they work?
Totest all these theoretical
advantages, we went out
and grabbed a 21in Sun
GDM-5510 CRT and an
HDMI to VGA adaptor, and
began experimenting.
This display can deliver up to
a 1,600 x 1,200 resolution with
a vertical refresh rate of 85Hz,
hichmay not sound all that
ressive. But due to the scanline
e ofthe picture, 85Hz should in
e enough for a responsive-
ingexperience.
Now,thefirstthingtonoteis thatunlikeLCDs,
thevisiblesizeofa CRTdoesn’tcorrespondwiththe
advertisedsizeofthemonitor.Inpractice,thevisiblesizeofthis
21inscreenis roughly19.5in,sowe’realreadya furtherfew
stepsdowninvisualimpactfromevena basic24inLCD.
Nonetheless,firingtheGDM-5510upandyou’re
immediatelystruckby...howmuchtweakingis requiredtoget
thepicturesetupcorrectly.With
thatouttheway,this17-year-old
screenputinanimpressive
performance.Contrastis weak
butcoloursarevividandlifelike,
andtheimageis sharp.
Next,wefiredupsome
games,andsureenough,the
experiencewasimpressively
smooth.Thatscanlineeffect
doesworkwondersformotionblur.Thatsaid,the85Hz
limitationofthisscreenwasnoticeableandwestillpreferred
thelatest144Hzand240HzLCDsforfirst-personshooters.
Next,wedialleddowntheresolutiontojust 640 x 480and
firedupa fewoldclassics,andwhileyougetnoticeablelinesin
theimage,thesharpnessis there.Whenit comestotheviewing
angleadvantage,inpractice,therearefewsituations
wherethisreallymakesa differencebutit
wascertainlystrikingjusthow stable
theimagewas.Shouldyoubuy a CRT?
Basedonourexperience,
thechoiceofwhether you
shouldbuyanold CRT
monitorcomes down to a
fewdifferentfactors. The
firstiswhether you
dabbleinretro games.
The sharp
image and
smoothness
that you
can getona CRTwiththeselow-resolutiongameselevates the
experienceovermostLCDs.
However,if you’remoreinterestedingettinga CRT because
youthinkit willmakeallyourgamingexperiences better, we
stronglysuggestcaution.Fora start,theexperience isn’t that
muchbetter.RunanLCDatnativeresolutionand high refresh
rate,andit’sstilla veryniceexperience.And,if you really hate
motionblur,someLCDscomewitha blackframe insertion
modethatdoesa decentjobofemulatingthemotion blur
reducingeffectofscanlinedisplays.
What’smore,goingbacktoCRTcomeswithsome serious
compromisesinscreensize,resolutionandrefresh rate. Most
CRTmonitorstopoutat21inandusea 4:3aspect ratio rather
thanwidescreen,andthesedayswepreferwidescreen.
There’salsothefactthattheimagequalityisn’t amazing –
there’snoHDRhere.CRTsdon’tgetverybrightand they
degradeovertime,sowithanysecond-handunit you might
getnow,there’sa goodchanceit’swellpastitsbest. Add in the
sheerhulkingsizeofCRTsandtheircasegetsweaker by the
minute.Theydon’tcomecheapeither– even21in units such as
theonewetestedgoforseveralhundredpounds.
In fact, there’s really only one display that we would consider
brings enough to the table to make a viable case for replacing a
main gaming display, and that’s the Sony GDM-FW900.
Widely regarded as the absolute pinnacle of CRT monitors, this
24in display was one of the very few to offer widescreen and
could produce a full HD, 1,920 x 1,200 resolution picture at
120Hz vertical refresh.
If we could get hold of one of these 42kg(!) behemoths, we
would be very tempted to find a home for it next to our gaming
PC. The only trouble is, they don’t come cheap. Not even close.
At the time of writing, on eBay.co.uk there’s one that has a
starting bid of £1,600.
Have you experimented recently with CRTs, or have you
held on to your old one for all this time? We’d love to hear your
stories of your trials and tribulations, and to know just where
you found space to keep them!CRTS COPE MUCH
BETTER WITH
ODD AND LOW
RESOLUTIONSCRTsretain
perfect image
quality even when
viewed from
extreme anglesMost CRTs are as
deep as they are
wide – there’s a
reason flat panels
took overUp close, you can see lines when using a CRT
at low resolutions but the image still looks sharpDot
Ta
w
impr
nature
theorybe
feelinggami
N h f t