The last manufacturer of arcade-sized cathode ray tubes is out of the business, with one supplier having only 30 or so in stock and no chance of ordering more. The manufacturing process is difficult enough that it's unlikely anyone will step into the breach; Venturebeat's Jeff Grubb reports that times will be good for skilled repairers.
"I have a feeling that — y'know how there are those guys doing pinball repair on the side — there will probably be some guy you can send your monitor to and have him rewind the bulb," says Ware. "I think it's going to be really expensive." A CRT tube is very heavy, so shipping costs alone would be costly. "Right now, I don't know of anyone who does [the winding]."
To fill the void, Day suggests that new companies will emerge to reproduce those old machines using only modern-day technology. An LCD screen connected to a PC running a piece of software that approximates the original experience will be adequate for most people.
CRT emulation is amazing, but still obviously such to me. But I bet using curved OLED panels embedded in thick CRT-style glass would fool my eye in darkness. There's yer Kickstarter.
