- CRT TVs are still being ‘produced’ in China
- Yours for around $35 / £26 / AU$49 plus a lot more for shipping
- Think CCTV monitor rather than big-screen TV, sadly
It’s been years since I saw a cathode ray tube (CRT) TV in anything other than video games or 1970s sci-fi movies, but the technology still has fans — particularly among retro gaming enthusiasts, because the pixel art of old games was really designed for the soft image of CRTs.
Of course, these people rely on the second-hand market generally — but at least one Chinese manufacturer appears to be selling them as ‘new’ products… sort of.
The company, called Goodwill, was discovered listing CRTs by redditor Parking_Constant_960. And the more they’ve discovered, the odder the whole thing becomes.
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Fancy a CRT TV for around 35 bucks?
crt from r/crt/comments/1sybfqr/a_rare_curiosity_new_crts_being_made
Goodwill’s super-cheap CRT TVs: what’s the story?
The TV Goodwill is offering is neither big nor expensive: it has a 5.7-inch screen and a list price of 239 yuan, which is about $35. That doesn’t include shipping, tariffs or other costs, of course. But it’s still a tiny price, albeit for a tiny display.
Are these old TVs? Apparently not. Our intrepid Redditor reached out to them and was told that these TVs are currently in production, although it wasn’t clear if that meant the TVs had newly manufactured CRTs inside or if they were being made to house existing machinery taken from old models.
As another Redditor, Zeag, explained: “Last time I saw such listings it turns out they were old tubes repackaged in new shells, it would be a nice surprise if there were truly brand new tubes being manufactured.”
That’s unlikely, Silver_Towers responded: “They make them using old tubes, I worked in the casino industry for cabinet displays. No one on earth still manufactures tubes. The infrastructure and equipment are gone, these are ALL old tunes and at best are in new housing.”
Parking_Constant did more digging and found even more TVs, this time in larger sizes, and images showing warehouse shelves packed with CRT displays.
Communication with the company wasn’t great – an AI bot handled the conversation – so Parking_Constant, who lives in China, has promised to investigate further by ordering one of the TVs and seeing what turns up. Until it does, the most likely explanation is that these are TVs made using tubes that are NOS: new old stock.
NOS is a term used to describe products that are original and unsold, but that have been in storage. They’re a familiar sight in electric guitars, where NOS pickups are prized for their vintage sound, and NOS parts are common in the vintage car market.
I hadn’t come across NOS in the world of TVs, but then the TV market is very much focused on the new and the shiny rather than old tech.
Yet more stuff on the goodwill mystery. On Taobao I couldn’t find a way to get this ai bot thing to give me more info although I’m 100% sure they at least have NOS color TVs somewhere in their stock. from r/crt
Whether these are new tubes or NOS ones, it’s intriguing to see CRT TVs are still in production, such as that term applies in this case.
But if you’re a gamer looking for a vintage CRT display, you might be better off with a different kind of Goodwill: a charity or thrift store. These Chinese CRTs may be super cheap, but shipping them from China — assuming the supplier would even be willing to do that — will be ruinously expensive due to their likely weight.
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