Anyone still use a CRT? Or used one recently?

I was just reflecting on busting out my old, heavy 17" CRT a few years ago to use with an extra spare PC I had set up - and wow, I can't believe how awful that thing was. After playing KOTOR on it for a mere 10 minutes at 1280x1024, I felt rather dramatic eye fatigue, and I wasn't even sitting particularly close to the thing. I can't believe how awful it is, really. I'm genuinely concerned how using CRT monitors for at least 8 years of my life will my eyesight in the long term.

I certainly didn't have a high-end CRT, it was just some random crappy 17" one. Were bigger CRTs easier on the eyes, or harsher? Didn't they have variable refresh rates as well? Does anyone here actually still use a CRT in their home for any particular reason?

I've used one recently, I don't really like them. They're too big, and I don't particularly like the image quality. For movies and such they're great, for desktop viewing I don't like them. Text doesn't seem as crisp and everything just seems a bit blurrier.

A few people I know still use them.

Set the refresh rate to at least 85hz. The friends I have that still use them use a refresh rate of around 160hz or more, you can overclock them.

I had a beastly NEC CRT which I just recently gave away (taking up space in the closet). I paid a fortune back in the day as it was the best monitor you could buy that year. I remember it had crazy resolutions, refresh rate, contrast ratio and was super crisp with no ghosting. It took me quite a few years to jump on the flat panel bandwagon. The desire for a widescreen monitor eventually got the better of me.

@KHAndAnime: We some at work still... they're horrible.

Used to game hours on those things. Sc, cs, tfc. I wonder did it cause any permanent eye damage. Wish I could go back and do it again, the best times I had with pc gaming. As jiggz said, I set mines at 85hz and had a tint piece.

I haven't used those in many years. I've got one sitting in my closet.

nope. all i have left are the faded memories of degaussing the remnant magnetic fields.

I don't know what that means, but I once stuck a tiny magnet on my CRT monitor and I could drag and distort the pixels around - almost like a neat Photoshop effect.

i havent used a crt since jan 2005. I got a LCD 21inch Samsung around then, but it was actually hard on my eyes cause they had a lot of blur back then. If i knew it was going to be so bad i probably would have kept my crt for a year or two more until LCD's became better.

they've come a long ways since then. this year they are coming out with 120hz-144hz IPS monitors, i think perfection is nearly here... and when OLED becomes more mainstream for PC monitors we will be in great shape for the future, only downside i heard is OLED may have more image retention problems then current LCD/LED monitors (which are almost impossible to get image retention from normal use).

Seems like there is always a step back with new tech. Oled will eventually mature like lcd did. Still I pretty much went ape stuff for lcd when I first had it over crt, the fact that it didn't feel like an oven in the summer was a huge plus.

The arcade cabinet that I put together uses a Wells Gardener D9400 digital CRT 27" 800x600 monitor for arcade games. I don't play it daily, but my 3 year old really digs some of the games I have on there.

-Byshop

I used one for like a month around april-may last year when a red line appeared on the middle of my monitor and had to ship it to the US for the warranty. At first it felt weird because of the format, the curved screen and the amount of light it emits. But it took just a couple of days to get comfortable with it.

CRT? What the hell is this? 1980?

4K TV Master race

This is mine. The funny thing is, before I started buying 27" monitors for my gaming PC, -this- was the most expensive monitor I had ever purchased (only about five years ago). There are still a few arcade CRT models you can still get, but even Wells Gardner stopped making them.

-Byshop

@Bikouchu35: y

you're competely right here. New tech always has some bugs and i'm sure any image retention problems OLED may be lessened or even completely gone in time. Just as it was back in earlier plasmas, the image retention was a lot worse on the older ones and eventually they made it a lot better for most of the tvs later on, for the most part.

Both tvs are crt at my parents place..

CRT monitors have different refresh rates depending on resolution. 1280x1024 was usually more common with 19" CRTs. They can sustain 1280x1024 @ 85 Hz or better. A 17" CRT can probably handle 1280x1024 @ 60 Hz which is very flickery. Tolerable refresh rates from my own experience has to be at least 72 Hz. A typical resolution for 17" monitors at 85 Hz is 1024x768.

If you had one of the last CRTs before they disappeared, you may see 17" monitors that can sustain 1024x768 @ 120 Hz and 1280x1024 @ 75 Hz or 85 Hz.

Bottom line: You need at least 85 Hz refresh rate for a rock solid image on a CRT.

You should check out the fw900, thing is a beast.

I for one still like 4:3 and 5:4 screen ratios. That's why I kept my 17" HP 1280x1024 LCD monitor.

Wanna get a hernia carrying that thing? ;)

Last time I used a CRT was 10 years ago. I started playing games on a computer with that thing when I was 7. The memories...

Haven't used a CRT in a very long time, and I don't plan on ever using one again.

Back in the day I used to have a dual CRT monitor set up. Glad those days are over. Modern flat screen monitors are far better for my eyes.

I miss having a tube TV for my retro consoles, but haven't missed CRT with my PC (and haven't used one in eons). Love my LED IPS :-)

If your CTR has an component plugs then it won't be as bad.. but still.

An LCD monitor at 60 Hz is much better for the eyes than a CRT at 120 Hz. I think the one thing a CRT monitor had going for it is color accuracy, especially the aperture-grille ones (Trinitron, Diamondtron).

Used one briefly like 2 years back when my LCD broke. That thing is so blurry it's like permanent anti-aliasing on everything.

Yes, still use my CRT for retro gaming with old consoles. They look like crap on the 1080p plasma.

I still use CRT TV for playing PS2 games and watching DVD movies because why not the thing still works and am gonna use it till it no longer works.Although i do have an LED tv and led monitor but still CRT feels so nice and old school.

That's probably why retro games look best on CRTs (analog ones, that is)

Haven't used one since 2003.

A CRT is capable of displaying legacy games in their actual resolutions regardless of what those resolutions are. A good CRT is actually very sharp and has a great picture.

-Byshop

CRT image quality isn't bad. They do require more tweaking though.

From 2003. The left CRT has a 15" diagonal (800x600) and a refresh rate of only 60 Hz. That's why it has a filter up front. The 17" CRT to the right has a refresh rate of 85 Hz. Compare off-screen quality between the laptop (Sager, HP, and IBook) LCDs and the CRTs.

I don't use any CRT monitors anymore. And besides, you could see the flickers anyway when viewing a video featuring them...

Not as a primary computer monitor but I use one as a T.V and have my computer hooked up to it best looking display in my house by a significant margin despite having a lower viewable resolution then most of the other T.V in my house Contrast Ratio and Black Levels really do matter for image quality much more then resolution.

back in 2006 i made the horrible switch to LCD, i was young and dumb, having a few die and getting sick of working on made me dig a crt out of the closet and i was impressed by the superior color, resolution, and lack of headaches it gave. by 2010 i was 100% all CRT agin. i started with a 1600x1200 veiwsonic till she started acting up and i got pissed and took it out back and dumped a few rounds in it. moved up to older 1600x1200 with p22 witch had way better color. it started acting up then i moved it to my bedroom as i was building my self a monster setup in the basement, a dell(sony) p1110 at the heart of it running 2048x1536@75hz i put alot of hours on it and my blue and green guns were starting to have emission to low for the monitor to compensate and i got really good at working on this monitor, got a new old stock CRT, same week at a dell p1130 and i run that 2048x1536@80hz.

they both run Sonys production grade SMPTE-C phosphors and are both production monitors. even on camera they show up great! i have never seen color reproduction like this on any kind of display not burning this phosphor.

and some more of my CRT's

Excellent execution in casting that "Raise Thread" spell, apprentice. Now let's ramp up your mastery of Thread Necromancy to whole a new level, shall we? Say, a 3 year and 6 month old thread this time?

Now, assume casting stance, grip your wand firmly - but don't squeeze it - and... ...cast!

BTW i found this forum googling "super mack on modern crt" as im new to my crt tester and im curies its its reasonable to adapt this thing on modern tubes, i know the newest book on this thing is from the 90's and my newest is from 87, it has trinitron tubes in it. kinda wana try to rejuve my old CRT from my left monitor. so far evey tube i have tested has had a 70 volt bias, but i could test that with a AMM anyways. im probably gonna hve to get bored and dick around on that. make my own adapters and measure voltages my self.

17" CRT monitors typically have a resolution of:

1024x768@85Hz

1280x960@75Hz

1280x1024@60Hz

You always went with a minimum of 85hz for the flicker to not be obvious. The last ones I've seen about a decade ago can reach 1600x1200@60Hz and 1280x1024@85Hz. But, by then, even the worst LCD monitor had no flickering at the peripheries compared to the best CRT monitors.

I got rid of all my CRT monitors, but kept a CRT TV (for my PS2). I also kept my 17" 5:4 1280x1024 LCD monitor. I'm quite fond of the older screen ratio.

Two 14" laptops. One is 4:3 (1024x768), the other is 16:9 (1366x768). I much prefer 4:3.

Necro. Ooops. Sorry. ;)

I miss my old CRT. Now I have to go outside to get a tan.

2 year old thread.