A dusty CRT at a garage sale in Akron changed my whole approach

I always said modern TVs are fine, who cares about old glass. Then last month I passed a table with a 1986 Sony Trinitron, still had the wood grain side panels. I almost walked by, but the owner let me plug it in. The reds looked like actual paint, not a glowing window. Now I hunt for a 20 inch set with S-video, dragging a cart around estate sales. Anyone else get hooked after seeing one in person?

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wright.kevin17d ago

The whole retro gaming crowd talks about scanlines and input lag, but the real hook is how the colors physically sit on the glass. That Trinitron look is basically a different color space than what modern panels do, kind of like comparing a painting to a backlit poster. Once you see deep blacks that actually absorb light instead of just dimming it, you can't unsee it. What really gets me is that we're chasing a look the TV makers spent decades perfecting, only to throw it out for flat screens that still can't match it. There's something wild about paying money for tech that old just to get a better picture than the one in your living room. It flips the whole idea of progress on its head, honestly.