Tube Swap or RGB Mod New CRT?

[Asobu]

CRTs are fascinating to me. Been reading about tube swaps, RGB mods, etc.

But I've been wondering.....If you need to replace the screen in your cab due to burn in, is it easier to do a tube swap? Or just mod the new CRT to accept RGB? Assuming the replacement is a consumer CRT of course. I know that arcade hardware outputs higher voltages that would need to be considered, and you would need to fit the new chassis into the old chassis' spot, but man it seems like a pain to do a tube swap as well.

Has anyone done this before? A full tube & chassis swap with an RGB mod?

 

[Hedonism Bot 2.0]

Both are a pain. Its up to you how much effort you want to put in. It also depends on what you're replacing- if you have a VGA cab or a tri mode, a rgb mod isn't going to help without adding in upscalers, ect, then its a matter of powering them, hoping they play nice, and figuring out how to change the geometry on certian games.

Tube swaps can either be really easy or really hard. I prefer going this way to keep the original chassis and yoke.

Truth be told, if you are going to keep CRT cabinets for the long haul, its best to look into and learn both options.

 

[nem]

Also, it might surprise you how big the chassis is on some of these TVs. Arcade chassis are dainty by comparison.

I'm in Europe and 99% of CRT TVs have RGB inputs on them, but I'm still not that interested in putting a TV inside a cab. Although, this said, I have a cab that is missing a monitor entirely, so I might make an exception for that.