What to do with my 20" CRT TV?

[Muse]

I bought it in 1989, don't ask me how I got it home...

It's a JVC, was a decent enough TV and it still works OK, although the remote is kind of fubar. I got to the point where I almost never used it. Bought a converter box, almost never used it once TV had gone solely digital. Its sole function at the moment is as a platform for my old JVC SVHS VCR, whose sole function is to show me the time of day!

OK, so I just bought a 43" 4K TCL TV that will go where this TV is in my bedroom.

I have seen dozens of CRT TVs on the sidewalks of my town (Berkeley, CA), but figure I should not just put mine on the sidewalk. As time has gone on I've thought to myself that the usefulness of a CRT TV is just diminishing apace. So, what do you do with them? Pay Best Buy $25 to "recycle" it? Is there a cheaper but conscientious way to get rid of it? I saw a couple websites saying you can forage the unit for useful materials. Don't know if that's reasonable or more (a lot more!) trouble than it's worth, although I have the tools.

 

[Muse]

Berkeley Recycling Center tells me the city should be accepting 2 plug-in items free, after that $9/per. 1201 2nd st @ Harrison mon-sat 8-4:30.

 

[mrblotto]

Buy a Sega/Nintendo/Intellivision and go nuts!

 

[nutxo]

goodwill recycles e-waste for free

 

[snoopy7548]

Put it up on Craigslist as an awesome retro-gaming TV, and you'll probably be able to get $20 for it.

Or RGB-mod it and build a MAME cabinet around it.

 

[Sonikku]

Put it up on Craigslist as an awesome retro-gaming TV, and you'll probably be able to get $20 for it.

Or RGB-mod it and build a MAME cabinet around it.

I wouldn't count on it. People around here have a hard time getting rid of stereo Sony flatscreen CRTs. 80's mono is trash to pretty much everybody by this point. Now if I could find a Sony PVM-20m2u or XBR 960...

 

[Muse]

This is a stereo 20" JVC. It has stereo out jacks to power external speakers and the sound you get thereby is pretty dang good. I also have line out going to a stereo, so I get 4 speaker support. It's a pretty good TV. Like I say, the remote doesn't work well anymore. Years ago I programmed my universal remote with the commands. However, the 43" 4K TCL TV I just bought blows this thing away in terms of picture. Also, the TCL features built in Roku and it's timeshifting functionality. I can't watch TV without REW/PAUSE/FF.

I saw somewhere today that CRT TVs can be useful to people who are into certain games. I don't know about that stuff.

 

[destrekor]

I wouldn't count on it. People around here have a hard time getting rid of stereo Sony flatscreen CRTs. 80's mono is trash to pretty much everybody by this point. Now if I could find a Sony PVM-20m2u or XBR 960...

I cannot remember the model but I had a kickass Philips 27 or 32" flatscreen CRT with 480P (progressive!) capability. It was a glorious CRT. I think it was 16:9 but then again it was probably 4:3. It's been too long now, can't remember. Great colors, contrast, and geometry. At the time I was so excited for LCD that I spent approx $1000 on a 32" Sharp 720p LCD and even got it calibrated. It was awesome. But oh my does that thing pale in comparison to modern tech. And yes I still have it, it's my "second" TV in the living room - a 50" Panasonic plasma from 2012 (last model year ) lives a glorious life in my basement/theater.

 

[destrekor]

This is a stereo 20" JVC. It has stereo out jacks to power external speakers and the sound you get thereby is pretty dang good. I also have line out going to a stereo, so I get 4 speaker support. It's a pretty good TV. Like I say, the remote doesn't work well anymore. Years ago I programmed my universal remote with the commands. However, the 43" 4K TCL TV I just bought blows this thing away in terms of picture. Also, the TCL features built in Roku and it's timeshifting functionality. I can't watch TV without REW/PAUSE/FF.

I saw somewhere today that CRT TVs can be useful to people who are into certain games. I don't know about that stuff.

High quality PC-oriented CRTs can be something that competitive PC gamers lust after, but that's a dying stance these days; even so-so LCD monitors these days are finally giving CRT response times a run for their money. While console gamers sometimes obsess over latency, I wouldn't count on many to be all that interested in a small CRT from yesteryear when the LCD monitor they already have likely runs laps around it.

 

[zinfamous]

turn it into an aquarium....how have you not already done this? It's Berkeley, bro.

Also: does Urban Ore take CRT TVs yet? I kinda doubt they do...but they will soon be (if not already) kitsch enough for the salvage minded. Ask Urban Ore, anyway. Getting responsible disposal for free is always better than paying for it.

Also, just post that shit on CL.

 

[Sonikku]

I cannot remember the model but I had a kickass Philips 27 or 32" flatscreen CRT with 480P (progressive!) capability. It was a glorious CRT. I think it was 16:9 but then again it was probably 4:3. It's been too long now, can't remember. Great colors, contrast, and geometry. At the time I was so excited for LCD that I spent approx $1000 on a 32" Sharp 720p LCD and even got it calibrated. It was awesome. But oh my does that thing pale in comparison to modern tech. And yes I still have it, it's my "second" TV in the living room - a 50" Panasonic plasma from 2012 (last model year ) lives a glorious life in my basement/theater.

Sounds like an enhanced definition tv. They were very rare, and existed only in the early 2000s as a slightly cheaper option to a high definition model. (ONLY $2000 for a 30", as opposed to $3000 for a HDTV) I wanted one badly at the time as all of my Xbox and Dreamcast games and most of my key Gamecube games did 480p, but only 4x3. Being poor, it took all of my summer youth job savings to scrounge up $500 for a standard def 27" Panasonic tau flatscreen.

Despite only being 480i, it did still have a single component input, which made my games look clearer than they ever did over coaxial. Though I had wanted a HDTV even back then, it still blew away every tv we had ever had up to that point and my mother was very impressed with it. She was disappointed when I took it to college with me, nearly breaking my back hauling it up to the second floor of the college dorms that Fall in the process. I dare say it was the best tv to play games on in the entire dormatory. I vividly recall students in my wing coming over to play Super Smash melee and double dash.

 

[Muse]

turn it into an aquarium....how have you not already done this? It's Berkeley, bro.

Also: does Urban Ore take CRT TVs yet? I kinda doubt they do...but they will soon be (if not already) kitsch enough for the salvage minded. Ask Urban Ore, anyway. Getting responsible disposal for free is always better than paying for it.

Also, just post that shit on CL.

Don't have time to nurse fish... Dang, don't even have a cat or dog or ...

The recycling facility recommended by Berkeley yesterday is close to the mega-recycling facility at 2nd and Gilman St. I'll just drop it off Friday along with the useless JVC SVHS VCR. Dang, they cost me close to $1500 back in '89. Won't cost me any more to dispose of them

 

[IronWing]

Put it on the curb with a note reading, "TV set - $15, honor system" with an envelope stapled to a power pole. Someone will steal it* within a half hour.







* The envelope. The TV will sit there until someone throws a rock through it.

 

[ctbaars]

turn it into an aquarium <snip>

Such a great idea and I will look into that for an old TV in my basement but ...
I don't think it will work as a whole CRT. 1. Some very bad elements / chemicals are used in there. That needs to be cleaned out. 2. Cutting the glass, not breaking it, at the CRT anode port for all accesses. Examples online only use the front glass and frame. 3. (later edits)

 

[Fritzo]

Find an apartment or business and put it in their dumpster under the cover of darkness

 

[snoopy7548]

Find an apartment or business and put it in their dumpster under the cover of darkness

Before my town began adding trash collection to the quarterly water/sewer bill, we would have to buy these dumb "trash stickers" from stores. I never bought a single sticker; instead, I dumped my trash in the dumpster of my previous apartment.

 

[PISTON1246]

A younger me might have suggested shooting at it with a shotgun slug but I want to go with my fathers instruction now to not break glass in the yard now.