CRT vs HDTV; what do you prefer?

[gbpxl]

It's gotten to the point for me where I can only play NES, SNES, Genesis on a CRT, and I have my Dreamcast and newer systems hooked up to my HDTV. I have never gotten used to seeing 8/16 bit graphics on a flat screen TV meant for newer media. The Sanyo CRT I have is from 1992. The picture does some goofy stuff with random lines showing up and the brightness jacks up randomly but it's not to the point where it makes gaming unplayable.

The only reason I would ever ditch the CRT is because it takes up more room.

[eskobar]

I have 5 CRTs and more often than I imagined they have problems, so I constantly need to buy more. Fortunately, CRTs are quite cheap. We will not reach a point where we don't have the option to have a choice between both technologies but there is always a mid point, being Plasma, which I preferred over LCD ... but LCD has improved to the point where I can do fine with an LCD / Upscanner with Scanlines.

[Greg2600]

I'm in the same boat. I had an old CRT that only went up to S-Video, but I spent all this money on RGB/SCART/upscaling for my HDTV. Don't get me wrong, the games *look* nice and whatnot, but there's just something about that soft screen. So I started to go through a few CRT's with Component input, and my word, the difference is stunning. The image behind GLASS is just so much nicer, what can I say? To the point, somewhat in the need of space, I moved semi-HD systems like the original XBOX, PS2, and Gamecube to the CRT. Yes, I actually prefer 480i on the CRT over 480p/720p on the HDTV!

[jb143]

I'm in the same boat. I had an old CRT that only went up to S-Video, but I spent all this money on RGB/SCART/upscaling for my HDTV.

Modding a CRT for RGB is pretty easy if your TV has the right chip inside, which most mid 90's and up sets do. I recently did this to a Trinitron I got for free and am now using it as an arcade monitor.

[Greg2600]

Modding a CRT for RGB is pretty easy if your TV has the right chip inside, which most mid 90's and up sets do. I recently did this to a Trinitron I got for free and am now using it as an arcade monitor.

LOL, no, the TV was sold in 1992, and it was an RCA. And it weighed a ton.

[Aussie2B]

I prefer CRTs for anything from the 5th gen and earlier. HDTVs for anything from the 7th gen and newer, of course. I usually hook up 6th gen systems to my CRTs, but I'm not opposed to HDTVs for them depending on the game. Some PS2 games look pretty good hooked up via component to my HDTV.

[Greg2600]

I had the 6th gen stuff on my HDTV, but there were just too many things connected, and I wanted to clear stuff out. Xbox and Gamecube stuff looked great, but again, most of it was 4:3 even if it was progressive scan. That plus my Xbox was a v1.6, which doesn't run quite a few SEGA games in 720p mode, so using it in 480i runs them. Besides, I can run XBOX games on the 360 and GCN on the Wii anyway.

[Niku-Sama]

I am in the CRT boat for most of this mainly due to input lag

but I also got the short end of the stick when it comes to that because the tv I had would cause input lag on EVERYTHING, on screen menus, new systems, old systems, fire tv stick...everything. it was super bad.
I recently replaced it with a 4k tv but I have yet to game on it much since I wall mounted it up and out of the way with the old tv its not in a decent gaming position for any thing any more.

my first LCD tv (a 32" visio when they were only available at Costco still) was not bad on input lag and had a cool stretch mode that made side scrollers appear as if they were being projected on a cylinder spinning around your head. I need to repair that and get that going again.

[gbpxl]

is there a difference in lag between RF and composite

[jb143]

is there a difference in lag between RF and composite

Probably not noticeable but the audio has to be filtered out so that might add some lag. Not enough to cause any issues in gaming that's for sure. The issue is that no filter is perfect so you're going to get a lot more signal degradation with audio and video crammed into the same wire. The signals bleed into each other and why composite looks much better.

It might also depend on the TV. I picked up a free Trinitron a few months ago and was both confused and slightly upset that it didn't have S-Video (which is a substantial step up from composite). But that thing must have a heck of a comb filter in it because it's got one of the best composite pictures I've ever seen. But I wasn't testing for any delay. And again...it wouldn't be enough to effect gaming at all an would take an oscilloscope and more time/caring than I wanted to put into it. If anything, it just alters the timing of the video signal a bit so the picture would have to be adjusted a little(internally, set at the at the factory).