Every time I see, advertisements. And new videos about new computer, monitors I have to chuckle the, past three to four years have seen high refresh rate and higher than 1080p resolution. Monitors flood the, market 75. Hertz 120. Hertz 144, Hertz 1440p. 4k, as a pixel junkie I'm certainly not going to complain about more frames or pixels but, most of these monitors are so boring we, spent 10 to 15 years with flat panel LCD monitors. Being far inferior, to their CRT, ancestors, that I find it hard. To be excited, for this modern technology to catch up I'm Evils Vox and welcome back to box talks Tech I'm a huge tech head but I still prefer those, old tube monitors, that people are think are just garbage or ancient relics in this, video we'll be deep diving into why you should or shouldn't, buy an old CRT monitor, in 2018. Get those cathodes, warming up and let's go. The. Mod mic Wireless, can boldly, go where no mic, has, gone before. This microphone, can attach to any headphones. Requires, no, additional wires features. Very low latency a dual capsule, microphone 12, hour battery, life and LED, indicators, on the receiver so you know when you're muted and or when the battery is running low and you can basically run your entire house without ever losing a signal what, more could you ask for learn, more by clicking the link in the video description. This. Video is gonna go deep and there will be quite a bit of little technical, details but the important part is the fun, exploring, old technology, high refresh and frame rates crazy, resolutions. Awesome. Looking screens the early 2000s, was a much, cooler, time for, tech than today in some ways and hopefully. That shows here before, we get too technical or complicated, I want to mention that PC CRT monitors are not the same as CRT. TVs that, you may have played your old Nintendo, or PlayStation, on without. Specialized. Signal, conversion which we, will cover later in the video most. PC, CRT, monitors cannot, view signals from composite, or the old RCA, cables, and your old video game consoles, if you're, just looking to get a more authentic retro, games experience, or fix you'll, likely want to pick up an old CRT TV. I posted, a full video about that experience last year which you can check out in the link in the video description. Let's. Get vocab, in history out of the way first, CRT. Means cathode, ray tube and, the displays, work by shooting electrons, from a cathode, in the back of the box to, the front this, is very different. Than how modern LCD. And LED, screens, work, CRT. Monitors, are big bulky. Heavy and don't support modern video connections, so they're useless. Right well, that, common perception, is only partially, true they, do take up them quite a bit more room than flat screens but they aren't always huge CRT. Monitors, do have to fit on a desk or at least a desk from the 90s, and early 2000s, after all CRTs. Are available in a plethora of sizes, colors and even shapes there's, certainly a lot more personality. To CRTs, than the flat black does of just about every modern screen and not, all CRTs, have bubbled, out screens that are so prone to glares there, are a variety of flat screen models out there as well CRT monitors with a flat Trinitron, screen are highly. Sought after by enthusiasts. Unlike. Their TV counterparts, PC CRTs, haven't had anywhere near as much of a resurgence, in popularity for, retro, gaming mainly. Because people consider, retro gaming to be just about old consoles, and a, lot of progress has been made to keep old PC games playable, such, as all of the efforts made by gog.com. It's. A site that sells new games but also does a ton of legwork, to make old games playable, on modern, hardware and even includes digital versions, of the original goodies, included, with the games and I'd also recommend no, clips documentary, on their, work linked, in the description. But. PCC, Artie's still have redeeming, qualities that make them fun for enthusiasts, and just for those of us who prefer CR T's to LCDs in general and it naturally makes sense to extend that to computer, use as well there's.
A Few generalized reasons, that people prefer CRT. Monitors, over LCDs. Nostalgia. Of proper compatibility, with older pcs, and older games input. Latency refresh. Rate and resolution flexibility. And perceived. Color depth or dynamic, range. Technically. Normal, LCD, or LED monitors. And CRT, monitors, have the same dynamic. Range this, is referred to as standard. Dynamic range or SDR. A light, variance measurement, or maximum, luminance, of 100. Nits this, has been the standard for a very long time as it was based on the limits of CRT. Technology only. Recently, are we seeing a change to this with HDR, technology, for new screens the, issue here, is in, how different types of screens actually display, light, despite. Having the same measured, dynamic, range CRTs. And plasma, TVs actually, appear to the eye to, be better in this regard, some, often, refer to this as the CRTs, image having more, color depth blacks, are deeper White's are brighter colors, pop more LCDs. More often look flat due to the back Lighting's inability, to vary brightness, enough or on, a per pixel basics, like OLED, and just, can't go to pure black in the first place this, is even better when combined, with house CRT, monitors, handle, sharpness, unlike. CRT, TVs, that have a small number of vertical lines and can usually only, accept up to 240 or 480i signals by and noisy analog, connections, CRT. Monitors are pure, RGB. Via, the HD 15, or de 15, connector, also known as the VGA connector, by most normal. People on rare, occasions, a CRT monitor will have a different, connectors such as the BNC RGB. HV connections, on this impression 200, V X monitor I have but, it's, all meant for the same signals some of the more exotic older, 3d and CAD workstations, had bigger connectors, like this weird 13, w 3 here but these aren't common finds from consumer, sets this. Expensive, gateway I have has to VGA, inputs and a USB hub crazy, stuff but, this thing was 1,000, bucks in the year 2000. Too, bad it's dying and won't be usable. This. Means the monitor has a much cleaner, image connection, than your old TVs hooked up to your old game systems plus CRTs. Don't have a fixed, resolution in. The first place depending. On the maximum, horizontal refresh. Rate and the video bandwidth, or pixel. Clock of the monitor a CRT, monitor can display resolutions, from 640. By 480 up, to a phenomenal, 2048, by 1536, my. Main CRT, monitors with a 96, kilohertz max horizontal, rates can go up to 1600, by 1200 resolution, at 80 Hertz but, this broken gateway monitor with a 121. Kilohertz max rate can do 1,800, by 1440. At 80 Hertz that's, essentially the four by three aspect ratio, of 1440p, at 80 Hertz from the year 2000, this, is starting to show why newer screen tech hasn't impressed me that much they were we, were doing all of this 20 years ago hell, a commonly, shared article, when people first get into PC CRT monitors is this, one showing that John Carmack was developing, quake on a 28, inch 1080p. CRT, monitor back in 1995. Unlike. LCDs, however, CRTs. Generally, remain sharp at non-native. Resolutions. LCDs. Need to use the monitor, scaler to scale up a lower resolution signal. To the monitors actual, display resolution, which, results, in the image looking a lot softer than it should and potentially. Adding input, lag it, usually just looks, plain bad especially, if you're not using proper integer. Scaled resolutions, to your monitors native resolution, however, CRTs. Are pretty sharp through most resolutions. Sometimes. Some of the higher resolutions, aren't as sharp as, lower resolutions. Due to how some of the tubes work but, for most usable, resolutions. Generally. They're sharp no matter what you're throwing at them this. Era of PC gaming was so much better because of this you could run 60fps, slower detailed, games at crazy high resolutions, then drop, down to 102 4 by 768 or 1280, by 960 and how your refresh rate for some stuff and down, to 640 by 480 for, older dos games and your, image will look amazing through, and through on an, LCD it's. Generally, safer to down your in-game detail, than to lower the display resolution though, some newer games are finally, releasing with separate render resolution functionality. To help combat this and all, of this is delivered, with no inherent, added input latency no perceivable. Lag this, is still mostly, analog, versus, digital only, on LCDs, and LEDs, Digital, equals processing, time equals input delay it's, always there even if it's low enough that you can't detect it however, generally, speaking analog. Means no input, lag it's, not quite, that simple, I know but it's a good rule to keep in mind granted, if you're using a PC CRT, with a video converter of some kind there might technically, be some, added delay from that process though good.
Ones Would add a max of one, frames worth of lag or, delay to, the stream just. Like with CRT TVs, PC, CRT monitors, have no latency, which is hugely important, for many gaming enthusiasts, heck, for a long time counter-strike, competitive, players still, preferred using crts for the high refresh rates and no latency up until very recently. While. Old games themselves are being adapted via their various communities, to run on modern versions, of Windows if you still want to use your old childhood, windows 98 machine or build a dedicated, Windows, XP machine generally, that's only going to output VGA you, can get conversions, to up convert that to HDMI, and in many, cases that's fine but these same games on a CRT don't. Always look so on on an LCD some, people just want the pure authentic experience. Alternatively. Some people want to use their CRTs, on modern machines basic. DisplayPort, or HDMI, to VGA adapters. Are all right for a basic, setup but, they will add a tiny bit of input lag in some cases and they are very limited in terms of what resolution, and refresh rate combinations, they can support most. Are using old HDMI, and DisplayPort specifications. And raw, VGA, to VGA analog, actually supported, a lot more bandwidth than early HDMI, and DisplayPort conversions. If you want something truly capable of this kind of conversion look, to the HD, fury devices, they produce HDMI, devices that can do virtually anything including. Low lag high, bandwidth, signal conversion, this, isn't a problem if you have a graphics card with the analog, pins still, in the DVI connector, these are the four pins and square around the horizontal, big pin this, is referred to as a DVI, connector. With both analog, and digital pins. And the, last GPUs, to be produced with the analog pins still included, or the nvidia gtx 980ti. And the AMD radeon r9 380. X then. You can use a native analog, DVI to vga adapter and, have access to your monitors full capabilities. Maybe, try out the custom resolution, software - if needed side. Note the Xbox 360, actually had a specific VGA, cable, sewed alongside, it to allow users who only had access to VGA, and CRT, monitors to play the system which, can make for an interesting experience, most.
CRT, Monitors, are a four by three aspect. Ratio wider, aspect ratios did not become mainstream until a while after, LCDs, took over but, there are a couple options you could try to hunt down some of the Silicon Graphics widescreen, models of the late 90s like what Carmack used so good. Luck they are incredibly, rare but there's, also the holy grail sony fw, 900, and w, 916, buy 10 widescreen, CRT. It's, 24, inches probably weighs as much as I do and is highly sought after by many enthusiasts, myself. Included been, hunting for one for two years now I think and no real leads locally, and they're. Expensive a lot of the more exotic monitors. Like the 1995. 1080p, one are old CAD 3d, design monitors, from the 90s which have no, on-screen, display or on-screen, OSD, controls and they, have to be adjusted by specialized, software which can be quite the hassle to find and track down and use later. Ones are fine to work with however most. Of the CRTs, I have can even run 720p. That's 1280, by 720 at a hundred twenty Hertz which is awesome, and if you use custom resolution, tools to run interlaced, modes which it's, still a CRT so you won't see interlaced lines you. Can frequently double, the refresh rate making it feel quite a bit snappier. But. Choose wisely as things are not all sunshine. And rainbows on the CRT front. Unfortunately. Without the original manual it can be hard to find the specs of specific, CRT monitors, i've been, lucky that a lot of the ones i've looked at have had some specs listed, on CNET I hope, someone has archived to their CRT pages I'll be sad when they go down there. You can sometimes find the max bandwidth, and horizontal, rate to see what resolutions, and refresh rates are supported, they. Are not always a hundred percent accurate but good, for getting a glances, info, at the monitor if you can't find anything else other, times like with this impression 200, B X that I have there's, not an ounce of information, available by googling I have not found anything, the. Size and weight can be a big deal but it may not sound like it but it really is once, you start getting to the 20 plus inch size range these things can weigh up to ath pounds in some cases and spino means evenly distributed, weight it's all in the front this, 21 inch impression, monitor was almost, 70, pounds as as this big gateway while, CRTs were built to last the components, do die eventually and there's not many repair shops left that will touch them and it's very dangerous. To open them up yourself and work on them the voltages, running through there would put more than a little sizzle in your step I haven't, found anywhere local that to me that will touch them which has been quite frustrating, a lot, of these monitors, were the ugly beige or white which, can yellow over time some, retro Brite can take care of this but it is extra, work this. Gateway VX, 1120, that i got for free is a very high-end, monitor, with a maximum, horizontal, refresh, rate of 121, kilohertz but, it's very worn and dying the screen is incredibly, dark and almost unusable I can try to open it up and adjust the dial to brighten it more but, they met that may not fix the issue and then it wouldn't be permanent, and now it's up to me to safely dispose of this, 72 pound beast and burnin. Is an, issue if you find some that we're in offices, or healthcare spaces, where the same screen had been pulled up for years on end you'll, have burnin, such as what's seen on this IBM which, isn't really fixable, if it's light such as on the screen here you won't notice it much in-game but, it cannot be obvious, on scenes a pure dark or solid, color background or, something like that thankfully. Most PC, CRT, monitors do degauss, themselves, upon starting up but you also have a built-in digas tool in the OSD menu so, so, there's no need for a wand or coil if you somehow develop issues which require that specific, fix. Sometimes. You'll find one and someone has chopped off the VGA connector, to recycle, the copper a lot, of CRTs, did not have detachable, VGA cables, so good luck soldering, a new one on to that mess. And if. You bite off more than you can chew with the giant CRT it's not something you can easily get rid of either there's, the issue of physically, moving it sure but it's not something you can just dispose. Of you, should never put electronics, in the trash but, rather send them to recycling, centers or send, in programs, such as through staples but. It's actually illegal to put CRT, monitors, in the trash or CRT, TVs they are dangerous to waste employees, and to, the environment some. Cities have recycling, centers you can drop them off at but in locations. Are actually nothing but a stockpile, of these in a warehouse as they have been, completely, unable to keep up with the, disassembly, process in the massive, basically.
Disposal. Of everyone's CRTs, if, you do need to get rid of one I highly request that you start with Craigslist local, Facebook seller groups let, go and offer up don't, expect to get much money for them but to list it for free and someone will take it or put it on the edge of your yard near the street with a free sign on it and Pickers will likely grab it. Some. People can see the actual image flicker or refresh, on a CRT monitor at 60, Hertz this, is usually resolved, by going literally, any higher than 60 Hertz but, it is something I see sometimes and it's definitely there this can lead to users, getting headaches from CRT, usage which can, really suck I did. Mention that they're not compatible with your old game consoles, there are some fancy multi, sync monitors, that can do both such as from NEC but, these aren't common instead. You would have to use an upscale ER or a line, doubler such as the open source scan converter, or retro. Tank to make this happen I love. Doing, this I have this running in my retro game room running, my older consoles, through the OS SC line doubler means that I get sharper, retro games blown up on my nicer looking PC CRT monitor and it's, still nearly lag free I run, the systems into their appropriate switches, for either four-component RGB, via scart or vga for the Dreamcast and then, into the OS SC then, I take the OS SCS HDMI, output and run it through the HD, fury nano, GX, to, fit it to VGA and we're, good to go this, monitor can handle all of the full scaling, modes of the OSS see even, 5 times from 240p. It's, awesome gamecube, bye component cables in the 480p to x-mode is amazing. But this, is a complex, setup and it gets quite pricey so it's certainly not for everyone. For. Systems that already output, 480p, but through component, ypbpr, cables. You can just get transcoders, that converts the signal without adding, any lag just, be careful not to get one that tries to scale the signal you don't want a scaler just a transcoder, check. Out key digital for some of those so how to try, to have a couple examples linked.
In The description. If. You want to buy a CRT, monitor look local, Facebook market place our local Facebook groups Craigslist, let go offer up driving. Around neighborhoods, avoid. EBay, everything, is price gouged to take advantage, of those wanting to get into retro gaming and shipping these things is usually, a death sentence I actually bought two of these impression, 200 V X to go together but one guy killed in shipping it was sad, this is incredibly common press f to pay respects, keep. Checking regularly I have found the ones I have by creating a custom Craigslist, search as a bookmark interest, checking it weekly sometimes, new things pop up most, people don't even want money for these in fact some even offer money to have them taken away from their house I can't. Make the choice of picking up a CRT for, you it can be an easy decision Oh pick up this old little monitor and enjoy peak display, experience, or it can be a super. Involved. Process. Depending, on how you want to approach it yeah. I, can't, in good faith blindly, just say yeah go buy one but I do think it can be a good experience for many with an open mind I started, with a small IBM. With burnin from a buddy and now, have five CRT. Monitors in my apartment, as well as a few CRT TVs. Yeah. There, are options available to you factors, to consider use, cases to really evaluate and, risks, involved but a CRT computer monitor, can be an amazing gaming and overall. Experience if you, want to get serious about CRTs. Consider, joining a Facebook group that I'm a part of called the CRT, collective, linked in the description and we, also have a PC CRT group branched, off of it I am. A postbox and thanks, for listening to Vox talks tech I hope you enjoyed this fun video, it's I know means a complete guide but it should be. Enough to get. You started down the rabbit hole should you desire hit, the like button if you enjoyed the video subscribe for. More awesome tech, content, and random, deep, dives into topics that I care about into nostalgic, tech and things like that and consider. Joining our inner circle of patreon subscribers where, you can get early access to videos behind the scenes q, and A's special, roles on our discord server and more, I'll. See you in the next one.
2018-12-30