So the "projects" section of the website is for me to talk about things like video projects I'm working on or things that I want to physically create. This isn't one of those projects, this is just me talking about a sidequest that I've essentially given myself.
So it's no secret that I'm big into CRT TV's. I'll rant for a good while about aspect ratios and how old pixel art looks better on these screens due to the tricks that developers used to blend colors and fake transparency. I tell people that id they want to get into retro games or own a VCR that a standard flat screen is good, but having a CRT really completes the experience. The problem is that most people that I talk to don't want a CRT TV. The even bigger problem is, I do know people who want CRT TVs, but they can't find them. They're harder to find now unless you know where to look, and most of them are either way too big to move without five people willing to throw their backs out, or it's someone who's selling a Trinitron for like $200. Because of scalpers and people trying to flip old TV's for a profit, it's hard to find someone throwing out an old tube TV for cheap... it's hard, but not impossible.
If you look hard enough, you can find old TV's being given away for pretty cheap still. I found a mini tabletop TV with a VCR built in for like ten dollars, so I picked it up because I had a buddy of mine express interest in having one. God, that was a good little TV... anyways, because of this gift, I got this friend into VHS tapes as a hobby and I now have a new person to rant with about analog media. It's not the first time I've done this, I gave another TV to a different friend before, but Ethan was the first one to really appreciate it. That's where this sidequest starts.
I've had friends looking for CRT's, interested in finding an old TV but not willing to wade through craigslist for an hour every day to find cheap and free listings and sift through all the scalpers, and every time we talk and they mention this, I always say "oh yeah, I can help you find one". Because of this, I'm now searching through several websites looking for local CRT listings, waiting for affordable ones to swoop up and gift to people. I already have Three CRT's that I use on a regular basis (four if you count a mini battery powered UHF/VHF TV that I use as a radio), but I feel like I'm going to end up stockpiling even more CRT's, spending what's going to end up being hundreds of dollars to save them from potential scalpers and to have plenty of free CRT's to give as gifts to anybody who wants to become a hobbyist.
Orion, if you're reading this, you're getting your CRT next.