Best Place to buy CRTs for classic systems?

GregN

aka The Grinch
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 16, 2000
Posts
17,570
Some good suggestions in this thread. The grocery store that closed down almost overnight became a thrift store and I noticed it had TVs with component and S-Video for $25. I didn't get the brand though.

That suggestion for calling TV stations is overlooked and a very good idea too.
 

Heinz

Parteizeit
15 Year Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Posts
22,333
I'm not sure what it's like in the US but if you can find a Loewe CRT they are an excellent choice. SCART RGB on the rear and some even came fitted with VGA inputs. Superb quality.
 

The Webmiester

Pvt. Picklestein,
Joined
Aug 4, 2001
Posts
425
I want to chime in here because I went through the CRT obsession a few months ago. I went through 4 Sony Wegas and a Toshiba flat CRT.

ALL had bad geometry that was NOT correctable in the menus. However it's worth noting that I was going through 27" models which do not have horizontal bow controls etc. And the Toshiba had brightness issues going from left (brighter) to right (dimmer). My personal guess is that the TVs were all produced in the great Electrolytic Capacitor crisis of the early 2000s that left thousands of pieces of electronics susceptible to early cap crapout.

Anyone who wants to tell me their Wega has perfect geometry is welcome to upload a screen shot of the 240p Test Suite grid to show me I'm wrong! Maybe I got 4 duds in a row.

My recommendation is somehow get a copy of 240p Test Suite to test out any monitor you're about to drag home, or at least before you drag it into the basement.

In the end I got a Framemeister and a 720p LCD, and RGB modded my systems with RGB mini DIN ports, bypassing the whole SCART thing. Love it.
 

tacoguy

Rasputin's Rose Gardener
Joined
Feb 19, 2015
Posts
723
Craigslist is filled with people wanting to get rid of their CRTs.
 

DNSDies

I LOVE HILLARY CLINTON!
Joined
Mar 15, 2015
Posts
1,983
I picked up a 20" Sony PVM on DotMed for $170 shipped about a year and a half ago. I think they're going for about $180-$200 now.
It's a kind of online marketplace for old medical equipment, which includes professional video monitors.

Just make sure they pack the monitor well, or, preferably, find a local seller and pick it up in person and save the $40-$90 shipping charges and avoid the risk of UPS dragging it behind their truck for giggles.
 

ggallegos1

Cholecystectomy Required.,
10 Year Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2013
Posts
5,153
I recently picked up a Sharp 27" CRT off CL for free and will migrate it to the game room. Picture is great and the sound is very nice, waiting for a modded scart-component encoder to come in the mail soon.
 
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