Various Hardware

Lennart Sorensen lsorense-1wCw9BSqJbv44Nm34jS7GywD8/FfD2ys at public.gmane.org
Mon Jun 2 16:53:41 UTC 2008


On Sun, Jun 01, 2008 at 11:52:23PM -0400, D. Hugh Redelmeier wrote:
> I keep CRTs for a couple of reasons:
> 
> - They can support arbitrary resolutions (within range limitations).
>   LCDs are really only good at their native resolution.
>   Several of my computers won't support the resolutions that

My 24" LCD supports lots of resolutions on the VGA input and has nice
options for dealing with them.

You can either stretch the display to the full screen size, which ruins
the aspect ratio on many signals and does scaling.  Doesn't look that
great in my opinion.

You can keep the aspect ratio and scale to fit the screen.  Better but
still doesn't look so good.

Last option is 1:1 where each pixel stays one pixel and you simply get
black borders on the display.  It does mean 640x480 looks pretty small,
but it's very crisp.

As a result I have no need for a CRT anymore.  Well I do, but very few
CRTs handle what I actually need a CRT for, which is NTSC resolution and
frequency RGB.  NEC MultiSync II and CBM1084 handle that, and I am
keeping those.  SGI, Sun, Dec, etc all need special displays which I am
also keeping.

> - some antique computers only have odd interfaces that LCDs don't
>   support (eg. the Sun mono monitor interface, Atari ST, original
>   IBM PC)

Most of which a VGA CRT wouldn't handle either, so still no reason to
keep a VGA compatible CRT.

> All our TVs are still CRTs.  All our program material is SD (Standard
> Definition as opposed to High Definition).  There are hints that SD
> material often looks worse on HD LCD monitors.  Analogue (SD) sources
> are less encumbered than digital sources so we're not anxious to
> "upgrade".  (We cannot get over-the-air TV.)

Yeah I have a 27" CRT for a TV.  Maybe someday I will get a 1080p LCD
TV, but no hurry there.

-- 
Len Sorensen
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