What to do with a (decent) CRT TV not in use?! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: Sepehr
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2017, 07:50:00 am
content: I have a big bulky Panasonic TAU Giga 1080i 100Hz Progressive Scan (TX-29E355R) CRT TV which I've had used it for more than 10 years as my main television. Recently, I bought his younger cousin, a Panasonic 4K LCD TV, so I don't watch anything on that anymore and I don't have much space to keep it, unfortunately.(The following pictures are not mine, they are the similar (not quite the same) TV units I found on the internet.)I have three choices for it, one is to sell it for peanuts because no one will pay more than 50-70 USD (after converting IRR to USD) to buy it although it has a flat screen and 1080 resolution and a decent quality. The second choice is to donate it to someone who needs it for watching TV (no other purposes!). And the third choice is to open it up and use its internal components and devices for my various electronics projects or experiments.Now, I'm not sure if it has anything useful for DIY projects inside, but I like to see its guts anyways!+ An extra choice is to do nothing at all! In this case, I'll have to bear the fact that it'll consume a big space.What do you think? Any comments would be much appreciated!

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2017, 09:30:53 am
content: If you can sell it, then that's your best option. CRTs are still valued by some for their wider colour gamut than LCD and it has a decent resolution so someone who's into photography might want it as a computer monitor.

author: technix
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2017, 09:42:19 am
content: Quote from: Hero999 on June 06, 2017, 09:30:53 amI second this. Hook it to your computer (or Raspberry Pi) as a secondary monitor. CRT have technically unlimited color gamut so after a calibration it can be used for some extremely color sensitive graphics design job.

author: Kevman
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2017, 12:24:38 pm
content: I'm sure you can find a buyer. You certainly could in the US.I would think some video game speedrunners would love get their hands on that because of CRT's 0 input lag.It would also make an amazing arcade machine monitor.

author: Mukrakiish
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2017, 01:00:59 pm
content: Quote from: Kevman on June 06, 2017, 12:24:38 pmThey have become much more popular with older consoles getting a second breath of life, LCD/LED TV's just don't look or feel as nice as a good ol CRT. I'm actually still looking for a good CRT so I can setup some old consoles on it.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2017, 01:47:40 pm
content: Quote from: Mukrakiish on June 06, 2017, 01:00:59 pmThe question is whether you're willing to pay for shipping from Iran?

author: Sepehr
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2017, 03:53:02 pm
content: How do you calibrate it? I remember it used to show colors a little stronger than real life, maybe it was set on bad settings.What is their maximum life span without having color defects?Quote from: Kevman on June 06, 2017, 12:24:38 pmFor how much, if I was in the US?That arcade machine idea is cool!BTW I've always wondered how much does it weigh? It's VERY heavy. It seems there's no specifications or manuals around the web to check for its weight.

author: P90
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2017, 04:32:52 pm
content: take that space heater out to the desert and shoot it! LOL

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2017, 05:35:36 pm
content: Quote from: Hero999 on June 06, 2017, 09:30:53 ami believe that technology doesnt have vga input port, let alone hdmi. no photographer want to connect that to pc through rca cable.. yes the color gamut and consistent color on all viewing angle of crt pc monitor is something to be remembered, but that day is gone, nobody want to keep tens of kgs on the desk anymore, not to mention their big pixels are only for viewing from distance sofa, not pc based distance, i know because i tried. i'll say strip off the pcb and any reusable part inside, the big heavy crt should go to the dumpster... or just give it to the poor... (if you are willing to mobilize that)...

author: DBecker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2017, 06:44:04 pm
content: Around here you can't give a CRT display away.Pretty much the only ones still around were the high end models, and they take several people to move them.The typical evolution is as an advertisement that pitches how expensive it was new, perhaps with a misleading "flat screen", and asking for a few hundred dollars. Then under $100. Next offering it for free. And then a request for a few people to help them move it for bulk trash collection day.

author: MK
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2017, 06:51:01 pm
content: There might be some fast FBET transistors on there worth saving.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2017, 08:12:24 pm
content: Quote from: technix on June 06, 2017, 09:42:19 amUmmm, I think color gamut means something different from what youthinkit means. CRTs most certainly do not have unlimited gamut -- the gamut is limited by the phosphors used.Quote from: Kevman on June 06, 2017, 12:24:38 pmAlas, that doesn't totally apply here. See how the OP says it's a 100Hz TV? That means it's a frame-doubling PAL TV. (The 50Hz refresh rate of PAL is slow enough for many people to perceive flicker in, so high-end PAL TVs use frame-rate doubling to increase it to flicker-free 100Hz.) I'm not sure how much delay it adds, but it must add some. And I know that it renders light guns incompatible, so you can't use them with old game consoles.That said, I'm sure it's far less input lag than most flat-panel TVs.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2017, 08:21:19 pm
content: Some CRTs are going up in value again, certainly older monitors are. A friend of mine sold an old monochrome computer monitor for $75 and vintage TVs are rising in price as they become more rare. They're particularly popular with vintage video game collectors.

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2017, 11:38:40 pm
content: Some better quality CRTs are useful with LCD shutter glasses for 3D visualization.

author: Molenaar
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2017, 07:45:56 am
content: Take out the flyback transformer and make a high voltage power supply for a Tesla coil!

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2017, 02:33:59 pm
content: Quote from: Mechatrommer on June 06, 2017, 05:35:36 pmYour memory is wrong. Towards the end, CRT HDTVs came with HDMI. (Some had DVI before HDMI came out.) Some had VGA, too. They all had component video inputs, as all HDTVs did until HDMI became widespread.

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2017, 02:55:06 pm
content: You might get a couple of $ for the copper in the transformer if you know a place that buys scrap metal.Apart from that... nobody's going to pay money for it.

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2017, 02:57:48 pm
content: Quote from: Mechatrommer on June 06, 2017, 05:35:36 pmIf it's HD then itmusthave some sort of input ports, if only to connect blu-ray players, etc.

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2017, 07:03:51 pm
content: For design work, CRTs are much better because LCDs because of the stairstepping effect, lose things. But the image on LCDs is sharper. For text, substantially sharper.

author: Siwastaja
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2017, 08:52:39 pm
content: It's a very typical misunderstanding that CRTs have extremely wide gamut.In fact, the gamut in a typical CRT is rather poor due to the phosphors available. Especially the green phophor gives significantly wrong peak wavelength, way too yellowish. AFAIK, green phosphors closer to the right wavelength either have low light output power (hence, poor efficiency), or they are expensive. Red is too orangish, too.Think about "computer screen 0,255,0" and "grass green". The "computer green" is too yellow, and prevents some very good looking deep cyanish-green shades from being shown. This green region is something the sRGB standard lacks the most - and it's exactly because the standard has been defined constrained by the CRTs.Some expensive CRTs designed for color grading work have wider gamut. CRT projectors sometimes use filter dyes to absorb "the wrong side" of the wide wavelength peak, reducing light output but widening the gamut.It's just that early LCDs - and many modern LCDs still - haveeven worsegamut. Since they work/worked by subtracting from the white backlight, using sharply cut dyes in the filters would reduce the brightness by wasting most of the backlight power as heat.Again, LCDs with wider gamuts have been available for long - and unsurprisingly, they were expensive and consumed a lot of power, and you could literally feel the heat in the front of such a monitor!Some of the most important features regarding CRT use in graphical/photoediting/color grading appicalitons are/were: high dynamic range, predictable and clean curve (which can be easily linearized), wide viewing angle while retaining the dynamic range and curve shape, and no quantization issues. But people always say it's the "gamut", since that's the nice fancy word they have heard, while, in reality, that's the most mediocre thing on CRTs.

author: Johncanfield
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2017, 09:23:12 pm
content: Our local library resale shop won't accept glass monitors since there is zero resale value but people still dump them off.