to the curb. I saw three just two week ago, and one this week! The three I saw two weeks ago were all floor models from the early to mid 90's. I also noticed that my local Goodwill is getting more and more CRT tv's, but that is because it cost extra for the garbage company to haul away a CRT and Goodwill just takes them.

Same here. Many at the curbs and on the free sites as well as thrift. Not hard to find at the moment.

Most states are going to make that kind of disposal illegal here shortly. We recycle them now at $1 per inch, $25 for your typical 25" crt monitor. I would expect that price to rise in feb as demand for that type service incereases. There are only a few places in the US that can properly/EPA handle disposing of crts,recycle the glass and recycle the lead. Requires a clean room due to lead and other toxins.

On another note we had an HD Tube type TV turned in, an 05 panasonic wide screen 1080i. Didn't know they made tubes that did that with HDMI to boot! So for the moment there are some real nice items still out there.

Yeah they're out there. My sister -in-law has a Sony widescreen 1080i tube model. Heavier than a truck!

Oh yeah! I thought it was great till I had to haul it home.. ugh!

[VideoFever1982]

Looks like the Insignia widescreen will only need a cap replaced. I'll post pics tomorrow.

[VideoFever1982]

Here's the free hdtv i picked up on sunday. Second in 2 weeks.

[Zonie]

Sony ain't what it used to be.

 

Toshiba made the best CRTs'.

 

I have a 40" Mitsubishi CRT. Best gaming TV going...

[VideoFever1982]

Sony ain't what it used to be.

 

Toshiba made the best CRTs'.

 

I have a 40" Mitsubishi CRT. Best gaming TV going...

Yeah and a HEAVY weight champion too. My friends brother has a game store and he uses a Mitsubishi 40". Damn thing has 2 handles on each side to carry it.