Need help picking out a TV for older systems

[scottw182]

For a while now I've been wanting to get a nice, large CRT tv to hook all of my older systems up to. I would prefer for it to have a flat screen, at least 1 composite, 1 component, and 1 s-video input (each) on the back, and for it to be 32-36". A headphone output would be a huge plus, but not mandatory I guess.

From some basic research I've been doing, I found the following:

SDTV = 480i (most TVs were SDTV for the longest time)
EDTV = 480p (noticeable improvement over SDTV)
HDTV = 1080i/1080p (these seem to be the most rare, especially 1080p)

Questions:

1) Are all flat-screen CRTs pretty much going to be EDTV or HDTV?

2) Which types of CRTs will light guns work on? I've heard of some people saying they don't work on flat-screen CRTs, while others say they have no problem. Does it just depend on each individual tv?

3) It's a common complaint that older video games systems look like crap on LCD/Plasma HDTVs. So, wouldn't they also look bad on a CRT HDTV? Or are they still ok because they're CRT and not LCD/Plasma?

4) Apparently, some companies such as LG, Phillips, and Samsung, also produced super-slim CRT HDTVs. Don't know much about those though. A couple I've seen on Craigslist appear to be widescreen. Anybody have any experience/feedback on these?

Most people seem to recommend the Sony Trinitron, which I'm also leading toward. If I can verify the light gun will work on the flat-screen Trinitrons, I'll probably be sold. Only problem is, there seems to be many different kinds of Trinitrons (I've seen several different ones on Craigslist). What are the better ones?

[Collector_Gaming]

personally if your like me and some of the other collectors in here

have 2 seperate tv's

1 for cable tv and for modern gaming (i figure sega saturn era and up) and for movie watching

1 for old gaming (sega cd and down)

On newer tv's yes old games look like complete crap. Sega Genesis and i am sure SNES is bareable but they still look better on older period correct tvs

I have my 42 inch plasma for the modern gaming and such

and i have a 30 y/o 19 inch JC Penny color tv (yes jc penny sold tvs back in the day!) for the older stuff

[nouserever]

My Friend has a samsung flat screen crt. its pretty good for nes or newer.and light guns dont work on flat screen crt's. my zapper wond work on my curved screen toshiba from 1999. its gonna be hard finding a light gun compatible tv thats a flat screen crt

[scottw182]

personally if your like me and some of the other collectors in here

have 2 seperate tv's

1 for cable tv and for modern gaming (i figure sega saturn era and up) and for movie watching

1 for old gaming (sega cd and down)

On newer tv's yes old games look like complete crap. Sega Genesis and i am sure SNES is bareable but they still look better on older period correct tvs

I have my 42 inch plasma for the modern gaming and such

and i have a 30 y/o 19 inch JC Penny color tv (yes jc penny sold tvs back in the day!) for the older stuff

Yeah, this is only going to be for my older stuff, I have a different TV for my newer game systems. Well, the 360, PS3, and Wii definitely go to that one. Still not sure if PS2 and Xbox look better on a CRT or LCD/Plasma.

[nouserever]

PS2 and xbox look horrible on lcd's and plasmas. i know from expirence

[scottw182]

PS2 and xbox look horrible on lcd's and plasmas. i know from expirence

That's what I thought I had heard in the past, but never tested it myself. They will be going on the CRT TV as well then. Only PS3, 360, and Wii will be on my Plasma.

[RP2A03]

I have heard conflicting information on the compatibility of flat tubes with light guns. Some insist that they work while others will insist that they don't. Personally, from what I understand of how light guns work, I see no reason why a flat tube would be a problem. The main thing for light gun compatibility is to make sure that it is a 480i 60HZ display. Also, stay away from ED and HD displays as these are not multiscan. Cheap bastards.

[scottw182]

Also, stay away from ED and HD displays as these are not multiscan. Cheap bastards.

I are confused What is multiscan?

This does, however, lead me into my next question. It's seems pretty agreed upon by most people that the older systems look like crap on LCD/Plasma HDTVs. Well how do they look on CRT HDTVs? My brother had the 40" Trinitron and while I can't re-call specifically, he seemed to always say the older systems didn't look good on it. Seems to me like the older systems would look better on either a SDTV or an EDTV.

[nebrazca78]

40" Mitsubishi SD CRT. This is the holy grail of TVs for classic gaming IMO. They are really hard to find and weigh about 250 lbs., usually a three-man TV. I have two Sony Wega HD CRTs, 32" widescreen and 36" 4:3 and all classic games look great on both of them. Master System and Genesis look good on my 50" Panasonic Viera plasma but most Saturn games look pretty rough, Dreamcast looks good but not great. Regular Xbox looks great on the plasma and of course 360 looks excellent. Personally I'd rather play anything prior to regular Xbox on a CRT.

.

[Trebuken]

I have an I'art HD CRT which upconverts in some manner and everything looks great on it. No light guns, but great.

I have another HD CRT that I got on clearance at Walmart, but is much less impressive.

HD CRT's are not all created equal...and are tough to find nowadays.

A standard CRT (I like 30" or more) is the most convenient way to go though. Salvation Army thrift stores tend to have oodles of them at decent prices.

This will all lead you to the XRGB discussion...I have not taked that dive yet...

[RP2A03]

I are confused What is multiscan?

A multiscan display is capable of adjusting to all frequencies within a certain range. This is necessary to display different resolutions without the need for scaling or deinterlacing. I know of no consumer grade ED or HD TV that will not upscale (and deinterlace if progressive scan) 480i material.

[nebrazca78]

Craigslist is also a great place to get old, big CRT TVs. Most people will damn near give them away just to get those monsters out of the house.

.

[VG_Maniac]

I think Sony Wega/Trinitron TVs are perfect for classic gaming.



Older games look great on it. I have one that's a 27 inch screen (which I feel is just right for me), but they are also available in 32 inch and 36 inch. I personally think these have the best picture quality you can get for a standard definition CRT.

[omp!]

^^^Agreed I have a 66cm widescreen trinitron for my older systems....

[Collector_Gaming]

Craigslist is also a great place to get old, big CRT TVs. Most people will damn near give them away just to get those monsters out of the house.

.

I've seen ads where people will pay you to take em away yourself cause they are so big and heavy!

[Zing]

1) Are all flat-screen CRTs pretty much going to be EDTV or HDTV?

2) Which types of CRTs will light guns work on? I've heard of some people saying they don't work on flat-screen CRTs, while others say they have no problem. Does it just depend on each individual tv?

3) It's a common complaint that older video games systems look like crap on LCD/Plasma HDTVs. So, wouldn't they also look bad on a CRT HDTV? Or are they still ok because they're CRT and not LCD/Plasma?

4) Apparently, some companies such as LG, Phillips, and Samsung, also produced super-slim CRT HDTVs. Don't know much about those though. A couple I've seen on Craigslist appear to be widescreen. Anybody have any experience/feedback on these?

Most people seem to recommend the Sony Trinitron, which I'm also leading toward. If I can verify the light gun will work on the flat-screen Trinitrons, I'll probably be sold. Only problem is, there seems to be many different kinds of Trinitrons (I've seen several different ones on Craigslist). What are the better ones?

1) All CRTs will either be 480i or 1080i. Anything labelled "HiScan" is also 1080i.

2) Light guns will work on any 480i CRT, regardless of screen shape. It isn't the shape that affects guns, it's the signal processing. Any HD or HiScan CRT will not work, due to the different signal timing.

3) HD CRT will look much better than an LCD, but not as well as an SD CRT. I can't say with complete confidence why. It may just be due to not having a fixed pixel display as in an LCD.

4) Avoid slim CRTs! They made huge sacrifices in geometry tolerance to get them slim. You will never be able to get them to look square. I repeat, avoid!

I also recommend the Sony Trinitrons. You want to get one with the FD Trinitron screen (totally flat). Avoid anything that is widescreen, as it will not be the SD 480i signal you need. Any HiScan or HD CRT is going to introduce display lag. Just find a few that interest you, and google for their specs.

You will have an extremely hard time finding a headphone jack. There are very few Sony models that have the jack.

Excellents models to look for are the xxFS100 or xxFS120 (where xx is the size in inches, e.g. 32FS100). The FV versions are also acceptable, but slightly older. All of these sets were produced in 2004-2005, so they won't be super old and worn out.

[TKO]

4) They made huge sacrifices in geometry tolerance to get them slim. You will never be able to get them to look square. I repeat, avoid!

Confirm this. The vertical line in slim TV will be a bit bend. It will never look strange like it should.

[scottw182]

Yeah, I'm looking on Craigslist and I've already seen tons of Trinitrons for cheap, just trying to decide on the best one now.

A multiscan display is capable of adjusting to all frequencies within a certain range. This is necessary to display different resolutions without the need for scaling or deinterlacing. I know of no consumer grade ED or HD TV that will not upscale (and deinterlace if progressive scan) 480i material.

So, when the 480i signal from older game systems gets upscaled/deinterlaced, that makes it look worse, right? Maybe that's the problem my brother had with his 40" Trinitron, and why the older game systems always looked bad on it. Can anybody verify that HD Sony Trinitrons do NOT have multiscan?

[CRTGAMER]

I think HD CRTs are the best choice for playing retro consoles as well as getting HD. The pic is clear with no dot crawl issues of a LCD. I can play NES at Composite 480i, N64 at SVideo 480i, PS2 at Component 480p or watch a 1080i HD channel all with a bright sharp lag free pic. Retro Lightguns will not work unless you have a non HD CRT. I wrote a guide on CRTs vs LCDs linked at my signature.

[Scott84]

I got a 34" Toshiba CRT HD... I love it. Its the last model they made which had the HDMI instead of DVI.

I play everything from Atari 2600 to Xbox 360 on this. Great tv.