r/crtgaming

After seeing this video from Steve’s assorted stuff: https://youtu.be/IcYIapunul4

I thought of instead of modifying my furniture, why not add a box to the monitor itself! That way I can mess with specific inputs without having to reach around back and also have it be completely reversible. I bought some keystone jacks off of amazon and 3D printed this little keystone box!

The box isn’t perfect since I had to trim some little tabs on the jacks to get it to fit snugly, but other than that it works swell!

My wife’s grandpa had this laying around in his garage. She’s bringing it home now.

I can finally dust off the old console collection, that have been sitting in the basement cabinet for years, and bring them back to life.

As far as I can tell, this TV was a typical entry-level 21" Sony Trinitron from the early 2000s. And it's also the TV that got me into retro gaming.

The console is a Sega Genesis Model 1 High Definition Graphics revision, paired with an RGC SCART-RGB cable that uses the front stereo audio jack. I didn't want to modify the console itself since it's a fairly uncommon model. The RGB signal is converted to YPbPr using a RetroTINK RGB2COMP converter. The game is a complete-in-box copy of Contra: Hard Corps - the most expensive Genesis game in my collection.

My grandma originally bought it, and years later it ended up serving as my parents' kitchen TV before eventually being forgotten in the attic. When I found it, I thought it would make a perfect CRT for retro gaming. Little did I know how deep this hobby would pull me in.
One pleasant surprise was that it has stereo speakers, which wasn't very common on budget CRTs. The downside was that it only had composite video input. At the time, that didn't bother me because I didn't even know other analog video standards existed. My knowledge of retro gaming was basically limited to the difference between PAL and NTSC, so my only concern was running everything in NTSC at 60 Hz with the correct game speed and full-screen image.
Then I connected an NES. The composite dot crawl immediately caught my attention, and that was the moment I discovered RGB. Unfortunately, this TV only supported composite video input. Even worse, I learned that the standard OSD RGB mux mod wasn't possible because the BX1S chassis uses a single-chip design.

I didn't really want to replace the TV because I had already grown attached to it. Fortunately, after digging through service manuals, I discovered that the Main Chip actually has native YPbPr inputs and, as it turned out, Sony also sold higher-end Trinitron models based on the same BX1S chassis, but with expanded video inputs, including S-Video and YPbPr. By comparing the service manuals of higher-end models I figured out exactly which missing components and their values were needed to restore both S-Video and YPbPr video. All of the missing parts were tiny SMD components, and soldering them was very challenging for me.
After months of research and then soldering I finally completed the modification. The TV now supports both S-Video and YPbPr.

I was absolutely thrilled. That was the turning point of my retro gaming journey. Suddenly I could enjoy image quality that was essentially on par with RGB. Personally, I consider RGB and YPbPr to be equivalent in image quality. For a while I used HD Retrovision component cables with my Genesis and SNES, and they performed brilliantly. Later I switched to a RetroTINK RGB2COMP, which let me build a universal RGB setup while still using this TV.

Today I own several RGB monitors, but this humble Trinitron served me faithfully for few years, and it still gets plenty of use thanks to its upgraded video inputs.

Original thread

Hello !

After a bit more than a month of troubleshooting, buying needed tools, trying to learn how CRT work and electronics in general... I have finally fixed my CRT !

Here is the culprit (first image), one of the first capacitors I checked.
He had perfect capacitance, perfect ESR so I thought he was ok but nop.
I lose so many times because I was not aware that those things can be bad ONLY when everything is turned on...

If someone have a similar issue this is the C536 on the FE-2 chassis.

That was hard but in the end I'm really happy and I learned a lot of useful things !

Cheers ! (I took some photos but they are a bit meh, I need to learn more about this)

Hi all,

I’m looking for some advice on repairing my Sansui TVS2746. I believe it has vertical foldover. The TV sat in a house without AC/heat for about 2–3 years before I got it. When I first turn it on, the picture has what looks like vertical foldover. I ran 240p Test Suite, and I attached pictures of the issue.

One detail that may matter: the foldover/lines seem to go away after about 15 minutes of being on(2nd and 5th image come from), but then the issue comes back later. Also, when the lines go away, the image looks vertically stretched.

There is a TV repair shop about 30 minutes from me that supposedly still works on CRTs, but I’m considering attempting the repair myself instead. Is this a bad idea for a first CRT repair?

I have built PCs and done some soldering before, but I know this is very different from working on a PC motherboard. My main concern is CRT safety, especially properly discharging the tube and avoiding dangerous areas of the power supply.

For this kind of vertical foldover/stretching issue, should I be looking mainly at the vertical deflection circuit, electrolytic capacitors around the vertical IC, bad solder joints, or something else? Any advice on where to start, what parts to check, and what not to touch would be appreciated.

So i was messing with my new switcher and i compared my two crts with the convergence test...and wow.

I tried to adjust the FOCUS of the golden one but it literally can't get any better than this, the other one is just superior.

My question is why? The red one is a 20inch Mivar of 1996 and the golden on is a 21inch flat Roadstar from 2004, just 1 inch can't be that difference, so why it's like this?

Even if i play a game i can clearly see that is more blurred than the other one

After getting a 1998 Philips 32PW8504/12 and using it for a while, I am mostly happy with set its SD 16:9 100hz and 32". With PS1 and PS2 games the image is very good, the motion clarity is great as long as I disable digital scan. On PS3 though it looks rather blurry especially with smaller text, Minecraft especially takes the most hits from that. My Grundig ST 70-2003 in comparision is much sharper or is this the result of 100hz? The Grundig is a 1999 SD 4:3 27" model

Hi everyone. Today I fixed my Philips CM8833 mk ii by replacing the flyback transformer. It was from my dad's old amiga and the stickers on the inside of the shell say 1992.

Replaced the old AT2079 with the new HR7533. The old one was such a pain to remove but I think it is just because my soldering iron isn't the greatest. I did have some problems with the new one like some plastic screw holes got in the way of a big capacitor so I simply broke it off, and the pins didn't allign with the holes and needing to be bent. One of the pins was just completely too short so it needed extending with a wire and lots of patient soldering. It was so frustrating. Then I needed to adjust the screen and focus potentiometers until I was happy.

Now it is just as beautiful as I remember lmao. I'll replace the power switch and horizontal and vertical ics when they arrive.

Now I have a couple of questions. First is when it powers off there is a bright flash and it looks like there is a big burst of lightning inside the screen. Is that bad?

Second I think I have some issues with convergence. You can see it with the red highlighted text in 240p test suite. Is that something easily adjusted or should I just quit while I'm ahead cause I might do more harm than good.

I'm so happy with it right now. I am so excited that it is fixed and I can't wait to play some stuff on it finally!

As for my last post about moving it, I don't think I can honestly. It doesn't fit in the suitcase, and with my dodgy soldering to extend the pin in the transformer, I don't want to risk that coming undone and ruining it again. So I would have to take it to my new place another time. But thanks for everyones advice about moving it!

sorry for the bad floor photos :P

Picked this up at a carboot sale today for 10GBP was covered in filth! Cleaned it up best I can for now opened it up and yeah cleaned out what I can. Even cleaned out a vintage melted Malteser outta there 😂 and noticed the flyback has a part broken off and the rf input is also broken. Is this fixable? I've never gone that far into repairing crts but would love to tackle it and bring it back to life. Also upon plugging it in the power light comes up and when I go to switch it on. There's a click! Then nothing and click again as I guess shuts down? Any help is appreciated! Thank you in advance. ALSO quick edit I forgot to mention it looks as if it's been hot? Theres like dark burn stains on the inside of the shell

Guess I greatly underestimated the deskspace this thing demands…
Probably a lot I could do to improve the image. Will look into WinDAS-calibration, but am fairly new to getting back into CRTs. With it being 26 years old, I am sure the overall picture is less flashy than it could be though.
Also pictures were taken middle of the day. A dark room really seems to matter with these things.

Still am pretty happy with it so far. The feeling of motion is really something else, being used to lcds for so long.

Hope it will last me a while.

Oh and the loose power button seems to be a known problem for these models? Have seen it on other pictures. Unfortunate, since i really like the design of the front. But it doesnt impact the functionality and I even got the missing part from the original owner if i ever want to repair it.

On the 4th of July there was an estate sale in the middle of a tiny town at this house from the 1920s and I found what looked to be a new or at least very good conditioned eMachines 15” crt monitor but I didn’t actually pull the monitor out I opened to make sure it was a monitor. They only charged a buck so I had to get it.

I went home to pull it out and turned it was a commodore 1902a computer monitor from the days of the commodore 128.

And it works perfectly! I hooked up my Super Nintendo and played some Zelda and Kirby.

A buck! $1… what a deal!

last one is edited, as the scan originally had a line in the center

Found this at a thrift store. I saw it and didnt think much of it. I knew that CRT's were cool but I just ignored it. That was about a month or 2 ago. Fast forward to now, I was finally influenced to buy one but I didnt wanna pay a crazy price. I remembered seeing this one on the bottom shelf of an unpopular thrift store. I got it 50% off for $10. Plugged it in and it works great (sadly the speakers dont work which really ticks me off...) come to find out it sells for a lot more than $10... really happy with my purchase. I set it up with an old laptop (the only item I own that still outputs VGA) and ive got it setup as a little display piece with some clips from some of my favorite 90's anime.

Today i sold my love :/

Tv is a 1991 Quasar. I'm just a casual enjoyer pls don't roast me lmfaoo Luigi's Mansion og gamecube disc on my wii:)

Picked up for 20$ at a used goods shop

Do you guys run emulated scanlines for your displays when you are running at 480p for 240p content?