The hoarder in me......buy it. *Mic Drop*

The rationalist in me.....buy it, because your Phillips 107P4 is going to break soon and you'll need a replacement, and the next time you go to buy a CRT there will be only one and it'll be $4,000 on ebay, plus it'll stink like cat urine and have Pokemon stickers all over it.

The passionate hobbyist in me.....new shiny old thing, buy it.

The realist in me.....(he's locked up in the back room, The Hoarder, Rationalist, and Hobbyist have the key)

You know my answer. =)

Well Medion is just a relabelling brand, so they is no general rule if they are good or bad. I use a Medion CRT on my main retro rig and I'm quite pleased with it though I use it more out of nostalgia, because it is the first monitor I ever used and not because its highly regarded. I mean just swing by and take a look, maybe the owner lets you test it. Than you'll know if its any good.

Eleanor1967 wrote:

Well Medion is just a relabelling brand, so they is no general rule if they are good or bad. I use a Medion CRT on my main retro rig and I'm quite pleased with it though I use it more out of nostalgia, because it is the first monitor I ever used and not because its highly regarded. I mean just swing by and take a look, maybe the owner lets you test it. Than you'll know if its any good.

It does 1600x1200@160Hz, or so I found out. I was asking about the quality to see if it's gonna be any better than my current Phillips 107P4 which I haven't used in a while.

dogchainx - The Phillips wasn't used so much (maybe a year or two) and most of its life was spent unused, although in a smoker's house so it was quite dirty. Last time I checked it still worked (using my now dismantled Slot A machine). Although you're maybe right. Here's hoping my old PAL desk which I still use will actually hold this beast 🤣

Here where I live we use OLX, a classifieds site kinda like Craigslist to a degree - you message the seller (or call him, which one you like unless specified), then meet on a day and buy the thing you like. So the chance of finding a CRT isn't really that slim. I actually had to choose between this Medion and a EIZO F56.

1600x1200@160Hz

That's pretty high - almost to high to be true as Medion isn't a high end brand.

Medion is the electronics brand of the ALDI supermarket chain. Generally they are sold very cheap and offer good value for money - but that's still not usually better than mid-range at best. Of course Medion doesn't actually make anything, they just order from ODMs and slap their sticker on it. That means you can sometimes get real little gems.

But...

I find 1600x1200@160Hz very hard to believe - that's beyond what was considered high-end at the very peak of late CRT development. I don't think I've ever seen one come close to that in the flesh. Just consider that 1600x1200@160Hz vertical refresh requires a horizontal refresh of 192kHz, which is just astronomical - and therefore highly unlikely in an ALDI monitor. I suspect you're misreading the specs:

https://www.dhd24.com/archiv/2011/11/5334/1/C … MD-1998-JB.html

Medion MD 1998 JB

Medion MD 1998 JB Größe : 19 Zoll (46 cm Diagonale) Typ : FST Spannung : 100-240 V (50-60 Hz) . Leistungsaufnahme : 130 Watt im Betrieb und 5 Watt in Standby Max. Auflösung : 1600 * 1200 Pixel Horizontalfrequenz : 30 - 98 Khz Vertikalfrequenz : 50 - 160 Hz Bandbreite : 200 Mhz Videoeingang : 15 polig D-SUB Anschluß Abmessungen : 575 mm (Länge) 536 mm (Breite) 522 mm (Höhe) Gewicht: 22,5 Kg

It can do max 1600x1200 and max vertical refresh of 160Hz, but not at the same time 😮

It lists a far more realistic 98kHz horizontal refresh. At 1600x1200 that would work out at a still pretty respectable 80Hz vertical refresh, although given the small size of a 19" screen I'd sooner choose to run it at a slightly lower resolution but higher refresh, say 1280x960 at 96 or 100Hz.

However what makes a screen good or bad is rarely captured in this sort of raw specs. Good geometry and a uniform display is generally more relevant than being able to blast out pixels - because the smaller you go, the more you suffer from the 'soft' weaknesses of a screen. I'd go and have a look before deciding anything, particularly as 18-year old phosphor can be worn out as well as other age-related issues.