CRT going bad?

[SLM Crew Chief]

Hi. My first post here but it seems like a lot of good information and good people. No flaming, etc. I've read alot and learned alot already. Nice forum!

Now for something I can't find an answer to... Do CRT monitors go bad over time without dying? Mine seems to be getting fuzzy. I don't spend alot of time on it over the summer but have been lately and it just doesn't look as clear as I remember it being. Oh and yes, I did clean it.

Dell/Sony Trinitron, Herculese 9800Pro cat 6.9 drivers

Thanks!

 

[dug777]

Convergence goes eventually i think.

Luckily my 21" Samsung is still as crisp as ever

 

[Harvey]

Yes, CRT's age over time. They can get fuzzy or dim.

How old is your CRT? My ViewSonic G790 is five years old and still looks great.

 

[brikis98]

yeah, CRT's sometimes experience issues with convergence/geometry as they age. i've also noticed that a number of 21" Sony Trinitrons have a defect that appears as they age: the brightness gets ridiculous, even at 0, to the point where blacks can't be displayed. moreover, horizontal green lines appear across the screen...

i'm just hopin the same doesn't happen to my Sony 21" and 24" (fw-900) CRT's

 

[Dethfrumbelo]

Depends on where/when it was manufactured. Apparently QC went to hell even at Sony and Mitsubishi towards the end.

I have a 6 year old Hitatchi sitting here (bought used for $25) and it has better convergence/sharpness than either of the 2 more recent Diamondtrons I've owned. If you've got a good one it should stay good for quite a while. If you've got a bad one, you'll know it pretty fast.

 

[SLM Crew Chief]

Guess I should have said this is a 17 (16.9 viewable) that was made in November of 1996 so it's almost 10 years old. I'm not the first person to have it either and it's seen alot of use, both in web surfing and tons of FPS games. I don't know if that would make any difference or not.

 

[SLM Crew Chief]

Thanks for information. Is there anything that can be done for it? I've spent my "fun" money on my car and LCD's are just getting interesting to me, with response times getting true sub 10ms.

 

[40sTheme]

Originally posted by: SLM Crew Chief
Guess I should have said this is a 17 (16.9 viewable) that was made in November of 1996 so it's almost 10 years old. I'm not the first person to have it either and it's seen alot of use, both in web surfing and tons of FPS games. I don't know if that would make any difference or not.

Dang, and I thought I had an old monitor..
Mine's only 8 years old..
God I love CRTs!
They last so long, and run so great.

 

[Slammy1]

In my experience, you keep adjusting the size and they get smaller and smaller. Then there was my last crt... It was turned of and I left for ca 30 min. and I came back it was really hot and there was a burning smell. OYOH, I have a friend with a crt that's about 10 years old. I expect my crt will last 10+ years, just might need to replace the backlight at some point.

 

[CP5670]

I have some 15" Compaq monitor (a color one though ) from the early 90s that has distorted geometry along the edges but still works fine for the most part, a 19" Compaq from '98 that has become very dim, an NEC Accusync 120 from 2001 that has no problems and a Mitsubishi 2070SB from last year that works great.

Depends on where/when it was manufactured. Apparently QC went to hell even at Sony and Mitsubishi towards the end.

I have a 6 year old Hitatchi sitting here (bought used for $25) and it has better convergence/sharpness than either of the 2 more recent Diamondtrons I've owned. If you've got a good one it should stay good for quite a while. If you've got a bad one, you'll know it pretty fast.

This is generally the case with the Diamondtrons (the bad ones are bad right out of the box), but certain batches of Trinitrons (particularly the F series) are supposed to have issues that come up only after about two years. I guess that's worse in a way, since you often can't return or replace it anymore at that point.

I expect my crt will last 10+ years, just might need to replace the backlight at some point.

CRTs don't have backlights. If they become dim, I don't think there is much you can do about it. Focus problems, on the other hand, can often be fixed by adjusting the screws inside, although only some monitors allow access to those without having to open the cabinet.

 

[Slammy1]

Ooops, meant lcd.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: SLM Crew Chief
Hi. My first post here but it seems like a lot of good information and good people. No flaming, etc. I've read alot and learned alot already. Nice forum!

Now for something I can't find an answer to... Do CRT monitors go bad over time without dying? Mine seems to be getting fuzzy. I don't spend alot of time on it over the summer but have been lately and it just doesn't look as clear as I remember it being. Oh and yes, I did clean it.

Dell/Sony Trinitron, Herculese 9800Pro cat 6.9 drivers

Thanks!

Yes CRT's go bad as cathod uses up all it's electrons - color, blacks and sharpness deteriorates. Phosphor aging due to short half life also weakens electron conversion to photon coversion making darker. I've never seen a CRT last more than three years perfectly as they start changing from day one.

Good read here
http://blog.planar.com/embedded/2006/01/crts-lcds-tale-of-tape.html

 

[BFG10K]

I've had my CRT for over fours years and the IQ is still exceptional. If anything it seems to be getting brighter with age.

 

[Zebo]

Well you consider a trinitron sharp so I pretty much consider you half blind anyway.. Thats impossible read the link.

 

[kmmatney]

In my experience, Trinitron's get fuzzy with age, but do get a little better after they've warmed up for a while (sometimes 30 minutes). I had a 19" Triniton, and I tried taking it apart and adjusting everyhting I could, to no avail. It starting getting fuzzy after 4 years. I'm on the LCD bandwagon now.

 

[The Green Bean]

My 22" CRT arrives today ...Hope it lasts long ...Its gonna be next to my 17" LCD

 

[SLM Crew Chief]

Originally posted by: kmmatney
In my experience, Trinitron's get fuzzy with age, but do get a little better after they've warmed up for a while (sometimes 30 minutes). I had a 19" Triniton, and I tried taking it apart and adjusting everyhting I could, to no avail. It starting getting fuzzy after 4 years. I'm on the LCD bandwagon now.

This one doesn't ever seem to get any better, no matter how long it's on. Guess I'll just have to live with it if you didn't have any luck trying to adjust yours, not that I'd have any idea where to start anyway.

As to LCD's, I'm starting to get very interested as I keep reading about the response times comming down into the true 10 - 12ms range. Guess I'm just gonna have to put up with the headach this monitor gives me while I keep reading thru the LCD thread. If I get one, I want a fast one for gaming with good color too. Yea, I want it all. LOL!

 

[nwrigley]

I highly recommend that you jump on this deal if you can find one in your local store:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=40&threadid=1933861

There is no reason to put up with a monitor that gives you headaches.

 

[JRW]

Originally posted by: brikis98
i've also noticed that a number of 21" Sony Trinitrons have a defect that appears as they age: the brightness gets ridiculous, even at 0, to the point where blacks can't be displayed. moreover, horizontal green lines appear across the screen...

i'm just hopin the same doesn't happen to my Sony 21" and 24" (fw-900) CRT's

This problem can be fixed for about $35 , its a sony service cable that plugs into the serial port on your PC and other end goes into a service port on the back of the monitor, you then install Sony "Windas" software which lets you make changes to the monitors firmware, the problem is on some monitors the G2 voltage drifts and gets out of wack over time which causes all of those symptoms you described, all you have to do is lower G2 value and it looks like new again. I recently used it on a 6 year old Sony G400 and the results were excellent, heres some before & after shots: Link

 

[JRW]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
I've had my CRT for over fours years and the IQ is still exceptional. If anything it seems to be getting brighter with age.

Dunno about the getting brighter part , its usually the other way around although Trinitrons do hold there brightness for a very long time when compared to Shadow mask. My FW900 is 4.5 years old and still looks great as well, I honestly have no problems reading text on it at 1920x1200 desktop resolution.

 

[The Green Bean]

I received mine today. Its an HP P1110 Sony Tritron Manafactured AUG 2001. The color, brightess and sharpness look pretty sucky compared to my 3 year old 17" LCD

 

[pkme2]

My 21" Rasterops (Hitachi) still works fine. I've had it from 1997 and its sharpness and color is superb.

 

[SLM Crew Chief]

Thanks for all the great information. I appreciate it. That article is very interesting. Christmas is comming so I'm gonna have to keep following the developments in the LCD buying guide thread.