When will CRT TV's become Rare ?

ScumBum

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Anyone have any idea when finding a CRT TV on craigslist or anywhere , will become rare ? I play alot of old console games like the NES and LCD's suck from the input lag they have . So I was wondering what do you guys think ?

There was alot of CRT TV's made so I kinda think there will always be a few around to pick up and play games on , BUT......theres many other things that I thought would be around forever and I took them for granted they have now all disappeared .

Should I start hoarding TV's so if they do disappear in a few years I'll still have a stash to play console games on ?
 
a good way is to look at hd market penetration (;p)....anyways, it's not as high as you think. when you say rare, to me that means hard to find.....going to be a long time.
 
As long as the thrift stores stay open, they will never be rare...

I hope so . The future scares me , the further we get from the 80's , the crappier everything becomes .

My biggest nightmare is being in the future and the only thing available is crappy Chinese made LCDs EVERYWHERE . All my CRT's are dead , including the ones in my arcade cabinets and theres nothing to play these standard res games on . I then wake up in a cold sweat and go hug my still working CRT's .
 
I hope so . The future scares me , the further we get from the 80's , the crappier everything becomes .

My biggest nightmare is being in the future and the only thing available is crappy Chinese made LCDs EVERYWHERE . All my CRT's are dead , including the ones in my arcade cabinets and theres nothing to play these standard res games on . I then wake up in a cold sweat and go hug my still working CRT's .

We are still finding arcade games.. Games like Asteroids made over 50,000 units and they are pretty easy to find.. Just think how many CRT tvs were produced,, Millions!!

Alot of people are using tubes out of CRT tvs for tube swaps..
 
Hard to say. They're basically worthless now so that tends to cause trashing rather than selling. But they're pretty big so they're hard to just toss. Leaving them on the side of the road tends to make the yoke-less and even more worthless.

One good indicator might be the relative rarity of console TVs and black and white TVs.
 
I've seen a dramatic drop off in the number of 19" tv's at the local goodwill outlet. 1-2 years ago I'd walk up and down the aisles of the big rolling bins and there would be half a dozen plus a dedicated tv area where the nicest ones would be priced higher. Sometimes I'd find a couple CR-23's in one visit. Now I never see them in the bins and the ones in the dedicated area don't seem to get replenished very often. :( Not rare by any means, but it is definitely getting much harder to find CR-23's. I'd say the CR-31's are still a dime a dozen though.
 
Down here guys would/will take loads of hundreds of crt tv's to mexico.Its kinda funny that way with electronics and third world countries,most obsolete ectectrics here,they are still useing in other countries.I sell that kind of stuff on ebay(phone systems,projectors,etc) and they always go to another country.
 
Down here guys would/will take loads of hundreds of crt tv's to mexico.Its kinda funny that way with electronics and third world countries,most obsolete ectectrics here,they are still useing in other countries.I sell that kind of stuff on ebay(phone systems,projectors,etc) and they always go to another country.

Im pretty sure they still produce the volkswagon bug in Mexico. The original one, not the new ones.

Tube tv's are worthless to most people and they trash them. It wont take long before they are all gone.
 
In 2 months in my country, they turn off the analogue TV signal, and only digital signal will remain

People need to buy a set-top box to use their OLD CRT TV for them to receive digital
So, people are opting to bite the bullet and get an LCD instead of a set-top box

All the old CRTs are ending up on the sidewalk when their council pickup is on

Never before have we seen so many go out for collection. I found 9 x 19" TVs, and left about 20 x 21" screens where they were (That was just in 1 week)

. . . .
When will CRT TV's become Rare ?
Back to the question, it depends where you are, and it depends what size screen you want
  • 13" are almost growing on trees
  • 21" is very easy to find here
  • 21" Flat Screen, about 1/5 are flat, I have about 5 in stock, great for Cocktail games as the screen can sit higher (Closer to the glass)
  • 19" 12 pin neck is not too hard to get (Perfect for vectors)
  • 19" 8 pin neck is rare as, but I got 1 this week :D
  • 15" is super hard to find (Scored one of them this week too)
  • 23" is not too bad, great for JAMMA Cabs using a UNI Chassis, Duel Res etc
  • 25", 110º is really hard to get here (Need uni chassis to run in an arcade cab)
  • 25", 100º is super near impossible to get (SW C/Pit etc) I have 6 of them
  • 27" or 28" Pretty much very easy to find

Ask again next year . . . Different story. They will all be wine glasses by then
 
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Dime a dozen

There are plenty of 19" tvs kicking around.. Just think of the millions of retired folk (70+) whom prolly still have 2 or more in their homes.. As that's the generation whom don't throw things out when the new technology becomes the norm.

Sure, there aren't dozens of free tvs on CL.. But that's because the people who use CL have already upgraded to flat screens.. I live in a small town in western Ma full of older residents. I constantly see tvs at our local recycling yard that came out of homes where the owners were downsizing or moving to a retirement community or residential care facility.

I've got a deal with the guys at the yard to take as many as I'd like, if they don't work out then bring them back.. Its a $25 charge to drop them off so they are thrilled to see them leave and hold onto the disposal charge :)

Also, I can pick up 2-3 every other week at a number of goodwill stores locally. They charge $15-20 but if I buy (2) they'll knock it down to $10 or less each. In the spring I have to stop myself from pulling over constantly for curbside tvs waiting to be picked up.

So yeah.. There are plenty in New England.. If you want a 25" tube I have 20+ in my garage now free for the taking.
 
Yeah goodwill is the place to go. Just got a 13" there for $0.99 - even if the tube doesn't work out, I can scavenge at least $1 worth of parts from the chassis!
 
I've yet to find a 100 degree tube in the 2 years of tube swapping.. Do they have the embossed 100 on the tube like the 90 degree do? Never noticed on my 6100s or Amp tubes, guess I should take a look



What's the ratio of 100 degree to 110 degree over there? (25") Here it's 1/10 I guess are 100 degree
 
In 2 months in my country, they turn off the analogue TV signal, and only digital signal will remain

People need to buy a set-top box to use their OLD CRT TV for them to receive digital
So, people are opting to bite the bullet and get an LCD instead of a set-top box

Yeah, they did that here in the States a couple years ago (stopped broadcasting analog). [Maybe they still air analog signals in remote areas, I don't know for sure.]

The government even gave out vouchers which paid nearly the full price for set-top boxes, and relatively few people bothered. Relatively small minority of people over here care about OTA anyhow; nearly everyone has cable or sat service.

Anyhow, yeah... tube TVs are well on their way be having gone the way of the tube radios and amplifiers before them. It had been the last bastion of the vacuum tube for some time.
 
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