After 2 years owning, I finally hooked up HDTV!!

[kx250rider]

I started picking up high-end Sony wide CRT WEGA HD sets a couple years ago, and never hooked one up to an HD signal until last night. My wife is sick with the flu, and got self-conscious (stomach, etc), and asked me to go in the guest room last night. I like to watch the news when I wake up until it gets light, and there wasn't a set connected in there. So there sat the KV-34XBR910 on the floor where I had shoved it last year. I decided to put it up on a table (HEAVY HEAVY... Don't tell my doctor I did that with a cast on my left wrist!), and hooked it up to my Samsung HD ATSC box, and a pair of rabbit ears. HOLY COW: I've never seen a picture that good, on any TV anywhere!!!! I had fired it up on our satellite box before to test it, but our satellite is standard def. This picture is incredible, and puts nails in my coffin of dislike for plasma and LCD sets.

Now I'm looking for an excuse to get an HD satellite box, and hook it up with another HD set. I have two of the Sony XBR910 sets, and a 40XBR800; all 1080i HD with HDMI inputs.

Charles

[zenithfan1]

Well, lets see some screen shots I'm going to post some of my newly acquired KV-30HS420 in HD. I might have time when I get home. You're 100% right about the picture on these CRTs being better than any LCD or plasma IMO. Mine's not even a SFP tube and it looks 10 times better. I love these Sonys and I consider this one part of "the collection" since I have several other nice trinitrons around. I plan to find a few more for sure!

[Dave A]

Charles is right! These CRT wonders are a narrow history of HD and should be preserved. And my vote goes for the XBR960 Super Fine Pitch version. Got mine a few weeks back from a Sony rep downsizing. Had to get it moved from MD to PA. An adventure of lifting at my end. This thing could kill someone if it falls forward.

They do not show up as often as the other versions. Keep looking.

My set has a slightly tired electronic focus which needs inside adjustments...not the service menu adjustments. It may wait as it looks so good. The service adjustments are a whole new career to get them right. Not me.

I hope the Rose Bowl pix shows it well. If you want a HD CRT for posterity, the Sony series is the one to grab.

[jeyurkon]

Do they have auto-convergence? Or am I asking the wrong question?

John

[Carmine]

It always seemed logical to me that an HD CRT set would have the superior picture since it has none of the LCD/Plasma/Light Engine drawbacks... Obviously weight is the issue, but who cares? It's not like I carry around any TV set for kicks (or maybe you just get used to TV sets weighing so much after dealing with our vintage stuff, lol)

That said, I've only seen ONE HD CRT-style set in operation on HD*, and I was less than impressed. Captain Moody has one of the 38" NTSC/ATSC 16:9 RCA sets from 2000... I wouldn't call the picture "bad", but it certainly produced no "wow" from me. In fact, focus in white areas looked worse than a good ol' Chromacolor. Are the RCA (Thompson) sets just that inferior to the HD Sony's? Or do you think this set might have been simply showing its age?

Should I start looking for a Sony just to have around? I'm not that into the crap that's on TV anyways, don't even have cable/sat, but I should grab one while I can for the future.

How much should I pay? I workout with weights like Charles and have a one-ton truck, (although no backhoes, lol) so moving should not be too much of an issue.

*I did attend a special event hosted by a smaller, local appliance shop back around 2000 that was supposed to wow me with a demonstration of digital HD. The crowd gathered 'round, and a hush fell over the room as we prepared to be awed by this new electronic wonder. Here is what we saw:

[kx250rider]

I'm going to put the feelers out for a 960... Now that I've seen this one, I can't imagine the 960's picture!

I deliberately didn't put any screen shots, as they'd really under-represent the TV picture. I still can try, I guess.

Charles

[zenithfan1]

Charles, I suppose you're right about the screen shots but they still come out pretty good. The pics I took the other day look great and that was just a DVD hooked up with component jacks. That's how I have HD hooked up at the moment, the prices on HDMI cables are just stupid.

Chris, I think the Sony sets are far superior IMO. They have the best picture on a CRT HD set that I've seen. I'm very impressed with mine and it's not even a TOTL set. I'm on the lookout for a 910, 960 ect with SFP tube now. Oh, and one more selling point (for me anyways) the CRT is made in the USA!

[Dave A]

Another bonus for the 960 is that while the specs only say NTSC/ATSC tuner, it also does clear QAM! I get all my cable channels...although mapped in original Comcast channel numbers...and the local OTA HD's plus Universal HD and Comcast Network which has most of the sports in HD but delayed.

The only tuner flaw is that local Fox HD is not found. Comcast Network is on the same 29-1 map and the 960 only sees it. My Samsung 25" HD set finds two 29-1 including local Fox in HD. I will survive.

[ChrisW6ATV]

Charles-

Welcome to the world of in-home HDTV. Now you can see what some of us have been raving about for a long time (in my case, since the year 2000).

[kx250rider]

I'm now on a crusade to find an ATSC box with an HDMI output. I also need to put up a roof antenna, if I want to get all the channels at the same time. With the "ATSC rabbit ears", I have to fool with them to get some channels that are down in Los Angeles. I can't find any such box in any store, so I guess it's eBay or catalogues.

I was at Costco last night, and looked at a Panasonic DVD-VHS machine with built-in ATSC tuner, and HDMI output for $249. Only thing I couldn't find in writing, was whether or not the tuner output at the HDMI port is in fact 1080i HD. I also forgot the model number, so I'll have to get that, and check into it. If it is true HD reception, that's the clear answer (pun intended)...

I have a couple of other HD TVs; including the old RCA 16:9 convex-face tube set from '94. I stuck that one in the barn after being disgusted with the poor picture with the standard def signal. I bet it might be a different story with a good HD signal! I think that one's only 720 HD, though. I also have the Sony KV-40XBR800, and a Sony KV-30XBR910 sitting around. I'm anxious to see what their potential is, with a good signal.

Charles

[andy]

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[zenith2134]

Thanks for the tip, Andy. I have been waiting for an excuse to upgrade my XP Dell desktop to windows 7. And with 2TB external hard disks becoming more and more affordable, this might be a reality for me.

[Dave A]

Charles,

I will bet the ranch and the dog that the HDMI is 480I. I picked up a LG DVD recorder with the HDMI and found out the hard way. It does tune the ATSC and clear QAM HD but does not pass it. It was in some very small type in the manual. Try to download the manual and see if it is in the specs.

[ha1156w]

Hey KX....be careful with those combo boxes. They often only put the DVD functions on the HDMI port and expect you to use the analog side for the VCR and tuner functions. My dad has a Samsung that's that way. HDMI does NOT work for the whole box.

[ChrisW6ATV]

Charles-

As you are probably aware, a DVI output is the same as HDMI, except it does not carry audio. I recommend you look for one of the DirecTV/OTA combo HD receivers made by LG; I think I put some of the model numbers in another post yesterday or so. Just use a DVI-to-HDMI cable from Monoprice, and a separate audio cable (analog to the TV, or digital to a 5.1 system if you have it).

There was at least one Zenith ATSC-only tuner, model something-420, as well. Next tier down from those would be any of several Samsung HD tuners (with or without DirecTV included); many of them also have DVI outputs and a couple may even have had HDMI. Radio Shack ("Accurian") also made one with HDMI out.