What Is The Best Size/Brand Of CRT TV For Classic Gaming?

Imo 28" is too big and 14" is too small. My personal preference would be either a 19" or a 21" TV with a 4:3 resolution. Me personally I have a 28" Panasonic Quintrix flat screen widescreen TV. The picture quality is superb, it was bought in 2004 and comes from what could be considered the very end of its generation. RGB is absolutely stunning, so is S-Video, so much so that I've yet to buy an HDTV, digital TV looks superior on this screen and RGB is so sharp that it's good enough for me to enjoy modern consoles.

Back to the point in question though, I think 28" is too big for retro gaming as the further back you go in resolution the worse the picture looks. The thing with RGB is that it looks great no matter what, so on a smaller screen you get superior picture quality from both old and new retro games. If you go too small though it hampers the experience so it's best to find some kind of middle ground. Flat screen and curved screen are both great, imo flat screens have clearer picture quality but curved screens display the game how they were originally intended, so you can go ether way.

I reccomend taking the effort to find a good TV though, it's absolutely THE best way to play retro games.

 

Only problem there is that a lot of them will actually be non-working sets, so it's 50/50 unless they let you power-on test them (unlikely).
It's only really a good place to go if you're good at fixing these things and want to salvage spare parts - and that's even if they let you remove anything!
A lot of the council run places will not let you remove stuff due to Health & Safety and all that nonsense.

 

If you've got a car you can try finding stuff on the net, eBay, Craigslist, Gumtree all have plenty of TVs waiting to be moved on. Obviously not everyone has a car, but a bit of petrol in the tank could get you what you want.

 

thats true although alot of them will be happy for you to lift the tv sets as they just take up space and most of the ones they salvage are working sets. also there may be a local retailer or warehouse selling referbs / sets with limited warranty for cheap enough. a place near me does this, sets from £20 upwards. its only open 1 day per week, might be similar places around.

 

Right now CRT TVs are dirt cheap everywhere but eventually they will end up rare seeing as everyone is trashing them. Better stock up now

 

I've got a flat screen Phillips CRT(27") that I got about 4 years ago, anything but Component looks a bit on the shit side. Not to mention the thing has weird random problems where parts of the screen will be tinted Purple or green in one spot and you have to turn it off and wait for the phosphors to cool down and then turn it back on for it to be gone. Really ANNOYING.

I've got another GE TV i've had since 1992 (19") that is pretty fantastic for Composite video stuff(it has a label on the back of it for S-Video. But no jack. I only assume was part of a higher end model in the same range. It also has labelings for color/tint/etc adjustments too but no pots. Only holes.), only problem is the last time we moved, my dad got a deep scratch on the glass. (Which is overlookable) but the composite jack is finally starting to give out, so I have to put a pocket knife blade in between the leads to keep the video from going out. I opened the TV once to see if I could find the PCB for it to solder it.. But it was covered in dust and i'm not familiar with CRT inner workings.


If only my Symphonic 27" set hadn't have gone bad about 5 years ago, I'd still have that. It was a fantastic tv for Composite video.

My brother still has the same model as I had. But the composite jack on it is giving out too if not for that it'd be fine too.

I'm hoping to be able to find some new CRTs in the near future for Retro games. That, or get a scaler :/

 

It's sad that Trinitrons have the light gun problem because they are such great televisions. Otherwise, Toshibas seem to go a long way. And, not a TV, but shoutout to the Commodore 1702 looking good after all these years.

 

Indeed, they also have a problem with displaying some console in Black and white. It happens with my genesis model 1 and my Colecovision. I have the 32XBR250. I recently Put my Trinitron in permanent TATE and i use it for Vert shmups. I now have a LG Flatron and it does not have B&W issues, its decent but the picture was so much nicer on the trinitron... I have yet to test the flatron with lightguns but i believe it will be the same as it is also a flat screen CRT.

 

Another tip for in the UK, if you have a local British Heart Foundation shop, some of them sell furniture and electrical equipment. Their 14" - 24" 4:3 CRT's generally are dirt cheap, even 16:9 32" CRT's are relatively inexpensive and you can usually try before you buy. (reminds me I really should grab a tv for my dreamcast kiosk from them)

 

Where did you both read that Trinitrons do not work with Retro Lightguns? If the Sony is a non HD tube it will work.

@ Max - Be careful of that TATE mode. Pop the cover and you'll get a better idea how the tube is mounted. Note the base of my WEGA, there is no safe support inside for the rotation.

 

On my Xbox the lightgun works but on the sides and corners the aim gets totally off, even after i calibrate it. I could never get it to work right. I read ( cant remember exactly where ) about how this was caused by the glass being flat, whereas the LightGun was designed for a traditional Curved glass.

However the LG works fine on my NES, from what i understand it uses a different much simpler technology that is not affected by the curvature of the screen.

Thanx for the warning, i see clearly what you mean by looking at the picture. For now the TV is working well and the tube does not seems to be having any problem from being Tated however when i get the chance ill try to get someone to help me move it off so i can modify it for additional support.

 

personally i like my samsung GXTV....

it's not the biggest boy on the block, but it has a certain charm :cool-new:

 

I had a 70's/80's era Trinitron that would be off when using the Guncon 2, didn't bother testing with any other types of lightguns though.

 

its the curvature of the glass at the corners of a trinitron they're not actually "flat" the glass just shaped to be flat on the outside which may be why it screws up certain lightguns

 

Right, let's clear some things up, then?

What's so bad about flat screen CRTs? There were some excellent sets well worth having.

IMHO, a 21" (non-widescreen) is perfect for gaming. Get a decent set - preferably one with multiple RGB SCART sockets. Note that 2 or 3 SCART sockets on a television set does NOT mean they are all RGB! Many sets have only 1 (or 2) RGB sockets - the others being composite and s-video only. Or a monitor (e.g. Amiga or pro/broadcast Sony/Panasonic), which can be better than some televisions. There's nothing wrong with a 14" television, but it can be a bit small on multiplayer games (especially 4 player GoldenEye)!

No tip should allow you to remove items. It's for several reasons, yes health and safety is a big factor... and indemnity if the item is broken or covered in something nasty. I saw a ZX Spectrum at the tip not so long ago - they wouldn't let me take it! The televisions would be a mixed bag of working and non-working, anyway... and they're often left uncovered, so will have been rained upon. If it hasn't been tested, don't get it unless you're a competent service engineer.

British Heart Foundation is indeed one of the few charity shops that will accept electrical items, and do indeed have larger furniture stores that carry them nowadays. This is due to PAT testing requirements to ensure it is safe. Other shops that accept (and test) electricals include Salvation Army and Cancer Research. I would recommend trying charity shops first, as it's better to give the money to charity than some reclamation centre that's been donated items then sells them on for a huge profit.

As for lightguns, they won't work on 100hz televisions unless you have a lightgun that's 100hz compatible (no official ones are). So the issue with Trinitrons is more likely to be that it's a 100hz television.

 

I must be needing glasses because 21 inches is so small!

When I go to my gf house the only option is a 21 inches LG and i have to seat 30cm from the tv.

29 is the minimum for me. Why would you not like a huge 40 inches crt?

 

Probably has one of those LG Philips tubes. They were a bit naff and usually went bad after only a few years.

 

I had a 27" Flat-Screen RCA bought around 04/05. Great Picture for retro consoles and Xbox/PS2 via component.

Gave it to my parents when I got an HDTV, I gotta get it back some time.

 

I was given a LG flatron flat glass CRT. The Image totally sucks compared to my Trinitron, im going to give it to the thrift store and find a second trinitron instead.

 

I am currently using a Toshiba 35AF44 CRT by far the best picture I have had of all the CRT TV's I have picked up in the past 3 years. I also have a Sony Wega KV36FS13. I was expecting a lot more from this set, but nope, so this TV will be leaving shortly.