u/Leviathan1776

No idea what the model number is on this one, but when I see a CRT with channel knobs I find it difficult to walk away. It being a black and white set was a fun little bonus. The power button and volume adjustment are both controlled by one control as well.

The set is a little blurry, but I'm glad to have added another black and white CRT to the collection. They seem to be somewhat difficult to come by in my area outside of the really cheap portable models.

I think that's everything. Wasn't this fun? I shared a set and didn't mention that CRTs are sometimes expensive. If you want to do the same, please make a post and share your sets. I would love to see them.

30 down, 70 to go. See you tomorrow.

Panasonic's first HD CRT released in North America. Manufactured in Japan, these sets are really nice. Like all Panasonic HD models, this set supports 480p. Originally retailing for $6k, and releasing in 1999, there likely aren't many examples of this model still around today

The standout feature of early Panasonic HD sets is their ability to upscale 240p/480i to 480p at the cost of one frame of lag. If you send it a 240p source you can have the CRT emulate 240p by having it draw the lines across the image. This game mode is only available on the front composite/ s-video input, but any 240p source can have the lines drawn regardless of which input is used

While not super ideal for SD sources, I was able to play Tetris Attack ust fine. Sets like this would be more ideal if you only had space for one CRT, you want a rather large model, and you can't track down a presentation monitor/multisync professional set

I think that's everything. Wasn't this fun? I shared a set and didn't mention that CRTs are sometimes expensive. If you want to do the same, please make a post and share your sets. I would love to see them.

29 down, 71 to go. See you tomorrow.

"Another Trinitron? Jeez."

One of the two CRTs that started this journey. I picked this set up along with a 27" Sony on April 21st of 2025. The internet told me to seek out a Sony, so I waited around for a bit until some affordable models showed up near me. After messing around with them for a bit, I came to the realization that I liked how this one looked compared to the other one. This led me to think that maybe I shouldn't blindly trust that Sony sets were the best, leading to my collecting spree.

The set itself is rather basic, with s-video at best and another set of composite inputs up front. Smaller flat tubes do a better job of hiding geometry imperfections, and I don't notice any on this set. It didn't come with a remote, but luckily most Sony sets can use any Sony remote.

I've definitely come across better sets than this one since I started looking. People do really like the smaller Sony SD sets, so hopefully I can get it to someone who is looking for one. Outside of missing the front plastic pannel, the picture has waves that look like the letter "s" so it would likely benefit from some new caps.

I think that's everything. Wasn't this fun? I shared a set and didn't mention that CRTs are sometimes expensive. If you want to do the same, please make a post and share your sets. I would love to see them.

28 down, 78 to go. See you tomorrow.

And it was the most romantic request I've ever recieved. That's a marriage candidate right there.

"You want me to do the thing that I enjoy the most in this world? OK."

And yes, it does seem that HRST on Sony XS955, XBR960, and XBR970 models keep track out tube hours. The number went up by two, but this process took a little bit more than an hour, so that's probably why.

THE ISO IS DEAD! WHAT A TRAGEDY!

Anybody have any idea what that means?

Two Sony sets in a row? Someone might think that I like Trinitrons.

Just picked this one up today with the matching stand. It has some issues, but an 80s Trinitron with a stand is difficult to turn down. This set was manufactured in 1986, which was nearing the end of Sony making aestheticly pleasing sets. With only one set of composite inputs, this wouldn't have been a higher end set when it was released.

The present issues with the set are somewhat difficult to overlook. The stand needs to be glued back together. The speakers can't handle any bass without distortion. The tube doesn't seem too worn, but its currently too bright and the blacks are tinted red. Everything is fixable though, so with a little work this set will look and play great.

I think that's everything. Wasn't this fun? I shared a set and didn't mention that CRTs are sometimes expensive. If you want to do the same, please make a post and share your sets. I would love to see them.

27 down, 73 to go. See you tomorrow.

When you grab a free broken CRT from someone and it turns out that it works perfectly. That's what happened with this one. Someone who was flipping CRTs didn't want to sell the broken ones so I ended up with three broken 27" Trinitrons, and surprisingly this one worked.

Before using one of these I thought that they looked rather ugly. I wasn't a fan of the buttons being located on the top of the set, but once I sat down and used this set for a bit I was converted. They feel so nice and you don't need to bend over and squint at any buttons on the front to figure out which one you need to press.

This is a Trinitron, so you either really like this set or you don't really care. I'm in that second camp. I prefer an SD CRT with some style points, and unfortunately most Trinitrons don't fall into that category. This set isn't necessarily ugly, but it also doesn't have any standout features besides the button layout that add to its cool factor.

I tried playing a game genre I haven't played before. I wanted to try a shmup, and this was the one that they had available at the local game store. I'm really bad. Two hours in and I can't even beat the first boss (it would be pretty embarrassing if what I think is the first boss isn't even a boss). No idea of Raiden is a good one to start with.

I think that's everything. Wasn't this fun? I shared a set and didn't mention that CRTs are sometimes expensive. If you want to do the same, please make a post and share your sets. I would love to see them.

26 down, 74 to go. See you tomorrow.

Wait, CRT monitors don't need to be black, beige, or white?

Yeah, pretty crazy concept, I know. In a world where most CRT monitors were rather similar, you would think that more manufacturers would try unique designs to try to stand out in the crowd of beige, but that wasn't really the case.

Personally, the vibes of a set really matter to me. The Apple Studio Displays do a good job of standing out from the crowd, so I've made my Apple 21" Studio Display my end game set. There are definitely better CRT monitors out there, but none that have a personality that I'm aware of.

Unfortunately, for those of you that care about specs, this monitor may not be for you. It does use a Trinitron tube, which is nice, and it shares that tube with the Sony GDM-500PS as well as some others sets. While not Sony's best CRT monitor, its still rather nice to look at. It can do 1600x1200 at 85Hz.

The biggest thing this set has going for it is its size. In my area, CRT monitors rarely show up and when they do they tend to be 17" or smaller. If I plan to use a CRT for an extended period of time I very much prefer a CRT that is at least 20 inches, and that doesn't leave too many options for CRT monitors. This was the only one that I noticed pop up in my area in the past year, so I went and picked this one up right away.

Another thing that is really nice about these Apple CRTs is that you don't need to use WinDAS to make adjustments. Instead you can grab an Apple G3 or G4 computer and make adjustments that way. If the colors get really messed up you can reload a factory setup that looks pretty good, but I feel like with some more adjustments my set would look a bit better.

I think that's everything. Wasn't this fun? I shared a set and didn't mention that CRTs are sometimes expensive. If you want to do the same, please make a post and share your sets. I would love to see them.

25 down, 75 to go. See you tomorrow.

Someone asked "how close can we get to making a sphere CRT?" This is the curviest CRT I've seen yet. The bezel around the tube is curved to match the curvature of the tube, making the front appear to be a near seamless design.

You would think that if this much effort was being put into the design of the set that it would have some higher end features, but this isn't necessarily the case. This set is RF only, and seems rather basic. While not interesting to most people, it holds a place in my RF collection.

I think that's everything. Wasn't this fun? I shared a set and didn't mention that CRTs are sometimes expensive. If you want to do the same, please make a post and share your sets. I would love to see them.

24 down, 76 to go. See you tomorrow.

A Samsung SD SlimFit. These are trash, right? Everyone seems to say so.

I suppose it depends on whether you decide to open 240p Test Suite or not. I though the image looked fine, but when you look at convergence specificly its rather poor. I don't notice anything when viewing content though.

Later Samsungs had rather fun designs that you either love or hate. That, along with the cool sound effect that they play when turning on and off the TV provide a fun experience.

I think that's everything. Wasn't this fun? I shared a set and didn't mention that CRTs are sometimes expensive. If you want to do the same, please make a post and share your sets. I would love to see them.

23 down, 77 to go. See you tomorrow.

People tend to focus on the HD aspect of HD CRTs, but some can do 480p as well. All Panasonic models can including this one. This is one of three 27" Panasonic HD models released in North America. With just over 19k hours in the tube, this one looks really nice.

Unfortunately or fortunately depending on who you ask, this set lacks DVI/HDMI, so component is as good as it gets. Unfortunately the front button panel is missing as well. The geometry is rather poor, with the top right corner sloping quite a lot, but you can't really tell unless you are dealing with straight lines.

I think that's everything. Wasn't this fun? I shared a set and didn't mention that CRTs are sometimes expensive. If you want to do the same, please make a post and share your sets. I would love to see them.

22 down, 78 to go. See you tomorrow.

The design is somewhat interesting, but that's about all I can say. It has one set of composite inputs, mono only, on the front and only RF on the back. As far as I can tell you need the remote to switch to game mode to use the front input, so this is essentially an RF only set for now.

That's okay though. I love RF. Many don't, but I do. Would I prefer an older model with more character? Yes. But if this was all I could find, I would still enjoy it. Any CRT beats no CRT.

I think that's everything. Wasn't this fun? I shared a set and didn't mention that CRTs are sometimes expensive. If you want to do the same, please make a post and share your sets. I would love to see them.

21 down, 79 to go. See you tomorrow.

Ah, my favorite PVM.

Jensen? What's a Jensen?

The model number is slightly tricky as this is a 25" CRT, not a 32" model. It features a Toshiba tube and was manufactured by NEC. Jensen didn't stay in the PVM business long, and they weren't a big name while they were there. This combined with the sets age, which was manufactured in 1982, makes this set rather rare. I like to think that very few if any other examples of this set still exist.

This is the only PVM that I am aware of that features a glass tube protector, one of my favorite CRT features. Outside of that though, it is a rather lackluster set. It only features composite at best and the tube is only 350 TVL, which is rather low. Still I really like this set for its fun design and color.

I also have most of the other components that were sold with the set. The AVS-4400 VCR is a rather large model, but most VCRs of the time were rather bulky. I also have the AVS-1500 receiver as well as the AVS-250 stereo decoder and the updated reciever model which supports stereo audio. I really like sets like this and the Profeels that were sold with specific components, as it feels like a treasure hunt trying to collect them all.

The one item that I haven't been able to track down is the matching pair of speakers, the AVS-5250. They were likely only sold with this unit, so I may need to attempt to make some custom ones to fill in for the originals.

Despite its rather unappealing specs, I rather like this set. If I could only keep on of my four PVMs, this would be the one though. Depending on who you ask, this might not even be considered a PVM. AVS stands for Audio Video System. These systems were stocked and sold at Jensen retailers, so maybe they would be considered consumer sets.

I think that's everything. Wasn't this fun? I shared a set and didn't mention that CRTs are sometimes expensive. If you want to do the same, please make a post and share your sets. I would love to see them.

20 down, 80 to go. See you tomorrow.

When I see a CRT with a glass tube protector, its coming home with me. They were the thing from 1980-1985, so they don't show up to often unfortunately.

This one was made by Samsung, and I don't come across many Samsung sets this old. The front has channel buttons that you can individually program, which is nice. Unfortunately, if you want to change inputs you need to take the front cover off which is rather annoying.

This set has composite, which surprised me when I first got it. Even more surprising is that instead of using yellow for video and white for audio, instead yellow is for audio and red is for video. While the set only has mono audio, I'll take what I can get.

The set definitely needs to be calibrated. The picture is very blue, so much so that on a black screen there is no black to be seen. Instead blue takes over. The channel programmer was likely really cool for the time, but in the present day its rather unnecessary. The plastic is usually pretty worn out on these and sometimes pieces are missing, like with this one here.

I think that's everything. Wasn't this fun? I shared a set and didn't mention that CRTs are sometimes expensive. If you want to do the same, please make a post and share your sets. I would love to see them.

19 down, 81 to go. See you tomorrow.

If people like combo units, they'll love a double combo unit.

Combo units aren't for me. They tend to be difficult to repair, break often, and are made of lower quality parts more often than not. Toshiba seems to have quite a few of them, with this one being made by Orion. The big positive there is that means that this unit keeps track of tube hours. I believe this one has ~10k.

The set looks fine aestheticly, but its not my favorite combo unit design. It only has composite at best, despite S-Video being around for ~15 years before this set was made. There are a lot of buttons on the front of this set, but to my knowledge it does not have a button to change inputs, meaning that the remote is needed. This was a common issue on Orion sets.

Surprisingly the DVD player and VHS player both work. Most combo units that I come across have at least one issue.

I think that's everything. Wasn't this fun? I shared a set and didn't mention that CRTs are sometimes expensive. If you want to do the same, please make a post and share your sets. I would love to see them.

18 down, 82 to go. See you tomorrow.

HD, my favorite.

One of fifteen 26" HD CRT TV models released in North America, this one is okay. This one barely makes the cutoff of being able to support native 480p, as this 2004 set was made before Samsung dropped the feature in 2005. It features DVI on the back which can easily be converted to HDMI.

Samsung models tend to get overlooked in both the SD and HD world, but if you want a 26" HD model, Samsung is the brand that you're most likely to run into. Their TVs of this era make a fun sound when you turn them on and off. They also feature curves in many of their designs during this time until they stopped CRT production.

On this one the convergence towards the edge of the screen is somewhat spotty. It seems to be worse when using DVI than when using component. Also, these Samsung units always seem to be banged up a bit, with the corners often missing chucks of plastic.

I think that's everything. Wasn't this fun? I shared a set and didn't mention that CRTs are sometimes expensive. If you want to do the same, please make a post and share your sets. I would love to see them.

17 down, 83 to go. See you tomorrow.

Did Sylvania make any cool CRTs?

I can't think of any others, but this one looks pretty neat. The buttons on the front feel nice, the front pannel hides the picture adjustment options, and the red highlights along with the red channel indicator give it a fun look.

Unfortunately its an RF only set. Sylvania was bought by Philips in the early 80s and since then it seems that the Sylvania name only shows up on budget models for the most part. This set was released in 1988. At this time, composite had been around for a bit and S-Video was first released on a Sony consumer CRT this year. While S-Video showing up on this set would have been very unlikely, composite would have been nice.

The colors seem pretty good on this set. The picture seems a little fuzzy, but adjusting the focus likely would fix the issue.

I think that's everything. Wasn't this fun? I shared a set and didn't mention that CRTs are sometimes expensive. If you want to do the same, please make a post and share your sets. I would love to see them.

16 down, 84 to go. See you tomorrow.

VGA audio isn't super great as my HDMI to VGA adapter sucks

[Link to a video with all four inputs in the comments]

But what if you wanted a CRT monitor and a CRT TV?

We need more CRTs with tech support names.

The Toshiba Timm is rather interesting. There aren't a lot of examples of this combination out there, especially when it comes to products sold to consumers. That, combined with its rather lackluster abilities as a monitor, meant that not many of these sold. This led Toshiba to only make one Timm model line before giving up on the idea.

The big selling point for these, as well as their continued interest today, is their compatibility with early gen Macintosh computers as well as Amiga computers. Their wide horizontal scan range, from 15khz to 40khz, made them much more appealing than other options.

Looking at the specs of this set though, they are rather abysmal. 500 TVL is fine, but the dot pitch is rather poor. At .58mm, its more than twice as bad as standard/upper level CRT monitors at the time, which were around the .25mm range. At least Toshiba put their own tube in this, which it doesn't seem to share with any other models.

You noticed, right? This CRT has white plastic. That, along with its rather unique appearance, makes it stand out on a shelf/desktop. You can pair it with any white sleeper PC, an actual historical setup, or a white console for a very sleek appearance. Along with the simple but functional remote control, this is a CRT that is always worth picking up if you manage to see one out there.

The biggest issue with this set is that the capacitors are known to fail in a way that damages the boards. If you manage to find one, it is highly recommended to do a full recap before any heavy use. This is the most I've used the set since I bought it last September, and I don't plan to use it again until I get my soldering skills to a level where I feel comfortable working on this.

I think that's everything. Wasn't this fun? I shared a set and didn't mention that CRTs are sometimes expensive. If you want to do the same, please make a post and share your sets. I would love to see them.

15 down, 85 to go. See you tomorrow.