Ways to PROLONG life of CRTs?

[perplex]

Is there anyway to prolong life of CRT? like turn it off when away from keyboard?

I just don't want this Sony G200 (a CRT) to die . it's just beautiful and has served me very nicely for ~5 years now - i've never seen any monitor as close to perfection as this one.

 

[Dokein]

If it makes you feel any better, I've had a Sony Trinitron 100SX 15" (13.9" viewable ). For almost 10 years, pretty much on everyday.

 

[mathesar]

Ive had my Sony G520P CRT for 2 years and my mom has my previous Sony G400 wich is now 5+ years old , both have superb image quality (better than a Dell 2001FP LCD that I recently returned) I've got my G520P calibrated nicely, it actualy didnt need much adjusting at all out of the box.

As far as prolonging life I have mine set to shutoff (power saving) after 30 minutes of Inactivity , The G520P has a brightness toggle button on the front (Pro / Standard / Dynamic) so whenever Im browsing the web / forums / chat etc. I set it to Pro wich reduces the contrast output , not only does this prolong CRT life it also saves your eye balls from stress, When im watching movies or playing games I set it on Standard or Dynamic mode wich of course boosts contrast / gamma / color etc.

Basicly the darker you have your monitor the longer its going to last ..of course this doesnt mean you should sacrifice image quality by running a dark screen! but for example lowering the contrast during web surfing still looks fine to me ..This is more of a hassle for monitors that dont have a single brightness toggle but on my G400 all I had to do was hold a single button down to manualy lower the contrast so it wasnt a big deal.

 

[hmm...]

and remember not to turn it on and off all the time

 

[deathBOB]

If you give is a sensual massage every night it will last longer...

 

[Happy Hopping]

why not just dump it as a door stopper and buy a lcd instead?

 

[nst6563]

why not just dump it as a door stopper and buy a lcd instead?

The ONLY way I'd dump my 22" NEC Trinitron CRT is for a 20" 4ms LCD That can do all resolutions from 640x480 to 2048x1536 just as good as a native resolution...otherwise...no comparison.

 

[EGGO]

Is there anyway to prolong life of CRT? like turn it off when away from keyboard?

I just don't want this Sony G200 (a CRT) to die . it's just beautiful and has served me very nicely for ~5 years now - i've never seen any monitor as close to perfection as this one.

*high fives*

I've had my CRT for that amount of time now and the colors are still matching my printer (I'm a graphic designer).

One thing you can do is not have it turn on and off a lot, but I never followed that, as I turn mine off before I sleep or go somewhere and turn it right back on when I come back. So far, nothings wrong, but all good things must come to an end man. If it was a type of machine you can maintain or calibrate like a car to keep it running, it'd be grand, but it's not. =0(

 

[5150Joker]

I don't see how you guys can like a CRT over a good LCD. Sure the blacks are better but that's about it. I had a Sony G520 and while it was nice, the text quality was nowhere near as good as the 2005FP I have nor were the colors as vibrant.

 

[Mr_Evil]

I don't see how you guys can like a CRT over a good LCD. Sure the blacks are better but that's about it. I had a Sony G520 and while it was nice, the text quality was nowhere near as good as the 2005FP I have nor were the colors as vibrant.

My Dell 1704FPV produces darker blacks than ANY CRT monitor I've ever owned. And that's vs Sony Trinitrons I've had. 1000:1 contrast ratio. Right now I have a Viewsonic trinitron next to my 1704 and the difference in the contrast is night and day.

 

[DanK]

I don't see how you guys can like a CRT over a good LCD. Sure the blacks are better but that's about it. I had a Sony G520 and while it was nice, the text quality was nowhere near as good as the 2005FP I have nor were the colors as vibrant.

The response time on CRTs is unbeatable, all resolutions look equally as good, the contrast ratio is unmatched by any LCD, and they provide by far the best value for the quality you get.

If the text quality / color accuracy wasn't as good on your CRT, then that means it either wasn't calibrated properly or was defective.

I have both a CRT (20" Silicon Graphics) and an LCD (LG L1930B) screen on my desk. I like them both.

My Dell 1704FPV produces darker blacks than ANY CRT monitor I've ever owned. And that's vs Sony Trinitrons I've had. 1000:1 contrast ratio. Right now I have a Viewsonic trinitron next to my 1704 and the difference in the contrast is night and day.

The thing about LCDs is that you only get certain benefits depending upon the type of matrix used to produce the panel. For instance, my LCD uses an S-IPS panel, which has excellent color accuracy and pretty good response times, but the contrast isn't so good. MVA / PVA panels have great contrast and decent colors, but their response times are terrible. TN+ panels have the fastest response times, but are bad at just about everything else. With a CRT, you don't have to make those kinds of tradeoffs. (The tradeoff you do make is giving up lots of desk space and having higher energy consumption / heat production.)

 

[perplex]

why not just dump it as a door stopper and buy a lcd instead?

because LCD suck. however i like those sony x-black but the reflective surface is very annoying. the LCD technology hasn't matured yet. however i don't really mind about response time because i'm not into gaming anymore, but the colours look so nice on my trinitron here.

 

[Happy Hopping]

I use two trinitron. They keep dying too fast. They should last many yr., but my first one only last 6 yr., and the 2nd one only 3 mth.

They don't make anything bigger than a 21 - 22 " anyway, and didn't they stop making them? Can you get CRT that is 24" or 30"?

 

[Oldie]

Really good 21 Inch CRT $200+

Really good 21 Inch LCD $1000+

I would just enable power save, and maybe make sure not a lot of dust gets into it. If you're really into it, I have a few places around here that repair monitors, maybe you could find one to service it. I bought 25 17in. dells that didn't work for $1 a piece. They were able to fix 20 of them, and my average cost went to $30 a piece.

 

[dandragonrage]

The ONLY way I'd dump my 22" NEC Trinitron CRT

psst... that's a Diamondtron Way better than Trinitron.

 

[nst6563]

psst... that's a Diamondtron Way better than Trinitron.

hrm...I thought it was a trinitron b/c it looked so damn good

 

[farkus]

They don't make anything bigger than a 21 - 22 " anyway, and didn't they stop making them? Can you get CRT that is 24" or 30"?

I almost bought one of these off of craigslist but it was gone within minutes. Probably a good thing because my keyboard would've been in my lap since the monitor would've taken up most of my desk.

 

[DanK]

psst... that's a Diamondtron Way better than Trinitron.

Diamondtron and Trinitron (and Sonictron, if we were talking about Viewsonic) are the same thing, an aperture grille display (notice the -tron suffix). The technology was licensed from Sony.

 

[Greenwit]

Just set your screensaver to 'blank' and set the time to something low like 5 minutes.

I agree LCDs are awful. It's amazing how easy it is to sway the low-carb pop culture masses by making something thin and light....makes them forget about bad blacks, one size fits all resolution, motion blur, laser like brightness, mass backlighting and pixels problems, tiny fonts/borked web pages, etc. LCDs are just awesome. Awesomely awesome.

 

[dandragonrage]

Diamondtron and Trinitron (and Sonictron, if we were talking about Viewsonic) are the same thing, an aperture grille display (notice the -tron suffix). The technology was licensed from Sony.

They're similar. DiamondTron uses 3 guns.

 

[mathesar]

Not to mention LCD's have input lag wich will effect your online FPS gaming performance, I had a 2001FP sitting next to my G520P and could see the lag with my own eyes just by opening and closing windows ,the LCD was always slightly behind what the CRT was displaying,before you blame my PC or drivers etc. I also tried connecting my HDTV (CRT) to the same DVI output the 2001FP was in and the input lag was non-existant when comparing both CRT's (dual monitor / clone mode)

Also when it came to gaming and movies the G520P was whooping my 2001FP in overall picture quality, Sure the LCD had cleaner text but thats where the advantage ended. Also by 'cleaner' this by no way means the CRT's text was blury, Never had a problem reading text on it the 2 years ive owned it (1600x1200 desktop res)

CRT may be bulky,heavy and power hungry but when it comes to image quality im extremely picky , So the 2001FP went back to dell, I must give a thumbs up to dell on the return tho ,Besides getting a full refund they also paid for the return shipping.

 

[perplex]

not the mention the dreaded dead pixels? imagine looking at a white website and having a big red pixel glowing in the corner of your eye!

 

[TechStuey05]

Just set your screensaver to 'blank' and set the time to something low like 5 minutes.

I agree LCDs are awful. It's amazing how easy it is to sway the low-carb pop culture masses by making something thin and light....makes them forget about bad blacks, one size fits all resolution, motion blur, laser like brightness, mass backlighting and pixels problems, tiny fonts/borked web pages, etc. LCDs are just awesome. Awesomely awesome.

How about poor viewing angles especially vertically where the top of the screen is darker then the bottom

 

[DanK]

How about poor viewing angles especially vertically where the top of the screen is darker then the bottom

That only affects TN+ panels; PVA panels have viewing angles limited only by the bezel around the screen (basically as good as a CRT), while MVA panels and S-IPS panels have pretty wide viewing angles (for instance, my LCD has a quoted viewing angle of 176 degrees).

 

[TechStuey05]

That only affects TN+ panels; MVA / PVA panels have viewing angles limited only by the bezel around the screen (basically as good as a CRT), and S-IPS panels have pretty wide viewing angles (for instance, my LCD has a quoted viewing angle of 176 degrees).

Yeh, what lcd do you have? I have a sony sdm-hs95p/b and the colors are good but the viewing angles are horrible (especially vertical). plus there's some color banding. I'm currently waiting on the samsung 193p+ but I haven't seen any websites review it yet

 

[bk12321]

1024 or 1280 native resolution is bad? Hell I dont even go as high as that in gaming. I had a $150 lcd and I experienced NO motion blur, great blacks and great colors, high contrast ratio, great look (and not huge), and I could use a resolution I can actually SEE, unlike crts where people use resolutions above the 1500 mark. I have absolutely no reason not to buy an lcd, and the difference in cost is not substantial. Plus the "cool factor", of course.

 

[mathesar]

1024 or 1280 native resolution is bad? Hell I dont even go as high as that in gaming. I had a $150 lcd and I experienced NO motion blur, great blacks and great colors, high contrast ratio, great look (and not huge), and I could use a resolution I can actually SEE, unlike crts where people use resolutions above the 1500 mark. I have absolutely no reason not to buy an lcd, and the difference in cost is not substantial. Plus the "cool factor", of course.

Talk about being in Denial! No motion blur ..Thats a good one to!

Anyhow get yourself a GOOD CRT and sit it next to your $150 LCD , Run a bunch of games & movies via dual monitor / clone mode ..Then get back to me

This is essentialy what I did except my LCD cost $500 (Dell 2001FP), I ran it for 3 weeks next to my CRT and ended up sending it back for various reasons..

Everyone has there own prefrences.. if you prefer sleek / coolness factor over image quality then so be it.

The sad thing is many LCD zealots have never actualy owned a decent CRT so they automaticly think LCD is superior, Shame.

 

[deathBOB]

I just switched from a Viewsonic P95f+ to a Samsung 930b due to space reasons. Going from a 19 inch CRT to a 19 inch LCD was a big change. Some thing I noticed: Much bigger screen area compared to the CRT. No ghosting or motion blur I can detect. Maybe if my system ran at 100 FPS I could detect it, but it doesnt so the point is moot. Blacks seem pretty damn black to me. It is very bright and even as bright as it is it seems much easier on my eyes. When I turned on the ultra bright mode on my CRT it still doesnt come near the LCD and seems to strain my eyes much more. Colors are pretty vibrant.

I was really only dissapointed that it didnt include a DVI cable. Would I take the LCD over the CRT? Yes, mainly because of the larger screen area.

 

[Antimatter]

1024 or 1280 native resolution is bad? Hell I dont even go as high as that in gaming. I had a $150 lcd and I experienced NO motion blur, great blacks and great colors, high contrast ratio, great look (and not huge), and I could use a resolution I can actually SEE, unlike crts where people use resolutions above the 1500 mark. I have absolutely no reason not to buy an lcd, and the difference in cost is not substantial. Plus the "cool factor", of course.

I dislike 1024 and 1280 resolution, i prefer 1400 to 1600 and higher resolution. I just like the real estate on my desktop that comes with an 1400 to 1600+ resolution so its nice.

But heh, I've been spoiled by my Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 930SB and flawless thinkpad T42 screen theyre sweet screen, but i can still see the lag and motion blur on my thinkpad.

 

[mathesar]

I just switched from a Viewsonic P95f+ to a Samsung 930b due to space reasons. Going from a 19 inch CRT to a 19 inch LCD was a big change. Some thing I noticed: Much bigger screen area compared to the CRT. No ghosting or motion blur I can detect. Maybe if my system ran at 100 FPS I could detect it, but it doesnt so the point is moot. Blacks seem pretty damn black to me. It is very bright and even as bright as it is it seems much easier on my eyes. When I turned on the ultra bright mode on my CRT it still doesnt come near the LCD and seems to strain my eyes much more. Colors are pretty vibrant.

I was really only dissapointed that it didnt include a DVI cable. Would I take the LCD over the CRT? Yes, mainly because of the larger screen area.

Ah the P95f+ ..I had one for a couple weeks but returned it due to funky dot pitch, Before buying I hadnt realised it was actualy rated .27 pitch in the corners and .24 in the center (you can see this on viewsonics site) ..kind of a silly design if you ask me and made it look like it was defective with its blury text towards the corners, I got a refund on it and ended up paying $200 more for the 21" G520P Im using now but it was WELL worth it, picture is crystal clear from corner to corner and the "ultra bright mode" known as Dynamic mode on the G520P is much easier on my eyes and doesnt have overblown contrast like the P95f+ did, Viewsonic uses there own (cheaper) version of the trinitron apreture grille wich is why the dot pitch is differant in the corners.

 

[nst6563]

it was actualy rated .27 pitch in the corners and .24 in the center (you can see this on viewsonics site) ..kind of a silly design if you ask me and made it look like it was defective with its blury text towards the corners

I had a Nokia 445 21" monitor a while back that was like that. Looking at a picture that has fuzzier corners than the center will definately give you a headache. The ONLY thing that monitor had going for it was the fact that I could run 1280x1024 at 180hz, and 1600x1200 @ 140hz. It was a refresh monster...but it couldn't make up for the fuzzy text around the edges.
It's monitors like those that make the masses think LCD is so much better.

But I really think it depends on what you're doing with it. I'd say for the average office environment the LCD ma y be better due to the power consumption, desk space, and eye strain (as we all know that probably 99% of the monitors in an office environment aren't calibrated or configured correctly to begin with)

 

[Nakamori]

I got an Hp bundle at fry's four years ago that that came with a no-name brand 19-inch crt behemoth. Looks better than all of my friend's 17-inch lcd's. Wouldn't trade it for anything, but I'm leaving for college in a month and a half so I'll need to pick up a cheapo 15' lcd ::waits for dell coupon::

 

[Seraphim974]

Yeah, I cant handle using my LCD. The picture quality on my 250 dollar NEC/Mitsubishi Diamondtron is far better image wise than my Viewsonic VP-912B LCD which I paid 580 for. So I switched my Diamondtron CRT back to my primary monitor since getting my LCD. The LCD is sitting next to my computer unhooked. It's kind of a sad story. An example of the viewing angles: My friend was sitting (actually kneeling) next to me watching me play Battlefield 2 and i said to him, "Ya know, if i were using my LCD, you would not be watching me play right now....."

Are there specific adjustments that can be made to make an LCD look better? Any software programs for tweaking LCDs to look better? If so lemme know. It would be appreciated.

 

[Trepidati0n]

I agree with the comment that about CRT superior to LCD. It is...it truely is. The only performance aspect where LCD is superior is power draw. But what do you expect with 60+ years of evolution. If they worked on LCD's for 60 years, then we could have some smokin kick ass displays.

Own a quality CRT for a year and then switch to LCD, it takes a while for the "stepdown" to be okay.

-tReP

 

[Aaron_ATX]

Just be careful with the connector that goes into the video card. Either i'm just rough on them or i've had bad luck. After about 4-5 years it seems something breaks in that cable, causing it to go yellow unless I pin the cord up in a funky way.



My 22inch viewsonic is great for games. No qualms with it at all. And if someone breaks into my house I could easily kill them with it.


Havent seen an LCD that makes me want one yet, for gaming. I would like to get one for my server/web browser/music box. But the prices on them are retarded still.

 

[TheRapture]

Own a quality CRT for a year and then switch to LCD, it takes a while for the "stepdown" to be okay.

-tReP

I have owned a couple of good 21" Trinitrons over the last few years. Very good monitors. I tried a 25ms 19" LCD last year, and was not very happy with gaming on it. I went out and bought a used 21" P1110 last year and used it until 2 months ago when I got my Samsung TN panel 19", it is very fast for gaming.

Viewing angles are not that great compared to the CRT but no matter, since I never use it except when I am right in front of it. Call that a draw then...

Being fixed at 1280x1024 for maximum clarity is a drawback, but one I can live with since the LCD IS easier on my eyes for whatever reason. Text is easier to read than on the CRT.

I need portability for LAN games, and the heat produced by the big CRT was a drawback.

An LCD fits my needs a bit better at this point, and I doubt I will ever use another CRT, as LCD tech is only going to get better in the future...


But I would still never say that LCD's "own" CRT's...or vice versa...to each his own...

 

[DanK]

Yeh, what lcd do you have? I have a sony sdm-hs95p/b and the colors are good but the viewing angles are horrible (especially vertical). plus there's some color banding. I'm currently waiting on the samsung 193p+ but I haven't seen any websites review it yet

Sorry, I got a bit confused about how similar MVA and PVA matrices were. MVA panels don't have perfect viewing angles, but they aren't bad either; PVA panels (which are Samsung's improvement on the MVA matrix) are the ones that have near-180 degree viewing angles.

According to prad.de, your sony sdm-hs95p/b uses an MVA panel with 170 degree viewing angles, both horizontal and vertical. The Samsung 193p+ does look very promising, here's one review http://www.xyzcomputing.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=393&Itemid=2&limit=1&limitstart=0. The only downside at this point seems to be the expense. Vol did a review / comparison of the 193p+ with the VP191b, which you can find here: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=923489.

My LCD is the LG L1930B, which I purchased several months ago from Newegg when the price was much higher than that. Everyone that I've shown it to has been impressed. Doing a side-by-side comparison with my 20" Trinitron, the colors match up very well; while there is a small amount of motion blur in fast gaming (I used UT2k4 in clone mode to test), it's very hard to notice, and you really have to have a CRT right there next to the LCD in order to notice any blurring. Of course, blurring / response time is subjective, so YMMV.

 

[kurtlim]

psst... that's a Diamondtron Way better than Trinitron.

thats the myth Mitsubishi want you to believe. to give you some fact, Sony invented the AG and Mitsubishi licensed from them but they cant produce the exact same copied so they alter here and there a bit...if the RGB can be fire from a single gun with better result, would you think the invented didnt had knew it earlier?

another, at the end of 90's, Sony introduce the first visually flat AG named FD trinitron, no surprise, Mitsubishi follow suit with Diamondtron NF; ~2001, Sony came out with something like philips's "lightframe" in their newer G520/G420, again, Mitsubishi now known as NEC-Mitsubishi, added the feature and call them Diamontron SB...see the pattern? Mitsubishi is nothing more like a follower/imitater.

i own monitors with both Diamontron and Trinitron, i'm speaking of personal experience--the Trinitron is better.

Diamondtron and Trinitron (and Sonictron, if we were talking about Viewsonic) are the same thing, an aperture grille display (notice the -tron suffix). The technology was licensed from Sony.

theres no Sonictron, only two company make AG tube. Viewsonic likes to use their own jargon, e.g. they use the term "perfectflat" for all their "visually flat" or "looks reasonable flat monitor"--whether thay are using FD Trnitron, Diamontron NF/SB, FST shadow mask or the slot mask.

well, all these doesnt matter anymore since both of them have or going to seize the production of computer CRT monitor...

 

[DanK]

theres no Sonictron

Well, not anymore, they don't call their aperture grille screens that now that Sony's rights to the technology expired... but they did use the name, for instance:

WALNUT, Calif. – October 11, 1999 – ViewSonic Corporation, a leading worldwide provider of advanced display technology, today announced the PF790, a new addition to the award-winning Professional Series. This 19" (18.0" viewable) monitor combines patented PerfectFlat technology, perfectly flat from edge-to-edge, and SonicTron aperture grille to deliver precise images and superior color richness.

 

[bob]

...Sony Trinitron

Roxors teh soxors!!!

My multiscan 15sf was beautifull. The monitors colors are kinda washed out now. I think its a 1992. Im now on a nokia multigraph 449x. 1024x768 max res WooT!!