Anywhere in the US that still sells new CRT TVs?

[Austin]

I am amazed by some of the negativity on CRTs. Well, I do have a preference to CRTs based on my Avatar name, having owned my Sony WEGAs for decades. My preference is my HD WEGA, as mentioned earlier ALL resolutions crystal clear and no upscale issues! You can't beat the brightness of a tube TV even when viewed at an extreme angle. The LED TV is better ONLY if the signal is in HD; anything SD (such as retro game consoles) look like crap when upscaled on the fixed resolution of a 1080p flat screen.

 

I don't think there's a lot of negativity regarding CRTs. Most of us (if not all) love CRTs. I have three myself--one Wega (widescreen, HD), one Trinitron (SD, 4X3), and one PVM. That said, I'm not going to sit here and knock upscaled options like the Framemeister or AVS. They are truly excellent and make sense in the modern day. I even find myself preferring to play on them more than anything else these days, due to how crisp they are. It simply is what it is.

 

As mentioned by the OP, he has tried three different WEGA and Trinitron models, and to him, all look unfavorable (hard for me to believe honestly, mine are still kicking nice and sharp, all heavily used, but I'm not in his shoes, parts in televisions do go bad). If he wants to be satisfied, he needs to go the PVM route, put up with existing quality on existing sets, or forego lightgun games and go the upscaled route. Or, do a combination of both (upscaled, then have a spare CRT for lightgun games).

[+5-11under]

If buying a Sony PVM and maybe BVM, be aware that some models have different resolutions. Mine has 250 lines, where if I bought a similar looking model, it could have 450 lines. The technical brochure will likely show the details.

[CRTGAMER]

I own three PVMs and still prefer my 32" HD WEGA for gaming. The PVMs are nice as a secondary screen for two console linked games, but have curved glass and smaller screen. PVMs are beautiful for SD gaming but I'll take a larger flat tube Trinitron with its improved digital picture controls to bring the best in CRTs.

 

 

Some info on my HD WEGA KV-32HS500 in my repair guide.

 

Repair your rare WEGA for under twenty dollars

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=458437#p458437

 

Here is my unusual WEGA, the SD TV has a 1080i Tube!

 

Sony Wega Mods - KD-27FS170 Sony Wega Trinitron Flat Tube TV

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1005514#p1005514

 

Edited November 3, 2016 by CRTGAMER

[+Charlie Cat]

Hi guys,

 

I just got back my Samsung unit to be repaired that me and the family had for 20+ years. Did a good cleaning and spent $55 dollars for it on replacing the speakers. Now its ready to go for classic gaming once more!

 

Over in my area, TV repair shops still do good for themselves and I had to wait a few days just to send this one in! I couldn't believe the rows of CRT units they were fixing for their costumers. Its like a flashback in time seeing them again!

 

Anthony...

Edited November 3, 2016 by fdurso224

[+-^CrossBow^-]

There is a store locally here that apparently still sells NOS CRT sets. Most appear to be Phillips but they do have them. I don't know if they ship and last I checked in their actual store, their prices were on the high side. Still might be worth giving them a call.

 

They are called Video Revolution and cater to home theater setups.

[CatPix]

As mentioned by the OP, he has tried three different WEGA and Trinitron models, and to him, all look unfavorable (hard for me to believe honestly, mine are still kicking nice and sharp, all heavily used, but I'm not in his shoes, parts in televisions do go bad). If he wants to be satisfied, he needs to go the PVM route, put up with existing quality on existing sets, or forego lightgun games and go the upscaled route. Or, do a combination of both (upscaled, then have a spare CRT for lightgun games).

Or maybe goes for OLDER sets.

Older TV sets are slightly more susceptible to be worn out and to fail, but the high end ones were built with regard to quality, as before the 2000's, LCD weren't an option.

When large size LCD arrived on the market (around 2005?) TV brands knew that it would take over the market in the next 10 years, so why bothering building TV sets that would last for 20 years?

And it's what is happening now : the latter Sony Trinitron and Wega were made to last 10 years or so... and we're in 2016.

In the meantime my 1983 Europhon TV, build with fat cheap electronics because it was the only option is still going fine. Sure it's monophonic and the tube lack black depth, but for 8 bits system it's just top notch.

[Skippy B. Coyote]

Thanks again for the replies everyone! After using the Sony WEGA from 2006 for a few more days I've decided that it's fine for now. Sure, the colors bleed a little and the picture doesn't look quite as nice as the one on my old Trinitron from '95, but it still looks alright with all but one of my systems. It's vastly better looking than my modern Vizo HDTV for everything except the Wii, so I'll just hook the Wii up to the modern TV and play everything else on the WEGA until something better pops up on Craigslist.

 

With how old CRTs are getting at this point I'm probably not in any position to be picky about the visual quality and should just take what I can get. Even if the WEGA has seen a lot of use and doesn't look quite as good as my last Trinitron it's still way better than trying to play my retro consoles on a modern LCD/LED TV, or spending silly money on an upscaler and console mods. Sometimes the hardest lesson to learn in life is learning to settle and just be happy with what you have, but I'm working on it.

Edited November 3, 2016 by Jin

[keepdreamin]

I am amazed by some of the negativity on CRTs. Well, I do have a preference to CRTs based on my Avatar name, having owned my Sony WEGAs for decades. My preference is my HD WEGA, as mentioned earlier ALL resolutions crystal clear and no upscale issues! You can't beat the brightness of a tube TV even when viewed at an extreme angle. The LED TV is better ONLY if the signal is in HD; anything SD (such as retro game consoles) look like crap when upscaled on the fixed resolution of a 1080p flat screen.

 

 

 

 

 

I get that you're a fanboy of CRTs, and at least self admitted, but you're glossing over quite a few things here. First, SD consoles will not look the way they do on analog sets on an HDCRT. The same way they don't look right on an LCD either. Light guns don't work. 720P isn't displayed in progressive. All consumer sets I was aware of back in the early 2K's upscaled a 720P signal to 1080i. Geometry and convergence issues are still prevelent. They aren't entirely lag free as there's digital processing.

 

While I understand hanging on to old analog sets for retro consoles, I don't see any advantage to an HD-crt. light guns don't work, scanlines aren't right for 240P games.

[CRTGAMER]

Thanks again for the replies everyone! After using the Sony WEGA from 2006 for a few more days I've decided that it's fine for now. Sure, the colors bleed a little and the picture doesn't look quite as nice as the one on my old Trinitron from '95, but it still looks alright with all but one of my systems. It's vastly better looking than my modern Vizo HDTV for everything except the Wii, so I'll just hook the Wii up to the modern TV and play everything else on the WEGA until something better pops up on Craigslist.

 

With how old CRTs are getting at this point I'm probably not in any position to be picky about the visual quality and should just take what I can get. Even if the WEGA has seen a lot of use and doesn't look quite as good as my last Trinitron it's still way better than trying to play my retro consoles on a modern LCD/LED TV, or spending silly money on an upscaler and console mods. Sometimes the hardest lesson to learn in life is learning to settle and just be happy with what you have, but I'm working on it.

 

Good for you, smart move! Model number of your WEGA? The Wii with component hookup should look fine on the Sony. Of note even if your TV has Component input, it has to be an HD CRT in order to kick on the 480p mode. For game consoles that have the capability, at least go SVideo to separate the Chroma and Luma signals, a much better signal then Composite. This is another advantage of the last generation CRTs; the SVideo input! Even Component is getting obsolete on modern TVs.

 

If you already exhausted thru the TV settings Menu screen, you could try tweaking the hidden Service Menu. Just be very careful, hitting the wrong numbers too high or low could brick your TV.

 

If a focus issue, an easy fix of adjusting the focus knob inside at the flyback transformer. Have extreme care here, use a plastic "TV Tech" TV screwdriver since the flyback has high voltage. The adjustment can easily be done without the risk of shock as long as you ONLY touch that focus knob with the screwdriver.

 

 

First, SD consoles will not look the way they do on analog sets on an HDCRT. The same way they don't look right on an LCD either. Light guns don't work. 720P isn't displayed in progressive. All consumer sets I was aware of back in the early 2K's upscaled a 720P signal to 1080i. Geometry and convergence issues are still prevelent. They aren't entirely lag free as there's digital processing.

 

While I understand hanging on to old analog sets for retro consoles, I don't see any advantage to an HD-crt. light guns don't work, scanlines aren't right for 240P games.

 

For the best HD picture get the LED TV - For the best SD with HD option, get the HD CRT

Do you own an HD CRT or even seen one in person? I think you would have a different take if you saw the SD signal as well as HD on the WEGA 1080i tube. I own both SD and HD models and yes you do lose retro light gun support on the 1080i tube. However, there are NO UPSCALE issues of SD signals on the HD CRT unlike upscale blur pixels of LCDs and LEDs.

 

I laugh when the standard "supposed expert" answer is lag issues, the CRT gun drawing the screen is certainly much faster then the human eye. The "lag" is the upscale on older LCDs, the pixel distortion spreading the lower resolution image out to the 720p or 1080p screen.

Edited November 4, 2016 by CRTGAMER

[Joe Stella]

Tons of old Trinitron or similar TVs out there for no to little money.

[CatPix]

 

Good for you, smart move! Model number of your WEGA? The Wii with component hookup should look fine on the Sony. Of note even if your TV has Component input, it has to be an HD CRT in order to kick on the 480p mode.

Little correction : 480/576p isn't HD, but ED (enhanced definition).

Several TV sets are ED compatible but not HD compatible; of course all HD sets are ED compatible.

[keepdreamin]

 

 

 

 

For the best HD picture get the LED TV - For the best SD with HD option, get the HD CRT

Do you own an HD CRT or even seen one in person? I think you would have a different take if you saw the SD signal as well as HD on the WEGA 1080i tube. I own both SD and HD models and yes you do lose retro light gun support on the 1080i tube. However, there are NO UPSCALE issues of SD signals on the HD CRT unlike upscale blur pixels of LCDs and LEDs.

 

I laugh when the standard "supposed expert" answer is lag issues, the CRT gun drawing the screen is certainly much faster then the human eye. The "lag" is the upscale on older LCDs, the pixel distortion spreading the lower resolution image out to the 720p or 1080p screen.

 

 

I'm surprised a supposed expert ( ) such as yourself didn't catch that I was talking about input lag, not pixel response. They are two entirely different things.. HD CRTs do have varying degrees of INPUT lag, which is why duck hunt doesn't work. Input lag has nothing to do with the display tech itself, it has to do with digital processing. Analog CRTs weren't super quick because there was an electron gun spraying the screen, it's because there wasn't any processing. They puked out the incoming signal immediately.

 

240P consoles DO NOT look like they do on SD sets. the aperture grille is finer for the higher scan tube, scanlines won't look right. It may look overall a bit better than a flat panel depending, but it won't beat a good SD set. So again, I don't understand why if you're going to dedicate space for a 200lb + behemoth, why it would be for a set that isn't great at either HD or SD.

 

And yes, I actually owned the last production HD crt Sony had for the US market. It was a viable choice back when LCDs were still terrible at black levels and plasmas were burning in.

 

But... again, there's no reason to have one today. HD content will look better on a flat panel as you said. And your SD stuff will look better on an SD crt. So I still don't see the use case for an HD crt. maybe with the exception of the Wii, XBOX and other component based hardware that was mainly doing 480P back in the early 2K's.

 

You also completely glossed over convergence and geometry, but I get it. You love your CRTs

Edited November 4, 2016 by keepdreamin

[CRTGAMER]

Good for you, smart move! Model number of your WEGA? The Wii with component hookup should look fine on the Sony. Of note even if your TV has Component input, it has to be an HD CRT in order to kick on the 480p mode.

Little correction : 480/576p isn't HD, but ED (enhanced definition).

Several TV sets are ED compatible but not HD compatible; of course all HD sets are ED compatible.

 

I posted HD CRT due to the unknown if one can even locate an ED CRT, the HD CRT is needed to display the 480 Progressive (ED) mode since an SD CRT won't be able to even with the misleading Component inputs. The SD TV Component inputs are only 480i just like Composite and SVideo, the term used were Color Stream on the earlier sets. Component on a 480i set still worth utilizing due to the even better signal separation over SVideo and Composite; just no 480p support.

 

I really wish I could find a ED (Extended Definition) 480p CRT TV, I have read about them and only finding ED LCDs. The strange thing is my PS2 Guncon 2 has a 480p 100hz mode so there must be an ED CRT out there, possibly very uncommon Japanese CRTs!

Edited November 4, 2016 by CRTGAMER

[CatPix]

Ah interesting.

Due to having SCART here, all component CRT TV sold here were ED sets at least, or after 2007, HD Ready/HD Compatible sets (that were able to take 720P/1080i signals but downcaled them to 576p).

Only a few Samsung models here were really HD able.

Some Sony and Philips sets are in the middle, by having a VGA input able to display a 800*600 resolution.

[Blazing Lazers]

I posted HD CRT due to the unknown if one can even locate an ED CRT, the HD CRT is needed to display the 480 Progressive (ED) mode since an SD CRT won't be able to even with the misleading Component inputs. The SD TV Component inputs are only 480i just like Composite and SVideo, the term used were Color Stream on the earlier sets. Component on a 480i set still worth utilizing due to the even better signal separation over SVideo and Composite; just no 480p support.

 

I really wish I could find a ED (Extended Definition) 480p CRT TV, I have read about them and only finding ED LCDs. The strange thing is my PS2 Guncon 2 has a 480p 100hz mode so there must be an ED CRT out there, possibly very uncommon Japanese CRTs!

Keep checking Craigslist and thrift stores- they do exist, and usually gave an EDTV logo on them. Pretty sure I also have one or two in my stocks, and will check that momentarily.

[Bratwurst]

Tube tvs are still in widescale use and manufacture in China, and also the consumer market in India. You could in theory have tubes and corresponding chassis boards shipped into the states, or even whole self contained television sets, if you were willing to pay the expense of moving them overseas to wherever you are... but the quality and longevity of such things would be highly questionable because it's made in China... for the mainland Chinese... and cheaply.

 

Anyway that NOS television from 1995 probably looked great because it barely had any hours, while any used sets acquired through Craigslist or the curbside probably had several thousand hours of use, which contributes to softer focus of the cathode tube. Imagine a television that was run all day every day for years. The phosphors eventually deplete with use of the set.The horizontal line can probably be fixed by replacing capacitors in the vertical hold circuit of the chassis (motherboard basically). The busted coaxial fitting is probably from you abusing it. Also replaceable.

[CatPix]

They still manufacture them in China and India?

I would be interested to have some sources if you know of some.

LCD panels are now ultra cheap to manufacture, and the shipping in both weight and size (mostly size for smaller TV, and weight for the larger) is also a huge cost saving.

 

Maybe black and white portable TVs? I saw one in 16/9 so that's a thing.

I guess that there is some oscilloscope tube manufacturers left, and I heard that there was at least one factory that made small scale CRT tubes but those were of course quite expensive and meant for special applications. And they were in the US or Europe.

[Bratwurst]

Goto alibaba.com and search 'crt tv' and 'crt tube'.

[Cobra Commander]

The last CRT I saw at a store was at Toy's R' Us like five years ago. It was shaped kind of like Lightning McQueen from Pixar's "Cars" movie. I think it was a 13" or 20".

[Turbo-Torch]

Most likely $15 bucks worth of new capacitors will have your old one looking like new. Caps go bad with age, it's just a fact of life. If you bought a "new" 30 year old TV that's never been plugged in, odds are it needs all new capacitors to be 100%.

There is no need to go dicking around with new picture tubes, yokes or flybacks as they don't go bad with age and there won't be anything wrong with them on a low hour set. Furthermore, screw around alignment/convergence and someone who knows what they're doing will still spend hours getting it back to normal using proper test patterns.

Actually, I've never had a flyback give any kind of visual problems. They've always worked fine until hearing a loud firecracker pop followed by smoke.

 

Option #2: Start picking up free TVs off Craigslist. Eventually you'll find one with low hours that you like. CRT TVs won't be rare in any of our lifetimes. Throughout the 1990s they were selling well over 20 million a year in the US. Over 200 freakin' million sold in that decade...it just cracks me up when people claim they're becoming rare, or worse yet, begin hoarding them.

I just did a quick scan of my local Craigslist and counted 67 available on the first page. All CRT and FREE.

The biggest downside is getting rid of the ones you don't want. Most city and commercial trash pick up services charge to take them. Places like Goodwill don't want them either.

[MaximRecoil]

Actually, I've never had a flyback give any kind of visual problems. They've always worked fine until hearing a loud firecracker pop followed by smoke.

 

A bad flyback transformer can cause the picture to jump or "snap", which happens if a crack develops in the housing. High voltage leaks through the crack to ground, briefly disturbing the picture as it does so. I replaced the flybacks in the pair of Nintendo/Sanyo 20-Z2AWs in my Super Punch-Out machine; they were both cracked and causing the picture to snap every 30 seconds or so. Fortunately they make reproduction flybacks for the Nintendo/Sanyo arcade monitors, though they aren't exactly plug-n-play. They just used a random flyback transformer housing which has been manufactured to be electrically compatible with the Nintendo/Sanyo chassis. You have to do some "hacking" to install them, but they work fine.

 

The screen and/or focus pot can go bad too, which could cause a blurry picture and/or way too much brightness or not enough brightness

Edited November 6, 2016 by MaximRecoil

[Bratwurst]

Flybacks tend to go during lightning storms when the set is plugged into an outlet without a surge protector, that's about it as far as my experiences with them go. I feel there's a curve to the availability and eventual scarcity of CRT televisions/monitors, though. Sure there were a lot of them made... and a lot of people are wasteful jerks who don't think twice about throwing something in the dump or storing them in less than ideal conditions. Give it another ten or twenty years.

[simbalion]

I've had flybacks blow on G07 monitors already. The place that was recapping mine started replacing the flybacks standard with every recap job they did a few years back. The monitor in my Centipede was redone and worked fine for a couple years, then the original flyback went. I don't know if they are making new ones for those monitors or not, but they look the same. With TVs, that is a different story I would guess. Oddly, the flybacks on vintage TVs rarely seem to die. Usually the CRTs die and then good luck finding a replacement. I keep a few spare 10BP4's around for my late 40's sets. CRTs seemed to improve as time went by. Early TV's didn't get the hours on them later sets do, but they often are found with replacement CRTs whereas later sets get more hours use, but the CRTs seem to hold up later. Zenith had some rugged CRTs in the 60's. I have a 1962, 23 inch Zenith B/W set that the original CRT still tests strong one and it is sharp. I have a spare, but will probably never use it. The same goes for 1973 Zenith color console I was given a few years back. CRT is still good in it, in spite of the fact it probably got used even more than the 1962 set did. I need to get that set rebuilt as I wanted it for my vintage game systems. It's a hybrid. Mostly tube, but has a few socketed transistors on that hand-wired chassis.

[Jim Pez]

It's too bad some company doesn't make tv's for old school gaming. I heard that a few years ago some tv manufactures we're developing crt tv's that were supposed to be thinner and lighter than the older ones.

[MaximRecoil]

It's too bad some company doesn't make tv's for old school gaming. I heard that a few years ago some tv manufactures we're developing crt tv's that were supposed to be thinner and lighter than the older ones.

 

You might be thinking of SED, which was abandoned. It would have been perfect for high resolution content, but it wouldn't have been any better for classic games than a regular high resolution CRT (such as a CRT PC monitor).

 

The perfect TV for ~240p video games, from my perspective, would be a 32" or 36" standard resolution (~15 kHz) CRT with a standard spherical tube + shadow mask (not a flat tube + aperture grille), along with a full range of analog video inputs: RF, composite, S-video, component, and RGB.

 

The TV I have is pretty close to that; it's 32" and the only thing it's missing is RGB input. It isn't a high-end TV; it is an RCA 32V430T that I bought new in 2006 at Wal-mart for something like $250. But it had, and still has, a beautiful picture straight out of the box: very sharp/focused, colors dead on, very bright/vibrant. It is still like new because I haven't used it very much. Mostly, I only use it when I'm in the mood to play old video games, which amounts to maybe a few weeks out of each year. It will never wear out in my lifetime (though premature failure is a possibility with anything). At some point I may have to re-cap the chassis, but that's no problem; I've done that plenty of times with old arcade monitors. Technically, I can fix anything on a CRT display, as long as I can find the parts (which is often easier said than done).