For whatever reason I've always had a fascination with CRTs. I think they're much more interesting than LCD units. Maybe because I can't believe how long they've been around, and I just think the way it displays a picture is ingenious. Electron guns being aimed by a coil and painted onto a phosphor mask using only 3 colors?! COOL!

I've always loved the clear colors, and the non existent response time of the display. Electricity is cheap here, so I don't really care about the extra cost. I'd like other members here to throw in their opinion on CRT displays, and if anyone else here is still using them. How come they are so reliable? They run hotter than LCDs yet tend to last so much longer. Is this because so much research has gone into them over the century that they have been around? Or is it the fact that planned obsolescence coincides with the "boom" of LCD production?
I'm down in California helping my grandparents move, and they offered me two of their old CRT TVs. I think they are both really awesome but can only take one due to space. One is a 25" Zenith made in October, 2000. The other is a really neat 21" unit from Emerson Radio manufactured in January, 1987. Both work perfectly! Despite the Zenith having a 4" bigger display, it is only 1/2" deeper than the Emerson and is only rated to use 5W more. I plan to use either one of them up at my place.
I really like the customizable knobs on the Emerson, but it only has Antenna in, and it's very old. Still pretty awesome to see the thing still working though!
The Zenith was probably made by LG, since Zenith closed the last of their USA factories in 1998. The only capacitors I could actually see in there were Chemi-Con SMG with 2000 date codes. When I shine a flashlight through the side, I can see "MADE IN USA" on the tube itself, with UL31254, which doesn't turn up anything. I've heard about Zenith tubes going bad (ones made after 1993) is this something I should be very worried about? I'll be honest, I'm terrified of working on a CRT display!
There are some pictures attached, the last one is a zoomed up picture of the lines where you can see the red, green, and blue firing. Very neat!


I've always loved the clear colors, and the non existent response time of the display. Electricity is cheap here, so I don't really care about the extra cost. I'd like other members here to throw in their opinion on CRT displays, and if anyone else here is still using them. How come they are so reliable? They run hotter than LCDs yet tend to last so much longer. Is this because so much research has gone into them over the century that they have been around? Or is it the fact that planned obsolescence coincides with the "boom" of LCD production?
I'm down in California helping my grandparents move, and they offered me two of their old CRT TVs. I think they are both really awesome but can only take one due to space. One is a 25" Zenith made in October, 2000. The other is a really neat 21" unit from Emerson Radio manufactured in January, 1987. Both work perfectly! Despite the Zenith having a 4" bigger display, it is only 1/2" deeper than the Emerson and is only rated to use 5W more. I plan to use either one of them up at my place.
I really like the customizable knobs on the Emerson, but it only has Antenna in, and it's very old. Still pretty awesome to see the thing still working though!
The Zenith was probably made by LG, since Zenith closed the last of their USA factories in 1998. The only capacitors I could actually see in there were Chemi-Con SMG with 2000 date codes. When I shine a flashlight through the side, I can see "MADE IN USA" on the tube itself, with UL31254, which doesn't turn up anything. I've heard about Zenith tubes going bad (ones made after 1993) is this something I should be very worried about? I'll be honest, I'm terrified of working on a CRT display!
There are some pictures attached, the last one is a zoomed up picture of the lines where you can see the red, green, and blue firing. Very neat!
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