Any one here will still use the C.R.T tv's for every day wathcing tv?

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

I agree with the person who said, in another post, that CRT televisions make better pictures than FPs. I've never seen a flat-panel set up close, but from what I've read in this forum, FPs have a long way to go before they even come close to the picture quality of a good CRT set. Plus, CRTs last much longer than FPs (10-15+ years vs. two years or less, respectively). That's a shame, considering the prices of flat-panel HD televisions; if you go out and buy one for $1,000 or more, it probably will last until the warranty expires, then either the panel itself will go bad or one or more of the video driver ICs, which are molded into the cable connecting the panel to the chassis, go bad. The only recourse when either happens is to trash the set and get a new one.

I know, if you treat a CRT set very well, have a good tube, and a little luck and help from God (you can't ignore those factors either), they can last a long time. The 1982 Zenith has been going 26 years, I think one secret is we don't run the picture very bright. Mom always notices when we go to most other people's houses, they run their TV's very bright (and high contrast as well) and it hurts her eyes. She always wants me to turn the brightness of our sets down a little. I know when we had the Zenith repaired in 1999, the repairman said our tube "was showing it's age a little" but it is still in great shape. Don't know how long LCD's would last but I'd be leery of the other display technologies, I don't want to buy a TV and have it kick the bucket in 2, 3 or 5 years, especially when I've seen one keep going for 26+.

[Rat44]

We use a Samsung HD CRT everyday.
Our 15 year old Fisher 27" gave out last year.
Went looking for a XBR and couldn't find any
Wound up with the Samsung.
It's not bad, we are not real big on watching TV anyway.
Paired it up with an upscaling DVD player and life is good.
Still use a CRT and Flat panel on the computer.
The CRT is for Photoshop use and the flat for everyday stuff.

[soundboy]

4 year old Panasonic 27" TV/monitor in the den.

[jshorva65]

The only LCD displays I own are on my laptop PC, digital cameras, and cellphone. When doing software updates or other maintenance on the laptop, I even connect it to a 17" CRT monitor and I rarely use the LCD panels on the cameras as viewfinders (only to show newly-captured shots that haven't been uploaded to PC yet). I use the "eyepiece" viewfinder, as all of my cameras have those in addition to the display panels. The newest TV sets I use for regular viewing are 90s models, one 20" in the bedroom and a 25" in the living room A/V rack. I have a strong preference for watching CRT sets which also have an all-tube chassis inside, even for regular viewing. The only reason I even use the 25" in the A/V rack is that I wired the room to use that specific set with the Home Theater setup and Surround speakers when I originally bought the house.

My '65 Zenith roundie (24MC32 chassis) has probably had more operating hours in the past month than both my 90s sets have had between them in the same time period. I'm still adding wall ports and pulling cable for setup of a single-point installation of a pair of DTV boxes, DVD players, and VCR that I plan to equip with individual RF modulators coupled to feed into a common network on individual channels to create a kind of home CATV system, using the sets' own tuners as the source selectors. I'll probably have to tweak oscillator frequencies on three or more modulators, or even change a capacitor value or two, but my goal is to put a VCR on 2. DTV1 on 3, DTV2 on 4, DVD1 on 5, DVD2 on 6. I may even try to set up the fictional "station" of my avatar on my "wired" system by tuning a modulator to Channel 1. I'm still experimenting, however, and might need to move some sources to VHF-H channels to place an unused channel between each pair of active sources to avoid interaction, particularly on sets that lack IF traps for Adjacent Sound and/or Adjacent Picture carrier frequencies (early-production RCA 721TS, for example). Early 721TS versions lacked IF traps for both 19.75 and 27.25 MHz which were included in the 630TS and its clones. If I remember correctly, even the late-production 721TS only had a trap for 27.25 MHz and omitted the 19.75 MHz trap.

[kx250rider]

We're still all-CRT except for a small Sharp LCD color TV on the kitchen counter (rarely used). The flat panels have definitely improved since the 90s, but they're just not a pleasing a picture to me (or my wife), as a tube. Hands down.

Charles

[Cadillac Kid]

All Sony WEGA CRT's here. Even my computer monitor is on old Mitsubishi Diamond Scan Pro 91TXM CRT.

[AndyMack]

Well, after 18 years of having a Chromacolor II sitting around more or less non-op, I sat down with it on Friday and got it working again. Darn fine picture it produces (perhaps even rivaling my two Trinitrons). Well, since it's in my garage which is more or less my workshop/3-season patio these days, I cooked out on the grille tonight, and sat back with a beer and the light evening breeze and watched the entire Mets game on that old set which was 10x more enjoyable to me than sitting on my couch watching that same game in High Def on the living room LCD set. My younger neighbors all think I'm a bit odd for watching these old sets out in the garage, but then after a few minutes they'll typically comment on how nice the picture is (most of them are of the BPC TV generation - whereas I grew up in a Zenith console household in the 70's). If I had one of my consoles upstairs in the living room, it would most certainly get more use for everyday viewing (the exception being NFL games, which are quite nice to watch in 1080i).

And I use strictly CRT's for the two computers here, since I have yet to find a flat panel that can adjust for proper greyscale and contrast for photographic processing. The LCD panels we have at work are just too harsh on my eyes, and none have outlived this CRT which I'm using now.

[old_tv_nut]

I have a 64 -inch CRT rrear projo for high def, and the rest of the TV's in the house are CRT direct view standard definition. I like the color and lack of display artifacts on the projo, but the tracking is not perfect, and the adjustments are not easily found. Also, the CRT projo suffers from a roll-off of high spatial frequencies due to both spot profile and optics, something that is much less pronounced in DMD projectors.

Laptop computer LCDs are just about hopeless for color quality, due to the contrast (and therefore any grayscale adjustments) being dependent on the tilt angle of the screen. However, for my desktop, I am running dual Viewsonic 20 inch LCDs (which are mostly angle independent), and calibrating (well, at least matching) them with a Spyder 3 Pro colorimeter and its software that adjusts the graphics card look up tables (color profiles for the monitors). These appear to my eyes to be as good as any CRTs I have used in the past, but it would be wise for someone trying to set up a commercial workflow to verify that they really are good all the way into the shadows, which is needed if you are going to judge images whose eventual destination is print media.

[Estring]

I have a 36 inch Toshiba HD CRT that is connected to my surround sound system. I love this tv. I just hope it lasts awhile because at 220 lbs., it is not an easy move.

[ehoove]

We have 2 Sony 32" XBR's that are a pain to move, but still have great pictures.
Regards,
Jim

[markshan]

When my pos Apex finally gave out, I was in a quandary because I couldn't find a decent CRT in the stores. I have a son with Autism, CP and several other issues. He has basically no impulse control and regularly handles the TV screen. I fear that a Plasma or LCD would have a very short life in my house.

I found a Sony WEGA 34" HD widescreen CRT (KD-34XBR970) on Craiglist for $400. I didn't have the cash when the ad first ran, so when I called him a week later he said "pick it up today and I'll go $250". So I called up two buddies (it weights 190 lbs) and we went and got it. That was about four months ago and so far so good. I think the picture is better than most thin sets I have seen. It won't move again from it's spot until it dies. I am hoping that is a long time from now.

[PioneerGuy75]

Darn right!! Every time I See one by the trash I pick it up, most often they work fine!! I have NO desire to buy a LCD/Plasma.................

Also got an extra converter box

[firenzeprima]

I still watching Tv on wonderfull Sony KV 2252 ET made in U.K. year 1988

[zenith2134]

Lately I've been using my 1984 Magnavox (N.a.p. with Sylvania CRT) 19inch and i'm happy with it.

[Fred Sanford]

An assortment for me, between here & the lake house...two CRT TVs and three CRT monitors, two plasma monitors (both over 10 years old), one LCD rear-pro HDTV, one LCD flat panel TV, two LCD flat panel monitors (one about 9 years old, one new & HD). Each works well for its purpose, but only one CRT actually does everyday-TV watching...the TV in the loft bedroom at the lake, hooked to analog CATV.

We also use two converter boxes running into TiVos for OTA broadcast, their AV outputs are distributed around the house.

je