CRT: tube TVs and tube monitors

In short: Tube screens draw the picture line by line with an electron beam; they have no input lag, soft scanlines and are unmatched for retro games and light guns, but are heavy and dangerous because of high voltage.

In more detail: A CRT (cathode ray tube) fires an electron beam at a phosphor layer. Retro games (up to about the PS2/GameCube era) were designed for this technology: sprites, dithering and transparency tricks look right there.

In Depth

Principle

• The electron beam scans the picture: line by line, 50/60 fields per second (interlaced 480i/576i: alternating even and odd lines).
• Shadow mask/aperture grille (Trinitron) separates red/green/blue dots.
• No pixel grid: the picture is shown analogue, every resolution looks “native”.
• Phosphor glows on, moving pictures look sharp (low motion blur).
• Tube types: TVs (4:3), PC monitors (VGA, 85–120 Hz), professional video monitors (PVM/BVM, RGB inputs, collector prices).

Advantages for retro

• Practically no latency: picture appears instantly (important for rhythm/reaction games).
• Scanlines, phosphor glow, natural softening mask coarse pixels; transparency tricks (flicker, dithering, composite colour mixing) work.
• Light guns (NES Zapper, Duck Hunt, Light Phaser): only with a tube (timing of the scan line), not with modern TVs.
• 240p signal (consoles) is displayed directly, modern TVs must scale.
• Black level/contrast good; colour look faithful to the original.

Disadvantages and safety

• Weight and size (large 32” device: 40 kg), space, power consumption.
• High voltage (up to ~25 kV): even after switching off the tube can be charged; never open the housing without expertise (discharging by a professional, danger to life). Implosion risk of the tube on glass breakage.
• Disposal: CRTs contain lead and pollutants, waste electrical equipment via recycling centre/take-back, never in household waste.
• Picture faults (convergence, geometry, burn-in), age (capacitors, tube wear).
• Magnets (speakers) disturb colours (demagnetising/degauss).
• Transport carefully (upright, several people).

Buying and alternatives

• Buying used: classifieds, flea market; test with test pattern/game (geometry, sharpness, colour faults, hum); check connections (SCART/composite/component); plan pickup.
• Prices for PVM/BVM high.
• Space alternatives: OLED/plasma with upscaler + BFI (black frames between frames), CRT shaders/scanline filters in emulators, CRT filters in RetroArch (CRT-Royale), modern TVs with game mode (low latency), retro handhelds.
• Care: dust (outside only), no liquids on the housing, ventilation.
• Collectors should clarify storage/transport and disposal early.

See also: Retro video connections, Refresh rate