Does anybody else rock a CRT?

[Blazing Lazers]

I wont get into what looks better on what, but I have a 2600 with a test cart that I use as a signal generator to repair vintage TV's as a hobby. Right now I m working on a black and white 1950 Philco. I literally pulled this particular one out of the ground half buried, and the crt still test good on my bk analyzer, so I started the rebuild of the chassis.

 

Please do a thread on this!

 

You should do a thread on that philco tv it would be fun to watch it grow into something nice again.

Seconded!

[Video]

Thirded! Id love to see that, and pics, lots of pics!I

 

I'd love to fix my 80's set, but I lack the knowledge required, and finding info is nearly impossible. Finding help is even harder, and a tv repair place doesn't exist any more, at least around here.

 

I still hold onto it though, it still "works" it just needs fixed. And despite being only an old 13" tv, it's got one of the best pics I've seen. Heck , I used it from the 80's till the middle of the 360's life.

[youxia]

the horrible weight of it.

I see this complaint quite often regarding CRTs. It seems a lot of people make the mistake of holding the TV while using it - it's not actually necessary.

[Video]

I see this complaint quite often regarding CRTs. It seems a lot of people make the mistake of holding the TV while using it - it's not actually necessary.

I never got this either. My tv's always sat where I put them (sometimes for its entire life) I rarely moved one. I don't change bedrooms or living rooms either.

 

If your moving every other week or month I could see this being an issue, but if hazard a guess people moving frequently probably have bigger issues than a heavy crt.

[80s_Atari_Guy]

Space, is another complaint I don't get.

You can find space for a massive 60" Flatscreen, a Xbox One, a PS4, and possibly a media PC. But, not a 14" CRT ? Strange.

[icemanxp300]

I totally understand weight for bigger CRT's. I nabbed a 40" xbr that weighed 305lbs. While It was fairly easy to lift up on the back of a truck and down again on a cart. It was next to impossible to take down stairs or generally lift for any amount of time.

 

Even my 32" that weighs 171lbs was quite difficult to move. Now a 27" that is only 98lbs is very manageable. My wife can help me w/that one. So for 27" and below they are not too bad. 32" it gets harder. Above that and it's probably not worth the hassle. I talked my buddy into getting a 36" 170 and even though he had help he still threw his back out and that was 215lbs.

 

So I can understand if someone wants a bigger screen than 14" to play on. I mean if my option was to play on 14" or try and make a modern bigger screen TV work, I would go w/modern big screen.

 

I think people should be shooting for 27" they are quite easy to handle w/2 people and you don't even have to be very strong. Plus 27" is a decent size for gaming on. They are not excessively bulky so you can get a grip on them. I highly suggest people avoid 36" and bigger unless you are a beast w/help and a straight shot.

 

Getting big TV's in w/out damage is going to be hard, and it is going to be just as hard to get them back out.

[onemoretime]

You should do a thread on that philco tv it would be fun to watch it grow into something nice again.

 

Ok, I will. It ll be a partial before thread though, as I ve already started work on it. The Sams I ordered for it came in last week, and I m getting ready to place a parts order.

[tep392]

I totally understand weight for bigger CRT's. I nabbed a 40" xbr that weighed 305lbs. While It was fairly easy to lift up on the back of a truck and down again on a cart. It was next to impossible to take down stairs or generally lift for any amount of time.

 

Even my 32" that weighs 171lbs was quite difficult to move. Now a 27" that is only 98lbs is very manageable. My wife can help me w/that one. So for 27" and below they are not too bad. 32" it gets harder. Above that and it's probably not worth the hassle. I talked my buddy into getting a 36" 170 and even though he had help he still threw his back out and that was 215lbs.

 

So I can understand if someone wants a bigger screen than 14" to play on. I mean if my option was to play on 14" or try and make a modern bigger screen TV work, I would go w/modern big screen.

 

I think people should be shooting for 27" they are quite easy to handle w/2 people and you don't even have to be very strong. Plus 27" is a decent size for gaming on. They are not excessively bulky so you can get a grip on them. I highly suggest people avoid 36" and bigger unless you are a beast w/help and a straight shot.

 

Getting big TV's in w/out damage is going to be hard, and it is going to be just as hard to get them back out.

I had the 40" XBR beast when it was new. It had a green blob in the corner that they couldn't fix so shipped out a new set. It took three tries to get the new one because the delivery guys dropped the first 2. And they only had to carry it into a 1 story home.

[Tanooki]

I see this complaint quite often regarding CRTs. It seems a lot of people make the mistake of holding the TV while using it - it's not actually necessary.

Sarcasm aside, you do realize they do need to be moved at some point right? Bringing it in, then back out, and if you're having house work done, moving, whatever. Laugh now, but when you're trying to move a 100-250lb+ CRT your sense of humor will vanish pretty fast. I've had one around the 30" size which went over 100lbs and had to move it a few times which really sucked and on my own no less.

 

 

onemoretime -- Sounds great. Like seeing old stuff like TVs and tube Radios being rehabed. Love to get one some time (the radio.) I find them periodically around here but the cosmetics are always a lost cause and the insides about as bad or worse beyond being reasonable to repair or even use as a display piece.

[+GoldenWheels]

Everybody should have a moving buddy.

 

I think size is a far better/more understandable argument than weight against CRTs. You can always get some help moving them in and out (unless you can't make friends) because they shouldn't NEED moving much...but you can't magically make a room bigger to accommodate one.

 

Frankly I love my 32 (which seems to be where they do start to get REALLY heavy) but I like gaming on my 20" too, and those are easy moves for one man. When the 32 goes, I may just rock on with the 20 even if another bigboy appears in the wild.

[lingyi]

For me, it's not so much the weight, but the fact that it's front heavy, especially Trinitrons. I'm currently looking for a nice 19" or 20" Trinitron, but only see 27" and larger sets on Craigslist.

 

My dream set is a PVM3230 when I hit the big one and have the space for it! I remember a game store in the 80's that had one and they were playing 2600 games on it! I used to have a 2530, but it gave up the ghost decades ago.

[lingyi]

Wow, talk about kismet! If you're on Oahu, Hawaii, someone is giving away a PVM3230 in Waikiki! Listed on Craigslist.

[DJ Clae]

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.

That will be time for an RGB upscaler.

 

My wife isn't a gamer, but she supports my gaming. She is not a fan of moving with the two CRT's I currently own (one's in storage).

[youxia]

I do have a flat Trinitron in the cellar which came as a bundle with the 29" one I've just bought. Haven't tried it yet, maybe will do over the weekend...curious myself seeing as I've never had a flat CRT before.

[mhmrules]

Up until this April or so, my parents had a JVC flat screen CRT, and it was SOOOOOOOOOO heavy!

[Punisher5.0]

An alternative display is an older 4:3 computer monitor. Recently I aquired a Dell 2007fp monitor after doing research on 4:3 LCDs with multiple inputs. This panel is awesome. It has DVI, VGA, Svideo, and composite. The Dreamcast through VGA looks amazing. Super crisp picture and no lag at all.

 

 

 

 

Right now I have the audio going through that boom box in the background. I already have the speakers made for the monitor on order. All said and done it cost $73. It was well worth it to me.

[Asaki]

The Dreamcast through VGA looks amazing.

Which method did you use?

[ClassicGMR]

Which method did you use?

I am also curious.

 

I found this. Has anyone had any good luck with these?

[Punisher5.0]

Which method did you use?

I have just a cable that surprisingly worked. On a different monitor it didnt work so I dont know if its dependent on the screen or what. Some might need the vga box I guess. Ill have to look into it.

[Blazing Lazers]

An alternative display is an older 4:3 computer monitor. Recently I aquired a Dell 2007fp monitor after doing research on 4:3 LCDs with multiple inputs. This panel is awesome. It has DVI, VGA, Svideo, and composite. The Dreamcast through VGA looks amazing. Super crisp picture and no lag at all.

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Right now I have the audio going through that boom box in the background. I already have the speakers made for the monitor on order. All said and done it cost $73. It was well worth it to me.

Can confirm, as I also have a good CRT monitor in addition to my TVs. Great for PC games an emulatos also, with less lag than an LCD. Higher resolution and refresh rates than anything short of a 4K set.

[Punisher5.0]

Can confirm, as I also have a good CRT monitor in addition to my TVs. Great for PC games an emulatos also, with less lag than an LCD. Higher resolution and refresh rates than anything short of a 4K set.

Its hard to tell from those pictures but that actually is a LCD

[MarioX]

I never got this either. My tv's always sat where I put them (sometimes for its entire life) I rarely moved one. I don't change bedrooms or living rooms either.

 

If your moving every other week or month I could see this being an issue, but if hazard a guess people moving frequently probably have bigger issues than a heavy crt.

 

I can't do that I need to rearrange my living room at least once every 3 to 4 months. I can't stand looking at the same setup for very long, I get anxiety and depressed when I see things the same for too long.

[keepdreamin]

An alternative display is an older 4:3 computer monitor. Recently I aquired a Dell 2007fp monitor after doing research on 4:3 LCDs with multiple inputs. This panel is awesome. It has DVI, VGA, Svideo, and composite. The Dreamcast through VGA looks amazing. Super crisp picture and no lag at all.

 

20180726_195649.jpg

 

20180726_195640.jpg

 

20180726_201812.jpg

 

Right now I have the audio going through that boom box in the background. I already have the speakers made for the monitor on order. All said and done it cost $73. It was well worth it to me.

 

This is a viable solution. Arcade operators already had this figured out by the mid 2000s when some started swapping out toast CRTs in cabinets for surplus 4:3 LCD computer monitors. That's where that GBS 8200 scaler board came from. It was so an arcade operator could take the old RGB signal from the cabinet's game PCB and convert it to VGA so a LCD monitor could be plugged up. Of course, the 8200 was only needed for older 15Khz and 24Khz game boards, 31Khz (640x480P) hardware like the Sega Naomi could be plugged directly up to any VGA monitor.

Edited July 28, 2018 by keepdreamin

[Punisher5.0]

This is a viable solution. Arcade operators already had this figured out by the mid 2000s when some started swapping out toast CRTs in cabinets for surplus 4:3 LCD computer monitors. That's where that GBS 8200 scaler board came from. It was so an arcade operator could take the old RGB signal from the cabinet's game PCB and convert it to VGA so a LCD monitor could be plugged up. Of course, the 8200 was only needed for older 15Khz and 24Khz game boards, 31Khz (640x480P) hardware like the Sega Naomi could be plugged directly up to any VGA monitor.

Thanks for saying something. I have a MK2 arcade with a CRT thats going out. I might buy a second one of these monitors to swap it out with that scaler.

[keepdreamin]

Thanks for saying something. I have a MK2 arcade with a CRT thats going out. I might buy a second one of these monitors to swap it out with that scaler.

 

If you have a couple hundred dollars laying around, you could also go the official arcade parts route, all the remaining suppliers these days like Happ, Betson, Wells Gardner (WG made CRTs for pretty much every US arcade cabinet released in the 90s) all they offer is LCD monitors. The monitors are plastic-less just like the CRT tubes of old, and meant to bolt in a variety of machines. They also offer plastic bezels to fill in gaps.

 

For example, here's a 19" that handles CGA/VGA. https://na.suzohapp.com/products/monitors/49-2604-30N

 

There's a ton of those kits, so you'd want to know cabinet specific screen size and video resolution of the game board when calling. I imagine they could find something that could work. Although, I couldn't tell you how the dedicated monitors fare (or Happ's own stand alone CGA to VGA converter) against consumer LCD + a GBS 8200 combo.

Edited July 28, 2018 by keepdreamin