I worry this about a lot of things. But what alternatives are there when crts are gone or all broken?
I’ve never had a flat-screen with as good color or 0 latency like a crt. And im sure they exist theyre probably just 2000 dollars.
I worry this about a lot of things. But what alternatives are there when crts are gone or all broken?
I’ve never had a flat-screen with as good color or 0 latency like a crt. And im sure they exist theyre probably just 2000 dollars.
This might be a stupid answer, but uh… make more CRTs? There’s a niche shop for everything. Just like how new components for retro computers are made today (stuff like bootable flash cards for older stuff, creating better ways to achieve things), if there is a demand, there will be a market.
I dunno how they’d be made but someone will figure it out. But I’m sure because it’s low-demand (comparatively), it will be high price.
Yeah, it’s not quite that simple. One thing that really sucks is a lot of the tech, tuning and design that existed is not as simple as just making the thing again. Manufacturing equipment has to exist and experience making the thing has to exist. Take a look at the state of cassette.
There is only one company currently making cassette and there is no real way to get anything else besides the one model that they make. Even the highest end new cassette players use the same one because there is literally no other facility making them.
Compare any modern cassette to walkmans or really any handheld player from the 90s in terms of sound or even size and you will see everything from then is so much smaller and sounds way better.
The facility that makes the modern ones knows this and acknowledges it. It’s just the manufacturing does not exist anymore.
That is just tape.
CRTs are absolutely nuts in comparison. It will be a truly sad day that CRTs are no longer a thing you can find.
The Walkman was my go-to reaction as well. They literally don’t make ‘em like they used to.
Thats so funny I used the exact same example !
It’s a great example with lots of talking points!
I read this interesting article about a guitar that Fender made forever. They had to discontinue it because the auto industry changed the materials they used and they could no longer get the stuff they needed to make it. The supply chain completely vanished and they were too niche to stand a chance of keeping it going.
Aren’t they illegal to make now?
You cant just make old things again. If they did, they’ll cost $3000 each, or more like 10,000.
Just like how a reel of 1/4" tape is upwards of $50 now. There’s 1 company left making them.
CRTs are very simple devices. The only complicated part is the tube and that can surely be automated by now.
automation is only profitable is you’re making absolute gads of exactly the same thing
I think early generation CRTs had mercury and lead in them, which made them not enviromentally friendly. Not too sure if there are any modern materials which can replace the hazardous ones.
Why would you be unsure of that when we were producing CRTs without mercury and lead for decades?
I wonder if someone like the Czech guy who started a nixie tube factory a decade or two ago could pivot to artisanal CRTs for deep-pocketed retro-gaming enthusiasts.