They are televisions from another era, replaced by the flat screen, high-resolution displays of the modern era. Yet cathode-ray tubes are still surprisingly in demand.
The moment he saw pictures of the grubby old televisions for sale, Shaan Joshi knew he had to have them. Joshi, a game developer and writer from central Florida in the US, immediately paid up: $2,500 (£1,900) for 10 cathode-ray tube (CRT) TVs. Chunky boxes with thick glass screens. Relics from another time. Wi-fi connectivity? Apps? Forget about it. These things produced a glow and sound from an earlier era.
These TVs weren't any ordinary analogue displays though. They were professional video monitors, or PVMs. The kind of sets that once furnished hospital labs, hooked up to very expensive equipment. Broadcasters also used to have huge numbers of them. Today, PVMs light up the dreams of certain die-hard retro gamers.
Joshi is part of a small group of people who scavenge for vintage TVs like this. They are looking for boxes with nostalgia-triggering picture quality. "Being tapped into the scene gives you a pretty good competitive edge," he says. "If you know enough people."
A contact had sent him a link to the CRTs for sale on eBay. Minutes after he'd bought the sets and excitedly told an online group he's part of, someone messaged him. "Hey," the person said. "Do you want to go split on this stuff?" Joshi thought about it for a moment. The TVs were 200 miles away in southern Florida. If this person helped – and the TVs were OK – he'd get half his money back, and potentially even some help hauling the hefty sets back home. As long as this total stranger was as good as their word. He sent his reply: "Sure."