Hold On to the Old 'cause it's in with the New...

[Pete Deksnis]

We all know by this time that the venerable CRT is taking its last gasps (of vacuum?). Sure CRT sets will still be around for a while. Remember Radio Shack selling 'Lifetime' receiving tubes for years after RCA and other major makers shut down tube manufacturing.

I've said it before. If I had to replace one of my CRT wide-screen HD sets (one direct view and a projection), it would be with a carefully selected DLP.

Now, interestingly, Consumer Reports has published a list of HD television recommendations, and not one CRT (or Plasma) made the creme-de-la-creme top of the heap. Not one plasma? Good! Charles must be smiling too.

What did make the 'Excellent' list were five LCD's and seven DLP's.

Let's hope that Scotty will be selling 'Rebuilt' cathode ray tubes for years.

[slow_jazz]

i agree pete... i'm still holding onto to my 21 inch crt monitor at work while others are getting the thin lcd screens...

[Justen]

I've got a 20" Sony BVM (Broadcast Video Monitor) that looks better than any consumer HD I've seen yet. It shows 980 lines of resolution, true broadcast quality.

Even the broadcast HD sets I've seen don't look that much better.

[frenchy]

My girlfriend wants to put a bigger tv in her entertainment center, I said hey, let's start looking for a larger CRT set that will fit in that space. Now is definitely the time to get a good deal on a crt wouldn't you say, what with flat screen lcds and plasmas being all the rage this season? The poor lil' old CRT is the unwanted toy this year -sniff-

Wondering if picture tube sets will still be manufactured for quite a few more years for poorer countries like China, India, Russia, etc.? These lcds and plasmas are fine as far as thin sets go, but you can't beat crts of equal size for the price with a stick, and their picture is STILL the best. And crts have always been thought of electricity hogs but plasmas use even more, with the price of oil the world can't afford to be repopulated with plasmas, that's for sure.

[Duane]

I'm also of the camp that believes the good old CRT is still "king" when it comes to overall picture quality,but they are not without their own set of problems.Non of the new digital sets that I've seen do much for me.Especially black levels.Can't shut the bulb sets off and the plasmas just have a different look,can't describe it.

I'm personally waiting to have a good look at SED if and when it hits the market.From almost all who've seen it,says it's the best of any digital set out there.Keep waiting for it to show up.

[oldtvman]

Being a tech for many years the jury is still out on some of the flat panel displays. I have seen a lot of different types and a lot of them really can't produce the color spectrum like a crt. Some of the reds look orangy (like the old Motorola's) I just bought a Dell 32" and other than the crisp detailed picture, I don't see better color than that of a crt based set.

[oldtvman]

When I sold at Circuit City, I saw a $12,000 Pioneer plasma that was ran on 4:3, have the side bars discolored. Also when those cells burn out they leave little black spots on the screen. I wasn't impressed by Plasma.

[ChuckA]

Pete,

I finally had to "bite the bullet" when my 36" CRT set went belly up. I spent two days looking at all models and types of HD sets. What I found was that the "projection" type sets, DLP, LCOS, have a "sweet" spot to view for maximum brightness and detail, that to me was very annoying. This is almost exactly the same problem that I see on the 40's projection sets.

I settled on a SONY 46" XBR3 LCD, mainly because no matter where I was standing in the showroom the picture quality was the same, and my eyes where just drawn back to that set, same programming on all sets in show room, also I just couldn't see the difference in the plasma display to warrant the extra cost.

The one thing that I notice, again just my opinion, conventional NTSC programming doesn't have that much impact, but when switched to a local 1080i program everything just seems to jump out at you. Next on my list is a HD DVD player, which way should I go , I guess toss a coin.

Chuck

[Pete Deksnis]

Originally Posted by ChuckA

The one thing that I notice, ... when switched to a local 1080i program everything just seems to jump out at you. Next on my list is a HD DVD player, which way should I go?I guess toss a coin.

Exactly my response to a quality 1080i signal on a CRT set capable of 1920x1080, or close. As for the HD DVD conundrum, my $$ will go the Blue-ray way. But not yet since there's not a good enough cost/benefit ratio for my money. It'll come though and be helped by the PS3, which comes with one built in. Pete

[oldtvman]

Even with the advent of HDTV, the same old problem persists 160 CHANNELS AND NOTHING ON!!!!!!!!!!!