Awesome Crt

Until the early 2000s, cathode ray tubes (CRTs) were the norm for TV screens. These displays were big and bulky, but still the best way to play retro games. If you had a 30″ CRT, you were a baller. But there was a much bigger CRT, the Sony KX-45ED1 aka PVM-4300, a 441 lb. beast with a 45″ screen. Shank Mods tracked down this elusive display. (Thanks, Bruce!)

PVMs are pro-grade CRT TVs highly sought after by retro gamers today. Retroldtech’s functional miniature replicas should be just as precious within that circle. These have IPS LCD screens, but the detail on their housing is impeccable. They have HDMI, VGA, and AV inputs. The Mini PVM has a 5″ display, while the Micro PVM has a 3.5″ display. Unfortunately, they’re already sold out.

A while back, Techmoan showed off the Atari Video Music, a device that produces colorful patterns from audio. YouTube channel Atari Video Music CRT Garage makes music videos with the 8-bit box, displaying its images on a roomful of TV screens. There are more than 40 videos in the series. Here’s a playlist of our faves.

Duck Hunt is one of the OG light gun games. The NES game used a photosensor in its gun to detect its position as you aimed at the birds on screen. Atari Video Music CRT Garage rigged up the game so it could be played on the world’s smallest CRT monitor – just 0.5″ across. It looks like the zapper can’t hit anything at this size.

Pretty much every display you can buy today is either LCD or OLED. But for decades, the cathode ray tube was the only way to watch video. This older clip from How Its Made show the process, including filling the tube with phosphors, adding conductive elements, and installing an electron gun to create images on the tube.

Japanese electro-punk group Electronicos Fantasticos is known for making music with unusual instruments. In this clip, musician Ei Wada shows off an electronic guitar known as the “CRTelecaster” that uses feedback created from the screen of an old CRT television set to produce sounds. More CRT goodness here.