I have a 34" widescreen Philips 1080i CRT HDTV. Is it worth it to upgrade to 1080P? My main worry is brightness and blackness, two things the crts do very well. Will I sacrifice those features in newer televisions? In other words, can newer HDTVs (ever) match those brightness and black levels of the old crts?
Newer HDTVs better than crt-based HDTVs?
- Thread starter Dari
- Start date
No. Nothing out yet comes close to CRTs as far as contrast and black levels goes. Check back at the end of the year to see how LED backlit LCDs bode. They boast 100,000:1 contrast ratio but it could be marketing fluff.
You need to go to a store and figure that out for yourself. Contrast ratios are measured so inconsitantly and are so variable that quoted ratios are worthless. You can have a 10,000:1 ratio Plasma look the same as a 1,600:1 Plasma, or the same as a 1,600:1 LCD.
It's all about what you like.
It's all about what you like.
Hmmm, I'm surprised to hear this. How are those slim-crt televisions from samsung? They were invented by IBM and they (IBM) claimed that they would be the best of both worlds. Anybody here seen any?
BrunoPuntzJones
Lifer
- Feb 24, 2001
- 14,513
- 4
- 81
True. The store is the wrong place to demo a TV unless you want to judge it in shop mode. The true test for these sets is calibrated sets in dark rooms. The only real demo you'll get is having a friend with a set. Or you can spend hours parsing avsforum threads.
I've been in one. It was a small Mom-and-Pop style one, independently owned and operated. They had high-quality feeds for their showpiece sets, amplified and cleaned ones for the rest, and were more than willing to shuffle a DVD player over to the one you were interested in and connect it so you could try out a few scenes.
Naturally, they went out of business after Faceless Corporation X opened an outlet, undercut their prices by 2%, and their service by 50%.
- M4H
I don't think anything is on par yet with the picture quality of CRTs but I do think the high end plasmas have very acceptable black and contrast levels. Even my Sony SXRD has incredible black levels but because its a rear projection its just not as bright as plasmas or lcds.
This is the biggest problem, and one I think which leads to a lot of bad conclusions about the technology. Some technology performs better under certain conditions than others. A Tweeter-ish type store is better than BBY or CC, but still not ideal. Ideally you'd find a nice mom and pop shop that will let you demo in-home, but those rare.
TheAdvocate
Platinum Member
- Mar 7, 2005
- 2,561
- 7
- 81
the new LED backlit LCDs from Samsung sound promising, but in general, the only reason for you to upgrade is for a (much) bigger screen or the ability to wall mount.
there is far too much bickering on these and other forums over very minor differences in picture quality. the truth is, once you get any HDTV home, and hook it up to any HD source, it's gonne be noticeably better than even the best SD. And the differences in quality between one HD set and the next are pretty much equivalent to small clock cycle differences in cpus. It's more about bragging rights than actual real world performance, and no one feature is everything.
there is far too much bickering on these and other forums over very minor differences in picture quality. the truth is, once you get any HDTV home, and hook it up to any HD source, it's gonne be noticeably better than even the best SD. And the differences in quality between one HD set and the next are pretty much equivalent to small clock cycle differences in cpus. It's more about bragging rights than actual real world performance, and no one feature is everything.
You're not going to get the contrast/color/black level of a CRT.
But do realize that direct view CRTs suffer from resolution problems and can't properly resolve a 1080i signal. So by going with a 1080p set you will get dramatically better resolution, at a loss of of the others. Your pick.
But do realize that direct view CRTs suffer from resolution problems and can't properly resolve a 1080i signal. So by going with a 1080p set you will get dramatically better resolution, at a loss of of the others. Your pick.
Demon-Xanth
Lifer
- Feb 15, 2000
- 20,551
- 2
- 81
If you game, CRTs are still better than LCD HDTVs. There's a lag on LCD HDTVs that acts as a handicap.
Fun fact:
I have a 20" CRT TV in my bedroom, I picked up a 20" LCD HDTV on a Woot deal. I replaced the CRT with the LCD on Friday as soon as I got the LCD. On Sunday, I switched it back and made the LCD a monitor on my linux box.
Fun fact:
I have a 20" CRT TV in my bedroom, I picked up a 20" LCD HDTV on a Woot deal. I replaced the CRT with the LCD on Friday as soon as I got the LCD. On Sunday, I switched it back and made the LCD a monitor on my linux box.
MrPickins
Diamond Member
- May 24, 2003
- 9,124
- 787
- 126
IMO better analogies are fine wine, and good audio equipment.
Not everyone can tell the difference between low and high quality, and some don't care even if they can tell.
However, for some people, the details are important, and worth debating.
Not only that but what about picture geometry? I had a 36" Vega that I loved but talk about crooked lines. A good LCD or Plasma should suffer no such issues. Black levels on new plasmas should not really be an issue IMO.
Slap a resolution pattern on your display. You'll be lucky if you get more than 1000 lines horizontally.
Notice I said resolve, not display.
The main benefit of the CRT is that SD content looks as good as it looks on a CRT SDTV. Have you seen a LCD displaying SD? It looks terrible. Also, with the CRT there's no deinterlacing necessary. Since broadcast is 1080i, this is a good thing.
Ya, im surprised at how many people put up with LCD's. Im actuallly selling mine and going with a fw900.
QFT
black levels, backlighting, banding, digital noise(twead, parkay floors), fast motion(getting better) - all still too poor on current tech, i just cant bring myself to spend more $ on a worse picture.
brought an LG slim 30" crt HDTV (yes it was heavy, by the dresser hasnt complained yet)instead of an LCD, picture is great, speakers whine a little when it first comes on, but its a bedroom set, and my main viewing is still on my 4 year old hitachi 57" RPTV that they can pry from my cold dead hands(or until a part fails i cant have replaced). It's calibrated and still looks great, kitty corner in the finished basement, so no viewing angle issues.
Anyway... i'm waiting on something to bridge the LCD/plasma -> crt gap SED and OLED looked promising but it doesnt look like either will be mainstream anytime soon.
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