Using an old CRT TV set for Amazon Prime video?

Yes you could "MAKE" it work but it would have large black bars on top and bottom, or some content cut off on the sides. The converter itself will be ~$30 then the roku or firestick another @30. You will have spent 60 to have a frustrating TV viewing experience. Find a good cheap TV..(Read the reviews for how fast the interface is) and have it all in one remote and a proper sized screen. You could also add a cheap antenna and pickup local digital channels as well for more general use. I have a 32" visio for that use is it is pretty handy.
 
I had a 27" Toshiba 4:3 flatscreen CRT TV up until about 15 years ago when I gave it away because it became more or less worthless. I would kill to have that thing back now.
Because its worth some money now? We got this guy for free 32 or 34" JVC flatish screen in ~2005 and used it until our satellite box only spit out 16:9 in 2013 which didn't work well on 4:3. I think we recycled it? It was pretty heavy so it was on the skateboard, tractor, then Tracker, to the dump... I don't miss it really!
IMG_0274 (1).jpg
 
Yes you could "MAKE" it work but it would have large black bars on top and bottom, or some content cut off on the sides. The converter itself will be ~$30 then the roku or firestick another @30. You will have spent 60 to have a frustrating TV viewing experience. Find a good cheap TV..(Read the reviews for how fast the interface is) and have it all in one remote and a proper sized screen. You could also add a cheap antenna and pickup local digital channels as well for more general use. I have a 32" visio for that use is it is pretty handy.
From what others have said, I don't think it'll even work because when you run HDMI into a component converter it kills the HDCP encryption between the TV and the box and a lot of apps won't stream without working HDCP.
 
From what others have said, I don't think it'll even work because when you run HDMI into a component converter it kills the HDCP encryption between the TV and the box and a lot of apps won't stream without working HDCP.
Whoever invented HDCP should be drug out into the street and

It causes constant problems even in the best situations where it should work.

My Roku with its short supplied cable and a newer set freaks out randomly , try a different cable and I can’t even get it to work at all
 
  • Like
Reactions: AP9
The biggest problem with using one would be burn-in one is on the static screens. Old arcade games would show that.

I've got a two+ year old LCD and that thing refuses to burn in even if I leave it on a static screen for hours. My previous set was an old plasma and I watched one channel that had a little graphic of the channel in the corner, and that burned in. When I got it in 2008 I was mostly watching from a 4:3 output cable box, and that thing permanently left side banding.

However, it should be pretty easy to use an HDMI to RCA/component converter, although the converter might letterbox or zoom into the center depending on the particular converter.


Or something like this:

815ea994-7601-404e-8c5b-94a67c772a76.542a4c7e83e8c728f4ed6a54cc181c30.jpeg
 
Back in the day I had a Sony Blu-Ray player that did Amazon and had component outs. Sadly, Amazon put the kibosh on that.
I have the one and it still works after 10 years however use HDMI. It was $29. The “smart” device apps like Amazons and Netflix all gone!
 
I’m not well-informed on home theater and streaming. My TV learning pretty much ended with the DVD era. We have an old TV in our bedroom that isn’t hooked up and probably hasn’t been used in 10 years. It’s from the last generation of CRT televisions before flat screens replaced them, so it has component video inputs but no hdmi or usb. I want to start watching Amazon Prime video in the bedroom and I know I can just buy a cheap LED flat screen with Wi-Fi for less than $100 but I wouldn’t mind keeping this old TV out of the landfill a little longer if I could.

Is it possible to buy something like a Roku box and use an hdmi to component video adapter to watch streaming TV through my old dinosaur? Or do I need to just bite the bullet and buy a modern set?
Will need a Roku box or similar that has its own power adapter, and an HDMI to composite converter box.

Not worth the trouble because you will be getting a 480p resolution and will have black bars to fit a 16:9 video on a 4:3 screen.
 
I’m not well-informed on home theater and streaming. My TV learning pretty much ended with the DVD era. We have an old TV in our bedroom that isn’t hooked up and probably hasn’t been used in 10 years. It’s from the last generation of CRT televisions before flat screens replaced them, so it has component video inputs but no hdmi or usb. I want to start watching Amazon Prime video in the bedroom and I know I can just buy a cheap LED flat screen with Wi-Fi for less than $100 but I wouldn’t mind keeping this old TV out of the landfill a little longer if I could.

Is it possible to buy something like a Roku box and use an hdmi to component video adapter to watch streaming TV through my old dinosaur? Or do I need to just bite the bullet and buy a modern set?
Roku TV
 
Once LCD/LED TV's got cheap, I decided to get rid of all my CRT's. Right now it's like $10 or whatever to take to the transfer station; I was concerned that maybe someday the price may go higher, much higher. FUD I know. But lead and glass and whatever, maybe some day it'd get expensive to properly dispose of.

But I don't miss 'em whatsoever. Big and large and heavy. You couldn't give me one for free.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: AP9
You won't have to pay to get rid of that old tube TV if it is the flat screen tube (I assume it is flat as you said it was the last gen CRT and those were flat). I sold my old 36" flat screen CRT TV for more than I paid for it, I bought it in 2001, paid 750 for it, sold it in 2015(ish) for 780. That thing was crazy heavy though and all the weight was in the front.
 
With streaming, once you've dipped your toes in 4K, you'll never look back.
I got a little nauseous the first time I watched a blue ray disc on a 4K TV. When it first came out, when my Daughter was really small, she liked the Maleficent movie, so we bought the blue ray disc and had recently bought our first curved 55" 4K TV, was amazing stuff for the time with the Bose cubes and sub. The flight scenes made me sick.
 
Back
Top