What to Look for in a CRT TV - Budget to Best

While the Xbox Series, PS5, and Nintendo Switch have made decent strides in allowing us to play classic games on modern consoles, nothing beats playing those games on the consoles they were made for on CRT TVs which they look best on!

In this episode of Budget to Best, Seth Macy drops his favorite tips on finding the perfect CRT TV for your retro gaming needs, no matter what your budget and what to look for while on that search. We hope you’ve cleared some space on your shelf, because these things are HEFTY! Whether you’re looking to play retro games on a SNES, N64, PlayStation 2, or Dreamcast, you’ll wanna check out our favorite tips.

[DubsBrown]

Don’t forget, small is sometimes better. If you play mostly by yourself, a little crt on your desk is very fun.

[alexp]

Thanks for driving up the prices again, IGN.

[DrKeez]

My tip for anyone entering the hobby is the diminishing returns going from a later model CRT to a PVM. It just isn't worth the thousand-dollar premium. If you can find a PVM for free, sure why not. But an early 2000s model Sony WEGA with component for example is ~95% of the way there and can be found for free. And if you are comfortable giving it a proper calibration, most people would fail an A/B test between the two on 240p content.

[sokadensoosok]

One of the few advantages we have in PAL areas is the SCART cable, even still shows up on most modern TVs i've seen

[purplebeard]

Seth, that wasn't a Wega Sony pictured. Just a normal S/V/XBR Sony. Wegas were the completely flat Trinitrons and had HD and SD variants-- XBR>V>S. They had 30 and 34" in 16:9 and had 32, 36, and 40" in 4:3. The Sony Wegas and the JVC I'Arts were probably the best ones out there for CRTs.

[PLAYER_]

Fun video, Seth! CRTs are also an important part of Game Preservation. It's the display format most retro games were designed to be played on. From the aspect ratio to the assets used to make up the images to even the timing (PAL, NTSC). A lot of systems and organizations that claim they are preserving games are just using modded retro hardware, but with modern digital outputs which not only alters how some games play (some are unplayable due to lag), but isn't a 1:1 presentation/preservation of how the game originally launched and what the developers intended.

[winsbeyond]

Found several CRTs on craigslist for free recently.

[ThomasBryant]

You know you're old when you're laughing over how to describe a CRT TV to young people. Hilarious

[davidzactecaz]

I've grew up with the 80s woodgrain crt tv, 90s black curved Philip's tv, and mid 2000s silver tv. N64 and PS2 were my childhood.

[xShinigamiRyukuux]

HDCRT TVs (Edit: TVs, not monitors like Sony's PVM line) are pretty awful for anything older than a PS2. They generally can only output 540p (upscaled from 480p) or 1080i (native, upscaled from 720p, or interlaced 1080p). Anything 480i and 240p is (lag-inducingly) upscaled to 1080i, and looks pretty terrible. They're great for PS3/360/Wii, and the select games that do 480p on PS2/DC/XB/GC, but you're much better off with a with even a mid-range Standard Def model with S-Video for anything older than that.

[MattyIcecubes]

My son just turned 13 and he's never even seen a CRT in action. Tried explaining to him that a CRT the size of our 75" flat panel would take up most of the living room and would weigh about half a ton. His mind was blown.

[Moshugaani]

In Europe, you should make sure whether the TV you're buying has RGB and S-video input via SCART, and whether it can display PAL 50 Hz and 60 Hz, and NTSC signals.
Most Euro TVs that have SCART do also receive RGB, but not all receive S-video. While later models generally can display 60 Hz and NTSC, many older models can only do PAL 50 Hz.

[Webhead]

The CRT journey is not for everyone and maybe not even for most people. However, if you're just enough of a purist, like me, that prefers to experience media in the way it was originally envisioned, it can be incredibly satisfying to be playing classic games on real hardware and in the glow of a true cathode ray accelerator.

[ytmak]

What’s sad is in 10 years 99% of CRTs will be gone forever and there will never be large scale production of them ever again

[bjeezy]

Love CRTs. They are gold. Especially Trinitrons.

[horroRomantic]

Great. Now people will increase 🙄 the price of CRT TVs even more. Also, 1080i is really bad for retro games. HD CRTs are great for media content and maybe PS2 and newer, but not for 32 bit and older consoles.

[GryFx]

And this video will help prices sky rocket.

[BenAck]

This is also a viable solution for playing games that don't have lag calibration (e.g. Guitar Hero (2005).)

[rotary_]

Playing PES 2009 and Syphon Filter on a CRT brings ne memories...

[macuser]

As long as you get one that works and it's free, that's what matters. You can use em for light guns.