My 14" TV (where I had connected my MSX) is not working anymore and I'm thinking in buying a new TV.

I've thought about LCD (flat) TVs. Do they really worth the difference of price? I mean if LCD TVs have a lot better image quality than CRT TVs (referring to MSX usage).

I don't know all the details, but even a TFT-monitor (or at least mine) can look 'blurry' when the resolution it tries to show doesn't match the optimal resolution of the TFT screen.

ofcourse if you buy a TV flat sure the resolution NTSC will match...

if the TV flat can show all borders of MSX... buy it

if not use a normal TV got better contrast

I use my TFT monitor with S-VHS, VGA and DVI inputs for my PC, my turboR and my GFX9000 (connected through an upscan convertor) and I'm quite satisfied with the results. However, I chose to use TFT mainly because I needed to save space. As for image quality: MSX and GFX9000 connected to a TV or old (CGA) monitor looks best

As I didn't get used at all to the image quality of TFT TVs connected to an MSX (blurry image) I repaired my old Sony 14" CRT TV.

What is the lifetime of a CRT TV? I bought the TV in 1988 (that is 19 years!). Soon it will be impossible to buy CRT TVs, I believe that big brands don't produce them anymore...

don't LCD come with RGB-scart too? (didn't check) Won't that do the trick?!

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don't LCD come with RGB-scart too? (didn't check) Won't that do the trick?!

The European ones usually do. Mine does.

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As What is the lifetime of a CRT TV? I bought the TV in 1988 (that is 19 years!). Soon it will be impossible to buy CRT TVs, I believe that big brands don't produce them anymore...

In the not so distant future it will impossible to buy somethings that made the MSX experience as it was in the old days: CRT monitors, disk drives, ..... How (and how much) will we extend the lifetimes of our beloved machines ?

Cassette interface will last forever! No moving parts -> durable.

About TFTs for MSX, all I can say is that they suck. Not to mention that you cannot play DUCK HUNT on them (or any other lightgun software)

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Cassette interface will last forever! No moving parts -> durable.

Leaving apart rubber belts of course...

He probably meant excluding the data recorder (eg. connected to a PC and just play the .WAV). There's still 1 moving part though The relay inside your MSX making those "click" sounds.

...that is not required to load data

When all your diskdrives failed, your long-ago forgotten little friend, the cassette interface, will be the only option. In *any* possible scenario you will have sound replayers available. You cannot say the same about magnetic media (fdd, now disappearing) and/or solid memories (i.e. compact flash cards).

Nothing wrong with expanding lifetime by using new hardware, such as TFT monitors, new storage media, new gfx/soundcards, etc.

True, the cassette interface can be the last option in the worst scenario. But I think that the best option for the next decades will be using solid state drives (USB or cards). Best thing we can do is support any serious attempt to develop an expansion that allow to forget forever the fd drives. I am planning to buy an IDE-CF cart, but may be is better to wait a little until the MMC by Padial is ready. News on this are certainly promising.

And of course, the OCM is another option. But it seems almost impossible to grab one this days, and, after all, its chamaleonic capabilities are somewhat disturbing . One cannot avoid to think that, perhaps, it is closer to a hardware emulator than to a real MSX computer.

In the meantime I will be in the market for as much nice MSX computers as my wife and room allows !

On the topic of TFT panels, I agree with pitpan though. TFT is a poor substitute for a CRT screen. It's just not very well suited to display interlaced PAL/NTSC signals. In fact, old televisions without all the digital crap give the best results IMHO.