CRTs are still in the game (for me)

Well as some of you may know I gave up my 19" LCD display, granted not a very high quality one, but it was nice none the less (no dead pixels, and, according to my tastes minimal bleeding) for a widescreen GDM-FW900 24" CRT monitor.

I've had it for a bit of time now (about 5-6 days) so the buzz of excitement that always follows recieving any new peice of hardware has now worn off and I can give a fairly unbaised opinion of the product.

When I first recieved my monitor (used, off ebay) I was glad to find it in tolerable condition, minor scuffs on the bezel and no visible marks on the screen, a beautiful unit if I may say so myself I set it up, and set it to the "native" (recommended) resolution, of course being involved with LCDs for as long as I have I soon realized my mistake in that just because it was recommended did not mean I HAD to use it, which is a good thing because at 1920x1200 I could hardly read anything, and it began to give me a killer headache.

After tweaking for an hour with convergance and other CRT settings I hadnt seen in over a year I still wasnt happy with the clarity of text and other desktop items, they were just to blurred and not LCD razer sharp. By this time I could barely see straight, so I left the monitor on and went to watch some TV.... About an hour later I come back and things seem much more tolerable.

Long story short: the thing grows on you. I remember when I first setup my LCD the sharpness of the text gave me a headache, now it was the other way around. A few days go by, and now its just as my LCD was, except a much larger screen to look at and a higher resolution!

So for desktop work i've settled on a resolution of 1360x850@120Hz, very crisp and good for programming and graphics work.

Of course gaming is where things really came together, I'd forgotten that, what was equivalent to 800x600 could be just as clear as a higher resolution! Man what a godsend to my FPS, especially with this video card... Also the colors are great as everyone will attest to, i can actually see into dark corners now!

So to sum it up, switch back to CRT has been kind of rocky, but i'm glad I did it... Though i still think the perfect setup would be one of these, plus a 2405FPW

21" CRT is the way I roll. Won't be giving it up until it catches fire. I don't care that it weighs 50 friggin pounds and takes up half of my kitchen table.

nice

I've been with LCD bc if i had a CRT it would take up my whole desk and i need it for work

But we had an old e-machines CRT lying around still in its box(i think its 3-4 yrs old- 17" 16" viewable) and since my sisters monitor was old as hell(it wasnt even a flatscreen CRT) i decided to put that one in her room for her as a surprise(shes only 10 so it doesnt matter what monitor she has she only uses it for basically aim, internet aand sometimes a few older games but i decided 2 be nice) but before i needed to clarify something

I've never gamed on a CRT monitor before, and since i heard people talking about how good their CRT was i decided to put this one in and give F.E.A.R a try

and let me tell you it was amazing - edges were crazy sharp(1280x1024), colors were perfect, dark areas were truly dark, picture quality was amazing, and everything was just amazing - even though i dont notice ghosting on the LCD that i have unless i move my mouse really fast and take a pic, the image seemed to stay extremely sharp(much sharper than LCD) during intense firefights and stuff

and it wasn't even a good CRT monitor i cant even imagine what that would look like

After i went back to my LCD it was meh.... but I've gotta stay with LCD and to me they are great, just nothing compared even to a crappy CRT

well that's my story - congratz on the CRT

soulfly1448 said:

21" CRT is the way I roll. Won't be giving it up until it catches fire. I don't care that it weighs 50 friggin pounds and takes up half of my kitchen table.

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Same with me. Love my 21" CRT!

Another 21" CRT fan here. I need a big screen and I wouldn't take the risk of having such a large LCD which would be so easily damaged and would cost so much more. I get my 21" screens on ebay as refurbs for around £50 each.

Jesus! 24'??? The TV in my room isn't that big.....
My GF managed to burn her 21' HP monitor and bought a new Samsung LCD, I might try to get her fixed and upgrade my 17' or even go dual!!!

I had a similar experience with my Dell 2001FP LCD and my FW900 CRT side by side , the LCD was brighter & 'sharper' but I still ended up getting rid of the LCD due to its weak black levels, viewing angles, motion blur when playing fast paced games, and I didnt think it would bother me but being stuck in a native resolution wasnt working out so well. It looked decent when I ran it out of its native res but motion blur was noticablely worse when I did.

Ive been using the FW900 solo for about 5 months now and have no regrets

iv got dual 21's..flat screen sonys - 1280x1025 85hz, games were ok but i got bored
i picked up a 2005fpw cheap a week ago, and havent looked back, no blur, clear texts, all that goodness

but the crt you got is supposed to be the best
got pix?

After using a LCD at work all day, and an LCD for my main PC, the nice 19in Sony CRT I use for gaming starts to look much less sharp. The images seem more "3 dimensional" than the LCD though, and black/dark colors look better. If a good gaming LCD would come along for a good price I would seriously consider replacing it. A good 12-bit LCD with DVI and a quick response time could easily keep up I think.

Rav said:

After using a LCD at work all day, and an LCD for my main PC, the nice 19in Sony CRT I use for gaming starts to look much less sharp. The images seem more "3 dimensional" than the LCD though, and black/dark colors look better. If a good gaming LCD would come along for a good price I would seriously consider replacing it. A good 12-bit LCD with DVI and a quick response time could easily keep up I think.

Click to expand...

I agree, text is far blurrier, but nothing you cant get used to IMO...

I'll try to get some pictures up tonight.

Once you go Diamondtron, you never go back.
Well, we'll see how some of the new LED backlit LCDs fare, but for now I am sticking to my Mitsubishi 22" CRTs...

Great, my screen just died!
I have no control over the functions, the screen is blurry, sometimes it shrinks to the middle and sometimes it just stretches like mad!
I got to get a new one tomorrow.

Well, it had a good run though.....

If you have "blurry text" turn on all the little nice effects XP has (forgot the names) and a few of them make the text more clear. I haven't noticed the text being more blurry with my new CRT than my LCD (which by the way, my parents love that LCD now, so I'm very happy for them )

The only difference is the brightness. LCD monitors are really bright, so I had to adjust to the CRT since they're not as bright.

However, playing Day of Defeat: Source at 2048x1536 or 1920x1440 make it all worth

I think the setting you're talking about is 'cleartype', though I can't remember where it is found.

I do seem to remember that XP talks about that being designed for LCD screens though...

Either way, I've got it turned on on my CRT.

Ah, I found it

Right click and go to Properties--->Apperance--->Effects and the option is in there.

d94 said:

iv got dual 21's..flat screen sonys - 1280x1025 85hz, games were ok but i got bored
i picked up a 2005fpw cheap a week ago, and havent looked back, no blur, clear texts, all that goodness

but the crt you got is supposed to be the best
got pix?

Click to expand...

Heres some pics of my FW900 mostly from Xbox360 ,of course it looks better in person. Click for fullsize:

JRW said:

Heres some pics of my FW900 mostly from Xbox360 ,of course it looks better in person. Click for fullsize:

Click to expand...

Ownage! Looks amazing.

I don't know what this thing with blurry text on a CRT is, mine is very sharp. Make sure you turn cleartype off, it looks like crap on a CRT. I think it was designed for LCD's running less than native res, no?

damarble said:

Ownage! Looks amazing.

I don't know what this thing with blurry text on a CRT is, mine is very sharp. Make sure you turn cleartype off, it looks like crap on a CRT. I think it was designed for LCD's running less than native res, no?

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I think its for LCDs running actually their native res, non native res you might have 2 pixels equaling 1, which will blur the text and make it more readable, whereas when the pixels are in 1:1 ratio you have issues with the text being to sharply drawn and hard to read... So in the end you need a balance between blur and sharpness.

I should have some pictures of mine up for show in about an hour or so

JRW said:

Heres some pics of my FW900 mostly from Xbox360 ,of course it looks better in person. Click for fullsize:

Click to expand...

How do you have the 360 hooked up to it?

VGA adapter