Gaming on a CRT, is it worth it?

[Chary]

I very much enjoyed having a CRT, but since I lost it in the hurricane, I don’t mind not having one. I appreciate it for the perceived lower input delay and the more “proper” visuals, but I’m fine with emulating games these days, just for the ease of it all. If I happen to stumble into a decent CRT for an okay price one day, I might consider picking one up. But I won’t actively seek one out. I have the space for one, but imagining the effort of hauling one home and putting it in my room? Ehhh...

 

[SG854]

I very much enjoyed having a CRT, but since I lost it in the hurricane, I don’t mind not having one. I appreciate it for the perceived lower input delay and the more “proper” visuals, but I’m fine with emulating games these days, just for the ease of it all. If I happen to stumble into a decent CRT for an okay price one day, I might consider picking one up. But I won’t actively seek one out. I have the space for one, but imagining the effort of hauling one home and putting it in my room? Ehhh...

20 inches is the sweet spot for size and weight. The bigger ones weigh more than 200 pounds. They are a beast to carry. But bigger is better especially when lots of people are playing multiplayer on a CRT, instead of squinting on a smaller 20 inch at a distance. That's another negative of a CRT.

 

[Clydefrosch]

If you get one for free? Sure. If you feel the need to pay more than 100 bucks for it? Pretty much never

 

[playstays_shun]

S-Video still looks great on a PVM. At 500 lines it's still better then many consumer sets minus the High End Consumer CRT TV's with Component.

That rabbit hole is deep and I think it's not worth getting a high end pro monitor unless you have lots of cash. Most people will be very satisfied with a Mid Range PVM or a high quality low latency upscaler with a low input lag flat panel. At the prices high end pro crt monitors are selling for you can instead get a high end flat panel tv that doesn't suffer from the flat low contrast look lower end LCD's have and also get 4k with excellent hdr. And at 4k is where Scanlines filters start to look really good.

yeah for me its the perfect set up. I'm loving it, I'm not really left wondering 'what if I pour more cash in' and I don't have to worry about flushing my investment down the tube if it goes out for whatever reason

just plain old, simple happy

If you get one for free? Sure. If you feel the need to pay more than 100 bucks for it? Pretty much never

After shipping I paid a hair over $100 (~$120) for my 14" PVM and I'm happy for the rate these things are going for and the size/quality/price ratio. But I probably would never spend >$100 for a consumer CRT, and do local pickup only. I probably also wouldn't pay >$100 for an 8" PVM with any features just because even though they're 'cute' its pretty limiting, novelty aside

I could wait indefinitely for a better deal, or I could just dive in and be done with it. Went with the latter.

 

[RyRyIV]

I was able to pick up a really nice CRT from work for absolutely free, that I just need an S-Video cable to get my games hooked up into on. From what I've seen my coworker play on his same CRT, I'm really excited to dive into this rabbit hole, and this thread helped with that immensly.