I remember having this giant Trinitron from Sony, and we bought it in 07 right when LCD monitors were gaining popularity. Played my Xbox 360 from it, like just looking at it 2 feet away, it's nothing much to worry about. Now, having adjusted to LCDs for so long, I do notice the significant differences. Also, god help me, I hate it when motion blur is enabled by default.
A great read on your passion. I'll be honest, I'm more for convenience than for exactness, but to each their own. Since I'm short sighted, perhaps I could get the same effect from an LCD by taking my glasses off 😂
One thing I thought of, and wondered what you thought - do you think maybe CRTs may come back for the enthusiast market? My friend loves listening to music on vinyl, and that has had something of a resurgence even if it isn't mass market anymore. He has a turntable that plays vinyl records but I'm sure is connected to Bluetooth speakers, mixing old and new technology. Perhaps one day something similar could happen to the humble CRT.
I didn't mention it but getting used to CRT's is quite rough on the eyes I will admit, it's okay with stuff like the Gamecube or the Dreamcast but the older the consoles are, the more you notice screen flicker and it really strained mine before I was more experienced.
A few different layers to this question:
Firstly, it should be mentioned that CRT's have only really died out in the consumer sense, they are still used industrially and in a lot of legacy hardware and testing environments; CRT's are remarkably durable, have extremely high resistance to burn-in and virtually zero input delay so in settings where you might have the same image displayed on-screen for literal years, they are ideal.
As for your actual question and not me spilling random info about my little hobby... I think the chances are quite slim but not impossible, and I would personally love to see it. CRT's are more expensive to manufacture, consume more energy and crucially, they are bitterly heavy to move about. I dropped that Beko on my fingers once, I don't recommend it. So it would take quite a lot of commitment, especially when they are still widely available and relatively cheap.
Fuck, that closing statement got me. Great article! I will one day have one again — I was born in '97, so not much older than you, and I can certainly reminisce with you on rapidly changing technology from the early to late 2000's and early 2010's. Its possibly the fastest technological leaps generations have seen in this regard, and it hasn't always been for the good. A local reuse store was selling a 16:9 Samsung HD CRT for 60 bucks recently and I slept on it too long and its gone now. One day.....
Really appreciate it! I'm trying something new with the posts lately and these shorter, more anecdotal ones where I just sound-off about something retro themed seem to really resonate with people.
It's really scary to think people born after 2005 probably don't remember looking for AV on a TV, or forgetting to unplug the red wire and having no sound in their game.
That's a damn shame! But you'll definitely find other CRT's and a lot of those 'HD' ones often weren't, it was sometimes used as a buzzword back then; my Wega was also called 'HD' when I think it peaks at something like 580p
I recently was in a live run of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and a lot of the cast were 18-22, and that type of stuff would come up in conversation with the cast members closer to my age a bit. It's a shame! CRT's lended to some truly god-tier pixel stylization in games, and a certain warmth in the PS2 generation that HD Remasters just can't come close to capturing. Some of these people didn't know what VHS was! Like WHAT?
There's such an odd but tangible gap between early and late-Gen Z, I was born in 2000 and a lot of my classmates in University were born in 2003/2004, it sounds like a tiny difference on paper but I found there to be quite a culture gap between those of us who were 20+ and those who were around 18.
I see why they died but I truly believe they are a better display technology (most OLED's are compared to CRT's during the testing process) and if a company decided to produce them in a limited capacity for modern tastes, I'd buy that.
Same here! There is a random team working on a "retro display" but at this point I'm not convinced its ever coming out and If I recall correctly its still just LCD ... If I find the product again I'll have to link it here.
That Sony Wega you've got there is a real thing of beauty.
"...given how huge living room TV’s are now..." - Chuckling at the thought of people having a 55" CRT mounted on their lounge wall. 😂
I struck absolute gold with that one, couldn't believe it when he was willing to deliver from several hours away, the nicest guy ever
I remember having this giant Trinitron from Sony, and we bought it in 07 right when LCD monitors were gaining popularity. Played my Xbox 360 from it, like just looking at it 2 feet away, it's nothing much to worry about. Now, having adjusted to LCDs for so long, I do notice the significant differences. Also, god help me, I hate it when motion blur is enabled by default.
I do prefer LCD for anything post-2001 Xbox but generally feel CRT's were better.
I hate that too and film grain
A great read on your passion. I'll be honest, I'm more for convenience than for exactness, but to each their own. Since I'm short sighted, perhaps I could get the same effect from an LCD by taking my glasses off 😂
One thing I thought of, and wondered what you thought - do you think maybe CRTs may come back for the enthusiast market? My friend loves listening to music on vinyl, and that has had something of a resurgence even if it isn't mass market anymore. He has a turntable that plays vinyl records but I'm sure is connected to Bluetooth speakers, mixing old and new technology. Perhaps one day something similar could happen to the humble CRT.
I didn't mention it but getting used to CRT's is quite rough on the eyes I will admit, it's okay with stuff like the Gamecube or the Dreamcast but the older the consoles are, the more you notice screen flicker and it really strained mine before I was more experienced.
A few different layers to this question:
Firstly, it should be mentioned that CRT's have only really died out in the consumer sense, they are still used industrially and in a lot of legacy hardware and testing environments; CRT's are remarkably durable, have extremely high resistance to burn-in and virtually zero input delay so in settings where you might have the same image displayed on-screen for literal years, they are ideal.
As for your actual question and not me spilling random info about my little hobby... I think the chances are quite slim but not impossible, and I would personally love to see it. CRT's are more expensive to manufacture, consume more energy and crucially, they are bitterly heavy to move about. I dropped that Beko on my fingers once, I don't recommend it. So it would take quite a lot of commitment, especially when they are still widely available and relatively cheap.
Fuck, that closing statement got me. Great article! I will one day have one again — I was born in '97, so not much older than you, and I can certainly reminisce with you on rapidly changing technology from the early to late 2000's and early 2010's. Its possibly the fastest technological leaps generations have seen in this regard, and it hasn't always been for the good. A local reuse store was selling a 16:9 Samsung HD CRT for 60 bucks recently and I slept on it too long and its gone now. One day.....
Really appreciate it! I'm trying something new with the posts lately and these shorter, more anecdotal ones where I just sound-off about something retro themed seem to really resonate with people.
It's really scary to think people born after 2005 probably don't remember looking for AV on a TV, or forgetting to unplug the red wire and having no sound in their game.
That's a damn shame! But you'll definitely find other CRT's and a lot of those 'HD' ones often weren't, it was sometimes used as a buzzword back then; my Wega was also called 'HD' when I think it peaks at something like 580p
I recently was in a live run of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and a lot of the cast were 18-22, and that type of stuff would come up in conversation with the cast members closer to my age a bit. It's a shame! CRT's lended to some truly god-tier pixel stylization in games, and a certain warmth in the PS2 generation that HD Remasters just can't come close to capturing. Some of these people didn't know what VHS was! Like WHAT?
There's such an odd but tangible gap between early and late-Gen Z, I was born in 2000 and a lot of my classmates in University were born in 2003/2004, it sounds like a tiny difference on paper but I found there to be quite a culture gap between those of us who were 20+ and those who were around 18.
I see why they died but I truly believe they are a better display technology (most OLED's are compared to CRT's during the testing process) and if a company decided to produce them in a limited capacity for modern tastes, I'd buy that.
Same here! There is a random team working on a "retro display" but at this point I'm not convinced its ever coming out and If I recall correctly its still just LCD ... If I find the product again I'll have to link it here.
Feel free to share if you do!
https://youtu.be/iUKQhCGUHWc
Every CRT had a relatively distinct shape, size, form, etc. They were unique.
Every HDTV looks EXACTLY THE SAME. They are legion.
Great post. Thanks for the memories!
I somehow forgot to mention curved versus flat!
Couldn't agree more, they all habe character
No! I’m not looking up the pricing for one of these! Nooooooooo!
Damnit.
Some of them are insanely expensive (Sony broadcast viewing monitors, high-end JVC) but a cute little 14" shouldn't cost more than £50-80/$70-90
Cool article!
Brought nostalgia about my old Goldstar CRT on which I'd play my pirated Atari 1600 (balkan country version :D ). Quite the memories!
I miss the feeling and resolution of the CRTs, yet I do not miss the weight of those things, including Monitors. xD