Buzzing or the far more common high pitch ringing is not uncommon for a CRT.
This is the Flyback transformer, over time the glue (if it had any to begin with) will brake on the copper wires and they start to rig or buzz from the high voltage.
If it goes away after the CRT heats up (30min to a hour on 70F room temp) Don't worry one bit. If it still buzzing then that's a problem. Its its still ringing I'd just deal with it.
As for 17" Crt, not all are limited to 800x600 @ 85hz. I have one that can do 1024x768 at 85hz.

My worry is maintaining them, since I own 5151 and 5153 displays among many other vintage ones (like Heathkit, Lear Siegler, HP 9816, etc)

Getting replacements for the flyback transformers when they blow up is pretty hard now, and it will be harder still.

The other thing that is impossible to repair is screen burnout, the visual degradation with time (the loss of contrast mainly).

Everything else can be repaired.

Sure, my question is whether there's now a valid modern CRT alternative that gets 99% of the way there. I like retro but have no objection to modern alternatives.

Does anyone here have both a CRT and a decent modern TFT, and think the TFT is entirely sufficient?

I know there are decent 17” monitors, but they're not available any more, not new anyway..

5153 and 5154 displays are so rare now you probably shouldn't be using them to play games.

Oh I am not. But I do turn them on once in a while.

Even broken ones are good, as you can scavenge them for parts, like the flyback transformers.

vladstamate wrote:

My worry is maintaining them, since I own 5151 and 5153 displays among many other vintage ones (like Heathkit, Lear Siegler, HP […]
Show full quote

My worry is maintaining them, since I own 5151 and 5153 displays among many other vintage ones (like Heathkit, Lear Siegler, HP 9816, etc)

Getting replacements for the flyback transformers when they blow up is pretty hard now, and it will be harder still.

The other thing that is impossible to repair is screen burnout, the visual degradation with time (the loss of contrast mainly).

Everything else can be repaired.

Flybacks can be rebuilt. I done a few. Even then you just need one that fits the CRTs specs. But finding someone with the equipment to fix a bad tube is another thing. I cant think of anyone that dose that on a small scale. And most places that still do this specialized is small medical equipment. But rejuvenating the tube can be done at home if you have the equipment and knowledge.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw7nmuGdDs0
rejuvenating Is not always a permanent fix and the tube will still fail. But the image will likely be restored untill it dies. Clean and balance on the other hand tends to last awile.

Errius wrote:

5153 and 5154 displays are so rare now you probably shouldn't be using them to play games.

Eererrmmm... what? 🤣
Is it better to leave them to rot or one needs to calculate Nasa trajectories in order to justify powering them? 🤣

keropi wrote:

Is it better to leave them to rot or one needs to calculate Nasa trajectories in order to justify powering them? 🤣

🤣

Funny, I *just* swapped a 19" LCD in my setup for a same-sized CRT. The reason was, it was sitting on an elevated platform above my desk and when sitting with my chair leaned back, my eye level was below the monitor. Even fully modern LCDs aren't that great when viewed from below, but this was an old one from ~2004 so the viewing angle was hopeless.

I replaced it with a 19" LaCie Electron Blue from about the same year and couldn't be happier. The viewing angle is literally 180 degrees on both axes and these final-generation CRTs are quite frankly gorgeous. Plus there's no scaling issues and you can pipe all sorts of weird resolutions to them which they just handle (currently running it at 1400x1050 @ 85Hz on a Mac Mini.) YES modern LCDs have caught up and probably surpassed them in a lot of aspects but for some use cases they're still useful to have around.

Considering this one was a ~$1000 professional publishing display designed for accurate color reproduction just a little over 10 years ago, I'd say it still looks great. Plus it was free, and I hate it when high-end gear goes to the landfill just because "it's old." Win win.

I suspect in another 10 or 15 years there will be a tiny-but-vocal niche enthusiast base for CRTs. They're gonna be like tube amps or vintage hi-fi stuff. "Objectively" not as good as whatever is current but some people will just plain like the look & hang on to them forever.

Lovely monitors! I used them as my main screen for most of the last decade. They will die though. I got through two in six years. (I got the second under warranty when the first died.)

They're apparently rebranded NEC/Mitsubishi models, but I don't know the original model names.

I've long switched to LCD. I got my hands on a nice 17" multisync 1760nx

damn thing has a large chunk of dead pixels at the very top, but it will display just about everything I can throw at it. Even with my old 68k macs.

CRT 4 lyfe. If you want to take my old CRT monitors/TV from me, you will have to pry them away from my desiccated corpse.