The big problem is light gun games. The cannot work on LED/OLED screens because they use an idiosyncrasy of how the scan rate timing works on the CRT. The timing just doesn’t work the same way on the newer screens. The same problem exists for home consoles for games like “Duck Hunt”.
Large IPS monitor will do for you. But get one with minimal/no purple-ing.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you (and I!) might like the coming nvidia displays.
I’ve been looking at those movie prop sites to find one of these. Never have.
At this point I’ve decided I need to build my own using a Fresnel lens (got it), 3d printed mounting (some of it done in 3dsmax) and a phone which can take keyboard input (so I need a phone I can spare with a USB slot which accepts HID … which exist, but those are newer models and I don’t have an old one yet).
It’s going to be my dedicated text writing machine 
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There is/was a big difference between CRT TV’s and monitors.
Just like there is a big difference between flat panel (no matter the tech used) TV’s and monitors.
CRT’s were king of refresh rate and colour. IPS didn’t negate that: IPS finally started to have a decent colour reproduction even when viewed at an angle … but CRT’s were still better (and still are! The colour purple mean anything?! :P).
As for refresh rate … especially in gaming CRT’s rule(d), also due to the variability of the refresh rate. Flat panels are only good at certain rates: CRT’s do all their listed rates perfectly.
And your point about flicker? Took years for flatpanels to get to 60hz and beyond. CRT’s@60 were perfect, let alone Trinitrons at 120!
And CRT monitors also have no lag.
The problems? HUGE, bulky, heavy and filled with nasty elements, that vacuum and the hugely dangerous coils. But even today a 21" 1080p Trinitron would look better than ANY flatpanel in terms of colour reproduction, ghosting, lag, viewing angle. But no-one wants such a huge thing anymore.
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Gibson mentioned technology not being distributed well.
When I was in the backwoods of Indonesia a few years ago I was struck by the fact that there were no flatpanels AT ALL for sale: it was all CRT’s.
This showed my the trickle down of modern capitalistic production: when flatpanels took over in the richest nations, all stocks of CRT’s went to poorer nations. And the poorest nations (apart of course from the very rich) is where the last stocks of unwanted-in-the-rich-nations material goes.
It’s the Long Tail of retail.
So, you want a CRT? Go to the edges of Indonesia, Bangladesh, Myanmar. For the poor, it’s still the best they can get.
And I’m betting that’s where the US’ stock of music cd’s will end up, too.
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For the ambience think about adding some huge, clumsily-installed ducting!
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After assembly, I’ll add/leave exposed as many wires as possible … the huge ducting might have to be ‘small-ish ducting which looks industrial but doesn’t take up too much space’
And if Cory or any other BoingBoing-er wants to donate a Datamancer keyboard to the project … nudge, nudge, wink, wink 
Ducting is easy. To the left of the fresnel lens in the image I posted above, is the flexible plastic ducting I run from the heating vent in the floor up to my fan in the summertime when the air-conditioning is on.
I don’t think that keyboard’s superior, “battleship” build quality would mirror the tacky and unreliable Brazil movie technology.
Sure, best case I’d mod an old typewriter
But I want it to be actually usable and any typewriter is crap for real typing at speed (they were designed to slow you down so the mechanical parts didn’t crash into each other). Not only that but modding a real typewriter to become a USB keyboard is more work than I’m willing to put in
So a kinda look-alike it’ll have to be and the Datamancer boards just look fucking cool Either that or I’ll have to mod a keyboard myself, and that’s a lot of work, too!
I’m already doing the mounting, Fresnel lens stuff and phone-app programming (lead android dev, so I can make the text editor have that Brazil/BladeRunner look :P).
What about this guy? And there are other steampunk style keyboards out there that cost even less:
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I’d think that only a person who loots electronics stores would be in that situation.
Yeah, the weight isn’t much of a problem, more of a theft deterrent. It’s the depth that’s a bitch.
Ooooh! Nice!
There’s a few things which make me think: ‘a bit plastic!’, though … top right corner on this one, for example. But overall that’s a great thing to start off with! And there’s others which look even better Yup, definitely saving that! Thanks!
Got any more?! 
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Here are some lovely ducts you may want to consider:
As there is a big difference between flat panel TVs and Monitors. As well as different types and grades of flat panel. More over not every CRT monitor had the same features as every other monitor. There were different grade, refresh rates, color schemes. Screens that were more expensive, “better” over all, or good at certain things.
When IPS panels with good, accurate color reproduction and decent viewing angles showed up (what you think of as “good” or pleasant color is not neccisarily the same as accurate and broad color reproduction either). And started to become broadly available. Professionals who rely on good color to do their jobs. Rapidly switched to flat panels. Where CRTs still out do even the better flat panels there is no longer a practical need for those benefits. Neither is there enough of a want to create a market for them. Even as a specialized professional tool or a luxury good. And in the past. The source. Particularly in terms of what got spat out by your computer or an arcade game. Wasn’t even neccisarily using all of the colors or color depth that CRT could display, provided you had one that was good at that sort of thing. That professional transition happened 10 or more years ago.
Well first off variable refresh rate is a still a thing. In its latest iteration in a pretty damn different way than with CRTs
You should look up the max refresh rates of CRT monitors. First you’ll notice you get a chart, and you’ll notice they max number varies based on resolution. Just like with panels you may not be running at your max refresh rate. Or you may not be showing every frame you render. Its just that the flat panels are working around a standard base line of multiples of 30fps and variations of 16:9 HD resolutions. That consistently alleviates a lot of the weird artifacting and compatibility issues we used to run into.
And they’ve been able to do it for a decade at this point.
CRT’s typically had to run at north of 50-60 just to avoid flicker and causing eye strain or headaches. Because of the base way CRTs and video signals worked at the time. And refresh rate /= frame rate. You may have been outputting 60fps, (or 30/24 for video content) but the monitor was refreshing faster, or just differently. Even out the computer. That’s why those max refresh rates were so high in the chart above. You’ll see in those most of those refresh rates sit north of 60, some at above 100. And very few at 250 or above. Dependent on resolution, and model. What are our current refresh rates that are proliferating through monitors and even TVs (which never really got the high rates monitors of any sort did)? 60hz, 75hz, 120hz, and 240hz. Pretty much the same numbers you see in the max refresh rate charts. But standardised in multiples of 30. Its taken a bit for that sort of thing to become affordable. But refresh rates higher than 60hz have been available for a long while. And and 60hz was available pretty early on with flat panels, even if it wasn’t common or affordable. There was a point where refresh rates for CRTs was a lot lower too.
Not no lag. Very low lag. Presuming we’re talking about input lag. That’s a factor of refresh rates, frame rates, response time among other things. CRTs are still generally better than panels in terms of response time. Though TN panels are capable of pretty low response times. But your at a point where its a question of "what kind of gaming. For modern consoles where you’re locked at 30fps or 60fps regardless of what you hook it up to. You aren’t going to practically manipulate input lag. On PC with modern games you’re unlikely to push enough frames to make enough difference. For single player and even a lot of multiplayer, it practically doesn’t matter. The game will play fine at a decent frame rate with reasonably low input lag, in put lag may not be a factor for the type of game play, or may not effect how “well” you do much. Certain competitive games (cs:go is the one I hear about most), by pushing settings and resolution down. Running freakishly high frame rates. On a very fast monitor. You can supposedly practically eliminate or impact input lag.
But that’s a really specific use case. One that most people aren’t ever going to run into. And involves making things look worse so that they run faster. Its likewise primarily done on older games.
And its not enough of a factor for even high end gaming periferal companies to keep making CRTs. They’re pushing the refresh rate higher on TN and increasingly IPS panels instead.
Now TN panels are the ones with crappy color and other shortcomings/
But you’re still in that same niche area as the competitive arcade and console guys. You’re talking issues of preservation. Of a clean playing field for records. And eliminating some edge performance issues for high level competition.
Across the board flat panels have become anywhere from “good enough” to “better” depending on what exactly you’re looking at. And the overall quality of screens available, and the affordability of good screens has improved immensely. You weren’t going to buy a cheap, generic Korean or store brand TV at bargain price 20 years ago. Use it as a large size computer monitor. And have a pleasant experience. That’s very much a thing these days.
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