Recently posted some random arcade CRT pics. Don’t know if anyone here will find them useful or not.
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That B&O looks really nice and crisp. Has anyone done a preset based on this?
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Hi @Jamirus these shots are amazing - you can really see the close up slot mask in them - especially the close up one above. I’ve been wondering whether my masks are right with respect to the slot masks and I’m starting to think I might change them. Hold this thought!
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Yup - just to add it’s in the ‘HDR’ folder of the slang shaders.
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Speaking of slot masks, I recently picked up a Philips 21pt4457. Photo taken on iphone with iso 100 and wb 5000.
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Nice pics @Wilch.
Just a question: do you see scanlines on this tv? In the screenshots I can hardly distinguish any scanlines.
Maybe there’s some slight overexposure happening as you can clearly see the deposited phosphor stripes on the glass in the black areas and quite a bit of greensubpixels show white in the shots.
Nonetheless very nice shots 
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Scanlines are barely visible in the darkest areas only which I just put down to a low TVL count. Quite a nice change from my pvm actually, but whites are very bloomy on this set. I had to lower the contrast to around 40 (50 is default). The photos are possibly overexposed. I’ll take more later including a darker area to show scanlines
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It was the same on my set (similar size) until I adjusted focus. Here’s a pic from another Philips TV, 17" (17PT1565):
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Great close-up shots @Wilch. Over on the Sony Megatron thread I tried to replicate and failed quite miserably in the colours. Are the red and green phosphors really that yellowey by eye or do you think the camera is playing tricks? It’s just I’m never going to get that colour with my LCD phosphors - also my camera is playing tricks as the overall image doesn’t look like my photo. I’ve just also realized your TV is super bright isn’t it!
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Interesting, how did you adjust the focus? That image looks great
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Just to clarify, this isn’t mine, I got this particular photo from the web, I have a folder where I occasionally save stuff like that.
I did make focus adjustments on two of my sets though, some pics are here:
For adjusting the focus you need to open the CRT up and turn a knob. There should be two there , I believe they’re usually also labeled (FOCUS and SCREEN). You can turn them by hand, but something like a screwdriver can help. Watch some videos first if you want to do it, because technically it’s dangerous to work with the inside of CRTs, you don’t want to touch anything else when you don’t know what you’re doing.
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Keep in mind that due to the age of CRTs, the components controlled by that knob (usually rubber) might have deteriorated due to heat and any movement might kill them. In my case (many years ago) it broke because the rubber ring inside simply turned to dust when I turned it and the image was permanently blurry after that.
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It isn’t that bright in person, think it’s just the way the photo turned out. I’ve turned brightness and contrast lower than the medium setting of 50. I did take the photo a little further away then cropped afterwards so maybe the metering is bad. I’ll upload another shortly. The phosphors don’t appear that yellow in person, but it’s hard to tell even with my eye right up to the screen. I had the colour on warm though so I’ve set it to normal for the new photo
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Yeah I download CRT pics I find online for future reference, got loads. Thanks for the link, I’ll give this a go.
This TV is in excellent condition, it’s only a 2001 model so hopefully will be fine
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As the phosphor burns out over time and the tubes are basically disposable, what would be some ways to prolong the lifetime of our CRTs?
How long does such a tube last on average?
I for one always tone down the brightness to minimum when I don’t consume any content or turn it off right away, but again I don’t know if that would also somehow wear it out.
It is a shame really, those deep blacks and vibrant colors always blow me away when coming from my LCD. I could imagine using it for regular desktop usage, but that would be such a waste.
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And yea, this is all I can offer right now. I don’t have the equipment available to take proper closeup shots.
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AFAIK, it’s mostly just a matter of conserving hours.
There’s a process called tube “rejuvenation” that can give an old, worn tube a second life, but it’s a destructive process that can only be done once (I think).
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Lovely dot mask monitor - doesn’t look that old - around 2000’s perhaps?