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| CRT Monitors |
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Year: 1897
Obsolete since: 2005 My Rating:  
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Table of contents:
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Oh the classic Cathode Ray Tube based TV's and monitors. They lasted for so long but only recently (well about 10 years now actually), become obsolete.
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Yes, it actually has some benefits, but it's up to you whether it's worth it. But remember, this is my opinion! Don't attack me!
1. It handles low resolutions well.
The main reason I use a CRT for my Retro-Computer is because CRT's do not blur low resolutions and looks really crisp!
You'll find that a modern LCD will blur small resolutions to the point it looks terrible.
I find I can't even go at 640x480 without it looking dreadful on a modern screen. Try hooking up an original PlayStation to a modern TV
without wanting to kill yourself!
2. Can run in virtually any resolution.
Now what am I talking about here? I'm basically saying if you run it at a resolution higher than 1024x768 (The typical recommended resolution),
the pixels become really hard to see, but they're there. So if you were to run GTA V at this resolution, it'll look just as good as on a
1080p LCD even if it's running as low as 1280x1024. It's kinda like the situation on modern smartphones, the screen is so small yet they have a 1080p screen or even sometimes 4K!
You can't see the pixels unless you look really really close at the screen. So if you force an android phone to run to run at 720p, it often looks
just as good and reduces a lot of battery.
...I think I got a bit sidetracked, basically what I'm saying is, while this makes it harder to read small text on a CRT with mid-range resolutions, it makes games look incredible
without lagging your graphics card!
3. Response times.
The time it takes for a CRT monitor to display the signal is next to nothing!
Personally though, I can't tell the delay difference between a modern LCD, but a lot of intense gamers complain on forums that the delay is bad
when playing fast-paced games.
But it makes sense, I know if you're running in a low resolution, the LCD has to manually process and upscale the signal to fit the display which can cause some delay.
However the CRT just simply resizes the tube (which is why you see scanlines at these resolutions!). It's way more complicated than that but I'm just gonna finish off here.
4. Cheap!
Well they wern't dirt cheap at the time, but nobody nowadays wants them at all! Usually they're thown out.
So if you want a screen and don't have much money on you, this is definitly the way to go! (With the exception of the power bill)
Would you rather pay $2 for a stick of Bubble Gum, or would you rather get a full working TV screen for free!
Okay, there's going to be a few strong points here, so buckle up!
First of all, they take up a lot more space and are really heavy! They also get hot pretty quickly which chews up a lot more power compared to a normal LCD.
The next problem is if there's a bright colour such as white on screen, it can flicker badly and drive you insane. That's probably why old game manuals
say not to play games if you have epilepsy, or you may get a seizure.
Now remember what I was saying above how mid-range resolutions have hard to see pixels, which is good for games right? Guess what it isn't good for...
Work! It's hard to fit a lot of text windows and office programs on a single screen on low resolutions, and if you're on higher resolutions you can't even read anything!
They have the pros and a lot of cons, but if you can get one for free, you seriously can't complain! It still does the Job!
I definitly wouldn't say they're better than a modern LCD like some people say online, but they're not bad either.
So I'll just give it 3 stars.