BEST CRT TELEVISION SET HDTV.. 30''+++

[Fox5]

Originally posted by: Snakexor
what about the xbr 970? is that as good as the 960?

I've found mixed opinions, some saying it's better and some worse. I'd go with whatever you can find.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I'm with Bob&the bunch I :heart: my 57" Hitachi CRT RP. Yes, they require more servicing/tweaking, but as Bob points out, they are excellent once done.

Look, everyone has a subjective preference, and none of the display techs are perfect. That said, I personally dig the screen real estate and PQ I got for the money, and hours of tweaking. Also, from what I've read, CRT RP can do 1080p via direct input.

On topic, I've seen the Samsung and BeastBuy has a good price on it right now Text It is a great pick for the money.

 

[JRW]

Originally posted by: Snakexor
what about the xbr 970? is that as good as the 960?

The main disadvantage of the XBR970 is that it doesnt use a Super fine pitch tube so HDTV material wont look as sharp / detailed. This is also why the 970 is so much cheaper than the 960 was, unfortunately Sony no longer has any super fine pitch models in production but I know the 960 can still be found online if you look around.

 

[BenSkywalker]

I was searching through the net and found some sets made by Samsung and LG that featured the slim CRT models that were 1/3 the depth and had less weight. But I saw numerous reviews on the first models that indicated some kind of color distortion on them.

I have on of the thin CRT Samsungs, and it does have some minor geometry issues, mostly noteable on the 360's dashboard(line warps near the bottom a bit) and it also has issues with the pixels being spread out a bit further on the edges then in the center(only really noticeable from close range and just on the last couple of inches of screen space). I was debating between the Sony and Samsung and after watching HD feeds on both of them I thought that the Sammy won out overall(better contrast and sharpness versus better geometry and uniformity for the Sony). Both of them were fine displays and I wouldn't advise anyone against either of them. I have always been a big fan of Panny and Mitsu for CRTs but Mitsu has left the market and Panny's current Taus really don't hold a candle to their older displays(I have a SD Tau that offers significantly better quality then the current HD Taus unfortunately). On the weight issue- slim line HDTVs still weigh more then same size SDTVs- they are slightly less hefty then their non slim line counterparts(although due to their reduced depth they are easier to move around).

The best advice I can give you is to walk into a B&M and check the sets out for yourself. Get ahold of the remote for them and fix up the calibration the stores are using and see what set you like the best at its' respective price point. Everyone on these forums may all tell you exactly what model to get and we all may think that it is the hands down no brainer choice- but if it has one flaw that is a major point for you then it may be flat out junk compared to another model we all deemed inferior. We are talking about displays- your eyes are a far better judge of what you are looking for then anything we can tell you.

 

[JRW]

Not to sound like an arse but the Slimfit's have nothing on the Sony models (especially the XBR960). Once you get one home and calibrated the picture quality is nothing short of amazing. (I've never seen a properly adjusted crt hdtv in a store) There's also these crt hdtv ratings from a few months back: Link.

 

[vtohthree]

Before I made this post, I actually walked into a Bestbuy real quick, I'm going to go back to have a more thorough look, plus this time I hvae some model numbers to check out. However, from just glancing at that time and talking with the sales associate, there wreen't too many CRT HDTV's left, from what I could see, they only had Sony and Toshiba models displaying, the rest were either less than 30'' or of course..LCD, etc.

The other thing I'd like to mention is about the slimfit. When I first read about them a couple years back in the news before their release, I was really excited, it sounded very promising. Having said that I still think that if the timing was right, it could have been so much more! They just needed to progress and hammer out some kinks/perfect it, unfortunately when they were released, LCD's and Plasma prices came down to more attractive prices, ultimately killing the progression and support for the slimfit technology!

Oh well...=/

 

[Avalon]

Good thread. I'm in the market for the same thing.

 

[MikeK614]

Many people who are posting in this forum have absolutely no idea what they are talking about when it comes to picture quality.

"Oh well you don't want to get a CRT because they're heavy."

What the heck does that have to do with picture quality in the slightest? Is anyone constantly shuffling their TV around from room to room just because they are bored? When you get a TV, you put it in a certain spot in your home. That?s about it. Unless you have a demented hobby that involves moving everything around in your house every couple of days, it shouldn?t be an issue. Ridiculous


"Well CRT doesn?t have 'blah blah blah' resolution, so I won't be able to enjoy my 'blah blah blah' sources in their fullest." I hate being the one to mention this, and I don't enjoy being the one to break the news, but chances are you are not superman. Without super vision, you are going to have an incredibly hard time distinguishing the difference in resolution at anything other than a 6 inch distance from the screen on a <34 inch display. On something 60" or better, sure, 1920x1080 is great, but the issue is you as a human being simply cannot see individual pixels if you get far enough away from the screen.

Bottom line is the KD-34XBR960 is absolutely the best 'regular' CRT TV Sony has ever or will ever made. It has unbelievably good picture quality, every review I have seen has done nothing but sing its praises, and as mentioned before, many review sites consider it the benchmark TV set against which all others should be compared. If you are looking for the best CRT High Definition Television ever released to the mass market, it is the KD-34XBR960. If people are panning CRT TV's in general on this forum, it is most likely because anandtech or tomshardware has not reviewed a CRT display in a while. They see all of the LCD reviews, which include endless discussion of overdrive, and lighting uniformity and response time and they think that since CRTs are not included in the reviews, they must be horrible. If you can get a KD-34XBR960, you will own probably the best <40 inch TV ever made, period. PERIOD. The models that came after that actually weren't as good, so try to get that model if you can. If you want a 60 inch TV, right now go with the SXRD rear projection displays. Anyone who says to get LCD just because it is LCD is looking at many other factors that may not be relevant before they consider actual picture quality

 

[yhelothar]

Sony Wegas.. they're discontinued now.. but you could get the new for cheap on ebay.