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We Played Modern Games on a CRT Monitor - and the Results are Phenomenal :
It's true. Running modern games on a vintage CRT monitor produces absolutely outstanding results - subjectively superior to anything from the LCD era, up to and including the latest OLED displays. Best suited for PC players, getting an optimal CRT set-up isn't easy, and prices vary dramatically, but the results can be simply phenomenal.
The advantages of CRT technology over modern flat panels are well-documented. CRTs do not operate from a fixed pixel grid in the way an LCD does - instead three 'guns' beam light directly onto the tube. So there's no upscaling blur and no need to run at any specific native resolution as such. On lower resolutions, you may notice 'scan lines' more readily, but the fact is that even lower resolution game outputs like 1024x768 or 1280x960 can look wonderful. Of course, higher-end CRTs can input and process higher resolutions, but the main takeaway here is that liberation from a set native resolution is a gamechanger - why spend so many GPU resources on the amount of pixels drawn when you can concentrate on quality instead without having to worry about upscale blurring?
Are there any Soylentils here who still use a CRT for gaming? If I could just find a CRT with a 65-inch diagonal, and a table that could support the weight...
(Score: 5, Interesting) by SomeGuy on Saturday October 12 2019, @02:43AM (9 children)
Haven't played games in ages, but I use a CRT because LCD monitors are just too damn bright. Sure, there may be some out there that have better brightness control and black levels, but I've never noticed them in any stores. With a CRT I never even notice vitreous floaters, but with a LCD they get annoying.
Also, a monitor with true black levels is the only genuine way to experience DOOM. :)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 12 2019, @03:30AM
Stores turn the brightness up to 100000x what anyone would ever actually want to use. It "makes the colors pop", by which they mean "gives everyone a headache." CRTs do still have somewhat better black levels, but you can turn the brightness down.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 12 2019, @04:15AM (4 children)
Almost all monitors have an adjustment for that. You may want a warmer color. Plus turn down the brightness slightly. At night I turn mine down a bit. Then during the day I turn it back up.
I got rid of a 35 inch trinatron set. The thing weighed 200+ pounds and consumed 120W in standby. 200+ while running. My new set uses .5mw in standby and 65W while running. My power bill noticed it in the first month. That thing paid for itself years ago.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 12 2019, @11:24AM (2 children)
What is the price of electricity that you notice a difference with such a small power difference as that?
Or do you never run airconditioning either? Don't run a heater or get all your heat from a non-electric source?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday October 12 2019, @02:04PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 12 2019, @07:07PM
I used to watch my power bill quite closely. Yes a 5-10 dollar average drop was noticeable. All you have to do is keep an eye on it drop it in excel and graph it. I had ~20 dollar drop once from getting a new computer. All of that old stuff was neat at the time. But at this point why would I use old junk I sold off/gave away years ago? Pretty much any of my new equipment blows away the old stuff. Unless I find some old equipment that cost 10k+ in the day for a good deal. But I have a rule. I do not take other peoples old junk anymore.
Idle and standby are good numbers to keep an eye on. Some of those old sets would have a heater on the tube to keep them warm. So that way at any moment you could turn it on and it would work right away. Instead of waiting the 2-5 mins for the warm up. They looked amazing years ago. But put any of that equipment I used to own next to my current setup and the current setup is leaps and bounds better at 1/8th the power. Even some of the new stuff does this. So it is worth looking at. Especially if it is something you only use once and awhile.
Oh stay away from plasma screens. They look great but they have a short lifespan plus draw as much as an old trinitron TV would, sometimes more.
Just keep an eye on bits per pixel, grey scale transition, refresh rate, black levels, power usage, and you will get a good screen.
(Score: 2) by toddestan on Saturday October 12 2019, @05:11PM
Really crappy LCDs run the backlight at 100% brightness all the time, and the "brightness" control just adjusts how much light the LCD panel lets through. You are best to avoid these screens, though I can't recall a modern screen employing this trick - it was mostly some crappy CCFL screens from the 2000's doing stuff like that. Any decent screen lets you control the brightness of the backlight which is what you want. Some high end screens let you control the brightness of the backlight and the "brightness" of the panel.
Most every screen I've used, by default, comes with the brightness set to "burn your eyeballs out" setting by default. Especially now with LED backlights common. This looks good for a display model in a store (even more so with the glossy screen trend) but for home use I always tone it way down. I don't even pay attention to the brightness specifications on screens because I know even the dimmest ones are going still be way too bright.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Booga1 on Saturday October 12 2019, @06:25AM (2 children)
I run my current monitor(Dell U2713HM [tftcentral.co.uk]) at 29% brightness, 75% contrast. Anything higher starts getting either overly bright or unnatural looking contrast. It's got HDMI, Dual-link DVI-D, D-sub(VGA), DisplayPort, audio out, and four USB 3.0 ports [tftcentral.co.uk].
Being six years old, I am sure Dell has something better by now. Though, the VGA port is likely gone. I may not like anything else Dell makes, but the monitor was definitely worth it.
(Score: 2) by toddestan on Saturday October 12 2019, @05:25PM (1 child)
I sure hope that Dell has finally killed off the VGA port. To me, they are one of the big reasons that VGA has hung around so long. Even this year at work I've seen brand new Dell PCs and monitors with VGA ports. In 2019.
Lenovo is also guilty too, which is kind of odd because IBM was one of the few companies that seemed to be actively trying to kill off VGA - I remember IBM building P3/P4 systems with only DVI out only in the early 2000's and you needed to use an adapter for VGA.
(Score: 2) by Booga1 on Saturday October 12 2019, @05:52PM
Looks like the VGA port is gone on all but the lowest end of the 27" monitors: Examples of 2560x1440 and 1920x1080 monitors [dell.com]
Another point against VGA is that it really can't handle the higher resolutions anyway, so there's not much point in adding them to 4k monitors at all. They've even dropped it off the 2560x1440 versions.