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does display type matter ?

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I have always wondered how the display you watch movies on effects the quality of what you are viewing . Say you have a very cheap , low quality lcd tv and a cheap ,low quality blu ray player , and then you have a very high end Crt Tv and a high end vcr …which is the better viewing experience ? I would like to see a side by side comparison of this some time .I have a Samsung Slimfit 38 inch widescreen HD crt tv from the mid 2000’s that has hdmi outputs as well as a 60 inch LG smart tv and to me , the crt looks better .I would like to take pics to compare but I do not have a camera that is up to the task . I have also thought about ( just for fun ) taking my old Sanyo 4x3 16 inch crt from 1997 and hooking an av to hdmi converter to it to see how it looks .anyway , I would be interested to hear peoples meaningful thoughts on this

https://screamsinthevoid.deviantart.com/

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This should probably go in the technical questions sub forum, but…

CRT in general is a better display technology than LCD. Especilaly cheap LCD. CRT has much better contrast with far deeper, richer blacks. That can actually make even a standard def crt look better than a cheap hd lcd if the screens aren’t too big. But if you’ve got an HD crt, yeah, that will almost certainly look better than a crappy low-end lcd (and it probably looks better than a lot of higher end LCD too).

Bottom line, the quality (and calibration) of your display absolutely has a dramatic effect on your viewing experience. And the larger the screen is, it becomes even more important to get a quality display because all the problems become more obvious.

Oh, but I seriously doubt many people would ever thing Vhs looks better than blu ray, even in your example. The resolution is just too drastic.

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Gamers also swear by CRT displays because for pretty much every console that existed prior to the Xbox 360, the systems were tailored for those displays. LCDs have a hard time upscaling the weird resolutions of old consoles, which CRTs had no problem with (they don’t really have a set resolution). This also contributes to input lag on the LCD displays. Oh, and scanlines.

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That is a pretty shitty LCD screen. It appears to have an edge-lit backlight, which the industry has moved away from in recent years. Large strides have been made in the intervening years, and I highly suggest you take a look at OLED offerings, which can display 4K HDR images with black levels that honestly cannot get any blacker, as OLED displays do not have backlights.

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just came across this video , the CRT tv and Vcr in this are of very good quality , he is playing the 95 faces vhs of A New Hope on it and it looks fantastically crisp and clear . I think the Faces set may be my new fave as the colors are the most vibrant out of the vhs copies I own and even pop more on the displays I own than the official Blu Rays too . I played 3 of my copies at the same time this weekend …the 92 widescreen vhs on my widescreen hd crt ( it had some dynamic colors but just a little faded ) the GOUT on my 60 inch LCD through a blu ray player ( the color grading was terrible , the x-wing pilot uniforms all had a pinkish melon like color to them no matter how I adjusted the color settings , although the image was very sharp ) and the faces 95 vhs on my 13 inch vcr/tv combo and that looked the most vibrant to me . Still not a fan of the blue tie lasers in Empire though . Seeing the same tape in this video on a big ass CRT , I am even more impressed with how crisp and clear a quality vhs can look on a quality CRT . Makes me want to seek out the widescreen faces vhs box set now . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJjNA4PuiGY

https://screamsinthevoid.deviantart.com/

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So, would it be in a casual viewer’s interest to invest in a CRT TV if they don’t have the space/money for a huge modern setup? If so, could someone point me in the right direction in regard to learning more about this kind of thing/where to look to purchase reliable CRT TVs (second-hand market would be sketchy, yes?)? I’m starting to get more and more concerned about the picture quality of the things I watch, and I think my cheap HD LCD TV might be holding me back a bit.
Or is the difference not that noticeable/significant? I don’t want to be a hipster type, only getting older technology for the sake of it or anything lol

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^well,since I am pushing 50 , I guess I am older technology ,lol . And Sony Trinitron and Samsung are excellent CRT models to answer your question .There are also some stores in existence that specialize in old technology and have a passion for it as well as for refurbishing it as the guy in the video does .This is just one such place you might find what you seek …https://www.captainedsfurniture.com/page/about-us.html

https://screamsinthevoid.deviantart.com/

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Can’t go wrong with a Sony Trinitron. They were top-of-the-line CRTs, and I got mine for $15. It looks much better than my cheap LCD screen, but it bares to keep in mind that it’s not HD, so newer sources looked blurry.

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Impressive stuff (and am off for a Pink Floyd session later 😃)

Got to admit I wish I kept my old CRT tv from years back - was great for watching sci-fi films on in that it seemed to have a depth of quality not really there for many of the-then modern flatscreen tv’s at the time (Pioneer and Panasonic plasma units apart). The CRT did take up fair bit of room though, IIRC - yet gave off a fair bit of heat, which wasn’t bad for cold nights in front of the tv in a small room.

A little patience goes a long way on this old-school Rebel base. If you are having issues finding what you are looking for, these will be of some help…

Welcome to the OriginalTrilogy.com | Introduce yourself in here | Useful info within : About : Help : Site Rules : Fan Project Rules : Announcements
How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com; some info & answers + FAQs - includes info on how to search for projects and threads on the OT•com

A Project Index for Star Wars Preservations (Harmy’s Despecialized & 4K77/80/83 etc) : A Project Index for Star Wars Fan Edits (adywan & Hal 9000 etc)

… and take your time to look around this site before posting - to get a feel for this place. Don’t just lazily make yet another thread asking for projects.

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^ I know what you mean , they can be heavy beasts and a bit of energy hogs . I am not and never was knocking modern LCD televisions though , I have a 50 inch LG in my living room and modern movies on blu ray look great on it . The crt that I have in my bedroom is very much like this one …https://www.cnet.com/products/samsung-ws32z40-slimfit-32-crt-tv/specs/ and for me , it is an objectively better display . Warmer , with more depth and I admit that a large part of it is also nostalgia ,as the CRT is what I grew up with . Since this one has Hdmi ports , I sometimes bring my blu ray player and hook it up and it looks amazing .And on said nostalgia front , I love old tech and if I were rich , I would have a room full of it .

https://screamsinthevoid.deviantart.com/

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In the mid 2000s, I connected my laptop to one of my CRT monitors and I was astounded at just how rich the colours, tones and contrast were in comparison to that of the LCD. When I discussed this with an engineer friend, he knowingly smiled and nodded and confirmed the superiority of CRT’s vs much of the LCD’s that were on the market and mused that in years to come, many consumers will regret disposing of their current CRT TV’s.

Till 2013, this model was my main TV:

FSCRT

A hefty beast, running at 100hz with 3x SCART sockets, additional rear AV input/outputs and front AV input/outputs on a discreet push open/close panel. The only reason why I no longer have it today, is because it died on me and so, I replaced it with a 50" Panasonic Viera plasma. I still have VGA CRT monitors and a spare (4:3) Samsung CRT TV - but it’s not a patch on the Sony. In a side by side comparison between the Viera and a CRT monitor, the latter still won out in terms of colours.

“Logic is the battlefield of adulthood.”

  • Howard Berk
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^ very cool and a nice looking Sony Trinitron you had there . I remember reading articles from about 2005 or so where manufacturers were starting to try to compete with flat panel lcd’s at the time because they were prohibitively expensive , so they began to make some wider crt tubes and put bezels on them to mimic that flat screens at a far less expensive price point . Too bad it took this for crt manufacturers to up their game .The technology had really reached a zenith point ( ha ,Zenith , see what I did there ?) after 60 or so years of being around , they had a lot of time to develop . I can only imagine what we would have today if they continued to innovate .

https://screamsinthevoid.deviantart.com/

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Thanks! 😃 It was with great reluctance that I accepted its eventual passing. Watching the 80s/90s CBS widescreen OT Laserdiscs on it, was an absolute delight! My immediate thought was to consider looking for a replacement but at the same time, I had to accept that eventually, I’d want to have access to HD stuff.

Unlike my Trinitron: the Viera doesn’t have S-Video: and I can’t remember the reasoning that Panasonic gave me for its omission (yet RCA composite is provided) but I wasn’t impressed.

You might appreciate this:

Are CRTs Still Manufactured or Used?
https://www.thomaselectronics.com/faq/

Yes, I definitely saw what you did there. 😉

(On a side note, Zenith TV’s were not that commonplace in the UK but I did encounter them.)

“Logic is the battlefield of adulthood.”

  • Howard Berk
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thanks for your reply , and yes , I do appreciate that link ! I love learning about esoteric and old tech and that was an eye opener . I had no idea how many applications there were for cathode ray tubes . and glad you got my Zenith reference .I am in the U.S.A. and they were common here in the 70’s and 80’s . They were usually in wooden consoles and more like part of everyday furniture that some people used to put little white doilies on top of.

https://screamsinthevoid.deviantart.com/

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I’m amazed at Zenith’s history as an innovator in the electronics industry. It’s overlooked in comparison to others and this makes it particularly sad to see that they’re no longer an independent company.

https://www.zenith.com/heritage/

This was my desktop display workhorse from 2004 till 2016.

https://www.cnet.com/products/dell-e772p-crt-monitor-17-series/specs/

Dell E772p

Dell E772p

Completely outdated and superseded by my other display units but it still beats them all, hands down, in its representation of colour. 😃

“Logic is the battlefield of adulthood.”

  • Howard Berk