24" CRT versus 24" LCD?

TurnpikeLad

Just having been to PAX, I've realized how pitiful my little 14" flatscreen is for playing modern games. I've decided to upgrade to a 24" widescreen monitor. The first place I went was craigslist, where I found a guy selling a "flat" CRT monitor for 200 bucks. (It's a Sony GDM-FW9011.) Assuming it works fine, what are the advantages and disadvantages of going for this monitor over a similarly-sized LCD, if I could find one for a similar price?

Could anybody who has one of these "flat" CRTs tell me how their brightness and the vividness of their colors compare to the nice bright flatscreens that have been coming out lately?

Brolo

A 24 inch CRT is going to weigh over a hundred pounds and be at least a foot deep. It also won't actually be 24 inches diagonal in most cases. Most likely the image quality will be significantly better than cheaper 24" panels.

taliosfalcon

The CRT will have more accurate colors than an LCD and much, much better blacks, on the flipside I find that even cheap TN panel LCDs have better looking colors, they aren't accurate, and thus no good for photo work, but the colors are so much more vibrant games and movies look much better imo.

Macro9

That is actually a nice CRT monitor. It can go up to 2304 x 1440 @ 80Hz max. It can run 1920X1200 at 85Hz. It weighs near 100 pounds though.

If I was in the market for a 24in monitor I would go for an LCD though.

meatflower

I have an FW900, or rather the rebranded HP one. Same monitor, says HP instead of Sony on the front.

They're really great and massively heavy. I bought mine on Craigslist. People rarely type in FW900 so there are probably more on there than it looks like, gotta be creative with the searches.

Your only concern should be age and condition. When I got mine it was fine but after about 6 months I started noticing a strange convergence issue. If you had a box on a contrasting background, a very faint offset version of the box could be seen in the background.

I have a local TV repair guy who reconditioned a 21" Viewsonic CRT for me, and I could probably have it done with this one but I picked up a 24" LCD instead. The lack of inputs finally got to me. It works well with a 360/PC setup though. VGA kit on the 360 and then DVI->BNC for the PC. Look them up on Monoprice. Image quality is ever so slightly better with BNC.

Rook

I really wouldn't buy a CRT.

Stormwatcher

I used to be a staunch defender of CRTs, but nowadays the LCD's are kicking their asses HARD.

Daedalus

CRTs typically have better color, LCDs never ever have geometry problems.

It's all a tradeoff.

JohnDoe

The CRT will have better image quality and handle multiple resolutions better.

The downside is that it will weight a ton and take up a lot of space.

Desert_Eagle25

Space is king unless you do ridiculous photowork. Even then, the pricer LCD's are fine for professional quality photo editing. Plus, I have dual screen 24" LCD's and I doubt my desk could support dual screen 24" CRT's. Jesus.

TM2 Rampage

I was thinking about getting an FW900, too, but then I decided to get a 24 inch LCD. Not just a cheap kind, though...

There are 3 basic types of screens that LCDs use. TN, VA, and IPS. It's gonna take a while to describe each one, so I'll just let you google that yourself.

Anyway I got an LG Flatron L246-WP, I believe. P-MVA panel, with HDMI and HDCP. Works with Xbox 360 and PS3 at 16x9 1080p. The monitor is discontinued now, I think, and the current LG Flatron models are all TN panels. But you can still get the P-MVA models used or from some sources online.

L|ama

Having been forced to go back to a semi-decent CRT after having an average LCD for a few months, holy fuck LCD all the way.

TurnpikeLad

Thanks for the input, guys. I'm going to go down and check the thing out on Tuesday. I guess these things tend to go wrong in idiosyncratic ways, so there's really nothing for me to do but look at the monitor myself.

I'm tending to think that if there's nothing wrong, I'll just go for it. I haven't been able to find many comparable quality LCD screens for less than $350.

meatflower

TurnpikeLad wrote: »

Thanks for the input, guys. I'm going to go down and check the thing out on Tuesday. I guess these things tend to go wrong in idiosyncratic ways, so there's really nothing for me to do but look at the monitor myself.

I'm tending to think that if there's nothing wrong, I'll just go for it. I haven't been able to find many comparable quality LCD screens for less than $350.

It might look like shit when you go to check it out. When I bought mine the guy had the brightness pumped all the way up and it looked washed out as fuck. Once I got it home I spent a lot of time calibrating it and it ended up looking completley different. So play around with that if possible.

As long as the glass isn't scratched you're in good shape though. Other problems can be fixed, just like the one I had. I only haven't because I don't need the monitor right now.

TM2 Rampage

Oh yeah, I got an LCD panel b/c my old CRT crapped out on me (it would go *click* and then the picture would get squished). It seems like a possibly common problem, so I decided against getting another CRT...

OremLK

I hope you're prepared for how enormous this thing is going to be.

I would go with a 22" widescreen LCD, myself.

One other thing that hasn't been mentioned: I've heard it said that CRTs are worse on your eyes due to the way they refresh, and I believe it.

Stormwatcher

LCDs have better image quality at native resolution btw. CRTs have better color fidelity, though.

corcorigan

OremLK wrote: »

I hope you're prepared for how enormous this thing is going to be.

I would go with a 22" widescreen LCD, myself.

One other thing that hasn't been mentioned: I've heard it said that CRTs are worse on your eyes due to the way they refresh, and I believe it.

I wouldn't, they all use the same res as 20" ones. So just bigger pixels.

I'd go for either a 20" or a 24" myself.

OremLK

I like the bigger pixels. It makes things more readable, and the price difference between 20" and 22" is negligible.

wunderbar

OremLK wrote: »

I like the bigger pixels. It makes things more readable, and the price difference between 20" and 22" is negligible.

plus higher pixel density = more chance for dead pixels.

Azio

Rolo wrote: »

A 24 inch CRT is going to weigh over a hundred pounds and be at least a foot deep. It also won't actually be 24 inches diagonal in most cases. Most likely the image quality will be significantly better than cheaper 24" panels.

A foot, hah!

Frankly, a 37" LCD is more practical and takes up less room on your desk than a 20" CRT. Tube monitors are a dead technology, they're huge, they hurt to read and they look like shit.

Cambios

Stormwatcher wrote: »

I used to be a staunch defender of CRTs, but nowadays the LCD's are kicking their asses HARD.

Same here.

Also, my last 2 Sony CRTs barely lasted a year and a half.

Don't they still have those weird metal cables that divide the screen into thirds? They are faint, but still noticeable.

Stormwatcher

Cambios wrote: »

Stormwatcher wrote: »

I used to be a staunch defender of CRTs, but nowadays the LCD's are kicking their asses HARD.

Same here.

Also, my last 2 Sony CRTs barely lasted a year and a half.

Don't they still have those weird metal cables that divide the screen into thirds? They are faint, but still noticeable.

I used a 19" 4:3 Sony CRT that had those wires. They didn't bother me much though.

Migliori

It's worth considering that the Sony 24" has power consumption of around 3 times that of LCD 24" displays. Over several years of regular daily use this could easily be $200 difference.

victor_c26

Stormwatcher wrote: »

Cambios wrote: »

Stormwatcher wrote: »

I used to be a staunch defender of CRTs, but nowadays the LCD's are kicking their asses HARD.

Same here.

Also, my last 2 Sony CRTs barely lasted a year and a half.

Don't they still have those weird metal cables that divide the screen into thirds? They are faint, but still noticeable.

I used a 19" 4:3 Sony CRT that had those wires. They didn't bother me much though.

Are these the faint dark lines that were apparent on some CRTs?

TurnpikeLad

Migliori wrote: »

It's worth considering that the Sony 24" has power consumption of around 3 times that of LCD 24" displays. Over several years of regular daily use this could easily be $200 difference.

That's a good thing to remember. I guess the hundred-dollar price difference isn't as clear-cut as it looks.

Stormwatcher

victor_c26 wrote: »

Stormwatcher wrote: »

Cambios wrote: »

Stormwatcher wrote: »

I used to be a staunch defender of CRTs, but nowadays the LCD's are kicking their asses HARD.

Same here.

Also, my last 2 Sony CRTs barely lasted a year and a half.

Don't they still have those weird metal cables that divide the screen into thirds? They are faint, but still noticeable.

I used a 19" 4:3 Sony CRT that had those wires. They didn't bother me much though.

Are these the faint dark lines that were apparent on some CRTs?

They're horizontal and only present in BIG monitors, 19" up. Then yeah, they are.

victor_c26

Stormwatcher wrote: »

victor_c26 wrote: »

Stormwatcher wrote: »

Cambios wrote: »

Stormwatcher wrote: »

I used to be a staunch defender of CRTs, but nowadays the LCD's are kicking their asses HARD.

Same here.

Also, my last 2 Sony CRTs barely lasted a year and a half.

Don't they still have those weird metal cables that divide the screen into thirds? They are faint, but still noticeable.

I used a 19" 4:3 Sony CRT that had those wires. They didn't bother me much though.

Are these the faint dark lines that were apparent on some CRTs?

They're horizontal and only present in BIG monitors, 19" up. Then yeah, they are.

Exactly. I always wondered what those were (Noticed them on my Previous Samsumg 19" 955DF

meatflower

It's part of how Trinitron (Sony's CRT tech) works. Those metal lines are holding the shadow mask in place.

You can wiki it.

Ego

Stormwatcher wrote: »

victor_c26 wrote: »

Stormwatcher wrote: »

Cambios wrote: »

Stormwatcher wrote: »

I used to be a staunch defender of CRTs, but nowadays the LCD's are kicking their asses HARD.

Same here.

Also, my last 2 Sony CRTs barely lasted a year and a half.

Don't they still have those weird metal cables that divide the screen into thirds? They are faint, but still noticeable.

I used a 19" 4:3 Sony CRT that had those wires. They didn't bother me much though.

Are these the faint dark lines that were apparent on some CRTs?

They're horizontal and only present in BIG monitors, 19" up. Then yeah, they are.

They're in all trinitron displays, the number of lines depends on the size of the display. The line is actually a little wire that holds all the other vertical wires in place (if I remember correctly)

TurnpikeLad

Just saw it. Picture quality was awesome, blacks were black, resolution was amazing and I am excited to take it home. If it doesn't fit in my room where I want it, the guy's cool with me bringing it back and getting my money back.

This really is the best CRT I've seen.

meatflower

Congratulations fellow FW900 owner! I'll be sending you a complimentary membership card and sign you up for our mailing list.

That second sentence was a lie.

contraband

yeah that is basically the final boss of consumer crts

Cambios

Ego wrote: »

They're in all trinitron displays, the number of lines depends on the size of the display. The line is actually a little wire that holds all the other vertical wires in place (if I remember correctly)

The wires are one of those things that are no problem... until you notice them for the first time (or a friend mentions them). From that point forward, they are a huge annoyance and seem gigantic.

Ego

Haha I don't mind them, but I think it's that I'd known they were there from working with the displays prior to ever having owned one. If I'd owned one first and suddenly someone says 'you know, your monitor has faint horizontal lines going through it,' that would have driven me all sorts of crazy.

I actually still keep a 19" trinitron around for hooking up to random systems. The resolutions supported still surprise me every once in a while (1920x1200, for example.) If I remember right, it has three horizontal lines.

For anyone who hasn't discovered it: when you're using your trinitron, try tapping your finger against the side of the display. If nothing happens, tap a little harder. What you see happen is why you have those little horizontal lines: without em, the verticals can actually tangle. Neat, hey?

And while I'm at it, try eating doritos while looking at them.

TM2 Rampage

I have a Sony Trinitron Wega 32 or 36 inch CRT TV... I don't think I've ever noticed the horizontal lines...

Stormwatcher

TM2 Rampage wrote: »

I have a Sony Trinitron Wega 32 or 36 inch CRT TV... I don't think I've ever noticed the horizontal lines...

There are no lines on TEEVEES, the lines are necessary on computer monitors, which have much greater resolutions.

Viscountalpha

Stormwatcher wrote: »

TM2 Rampage wrote: »

I have a Sony Trinitron Wega 32 or 36 inch CRT TV... I don't think I've ever noticed the horizontal lines...

There are no lines on TEEVEES, the lines are necessary on computer monitors, which have much greater resolutions.

The shadowmask is still there, you just have to look closer.

Don't make me break out how CRT's work.

You dunnit now!

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2006/03/20/how_crt_and_lcd_monitors_work/1

LCD's dodge this a bit and you get a clearer and less jittery image (unless the LCD is a POS which I've seen) Just going from VGA to DVI connector is a pretty fantastic jump.

I saw a cheap 24inch samsung for around 350$ at costco. I would still rather have one with component in just because it would be nice but that always adds another 100$ to the equation.

Or this dell S2409W

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11188942&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|84|1680|62021&N=4018599&Mo=5&pos=0&No=3&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=62021&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&ec=BC-EC12116-Cat1680&topnav=

I don't think you can go wrong either way.

Stormwatcher

Ok, sorry

JamesKeenan

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009094

See the light.