Any one here will still use the C.R.T tv's for every day wathcing tv?

[gdunlapsd]

I've got a 1963 Motorola 19" B&W tv in my home office that I watch/listen to almost every day while working at the computer; the kids love watching old shows on it as well. The TV is still a work in progress, but has a good, sharp picture, extremely sharp when fed from the computer - even web browsing on it is surprisingly feasible!

I also have an RCA XL-100 in the bedroom, made in 1990. It's just old enough to have that fake plastic "wood grain" pattern. It gets a little less use but still gets used with movie and exercise DVDs and a Gamecube, as well as occasional TV watching. Starts up green, but turns into a beautiful, sharp picture after a second or two; VERY sharp after I adjusted the focus.

I also have a 32" Samsung LCD in the living room, which is what we use for serious movie and TV watching, but the old B&W Motorola probably gets the most daily use.

It's funny how much better most standard-def looks on a CRT than an LCD. Watching MeTV on the old TV, I was worried about the TVs picture quality, but after seeing it on the LCD I can see how lousy and over-compressed the video is on that channel. Regular TV looks great on all the TVs.

[Tubejunke]

Not a flat screen in this house. Can't see why I would need one! Just an early 80s 19" Zenith in the bedroom with as crisp a picture as I've ever seen, and in the living room is a big 24" Magnavox that I found at the local dump-site tossed because someone knocked out the on-off button. That was about 5 or 6 years ago and the TV plays often around the clock trouble free. The DirecTV universal remote took care of the power button problem. When these finally fail, I MIGHT get a flat, but then again I might just go and get one of the many CRT sets whose prices continue to plummet at pawn shops and thrift stores.

[zeno]

I went flat 2 yrs ago BUT keep a 13" Zenith system 3 L line for when
the flat Sony dies, probably sooner than later. Kept upstairs in my
stamp room. I turn it on for exercise sometimes & hope to get
some sporatic-E from Canada or the Caribbean. Systen 3's ( 9-160's)
were ugly inside & had over engineered PS & HOZ BUT were
nearly bullet proof. Not like todays junk.

73 Zeno

[Dude111]

Good for you,im proud of you Zeno for keeping one handy

[brockolye]

I only have CRT. I have a Mitsubishi big screen CRT (approx 36" screen) but it's broken now. It needs a deflection board and I can't find anyone who still has the part...and I have really looked. I have 2 19" crt's I still use.

[radiotvnut]

Originally Posted by brockolye

I only have CRT. I have a Mitsubishi big screen CRT (approx 36" screen) but it's broken now. It needs a deflection board and I can't find anyone who still has the part...and I have really looked. I have 2 19" crt's I still use.

Would it be possible to repair the old board to the component level?

[Dude111]

Well dont ever give up bud,i think you may find one sometime

Goto google and type in deflection board and other stuff!

GOOD LUCK!!

[truetone36]

My wife would like a flatscreen, but I haven't been impressed by any I've seen. I'm putting a CTC-17 console in the mancave to use there, and I've got the 16" G.E. Escort portable I use out in the shed when I'm working on stuff. It's a '62 model, and sees almost daily use.

[Carmine]

Still watching my '90 Zenith installed in an an old porthole cabinet. (I didn't gut the cabinet, I bought it that way.) I could care less about getting a modern TV. Most shows I watch are 60s/70s vintage.

Lots of remodeling going on here, too dusty for a flatcreen anyways.

[Dude111]

Originally Posted by Carmine

I could care less about getting a modern TV.

Thats quite nice to hear my friend,i hope you keep it up

[Popester]

It's been since June since anyone posted to this thread, so I'll add my two cents worth too. I was watching daily until Febuary of last year my Sony KV2648R. Daily viewer since purchase on 10-10-83. Bought for cost $1175. Then it died and I recycled the chassis to the recycle center. Now watching the Sony KV32V25 it still has a great picture, cost me $1137.72 bought on 01-20-97. Have in storage a Sony KV1941, Sony KV4000, and Sony 5-303W. All work, but the micro tv needs recapping and the 4000 needs buttons, but they all work. No flatscreen tv in this house for tv viewing anytime soon.

[sampson159]

my daily watcher is now my zenith space command system3 combo from 1979.i also watch my e45 sylvania superset i got from another aker.currently working on a zenith chromacolorII with the vertical chassis.crt was dead when i got it.i cooked it for a couple hours and it came up but still a little on the weak side.does actually show a good picture.all 3 guns test even at 6.5 to 6.8 on my tester with good cutoff.tuner has usual issues and it does shutdown after 30 minutes.power cap is a little swollen.cabinet is a mess!this was an ebay purchase by another aker.little did he know that they were using it as a workbench.i guess after he paid for it,they didnt care what happened.did look nice in pictures.

[rose14]

Now that most of the tv shows and sports are shot in 16x9 formats,if you dont put your tv in that aspect ratio alot of picture information is lost.With sports that can be important game information. Does anyone find that going 16x9 with the black bars on the top and bottom of the tv make the picture too small on 27'' or 20'' sets? Also does anyone find the black bars distracting? My 20'' set becomes very small when I go 16x9 ,but I miss the sports info if I leave it 4x3. Thanks for any comments.

[maxhifi]

Comment:

I like the old RCA more than I care about the black bars... I see it as one of the concessions one needs to make to keep using 50 year old technology on a day to day basis. Would be great to have a screen filled with picture, but those days are gone, may as well be happy with the fact that the old TV can be used at all! Also, my TV has an annoying red purity issue exactly where the top black bar is, so all is not bad!

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by maxhifi

Comment:

I like the old RCA more than I care about the black bars... I see it as one of the concessions one needs to make to keep using 50 year old technology on a day to day basis. Would be great to have a screen filled with picture, but those days are gone, may as well be happy with the fact that the old TV can be used at all! Also, my TV has an annoying red purity issue exactly where the top black bar is, so all is not bad!

I have the same problem with black borders on the picture of my Insignia 19" flat screen TV. The set is an LED-LCD one so I don't have to worry about image burn-in, although I will say it is a bit annoying to watch certain channels (PBS World, for one) with the black spaces above and below the picture. My set has an "auto zoom" option on the video menu, so I was able to set the aspect ratio such that most stations' video appears to fill the screen. Ordinarily I wouldn't worry about the zoom, but I watch one cable channel (USA Network) every once in a while and some of its programs appear with black spaces above and below the video. My TV has the "zoom" button on its original remote, but I just don't like the idea of having to drag that remote out of hiding just to zoom in the picture (I use a GE universal remote to control the set, using the original Insignia remote only to get special functions such as zoom, menu options, et al). However, I guess I'll just have to get used to having to grab that original remote every now and then, when an image appears on my screen with those black areas above and below or on either side--or even when the image appears as a small square on the screen (I've seen the latter more than once since I've had my flat screen TV). That square may be the result of the image being cropped both ways, vertically and horizontally, but I'm not sure why this is done. Maybe that's the beginning of so-called "4K" ultra-HD, with the picture showing as normal on a flat screen TV designed for either 4K or ultra-HD video, but squarish on ordinary flat screens?