I couldnt live without my Eizo Flexscan CRT monitors.
Theyre not the most convenient in terms of size, they are in truth complete and utter boat anchors but then in situations where you need smaller I use smaller.
My "bench monitors" are a pair of lovely little Eizo Flexscan L367 15" LCDs, and they produce nice solid rich colours in their own right. But for the retro experience there is nothing quite like a CRT. Even the best OLED screens of today only match them, they dont better them at all in my experience with all my Eizo screens.

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-08-14, 12:42:

My "bench monitors" are a pair of lovely little Eizo Flexscan L367 15" LCDs, and they produce nice solid rich colours in their own right. But for the retro experience there is nothing quite like a CRT. Even the best OLED screens of today only match them, they dont better them at all in my experience with all my Eizo screens.

modern monitors have better color coverage and are much muuuuch brighter

Like the Pro Eizo Coloredge IPS panels from the 2010s that have turned pink?

Or the HP/Dell Dreamcolor RGB backlit panels that go green? (They were great)

Almost any CCFL backlight with the creeping yellow at the edges?

The Sony PVM/BVM OLEDs no longer being made where the blue wears significantly faster? (Still have one)

VA panels with the off center shifting, teal inverse ghosting and black smears?

IPS panels with that lovely immersive glow in the corners and generally looking flat as a pancake?

TN... Let's not start.

LG OLEDs with the extra white sub pixel looking natural? Don't load a white screen with that ABL

Samsung AMOLED scanlines but not where you want them? Lovely subpixel structure for text.

Apple XDR and similar that make white on black background text look like a shady back alley neon light..

Actually I do like the latest Macbook screens a lot but they feel like 25ms+ response

Owned them all apart from the Samsung OLED, makes me love my Eizo F980 even more

Sorry couldn't resist 😂

Actually I haven't heard much about the OLED fade problem in recent years (The reason it didn't just take over the market 15+ years back) is it actually finally properly cured or they just figured out how to hide it long enough to last the warranty period?

I'd like a CRT for my old computers but tbh the convenience of the flat screen form factor and that it is easier on my eyes (when reading) make them hard to beat. (But I long to play me some Doom on a CRT again.)

I have a compaq evo small form factor laptop from ca 2003 with a yellowed screen though so maybe @Hanamichi is on to something about the screens' longevity.

Hanamichi wrote on 2023-08-14, 22:27:

IPS panels with that lovely immersive glow in the corners and generally looking flat as a pancake?

I've been using a premium IPS since 2014 and this is completely untrue.

rasz_pl wrote on 2023-08-14, 20:07:

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-08-14, 12:42:

My "bench monitors" are a pair of lovely little Eizo Flexscan L367 15" LCDs, and they produce nice solid rich colours in their own right. But for the retro experience there is nothing quite like a CRT. Even the best OLED screens of today only match them, they dont better them at all in my experience with all my Eizo screens.

modern monitors have better color coverage and are much muuuuch brighter

Some of them might have but they are rare and always have something else wrong with them to make up for it.
Brighter doesnt mean better either.

Its hardly surprising they started making the CRT in the 1890s. When you make something for that long then your expected to get really good at it.

And dont forget you have to get a flat panel monitor to beat the CRT not just equal it or be as good.
When you put a 21" Eizo CRT next to a new flat panel of any kind you can just see the difference and then you know why the bulk of the CRT is worth putting up with.

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-08-15, 07:30:

Some of them might have but they are rare and always have something else wrong with them to make up for it. Brighter doesnt mean […]
Show full quote

rasz_pl wrote on 2023-08-14, 20:07:

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-08-14, 12:42:

My "bench monitors" are a pair of lovely little Eizo Flexscan L367 15" LCDs, and they produce nice solid rich colours in their own right. But for the retro experience there is nothing quite like a CRT. Even the best OLED screens of today only match them, they dont better them at all in my experience with all my Eizo screens.

modern monitors have better color coverage and are much muuuuch brighter

Some of them might have but they are rare and always have something else wrong with them to make up for it.
Brighter doesnt mean better either.

Its hardly surprising they started making the CRT in the 1890s. When you make something for that long then your expected to get really good at it.

And dont forget you have to get a flat panel monitor to beat the CRT not just equal it or be as good.
When you put a 21" Eizo CRT next to a new flat panel of any kind you can just see the difference and then you know why the bulk of the CRT is worth putting up with.

I 100% disagree.

appiah4 wrote on 2023-08-15, 08:55:

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-08-15, 07:30:

Some of them might have but they are rare and always have something else wrong with them to make up for it. Brighter doesnt mean […]
Show full quote

rasz_pl wrote on 2023-08-14, 20:07:

modern monitors have better color coverage and are much muuuuch brighter

Some of them might have but they are rare and always have something else wrong with them to make up for it.
Brighter doesnt mean better either.

Its hardly surprising they started making the CRT in the 1890s. When you make something for that long then your expected to get really good at it.

And dont forget you have to get a flat panel monitor to beat the CRT not just equal it or be as good.
When you put a 21" Eizo CRT next to a new flat panel of any kind you can just see the difference and then you know why the bulk of the CRT is worth putting up with.

I 100% disagree.

Well you would. Youre not the one who owns it, not the one whos seen them side by side and compared them to each other in the real world at the same time.

Dont get my wrong I also like my flat panel monitors. I just like the warmth you can only get from a CRT. Especially the higher end models.

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-08-15, 10:34:

appiah4 wrote on 2023-08-15, 08:55:

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-08-15, 07:30:

Some of them might have but they are rare and always have something else wrong with them to make up for it. Brighter doesnt mean […]
Show full quote

Some of them might have but they are rare and always have something else wrong with them to make up for it.
Brighter doesnt mean better either.

Its hardly surprising they started making the CRT in the 1890s. When you make something for that long then your expected to get really good at it.

And dont forget you have to get a flat panel monitor to beat the CRT not just equal it or be as good.
When you put a 21" Eizo CRT next to a new flat panel of any kind you can just see the difference and then you know why the bulk of the CRT is worth putting up with.

I 100% disagree.

Well you would. Youre not the one who owns it, not the one whos seen them side by side and compared them to each other in the real world at the same time.

Dont get my wrong I also like my flat panel monitors. I just like the warmth you can only get from a CRT. Especially the higher end models.

I'll just point out that I wasn't born yesterday and owned and used literally dozens of tubes over the years, most of which were very high end including 21" workstation monitors for CAD. They do not even compare to a modern OLED or even an IPS in terms of color, brightness, geometry and sharpness.

Neither was I.

So have I, and I still do

Back in the day I had dual 16:10 24" SGI's. That's a pinnacle of CRT's as far as I know.
I don't miss them a bit.

For original hardware I prefer to deal with old CRTS over old LCDs. It's definitely my favorite way to experience old games.

I'm all in on emulation now though. VRR fixes all the worst problems fixed resolution displays used to have. A really good CRT is still better, just way less reliable and replenish able these days. Hard to recommend. I have one and I don't use it.

CwF wrote on 2023-08-15, 18:11:

Back in the day I had dual 16:10 24" SGI's. That's a pinnacle of CRT's as far as I know.
I don't miss them a bit.

Nah peak crt monitor would be this 28" behemoth.

Now If it wasn't wide... 🤣
But it is 1995 and will not at all have the bandwidth and other factors of what the around 2000s high end offerings did.

Tiido wrote on 2023-08-15, 19:07:

Now If it wasn't wide... 🤣
But it is 1995 and will not at all have the bandwidth and other factors of what the around 2000s high end offerings did.

Specs:
28" Invar shadow mask CRT (Widescreen) - Built by Panasonic
Max. Resolution up to 2048 x 1152 @ 80Hz
Max. official Resolution: 1920x1080 @ 85Hz
0.32mm dot pitch
Synchronization frequency:
- Horizontal 30 to 96 kHz
- Vertical 50 to 160 Hz
Dot rate 220 MHz
MRSP USD $9995
The monitor is identical to Panasonic TX-8DW71W . This one is impossible to find.

According to what I found on the web.

96kHz is decent and allows for quite high resolutions, but the dot pitch is of stuff you see in low end offerings so this is mostly big screen size and not big resolution monitor. My 21" Nokia which has 0.23mm dot pitch will look significantly better in the higher resolutions because of it. Big screen with small dot pitch would be great though, and if kinescopes weren't killed off some 15ish years ago, maybe we would be getting such ~
(invar mask is used in all large format and high end things or your white colored windows will cause discoloration after few tens of seconds due to mask warping)

I have five CRT Devices and I love em' all, but I'm going to be running them until they truly die past a point of me replacing them.

For TVs I'm using a Rhapsody 5" CRT Portable for fun little shennanigans. When it's not running, it's on display. I mostly use it with my Atari 2600. It's funny because the ATARI can act as a TV stand for it, 🤣.

The other TV is a huge, 27" 1989, Mitsubishi CS-2720R with RCA Passthrough (so Let's Play with a CRT for my acutal monitor). It needs a recap, but the picture tube and picture quality (when properly degaussed) sis to DIE FOR. Crisp, sharp, but just enough of that CRT goodness that everything looks as the programmer/designer intended. Youtube, even squeezed, looks as good as my 4K UHD TV. It's like Bithead1000 stole NBC's studio equipment for a Cable Access show!

I have three CRT monitors, unfortunatley my KDS was destroyed.

14" NEC MultiSync II JC-1402-HWA - This is the one I'm using right now. THis was a rescue from a recycle bin and it's held together by bodge wires and lunacy, but somehow, it's REALLY perked up, it seems all of the caps have fully reformed over the past 7 years. When I got it, it was dim, the focus and voltage had to be cranked to look good, everything had a weird almost yellowish hue to it. Now in 2023 it's sharp, crisp, has perfect whites, and the low dot-pitch makes DOS games look frickin' incredible on it regardless of whether they are CGA, EGA, or VGA. It also does high resolution SVGA modes, I got it up to 1024x768 using WD Data Lifeguard (one of the DDOs I use) and while the text was hard to read the picture was incredible for a monitor built in 1988. This is my most priced computer CRT.

15" Micron SVGA w/ Digital Controls - Still a little dim, might need to run it more, maybe it'll perk up like the NEC.

17" Dell - Crisp, Bright, Looks amazing on my 2MB VLB 486, especially in Windows 95. I need to fix the stand though. However, the monitor itself might be what I'll have to start using as my eyes deteriorate as I get older.

The aggravating thing to me about CRTs is the fact that when they die, finding an appropriate recycling channel is almost impossible. So it's only worth it to revive them, or keep them until you're brave enough and armed with enough knowledge to fix them at this point, and then give it away if you want to get out of the "CRT game".

The thing I like about them though is all the games and software of the 80's and 90's look the way I remember it, and looks a lot more vivid and lively compared to an LCD monitor. Plus there's something special about seeing a vintage system with a nice glass globe on top shining brightly. Plus I still play original NES Games with a Zapper so I NEED A CRT to play those.

As strange as it may sound, the reason I use CRTs for gaming on retro systems is purely convenience more so than looking for a "superior" experience. Yes, they're bulky and get hot, but they just work and as an added benefit things look just as the original developers intended. What I want to avoid is: video card output (especially the older ones) that look like crap on LCDs, with jailbars, interference and in some cases no display at all, wrong aspect ratio, spending lots of $$$ on buying or building adapters/converters/scan-doublers/whatever for what is at best an equivalent of what I get by using a cheap CRT. I do have a crappy non-wide 17'' Samsung LCD on my test bench though, image looks like ass, 320x200 in particular.

I'm sure there are "holy grail" LCD screens that do not have any of these issues, but it's not easy to acquire them where I live. Even if I managed to find one of those either the price or shipping (or both) would make it a non-viable solution. I have 4 CRTs, one 14'' that I bought myself in 2002 and three 17'' that I got for less than $10 each. They're not high quality Trinitrons or anything like that, but the tubes don't have much use and they all look very good. I even refurbished them with new caps and a good cleaning, so I expect them to last a good while as their only use is gaming time that is spread between the 4 monitors. I don't have a lot of space, but as I only need one at any given time, the other 3 remain in storage.

What I don't get is the "but CRTs will die!!!" concern. So what? We will also die at some point, as will our planet, the galaxy and probably the universe. Why not use them until they croak? If at some point I have no more CRTs I can evaluate other options, but not today. I see the same concerns for hard drives and other hardware and I don't understand it, why not use things you enjoy while they still work instead of letting them rot away in a shelf? If it dies, it dies.

With old game consoles I strongly prefer CRTs. There are serious problems with playing a Nintendo or Genesis on an LCD.
I like CRTs from the late 90s up to mid 2000s which have SVideo and preferably Component inputs on them. Luckily I accumulated 3 of them (14, 20, and 24inch) when they were still easy to find at thrift stores.
Large CRTs get heavy but I don't know why that matters. The bulk is an issue though. I find the 14" very useful because it's compact and I can easily keep it hooked up. I think the 20" is a pretty nice size for 1 person, and that was the standard size in most 1980s arcade machines. The 24" is a lot more bulky.
All 3 of my TVs are flat screens. If I had the chance, I'd probably trade the 24" for a good 20" with a curved tube.

I remember when LCD televisions came out and everybody assumed they must use less power than CRTs. What a joke that was.
I measured the power draw of a 36" CRT TV, which is almost the largest tube TV size anybody ever made, and it was in the range of 35-50W depending what was on the screen. When turned off it was near 0.
I measured the power draw of a 42" 1080i LCD and it was about 200W. If I turned it "off", it was about 70W. It used more power when turned off than the tube TV did when turned on. I checked all the power management settings on that TV and couldn't resolve it. Only solution was to unplug it.

For old computers I'm normally fine with an LCD, but not in DOS where there is a 72Hz refresh issue.
I have a 17" CRT monitor I'd like to use for a DOS PC, but it's not working. It had a fantastic picture but after one of PG&E's many power events it wouldn't turn on anymore. I need to dig into that someday, I'm hoping there's a simple fuse somewhere but I want to learn more about it first.
Right now, the only solution I have for 72Hz DOS games is a TN panel. I have a few IPS/VA monitors, but those panels don't like anything other than 60Hz. Those monitors "accept" up to 75Hz but they just convert it to 60Hz internally, which causes irritating stutter in anything that scrolls. I guess modern IPS monitors have more flexible refresh rates, and maybe some of them can hook up to VGA, but I don't have anything like that.