[?]are scanlines important for you?

No. Atleast not by default. Some I've heard can be modified to support RGB input. But best to make sure it normally supports it.

I just wish my PVM let me externally control the picture position and size as Mortal Kombat has some of the picture not visible.

 

This is driving me crazy on my "new" TV (an old Sony KV32) - RGB is (as usual) shifted to the left a little, it's cutting off the left edge of some games and movies, and there's no way of manually altering that on the set without fucking around in a service menu. WHY.

 

It's stupid when you consider most PC monitors offer the exact adjustment control that TVs tend to lack that we want. It's sad that you sort of take for granted the ability to fit the picture to the damn screen yourself. But luckily for me, MK is the only thing that really has that issue on my PVM monitor.

 

If my CRT screen dies (it is dying :noooo, should I be looking for another quality CRT (which is becoming hard here too) or should I be investing in something like a XRGB 3? Does anyone have any experience with this device?

I read that the digital output has slight lag, and it's a hit and miss with screen compatibility, but there have been a few firmware upgrades, enabling widescreen support and apparently fixing some of these bugs.

It's hard to find these devices now, they are out of stock everywhere, but might be the best investment to display my classic consoles on HD screens.

 

http://www.hdboxpro.com/eng/public.htm
and a scart > component box, saw it on another forum and it has good reviews, cheap too.

 

Lines are gay.

 

no, they aren't!

 

Which models don't? As it is Sony's line of "professional monitor" I've always seen them as RGB... even though it only supports an obscure connection.

 

All of them that are B&W and the L1 line and descendants.

BTW, technically every color monitor can be modified for RGB input.

 

Anything can be modified for anything... depends on how much love you want to put into it. What does a normal CRT usually entail?

 

It could be as simple as bypassing the NTSC decoder, or it could mean building your own clamping and amplification circuit, or if everything is integrated into a single chip, it could mean reimplementing everything. Personally I wouldn't bother attempting it, there's a high learning curve like TV repair.