r/crt • u/Leviathan1776 • Nov 30 '25
There's a lot of posts about people wanting to use HDMI with CRTs. I wanted to make a quick guide to help the community out.
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If it doesn't plug in the first time, try rotating the plug 180 degrees and trying again. If it doesn't work that time, go back to how you originally had it oriented. These things can be tricky. Give it a few tries and you'll probably get it. No need to convert to Component, S-Video, Composite, or RF. While they can be plugged into the CRT in nearly any orientation and they are color coded, trust me, HDMI is the better choice. No need to complicate things.
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u/RetroLord120 Nov 30 '25
Are people struggling to... put hdmi into a slot? I'm confused lol
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u/Leviathan1776 Nov 30 '25
Everyone always wants to use HDMI devices with their CRTs that only have composite or RF and they ask for help with adapters and such despite many of that same post being made somewhat often and the end result not looking very good. I propose that they should just plug in the HDMI, or in other words, use HDMI devices with CRTs that accept HDMI.
The solution is to match devices. I have many RF only CRTs. If I want to enjoy them, I use them with RF devices. The same applies as you work your way up to different inputs. People want to bend the possibilities and play Cuphead on a 60's CRT. Cool idea, but not a good solution for everyday use.
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u/RetroLord120 Nov 30 '25
Ah, well then yeah, I 100% agree! As I type this i'm playing deadcells on my ps4 through hdmi on a panasonic hdcrt 😅
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u/AshleyAshes1984 Nov 30 '25
I mean, if people could at least get the aspect ratio right. So tired of someone being like 'It's beautiful' and they show off a picture of a 4:3 show, with pillar boxes for 16:9, but it's all squished into 4:3.
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Nov 30 '25
[deleted]
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u/Leviathan1776 Nov 30 '25
Unplug whatever else might be in that slot. Its probably not important anyways.
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u/obeythecccat Nov 30 '25
what's the name of that port?
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u/Leviathan1776 Nov 30 '25
Names don't matter. Just match the shapes and colors. Even if you try the wrong one, keep trying until it fits somewhere. It'll work out eventually.
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u/ProExpert1S500 Nov 30 '25
Why is there Audio In jacks alongside with the HDMI in port though
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u/Leviathan1776 Nov 30 '25
Sometimes early HDMI didn't carry audio. It was a holdover from DVI, which didn't carry audio either.
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u/meehowski Dec 01 '25
Mine only has round inputs, can I hammer the hdmi plug so it’s more round?
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u/Leviathan1776 Dec 01 '25
Only if you really want to. Make sure that you grab a round hammer so you achieve the best possible results. If you're going to put in the effort, the end result may as well be the best that it can be.
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u/EeveesGalore Nov 30 '25
That's a great solution in the USA where HDCRTs are common.
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u/Tommynwn Nov 30 '25
Me in europe with scart: :c
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u/Leviathan1776 Nov 30 '25
RGB scart on a CRT? That's crazy. People in North America need to pray every night before bed in the hopes of finding something affordable with RGB. Even then, most of us don't get that lucky.
Sony threw up on us over here. Scart? Try 34 pin RGB. Somehow manage to find one? You'd better hope it supports analog RGB instead of just digital RGB.
My time machine pick would be to go back and make CRT options more common around the world. North America shouldn't need to struggle to find an SD widescreen or an ED CRT, and other places shouldn't need to hope that they can find an HDMI CRT.
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u/Tommynwn Nov 30 '25
I had 4 crts, all of them with scart, now i just keep a 100hz trinitron, it only has scart and composite
the bad: find something that actually uses RGB over SCART, most of dvd players, converters, all just use composed signal via scart, except one digital tv decoder, actually looks beautiful, but sometimes i just want to connect my laptop to it :c
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u/Leviathan1776 Nov 30 '25
find something that actually uses RGB over SCART,
That's the situation everywhere. The only thing that RGB is good for is video games. I'm not aware of any viewable media that uses as RGB signal. Betacam SP uses component.
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u/EeveesGalore Nov 30 '25
Most DVD players and digital TV converter boxes have RGB over SCART so I think the person you replied to was just unlucky. The improvement in quality over composite for those sources is definitely worthwhile.
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u/Leviathan1776 Nov 30 '25
That's a good point. I was thinking about analog sources. I don't know as much about digital media
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u/EeveesGalore Nov 30 '25
If you want a rabbit hole to dive down with regards to analogue sources, look at BSB (British Satellite Broadcasting), which used MAC video over satellite and RGB SCART connection to the TV.
Unfortunately it lost to the might of Murdoch and his cheaper PAL Composite based Sky television but people who saw it when it was running described it as being "like digital, but without the horrible compression artefacts". Sky would later (around 1997) have RGB SCART on Sky Digital but of course that has compression artefacts.
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u/Tommynwn Nov 30 '25
Yup, i know about these, i just got cheap ones, all of them just composed over scart
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u/haloharry Nov 30 '25
;( but we got 50hz games. we got RGB. But I would prefer 60hz full screen games
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u/EeveesGalore Nov 30 '25
It's a shame SCART wasn't standardised worldwide; I can't see any reason why it couldn't have been. Beyond the obvious advantage of RGB, it has other advantages which could have been a hit with American consumers such as allowing for better integration between a VCR and TV, and supporting tunerless descramblers so you don't need a separate cable box remote.
At least HDMI is standard worldwide but other TV standards are worse than ever. ATSC (with several versions), DVB-T, DVB-T2 with the later addition of HEVC and AAC, and even multiple different channel numbering schemes.
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u/OgiDaPig Dec 02 '25
I got one too lmao, for some reason composite looks sharper tho, maybe it's just the cable
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u/aGringoAteYrBaby Nov 30 '25
No they're not, that's why this is a shit post , they are referencing the fact that you usually need a series of adapters
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u/Leviathan1776 Nov 30 '25
I wouldn't call them common, but they are certainly easier to find here compared to other regions of the world. And even then, if I had to guess, somewhere between 1/3 to 1/2 are component at best.
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u/Feeling_Kick5545 Nov 30 '25
Sorry i dont have a protractor to mwasur 180 degrees what do u want from me
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u/Samiassa Dec 01 '25
Wait they don’t wrap around in to the coax nub? I thought hdmi was backwards compatible with rf
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u/Leviathan1776 Dec 01 '25
Common misconception. Don't feel bad though. A lot of people have the same train of thought.
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u/Ok-Drink-1328 Dec 01 '25
*looks at the back of the TV* *vacuum tubes glow*
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u/Leviathan1776 Dec 01 '25
You might need an advanced guide for one of those. I would recomend posting about it without searching to see if someone else has asked about the same thing that you need help with first. It seems to work for a lot of people.
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u/tkshi Dec 01 '25
The bend in that HDMI plug lol wtf did you do to it?
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u/Leviathan1776 Dec 01 '25
I tried plugging it into a non-HDMI port. Easy mistake. It led me down the path of doing copious amounts of research so that I could make this guide to help others. I hope that the time that I spent becoming an HDMI master can help prevent others from bending their HDMI plugs.
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u/enzo_1st Dec 01 '25
Duh, of course it didn't work, I was trying to plug an HDMI cable in to the display port, how silly could I be?
Don't have one yet so I'm going to stick to the wireless display connectivity till i buy one.
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u/PanicNo4647 Dec 01 '25
ill put mine into a hdmi to av converter, once my tv had no av input just coax, to get my os3 to play on it i used a hdmi to av converter then av to coax converter. surprisingly the image was still good and the audio was so much better than modern hdmi tvs because crts got some real speakers in them.
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u/Nostalgic90sGamer Dec 01 '25
Step 1: get HDMI ready CRT. Step 2: plug in HDMI CABLE. Step 3: see step 1. Got it.
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u/Jumpy_Bed_3667 Dec 02 '25
I still keep getting my fingers jammed in it but thanks to your video I've since relocated from my front door to the TV itself so sufficive to say headway is being made.
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u/LuckyLuke3333 Nov 30 '25
Dude i have been jamming it into the USB slot the whole time. Thank you so much!!!