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GCN LAB IMPRESSIONS

The quiet death of the CRT monitor

We all know that when advertisers on TV say “Hurry…while supplies last!” they are actually sitting on a warehouse full of plastic choppers or steak knives or tomato plant seeds. There is little need to rush your order. And I suspect if they get close to somehow selling out, they’ll simply make more.

So when I got a press release from Dream Arcades saying that they were running out of CRT monitors, I didn’t pay it much heed at first. But the press release went on to say that companies that used to make CRTs either went out of business or are now only selling LCDs and other display types.

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Dream Arcades simply can’t find any new CRTs to buy, so its custom arcade machines will have to be based on LCDs from now on. That sounded reasonable, though it still seems a stretch that the CRT would disappear even in arcades, where it had seemed to find a permanent home.

I still didn’t quite believe it. CRTs were everywhere not that long ago, and some agencies hung onto theirs for a really long time. Could the supply really be all used up?

As an experiment, I did a Google search for “buy CRT monitor” and the first 10 listings were all from eBay and sellers of used equipment. Then I found a page from ViewSonic that touted a 15-inch CRT it was selling. I read about the monitor and then clicked on the button to begin the purchase process. File not found.

The same thing happened with page about a Dell CRT. It looked like it was available at first, but really wasn’t. In fact, other than used and refurbished dealers, I could only find a handful of companies that still sold them, and most of those were based in Asia with names I’ve never heard of before.

You won’t catch me crying about the loss of these not-so-gentle giants. The lab still has a few in boxes, but mostly for posterity’s sake. Back when they were the norm, my eyes were strained to the point where I almost needed glasses (switching to all-LCDs saved the day), I injured my back lifting one of the 30-inch heavies, a few broke for no obvious reason, and a really bad one we were testing actually caught on fire.

And that doesn’t even go into the many annoyances in terms of visual quality, the fact that you could see the grounding wires behind the tube, or that they didn’t look right until you warmed them up for a good 15 minutes or so.

No, if the CRT era has in fact finally passed, even from its arcade stronghold, I say let it rest in piece. I knocked a few of them into pieces over the years, and this seems a better fate. Like an old soldier, they just faded away.  

 

Reader Comments

Thu, Jun 6, 2013 Windstone

What are these companies ? Could you give me a link ?

Sat, Oct 6, 2012 blasto

LCD monitors are quite a bit worse for gaming than CRT, especially cheap LCD monitors. The newest 120 hz LCDs ($400) are almost as good, but still have input lag and have a shorter lifespan than CRT. And the responsiveness relies on TN panel, which cuts the viewing angle. It's really too bad they don't make CRT any more. For an arcade box it's a vastly superior product.

Sat, Sep 29, 2012

i miss crt monitors they looked cooler then having a flat rectenguler lcd on top of my old desktop

Fri, Sep 21, 2012 BaltFed

I had an old Dell 19" Flat Square monitor with my desktop. When they refreshed a few years ago with laptops and an external LCD, I picked up the LCD and saw that the entire thing fit within the bezel of my CRT. I told the "No thanks! I need the larger one!" It was great to warm up bread from the fridge for lunch. I liked the size but it did hog the desktop. Alas, The power supply started to go. At least I got them to replace it with a 19" LCD. The new refresh is bringing a faster laptop and a 21" LCD. The problem with LCDs is that you need to used them at their native resolution, which for some of us means too small a print. People forget that one sized doesn't fit all. Still have a few around the house, though.

Mon, Jul 16, 2012 CJ

Gotta remember, some of the earliest "RAM" arrays were actually hacked TV tubes.

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