@OpenComputeDesign @amin

Man, folks today have no idea what monochrome CRTs looked like. Something just so pure about that picture.

Trinitrons came close, but only so much.

Maaan, #Trinitron... that was what we lusted after back in the day! No more janky tri-dot shadow mask that blocked most of the "light"! XD

$30 #Trinitron #CRT, $10 audiophile speakers, $20 amp. We've never been more back. I'm hearing parts of #SSBM I never heard. These cheap speakers are better than 95-100% of speakers that have ever been built into a TV.

After learning the patent for Trinitron expired in 1998, I wonder if any old early 2000s CRT will do the job (regardless of if it uses a Trinitron-style aperture grille). I just can't reconcile how good that Sharp TV looked. Scroll up to see more.

This TV "seems" to have some drift on the left-right axis but I'm not enough of an expert to say for sure.

If you're in the midwest where CRTs are nearly free, don't overpay. 27 inch and up CRTs are very easy to get. 18 inch and up are out there. If I paid $100 for this I'd be pissed.

If it's your first CRT:

1. Get 240p test suite (Wii, Raspberry Pi, etc.) and test the TV before purchase. Moving them sucks.
2. Find something with decent geometry that doesn't need adjustment (Apparently perfect geometry is very hard to find, not worth worrying about)
3. Make sure it takes at least RCA (RGB > S-Video > RCA > coax)
4. Don't pay more than $50 and take your time on Facebook. CRTs are a dime a dozen except for PVMs, Trinitrons, and PC monitors. (As this thread indicates, non-PVM Trinitrons may be overhyped.)

Random Sharp #CRT I got on the side of the road seems about as good as the #Trinitron consumer grade TV I drove 2 hours to get. I tested them not next to each other, but in the same room, and I don't have a way to put the same signal in both TVs at once.

The Trinitron "should" beat the Sharp once I get S-Video, which the Sharp lacks. That's what made me think the Sharp was a budget display and not trying to have high picture quality.

I also got 240p test suite and as far as I know, the Sharp is perfect. No convergence issues, but the Trinitron does have a slight issue in the corner.

The soft consensus on /r/crtgaming is that consumer Trinitrons are nice, but not mindblowing. I'm inclined to agree. Based on these results, I suggest playing CRT roulette with whatever you can find semi-locally. Even better if you can bring 240p test suite and not buy the CRT if you don't like it. Don't overpay for a consumer Trinitron. Take your time and wait for the right deal.