Topic: should I be saving CRTs

My local thrift store threw out a couple of big CRT TVs recently while I happened to be there. They offered them to me for free. I didn't take them, but later I realized that maybe I should have. It's unique technology and retro consoles will always play best on them. Is there a push to save CRTs and should I join it?

I dunno if there is a push for saving them, but I've been looking to get one for the sake of nostalgia and retro games. I'd really like to get another that has a UHF dial, like the one my parents gave me ages ago.

If you have space for one, and a reason to use it, then go ahead and take one.

I keep one in my room for old games and dvds.

I would advise against it - had two CRTs for my two Nes consoles but ultimately I bought a retroscaler 2x and plugged them in a LCD TV. The problem with Crts is that overscan can be very annoying and you end up not seeing the whole picture. Also - the geometry is mostly not the best - curved lines etc. Some CRTs have flickering or wobbling images or due to magnetic influences you might have discolorations.

With the Retroscaler I am now finally happy playing my Nes games and don't miss a CRT

I'd argue it's less important than it used to be. The main reason why they were better is due to the low latency, low persistence, high contrast images they could produce. Which certainly mattered in the early days of LCDs where you'd get fairly smeary images with sometimes 100ms+ of input latency and fairly washed out blacks. These days though, with OLEDs being fairly accessible and constantly improving, it's less of an advantage

The last major thing they had going for them was that for retro gaming these games were designed specifically for the image structure of CRTs. But they're starting to even lose that with 4K, high brightness, high contrast displays and the ability for retro upscalers to emulate the look of a CRT. And doing all of that with a modern display that is undoubtedly bigger and certainly more colour accurate

I mean.... if you're super into light gun games then that's a reason to still go for them I guess. But really, technically, I don't think it's quite as desperate a need as it used to be. If you're into the full authentic retro experience though? I mean go for it. I'm still holding onto one

Yeah, there was a long period where modern TVs were better in some ways than CRTs but worse in others, but nowadays it's pretty much just one-way traffic and the only reason to use a CRT is nostalgia.

I've still got one CRT, which was a ludicrously high-end PC monitor for its time, and capable of refresh rates that all but the most expensive modern flat panels would struggle to match. However, even that doesn't see a lot of use.

Those are exactly the characteristics of CRTs.
Also, you aren't SUPPOSED to see the whole picture and that is especially the case with NES games. I see it maybe wasn't until Wii VC that people found out SMB3 has color glitches around the edge of the screen. That's just one example of choppy scrolling in a lot of NES games that devs didn't bother fixing because they expected those to be hidden on CRTs. Konami is another company to make such games.
Many other games also put sprites on the edge of the screen (that were expected to not be seen to the player) for technical reaons to make the games function.
Flickering or wobbling is also some of the character that had always been there but maybe some had blanked out of their memory. I remember days playing Mario All-Stars on my SNES and interference had gotten to the point I could only see the graphics as like Mario-colored blobs. People keep talking about wanting to make their consoles as clear as emulators, but it's like, why don't you just play with emulators then? I see fuzzy graphics as the reality of the original play experience.

Only the Sony WEGA Trinitrons with low hours. I wouldn't mess with anything else, especially from the 90's, even if it's a JVC D-series or black bezeled 1998-1999 Sony Trinitron, just because they've all aged much harder and have a ton of hours logged into them. When the WEGA's came out in 2005, a lot of people were making the transition over to LCD and plasma, so many of them were just tossed to the side and weren't used and abused nearly as much.

Even the Wega's are now pushing almost 20 years old. The internal guts and hours poured into them will determine weather the image can look closer to how it did brand new out of the box.

I'd have zero issues using a RetroTINK4K or HD FPGA clone consoles such as the AVS, Super Nt, Mega Sg, Duo and upcoming Analogue 3D on a QD-OLED, but the motion clarity still can't compete against CRT. QD-OLED will best CRT in terms of perfect black levels, brightness, brighter whites, while offering progressive scan, being readily available, new, modern, slim & Light. But CRT's have blur free motion clarity. OLED can remove 50% of motion blur with black frame insertion but it increases input lag.

I know but the problem is that some CRTs cut out a lot and not just 8-16 pxl to mask the Nes specific issues. And having wrong geometry is also not nice to have. I don't want to have the best digital picture like the Nes Mini where you see each crisp pixel. That's why I love the RetroScaler - picture is a bit fuzzy and color tend to blend or mix a bit as intended by the programmers.

I just can't stand it when I can't see e.g. all the text on the left hand side or the HUD spritesor tiles on screen due to too much overscan.