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No more CRT Arcade monitors? :(
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opt2not:

--- Quote from: mgb on December 21, 2010, 06:01:34 pm ---
--- Quote from: keefyboy on December 21, 2010, 08:59:51 am --- for almost every application, an LCD is a far superior option.
--- End quote ---

I'm not sure I would say LCDs are superior.
But hey they're cheaper to ship

--- End quote ---
I'm pretty sure I'd say LCD's are not superior to CRTs when it comes to arcade games. LCD's are missing that phosphorus glow, that rounded image-scape. Sprites weren't meant to look so crisp, and the only way you can get away with it is if you're using a small-form LCD (9" or smaller), were the image is tiny enough that your eyes naturally blur the pixel colours together.

mgb:
Yeah, I'm holding on to my CRTs for as long as I could.
keefyboy:

--- Quote from: mgb on December 21, 2010, 06:01:34 pm ---
--- Quote from: keefyboy on December 21, 2010, 08:59:51 am --- for almost every application, an LCD is a far superior option.
--- End quote ---

I'm not sure I would say LCDs are superior.
But hey they're cheaper to ship

--- End quote ---

They are for most non-arcade applications. Thinner, crisper, easier to design a device around, etc.
Think of how much diagnostic equipment is in your average hospital, and imagine replacing all the LCDs with CRTs - the devices would  have to be significantly larger. And the medical field is *MUCH* bigger than the arcade market.
Gambling, which used to use a ton of CRTs, now uses LCDs. The slot machines with LCDs can be made smaller than even ones with physical reels.
TVs, my LCD flat-panel is crisper than any CRT TV I've ever seen.

I'm just surprised that Wei-Ya still sells brand-new 29" tri-syncs. Lots of candy cabs here in Asia, so maybe replacement CRTs are propping up the market . No new cabs have a CRT - they're all like the 16:9 Vewlix.

Note - I am *not* arguing that LCDs are better for arcade gaming. Heck, I just bought a AWSD with a 29" CRT specifically to convert to MAME. I just know that arcade machines, especially the DIY market, don't move enough CRTs to justify the manufacturing costs. Andy from Ultimarc has written that the AVGA 3000 might be the last iteration due to sales and costs - but I hope I misread that.

I'm seriously considering buying a spare CRT just in case.
Hituro:

--- Quote from: keefyboy on December 22, 2010, 05:14:20 am ---
--- Quote from: mgb on December 21, 2010, 06:01:34 pm ---
--- Quote from: keefyboy on December 21, 2010, 08:59:51 am --- for almost every application, an LCD is a far superior option.
--- End quote ---

I'm not sure I would say LCDs are superior.
But hey they're cheaper to ship

--- End quote ---

They are for most non-arcade applications. Thinner, crisper, easier to design a device around, etc.
Think of how much diagnostic equipment is in your average hospital, and imagine replacing all the LCDs with CRTs - the devices would  have to be significantly larger. And the medical field is *MUCH* bigger than the arcade market.
Gambling, which used to use a ton of CRTs, now uses LCDs. The slot machines with LCDs can be made smaller than even ones with physical reels.
TVs, my LCD flat-panel is crisper than any CRT TV I've ever seen.

I'm just surprised that Wei-Ya still sells brand-new 29" tri-syncs. Lots of candy cabs here in Asia, so maybe replacement CRTs are propping up the market . No new cabs have a CRT - they're all like the 16:9 Vewlix.

Note - I am *not* arguing that LCDs are better for arcade gaming. Heck, I just bought a AWSD with a 29" CRT specifically to convert to MAME. I just know that arcade machines, especially the DIY market, don't move enough CRTs to justify the manufacturing costs. Andy from Ultimarc has written that the AVGA 3000 might be the last iteration due to sales and costs - but I hope I misread that.

I'm seriously considering buying a spare CRT just in case.

--- End quote ---

I totally understand your argument.  And I agree, for the latest technology, LCD is much better than CRT.  I think a lot of us gamers who used to play Arcade games back in the 80's, are trying to capture that same look and feel.  Trust me, only CRT I have, is in my MAME cab, and for good reason.  I just lose that old fashion pixel look and glow :D
Xiaou2:
LCDs are nice because they are thin and light... but thats about it.


 Good CRTs produce a much better overall picture and last 10x as long doing it.

 I stupidly bought a 37" LCD monitor, only to have it die in 3yrs. Luckily, they refunded my money due to the many problems I had... and I used that money to buy a used sony widescreen 1080i  CRT off craigslist.

 The LCD had problems right off the bat... with slight dark patches seen in low light.  Then it started to get image burns from being my desktop.  Turns out that they dont burn-in... but the image gets 'Stuck' and it requires the monitor to stay off for extended time periods to reverse this condition.
 
 At anything but the native resolution, it looked Wretched.  PS2 colors looked washed out and picture was blurry (in a bad way). Response time 5ms was Ok... but for fast moving objects and lots of scrolling... it was noticeably annoyingly lagging.
 
 Color range and contrast also dont match a good CRT.  So doing digital artwork with accuracy on a LCD was pointless.  I went an got a used CRT PC monitor for my desktop instead.
 
 The Sony Widescreen CRT TV was one of the last sets of tube tvs they produced.  The picture is slightly fuzzy compared to an LCD.. however, the detail is still incredible... and the pictures color depth & contrast make it well worth an ever so slight loss in clarity.  With PS2, it looks phenomenal,
in both low and high resolution modes. CRTs handle non-native resolutions 1000x better than the best LCDs.  I hook the thing up to my PC via HDMI, and its incredible for watching media and playing arcade style games on it.
I use it for standard HDTV & DVD viewing as well. Highly recommended.
(but still too clean / hi-res for mame's lowres games to look correctly on it. Its more like a giant PC monitor)

 LCDs are pretty horrible actually... especially for the gaming industry... as LCDs are not really designed to last more than 5yrs... and thats IF your lucky.  The backlights last about 50,000 hrs max, and the inverters usually blow up before that.. and your lucky if the main PCB does not suicide on you before both of those die.

 And finally, even the remaining 90s-2000 era arcade monitors used for replacements to the original 80s era games, were not quite the same.
The dot pitch being much larger on the older models... makes the picture looks a lot different as a result.
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