Question: Smallest CRT HDTV set?

[sweitzel]

Just idly curious what was the smallest CRT based HD set made (at least 720p) We currently have a sony KV-20FS12 in the bedroom that we love and the wife was musing whether or not a high def CRT based set of comparable physical size was ever made.

[Duane]

Would not imagine that would have been the case outside of professional monitors. Could be wrong, but it would make any sense to make a 20" HD set.

[wa2ise]

If you have an older large VGA CRT computer monitor, and an ATSC receiver box with a VGA output jack (like my Samsung SIR-T451), you could come close to setting up such a system. CRT VGA monitors do a good job with HDTV (aside from the aspect ratio).

[ChrisW6ATV]

There are many gray areas in the definition (pun not intended!) of a "high definition CRT TV set". The true HD sets would be the 16:9 widescreen ones, and I never remember seeing one smaller than 30" diagonal. There were also 4:3 CRT sets that could display HD signals in a 16:9 area of the screen, and those were common as small as 27" but may have been available smaller.

If you expand the definition to include "any CRT display that can show an HDTV program in high-def", then the combination of one of the earlier set-top HDTV tuners with a CRT computer monitor would give you a real HD CRT picture as small as 13-14" diagonal (on the 16:9 area of a 4:3 monitor's screen).

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by Duane

Would not imagine that would have been the case outside of professional monitors. Could be wrong, but it would make any sense to make a 20" HD set.

Have to agree - only professional monitors, and mainly because they had to be that small for rack-mounted applications. These would be used for continuity check (seeing that the program material is there without gross flaws), but final quality check would be on a larger screen.

[sweitzel]

All very interesting information! I like the computer display idea.. I've seen some HDMI to RGB converters. Sounds like this might be a solution.

[waltchan]

For the ones with a built-in HDTV tuner, RCA HD26W854T and Toshiba 26HF66 are currently the smallest HDTV out there in the market. There's also a Toshiba MW26H82 with a DVD and VCR built-in. The RCA HD26W854T lacks a HDMI input. The Toshibas are made by Orion. 26" is the smallest HDTV you can get, with 27" next in the line but it is not widescreen. If depth size is a concern, then Samsung 30" SlimFit is the one to look at.

[wa2ise]

Here's what I did:

[ChrisW6ATV]

Originally Posted by sweitzel

All very interesting information! I like the computer display idea.. I've seen some HDMI to RGB converters. Sounds like this might be a solution.

Many of the HD set-top tuners up until about 2004 had RGB/"VGA" outputs on them, and a CRT monitor would just plug right in and work fine if you adjusted the height on the monitor for a 16:9 picture. The best ones to look for (on Ebay or elsewhere) are the LG/Zenith ones and their clones, including several that also include DirecTV built-in (which can be bypassed in the menus). These models include Zenith 420 and 520, Sony 200 and 300, Hughes HTL-HD, and LG 3100?/3200?/3410 and maybe others. (Those model numbers are not complete but should be enough to do a Google search.) The RCA DTC-100/Proscan PSHD105 and several Samsungs (SIR-T150,160,360?) also have RGB outputs.

[ha1156w]

I have a pair of Samsung SIR-T351-era tuners, both first-generation ATSC equipment. Although they have VGA output, their RF sensitivity is downright lousy, and I never did figure out the problem I had with both, where they didn't output true component video....the sync signal was not supplied on any of the 3 video channels, regardless of the setting of the 480i/p/720/1080 switch.

I've also got an inhouse NTSC distribution system that I'm not likely to be retiring anytime soon. It feeds from a DirecTivo box most of the time, but occasionally a laserdisc player, VCR, and a DVD player. I have centralized video distribution for everything, and have yet to run across an ATSC modulator I could use to distribute ATSC everywhere in the house.

Although I have a satellite feed for broadcast, I'm not interested in setting up and paying for multiple boxes at $5/a pop. Those sets aren't watched enough to justify the expense. That, and I couldn't feed my DVR to them either. I'd love if the tuners could receive NTSC and ATSC alike, but that's asking too much. I've never seen an external ATSC tuner that would do NTSC as well. And how about an NTSC to ATSC converter for all the legacy equipment that's out there -- either S-video or composite input to HDMI or ATSC RF would be fine. There wouldn't be an appreciable loss in resolution since both are out-trumped by what HD can do. You wouldn't have the same issues under ATSC with RF outputs. In fact, it's quite a convenient distribution medium.