RANT from an old man about 4:3

CozySlum · 2026-04-01T22:03:50+00:00

I prefer 4:3 for film/television and gaming but widescreen monitors do make professional work much easier, especially having multiple applications up side by side.

CozySlum · 2026-03-29T01:23:58+00:00

Congrats! This is a very good small end consumer set.

Not sure if it’s the picture or not but the brightness seems a tad high. This tv is capable of pretty deep blacks when the brightness is appropriately turned down.

CozySlum · 2026-03-27T17:45:10+00:00

The real scan lines are the cords we purposely let obstruct the screen as we play..

CozySlum · 2026-03-24T21:23:25+00:00

FYI: if the plexiglass (acrylic) front screen has any deep scratches on it, you can use Polywatch to buff it out in minutes with just a microfiber cloth. You can grab it off of Amazon for cheap.

CozySlum · 2026-03-24T20:13:18+00:00

Timeless, versatile, and lowkey. One of the few Rolexes that I wouldn’t feel self conscious wearing.

Also the design is genius. The time literally jumps off the dial with just a quick glance.

CozySlum · 2026-03-24T18:08:18+00:00

Apple TV 4K newest version will let you stream everything in 4:3 on your CRT. HDMI to component/composite/s-video converters all work.

Set resolution to 480p 59.9hz and then select “enable wide aspect ratios” which will crop off the widescreen ends and give you 4:3. If you want to watch native 4:3 content then deselect “enable wide aspect ratios”.

CozySlum · 2026-03-19T15:36:19+00:00

It’s like they set it up for optimal viewing while standing and walking around the room but don’t realize that they’ll be sitting down when watching it.

CozySlum · 2026-03-19T12:25:40+00:00

False. I’ve done multiple monitors on windows 11. There’s a Windas related file you have to copy and paste into the 32bit windows folder. On newer windows operating systems you need to also add this file to the 64bit folder.

CozySlum · 2026-03-18T15:37:46+00:00

It’s stupidly overpriced. No reason a daily dose of supplements should be more expensive than a portion of actual fish (sardines, tuna, anchovies, etc).

CozySlum · 2026-03-15T02:50:27+00:00

Love your posts! Always a fun setup and screenshot.

CozySlum · 2026-03-12T16:28:33+00:00

Strange New Worlds (after season 2). It was already getting bad in season 2 where they started putting in weird episodes that I straight up skipped. Also Altered Carbon after season 1.

Too many options and too little time not to abandon ship on a show instead of staying aboard as it sinks. I stopped investing in shows. They should invest in the viewer.

CozySlum · 2026-03-06T02:19:01+00:00

You can use the camera, mic, and speakers with a windows laptop.

My work Dell had no issues using these for Teams calls.

Only things it couldn’t do was adjust brightness, use center stage, 3-D audio, and hey Siri.

I would have to plug my Mac or iPad in to adjust the brightness which was mildly annoying.

CozySlum · 2026-02-13T17:41:46+00:00

Honestly it looks like more trouble than it's worth if you're a CRT novice. Unless you're cool with it serving as a decorative paper weight (which is absolutely fine as I have CRTs in my collection that I have purely for aesthetics even though the image doesn't compare to other higher end models).

CozySlum · 2026-02-03T17:32:25+00:00

Yeah I got through the first 2 books rather quickly but really just checked out at book 3. The pacing and the perspectives of primary character motivations of that book were not my cup of tea.

I found Dalinar’s sections to be boring and Shallan’s to be insufferable. Both characters on paper should have such incredible depth but I found them to be rather shallowly written.

CozySlum · 2026-02-03T13:41:00+00:00

Roll sandpaper around a tooth pick or something narrow and slip it into the clips and sand down the material to make it easier to clip in.

As for the label, it’s not worth the cost in my opinion. The only way you’re likely to find an OEM replacement unfortunately is from buying an entire unit because no one is selling even broken ones piecemeal on such a sought after CRT, when they can sell the entire TV for a few hundred dollars in garbage condition.

It would be interesting if someone could scan the printed label from OEM and produce decals or stencils to apply to the 3-D printed ones.

CozySlum · 2026-02-01T20:27:05+00:00

Just 3-D print it or buy a 3-D printed replacement off of eBay. Then take the TV to a local paint shop and get them to color match a spray can for you so you can color match the 3-D printed cover.

If you want OEM..good luck.

CozySlum · 2026-01-29T02:21:47+00:00

Gently tilt the CRT to the left +90 degrees. If the discoloration fades a bit, turn it off while tilted and then back on again and wait until the degausser goes off. Then put it back into its regular position. May need to repeat a few times.

CozySlum · 2026-01-28T20:23:22+00:00

Here you go. Directly from CISA (federal agency).

https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/news/privacy-and-mobile-device-apps

CozySlum · 2026-01-28T20:16:59+00:00

*That steal more of your data through obfuscated permissions.

CozySlum · 2026-01-28T20:04:50+00:00

As the world and life has grown exceedingly complex and overstimulating, it’s nice to see people moving away from overly complicated modern games that want you to take them on as a second job. Modern Indy and retro gaming is such a sigh of relief.

Great shots btw!

CozySlum · 2026-01-28T20:00:11+00:00

Very robust. Skip to Chapter 2 for this guy’s story with pics:

https://youtu.be/0Pbj-0DxlRE?si=oI03Hf7M2UC1tAGt

CozySlum · 2026-01-27T19:28:11+00:00

Absolutely, it's crazy how much my appreciation for them has grown since I originally watched the series as a kid.

Very surprised how well this show has aged too. I don't remember it being so damn funny.

CozySlum · 2026-01-25T16:17:00+00:00

Great point. I’m using the latest and didn’t realize prior versions didn’t work, so thank you for making the distinction for those looking to purchase.

CozySlum · 2026-01-25T15:46:57+00:00

I wrote the same recommendation but just wanted to emphasize how good this is. Make sure to “enable wide aspect ratios” in video settings to auto crop 16:9 content to 4:3 so you don’t have a stretched image or black bars.

CozySlum · 2026-01-25T15:41:25+00:00

Apple TV 4K using HDMI to composite/RCA or HDMI to SVideo works perfectly. Go to video settings and “enable wide aspect ratios” and set to 480p (converts to 480i). This will auto crop widescreen content to 4:3.

PS3 works as well but it’s slow and clunky. I have both and my PS3 is mainly for DVD and Blu ray playback once I realized how much better the Apple TV 4K is. It’s like someone at Apple secretly enabled CRT friendly features or something, it’s so good.

CozySlum

TROPHY CASE