On a recent Reddit thread someone claimed that old PC monitors
and tube TVs are rising in popularity and price due to retro gamers.
Is this true?
SOME TVs. Not every TV. The gamers want the pro broadcast video monitors
that have RGB inputs. Sony PVM and the like. Search ebay for Sony PVM RGB
and you will see some.
Digital TVs usually have to buffer a frame before displaying it so
displayed images are one frame behind (or more.) Old games were authored
for their look on a CRT, so on LCDs you can see compression color
artifacts and whatever else.
The PVMs were very expensive new, so it's like driving an old high end
car I guess.
They may also be into other Sony and higher end late model TVs, but at
less $$$ than the PVMs.
I chalk a lot of it up to a hobby and a hunt, but they're keeping high
quality hardware in usable condition so +1 for them!
I wouldn't want to sell anything on eBay I couldn't hold in
one hand at arm's length, especially when it comes to packing
and shipping.
A lot of the PVM monitors are less than 25".
Crap VGA monitors can still be found, but harder to find the nicer ones.
CGA monitors (Tandy CM-11?) seem to be quite difficult to find now. My
friend's CM-5 blew the flyback when it was out at an event and afaik China
isn't reproducing anything like that yet (they do for the arcade
monitors.)
I own 1 Sony PVM, a cube. Need the speakers that screw to the sides. My
friend who gave it to me has about 20 of them including a $30,000
reference mointor that is widescreen CRT Sony 16:9. Maybe a 23" picture
and heavy as all hell.
- Ethan
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: Ethan O'Toole
