About half a year ago, I found someone giving away a CRT tv that had HDMI ports on the back of it. I was shocked to know that those older TV's had HDMI ports. Has anyone here used them with a PC to do gaming on, with emulators etc ? if so how was the experience and quality of picture ? Are they easy to come by in your area, because around here they're quite rare. I'm going to spend most of the day researching them, finding reviews on amazon , brand name research etc. EDIT: Definition of older would be not being able to be bought anymore at mainstream places like bestbuy etc. EDIT: Suppose there are HDMI to RCA converters out there, that enable regular CRT's to work with it however it's hard to get one that is good quality with 5 star reviews, and will produce a good picture or if you know of one let us know ?
What is your definition of old? I've seen a few widescreen HDTV CRT televisions with HDMI. Even recently at a thrift store. They wanted $50-60 a pop though. Edit: Added a photo from 05/27/2016. You can barely see it, but there's an HDMI logo on the bottom left hand corner.
That priced so high for a thrift store. At the one I work at we just price them at their size in inches rounded up to the nearest $5 and they take ages to sell, especially since we get probably 2 pallets of TV's in a day on average. HDMI in a used CRT isn't that rare anymore now that people are finally upgrading to flatscreens.
Yes, definitely too high. Which is why I passed on them. Not to mention one of the two had a issues with the tube.
There are HD CRTs with DVI input as well, came out before HDMI became the standard. Easily hooked up to HDMI with an adapter cable. However, the RCA analog audio input has to be used on the DVI sets. I have two Sony WEGA HD TVs that are like this, SD video all the way up to 1080i and no upscale issues.
HDMI capable TVs are quite common on HD CRTs made during the SD to HD broadcast transition period (circa 2008-ish or earlier). If you are going to buy a CRT you typically can't go wrong with SONY. Some model might not be great as others, but generally they will still be much better than other brands. XBR is their high-end consumer line and that's what videophiles will gravitate toward. As for connecting to PC, I'm not sure it will be optimal, as consumer CRT TVs are 1080i only. You will only find 1080p sets in computer monitor lines and if I'm not mistaken, they usually take BNC connectors as oppose to HDMI. Lastly, those cables you posted are not converter cables. They are passive, meaning there are no electronic circuitry within to convert analog to digital signal. (RCA is analog, whereas HDMI is digital only) Those cables are likely very specialized/custom cable configuration designed for a certain projector, which is merely using the HDMI port as it's multi-out socket.
I have an HDMI HD CRT TV. The text part of the computer might be hard on the eyes, but once you got an emulator running on it I'm sure it would look awesome. These things make retro games look amazing.
I had a JVC wide-screen HD CRT with D-terminal and HDMI ports. It looked nice when using a HD source but looked total ass when it came to SD signals such as Retro game consoles.
I've tried for many years to score one and I was able to get my hands on a 40 inches HD CRT that didn't last for a week. I remember one of the videos from My Life In Gaming that they say the same as Yakumo and the same that I'll tell you: HD CRT have the same problems from early LCD displays. The video might be this one: Or maybe it's another one talking about XRGB but I do remember them talking about HD CRT image quality.
High end HD CRTs started getting HDMI at some point in the mid-2000s right before they were quickly discontinued. If finding one with HDMI is tough, you may be able to find one with DVI a little easier. You would have to find some other way (optical?) to carry sound, but it's another option on the table.
This is why I got rid of mine, already had a few CRTs. It was a Sony 32'' from 2005, capable of 720p and 1080i. It was great with my Original Xbox and X360. Perfect colors, no blur or input lag. Just playing on that TV, I was better at some games. Mame looked great.
Is there any real point in an HD CRT? Serious question. If you want lag free gaming with a modern console why would you use a CRT in the first place instead of whatever low-lag LCD with HDMI you can get for $100 these days?
You must not have ever used a CRT screen before. No refresh rate problems, way better contrast, scan lines make retro games look amazing, not to mention said retro games were designed with CRT in mind, so some of the little graphical tricks they used will not work on LCD. Another good example, view some 60 fps material on an LCD then do it on a CRT. It looks so much smoother on the CRT.
That lag assumption is really the upscale issues of newer LCD and LED TVs or a game pausing during an online streaming connection. SD and HDCRTs do NOT have any video lag issues. Agree, a direct HDMI digital adapter (cable or plug) is needed for a DVI input TV. Analog (RCA Input) audio still needs to be used.
He said HD CRT, not a common CRT. The HD CRT is designed for Component or HDMI and will look bad with Composite or S-Video and that's it. It's beautiful with Component. There's really a point. If you have the physical space and can get one new, it's just best than any LCD. It's like a Plasma hehe The masses sometimes choose the cheap and worst path. LCD is cheap and worst than high end CRT or Plasma. We are stucked with the worst until some company decides to make these things again.
