CRT or LCD: What's your favorite?

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CRTs are the best, not for their picture quality but their internal parts! Dismembering cathode ray tubes and seeing an electron gun at work, its an unknown pleasure

Watch the 25kV cable fixed to the screen!

I've never actually seen an electron gun at work, and i always wondered what that cable attached to the side of the tube was for, assuming it is that you are referring to.

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I'm away this week and Im using a computer that has an LCD monitor, and i can already see the difference between that and my CRT monitor, a lot better in my opinion

The cable charges the screen with static, if you lost it you'd have an indiscernably dark picture.

i see

/me doesn't know much about CRTs, only about what they look like

If you get an LCD, hold out for a DVI connection, as this will assure that the pixel matrix on the screen will display exactly the contents of the video card. That's because the path is purely digital. If you're using VGA, either for LCD or CRT, the analog signal may be degraded.

A few years ago, I switched to a (then expensive) LCD because I found it so much easier on the eyes. These days, the CRTs are much better, so I can't complain as I once did. For someone on a budget, a CRT is fine. And for graphic images or gaming, a CRT may be preferred. Most of my work is text-oriented, and I like my large LCD. Also got a monitor arm to float it above the desk.

In 1997, I wrote some comments about the technical deficiencies inherent to CRTs. This is pretty much obsolete now, but FWIW I'll post the link:

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~davidrolfe/display.htm

Heck, I just looked and it's pretty much irrelevant these days, except for the explanation about why the shadow mask is evil, which may be of some value.

I think i prefer CRTs. they're cheap, and they work. My laptop has a 14" widescreen LCD which I like, but I really don't find much difference in them.. I think the main advantage of CRTs are that they're so cheap now.

Yeah CRT's are cheap. I can pick up a 17 inch CRT for $20 in New Zealand. But I can't get a 17inch LCD for $300.
Honestly with that kinda price difference I would rather have my money than a little bit of extra desk space on a desk I only use for my computer any way.

I prefer my big, bad CRT because it has the rare ability to display a 2048x1536 resolution. It's useful for viewing large images and such. No LCD display I've ever heard of goes that high.

I've always use LCDs. I use DVI and as far as I know only LCDs have it. Plus, LCDs are just as good if not much better than CRTs in refernece to quality. And, who really wants to waste space with that bulky heavy thing?

LCD's take way less desk space, are way lighter, often use way less power, and with DVI connection have a way sharper picture. Modern LCD's can be viewed from as close to 90 degrees from the side with the same quality as a CRT.

A couple years ago I could only use a CRT for very fast games like Quake3 but the newer LCD's are getting really fast and are quite usable.

Going back to a CRT now looks blurry and feels like it's burning my retinas out.

The 20" 1600x1200 Dell LCD's that I'm using are around $500 each.

Is it just me though or does LCD's hurt your eyes and give you a headache as well?

My primary display for graphic design is a 2560 x 1600 LCD, an HP ZR30w.

It has very good color and I can predict reliably what the print output from photoshop duotones and CMYK images is going to be.

I don't miss CRTs at all. My eyes used to hurt at the end of a long day of working on CRTs, there is much less eyestrain with the LCDs.

I've never had a display 'give' me a headache, but I think I know what you mean. LCDs can sometimes be a bit too sharp and a bit too bright, whereas a good CRT monitor will give you a slightly 'softer' image.

I'd say modern LCDs have easily surpassed CRTs in general, though a good quality CRT monitor is still very good, and very usable.

I have to say that I am torn between CRT and LCD. I like CRT for it contrast, and most importantly, it color vibrance. The colors are sooo much prettier on a CRT, especially when watching cartoons. Unfortunately, CRT have a nasty flicker problem to them, even at 120Hz, the flicker just gives me headaches.

I idly considered getting an LCD screen the other day, but my monitors are currently all CRT. One of them is an old fashioned VT-100 compatible terminal.

The LCD I considered was a used 52 inch diagonal.

When I was in grad school, I went out and bought a 32" LCD HDTV on Black Friday for my computer screen (desktop). It was wonderful for working on my dissertation, setting across the room on my couch while typing it. I had thought of upgrading to a 60" LCD HDTV, but I am not as impressed with the durability compared to the older ones (I will keep what I have for now). Plus, I found two 32" LCD HDTVs that were thrown away by college kids last year ( we are a wasteful society). I rescued both of them and they work fine (one is missing the remote, but not a problem as a spare computer screen). I need to see if I can split the computer screen between the three of them...

As for the future, OLEDs are good, but there is something much, much better on the horizon. You only need to dig a bit into the scientific research articles to see what it will become (think OLED paints for your house). That would mean that you could literally change the inside of your room into different TV screens. Or even the outside of your house/car. The key is getting the electronics to work in tandem with the paint, but I do think it will be a doable idea. I am working on an research idea that is one/two step(s) ahead of that idea, so that when OLED paint comes to market...