Finding it impossible to find a decent CRT

Relytsikcaj

Relytsikcaj

Relytsikcaj

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Manchester
As the title suggests, I'm almost giving up on the whole thing. Trying to find a decent high end CRT is challenging.

What do you all suggest? I've tried eBay, gumtree, FB Marketplace, local carboot, etc.

Are they that rare or just being chucked away?
 
It's not that they are rare, it's that they are ancient history and there is zero logical sense in having one.

What is teh use case? Aside from retro nostalgia and keeping as a show piece, there is nothing great about them compared to a quality PC monitor that does everything to a superior level.
 
Relytsikcaj said:
As the title suggests, I'm almost giving up on the whole thing. Trying to find a decent high end CRT is challenging.

What do you all suggest? I've tried eBay, gumtree, FB Marketplace, local carboot, etc.

Are they that rare or just being chucked away?
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I brought two, perfect CRT's to the recycling centre a few years ago.

One 17" and one 21", cost me a small fortune when new, but don't miss them one little bit.

Too big, too heavy, too square, just old technology.
 
mrk said:
It's not that they are rare, it's that they are ancient history and there is zero logical sense in having one.

What is teh use case? Aside from retro nostalgia and keeping as a show piece, there is nothing great about them compared to a quality PC monitor that does everything to a superior level.
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I'm not saying I'd rather have a crt over a top end screen of today. But crt level motion and scaling hasn't been achieved in the lcd era. If today's screens were level in motion and scaling to a high end crt, people wouldn't need to spend so much on gpu's as 85hz crt will out perform 120 lcd.
 
Sc00p007 said:
I'm not saying I'd rather have a crt over a top end screen of today. But crt level motion and scaling hasn't been achieved in the lcd era. If today's screens were level in motion and scaling to a high end crt, people wouldn't need to spend so much on gpu's as 85hz crt will out perform 120 lcd.
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Sure but an awful lot has progressed in the 15+ years since CRT stopped being improved. I really don't know if CRT has any redeeming qualities now. Individually it's been beaten for brightness, colour, sharpness, etc etc depending on what you're after.
 
For motion it could have been an argument in the past, but VRR methods like FreeSync/Gsync have solved that for games too. And now we have QD-OLED monitors and W_OLED TVs like LG's C2 which can be used as monitors and have perfect motion/performance at pretty much everything.
 
mrk said:
For motion it could have been an argument in the past, but VRR methods like FreeSync/Gsync have solved that for games too. And now we have QD-OLED monitors and W_OLED TVs like LG's C2 which can be used as monitors and have perfect motion/performance at pretty much everything.
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Oled has got us nearer, but still not there. I've used Oled for a long time and when I occasionally play with my friends fw900, the motion clarity is immediately noticeable.
As stooeh mentioned, its due to the sample and hold. Oled bfi improves things more, but again still noticeably worse than the crt. The Oled also struggles with low fps, as the sample and hold + instant pixel response can make low fps look juddery.

Again, I wouldn't choose an fw900 over the aw oled due to all the other benefits, but had to point out that the old tech is definitely still superior in motion and resolution scaling. I was a twitch UT player, and I've never gotten over the downgrade in motion.
 
LuckyBenski said:
Sure but an awful lot has progressed in the 15+ years since CRT stopped being improved. I really don't know if CRT has any redeeming qualities now. Individually it's been beaten for brightness, colour, sharpness, etc etc depending on what you're after.
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Yes I totally agree. I was just responding to the following claim "there is nothing great about them compared to a quality PC monitor that does everything to a superior level" which isn't true.
 
Hmm I dunno, I am an ex LG Flatron + Mitrubishi Diamondtron dual CRT user for many years and this QD-OLED is the first time in all these decades nearly of owning multitudes of LCD panels from many brands where I have felt like I am back to those CRT days but now with superior features in all areas. Maybe the resolution scaling and absolute motion isn't quite there yet, but you'd be absolutely crazy to pick a CRT, even a good CRT over a QD-OLED based monitor, although granted there is only one such model out currently and there's still a little bit of a queue to get one.

Plus, remember that CRTs shift colours over time so will get less and less accurate as time goes on. I worked in a photo studio for a few years where we edited on Eizo 21" CRTs for their colour accuracy, but they needed recalibration every 6 months because of the constant use resulting in obvious colour ageing. LCDs don't have this issue thanks to an LED backlight, and QD-OLED is still too new but I cannot see it being any different to LED backlit LCD either given QD-OLED's shelf life benefits thanks to the nature of the QD side of things. and with there not being a white layer.
 
mrk said:
Hmm I dunno, I am an ex LG Flatron + Mitrubishi Diamondtron dual CRT user for many years and this QD-OLED is the first time in all these decades nearly of owning multitudes of LCD panels from many brands where I have felt like I am back to those CRT days but now with superior features in all areas. Maybe the resolution scaling and absolute motion isn't quite there yet, but you'd be absolutely crazy to pick a CRT, even a good CRT over a QD-OLED based monitor, although granted there is only one such model out currently and there's still a little bit of a queue to get one.

Plus, remember that CRTs shift colours over time so will get less and less accurate as time goes on. I worked in a photo studio for a few years where we edited on Eizo 21" CRTs for their colour accuracy, but they needed recalibration every 6 months because of the constant use resulting in obvious colour ageing. LCDs don't have this issue thanks to an LED backlight, and QD-OLED is still too new but I cannot see it being any different to LED backlit LCD either given QD-OLED's shelf life benefits thanks to the nature of the QD side of things. and with there not being a white layer.
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Yup, I wasn't trying to sell the crt as superior overall.
I just like to balance opinion out, as its the monitor section that I find the trickiest around hype and users opinion. I've been disappointed many times by following claims and believing hype (most recently claims that oled vrr flicker/gamma shift didn't exist).
I was so disappointed in motion and black levels when LCD took over. I've chased the black and motion dragon ever since. Black was quenched with my first Oled (even with banding and vignetting), and motion is definitely getting there.
Oled was the first hype upgrade that didn't disappoint.

Eager to try the AW, somehow mixed up the release date. Got an order in 24hrs late on the 23rd, still refreshing the order page multiple times per day :D Scheduled for delivery 27/07, fingers crossed.

Edit - I genuinely think that most would be see surprised at the motion. Even if I leave it a year or two, then revisit, it still kinda feels surprising. I had already started to forget.
 
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LuckyBenski said:
Sure but an awful lot has progressed in the 15+ years since CRT stopped being improved.
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Contrast/black value issues of LCD is still the same.
Viewing angle issues are all here.
And response times are balancing against overshoots.


Sc00p007 said:
Oled was the first hype upgrade that didn't disappoint.
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Actually OLED is still in vapour ware stage.
Where are all those replaces everything else OLEDs hyped like decade ago?
Only OLED monitors available are those rule confirming exceptions that there are no OLED monitors to replace LCDs.

Heck, OLED hype even killed development of SED, which could have given CRT's contrast/black, viewing angles and response times in LCD like flat panel!
 
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