Is there a 'Geek' market for CRT's?
Is there a 'Geek' market for CRT's?
Author
Discussion

jshell

Original Poster:

11,980 posts

229 months

Wednesday 11th November 2015
quotequote all
Just wondered if there could be any value in, or revival of CRT's in the same way that vinyl made a comeback? Total rollocks?

slybynight

391 posts

145 months

Wednesday 11th November 2015
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For a while I was entertaining the idea of buying a top of the range B&O CRT, used, for a song. In the end the only real advantage I could see was that nobody would every steal it. It weighed 10 stone I think!

TEKNOPUG

20,325 posts

229 months

Wednesday 11th November 2015
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No.

There will always be geeks but there will not be a revival or any value in CRTs.

Example:

Philips Quintrix 32"

2001 = £1k
2005 = £60
2015 = Can't give it away

The fact that it weights the best part of 70kgs is the main issue. Picture was great though, especially for watching sports (anything with motion it excels at, as do all decent CRTs, compared to cheap LCD/LEDS).

I can't see why you would want over a decent plasma (which I think are more likely going to be the "vinyl" of the future).

Adamski69

175 posts

134 months

Wednesday 11th November 2015
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As above. Years back I bought a Toshiba 33" CRT with dolby surround sound, speakers came with it. It was (and still is) enormous and weighs the same as a small cathedral and cost almost as much too.

I did try to sell it some time back when the first plasma arrived in my house about 10 years ago. No one wanted it so I tried to give it away. No one wanted it. I even went round old peoples homes and youth centres offering it for free, delivered. No one wanted it.

It now stands ominously large and dark in the corner of one of the lounges at my mums house that is unused.

Recently she asked when I might be able to get rid of it as it takes up so much space in an unused room that no one uses. Ever. getmecoat

She doesn't even want to see it. And doesn't want it.


jshell

Original Poster:

11,980 posts

229 months

Wednesday 11th November 2015
quotequote all
Yeah, I've got one of these: http://www.audioenz.co.nz/2002/10/loewe-aconda-931... and I'm loathed to chuck it in the skip. But, at 92kg and being so very big, I need the room! It works, looks ace and the sound is amazing. >dinosaur< smile

Adamski69

175 posts

134 months

Wednesday 11th November 2015
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92KG!!!!!!!!!!!! eek

jshell

Original Poster:

11,980 posts

229 months

Wednesday 11th November 2015
quotequote all
Adamski69 said:
92KG!!!!!!!!!!!! eek
Oh yes, it's fecking huge! I'd trade it in, but can't move it on my own!

jmorgan

36,010 posts

308 months

Wednesday 11th November 2015
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Quids in if they do. Waiting for mine to break before I buy on of them new fangled flat things.

cian

293 posts

231 months

Wednesday 11th November 2015
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Mate of mine recently bought a CRT for one of his arcahe gaming machines so maybe there's a market there somewhere

jshell

Original Poster:

11,980 posts

229 months

Wednesday 11th November 2015
quotequote all
cian said:
Mate of mine recently bought a CRT for one of his arcahe gaming machines so maybe there's a market there somewhere
Good call!

gizlaroc

17,251 posts

248 months

Wednesday 11th November 2015
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I bought a B&O 4300 for some retro gaming.

But the problem is, flat screens are better than CRT now, and have been for a very long time if you bought a good 'un, so why would you want a CRT?

Geometry is crap on them, alignment is not great either on even the best, and so they looked OK up to 33" but any bigger and they looked blurry.

Black levels on a decent plasma surpassed CRT years ago let alone OLED, even some of the best local dimming LCDs can look better, and I think most will agree LCD is a flawed display technology, it is just cheap and can be made to look funky, so sells well.


CRT is good for one thing, and that is playing old stuff on that was designed for a CRT display.

AREA

497 posts

249 months

Wednesday 11th November 2015
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In a house with a frankly stupid number of TVs, our old B&O AV5 is the main TV we currently use.

Bought for £4,250 15 years ago (and then a B&O DVD player on top for another £750) it's been pensioned off a few times as it's moved from room to room, been put into storage time and again as one of these new tech upstarts comes along to replace it. But it always makes a comeback and gets brought out to fight another day.

The sound, the slinky way it turns to meet you as the speakers ooze out from the sides, the fact it plays CDs and the clever way it controls the DVD player through the SCART lead, that it'll play what's on the BeoSound over the link from another room are just all so sexy and appealing! It's a piece of technical art that feels like it's alive as much as a TV.

Even spent £250 having the tube replaced a couple of years ago (they're like hen's teeth) when any sane individual would have done the decent thing and had the TV vet put it down.

I am considering buying another one as a donor to keep this one going well into the future. Freeview box, a Roku and Raspberry Pi have kept it on usability life support.

Geek market? Not so sure.

Daft sucker market... looks like it, although I'm willing to concede that it's a very small market indeed (current population about one!!!)

gizlaroc

17,251 posts

248 months

Wednesday 11th November 2015
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I loved my AV5, but as soon as I got the Panny PHD plasma it got the boot.

But B&O do the integration better than anything else out there, and that makes a hell of a difference to the overall pleasure you can get from your system.


shaunsmith

1,229 posts

241 months

Sunday 15th November 2015
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What was the largest screen from that era?


Morningside

24,147 posts

253 months

Sunday 15th November 2015
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There seems to be a few common Sony 40" ones.

I suppose they have all gone digital now but the CRT monitors were very popular in the TV industry as I think they were colour/temperature balanced.

jmorgan

36,010 posts

308 months

Sunday 15th November 2015
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We had a few large ones, long since consigned to the tip. Monitors only and in their own flight case. At least two people to get it onto a stand. Sony I think, big side speakers, detachable. Guessing 35+".

tr7v8

7,564 posts

252 months

Sunday 15th November 2015
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I did a project in london in 1993 with a 42" Mitsubishi monitor & then literally built a room around it. I foget the weight but it needed 4 strong blokes to lift it in place. The only way it was coming out was in pieces!

Patch1875

5,043 posts

156 months

Sunday 15th November 2015
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Ive got a 10yo Pioneer plasma still puts many modern screens to shame, I paid 3k for it will now be lucky to get £100frown

Morningside

24,147 posts

253 months

Sunday 15th November 2015
quotequote all
If you are a fan of old computers like the ZX80 and 81 they really don't work well on LCDs. Something to do with the TV trying to decode the computers really poor PAL output. Some people also say that the Spectrum looks better on CRT.

jmorgan

36,010 posts

308 months

Sunday 15th November 2015
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Still have a kit somewhere to convert PAL to something else. Old Maplins stuff I never got around to building.