Who Actually had the Best Picture?

[Bigerik]

Hi Guys
My wife and I had been talking about a Plasma tv, but having read about all the problems with them, we decided to hold off for a bit. Right now, I am running a close to 15 year old, 25inch Sharp, but it has gotten some washed out areas on occasion, so I am thinking it will not last. What I figured I would do is get an older, slightly larger tv (30ish inches) for a couple of years, and seeing how the technology progresses.
Anyhow, so I started checking in the usual places for used tv's (CL, etc) and wondering what is safe to buy, and what actually will look good. I remember having saved a monstrous old Zenith (26"?) that was heavy as hell, in a shiny silver metal case, that was butt ugly looking, but boy did it have a great picture. I so remember how incredibly vivid the colours were. Everything else seemed so bland and muted by comparison.
So, what is a pretty safe bet to buy, that should be reliable, will be maybe a couple inches bigger than what I had, but will have an awesome picture.
Any thoughts?
Erik

[jpdylon]

I'm fairly happy with my WEGA. I bought it used (about 2 years old) for under 300 bucks. Nice clear picture, sharp, not not looking like a computer image, andvery vivid color.

If your looking for something older, look at some of the older 36" mitsubushi CRTs. They too had a really nice pic, just didn't have a flat screen like the sony did. They are fairly inexpensive if you can find one made in the early to mid 90s.

[andy]

Avoid Toshiba because they don't make TVs any more. All Toshiba CRT TVs are made by Orion (Emerson).

Panasonic is a good bet. The recent ones I've seen inside were well made. I've always thought Sanyo was a good value for money brand.

I personally would avoid a used Mitsubishi because they had too many problems with leaking capacitors.

[JCFitz]

Originally Posted by andy

Avoid Toshiba because they don't make TVs any more. All Toshiba CRT TVs are made by Orion (Emerson).

Panasonic is a good bet. The recent ones I've seen inside were well made. I've always thought Sanyo was a good value for money brand.

I personally would avoid a used Mitsubishi because they had too many problems with leaking capacitors.

Yep agree on the sets you mention.If you get the Panasonic get a good surge protector and unplug it at the 1st rumble of thunder you hear.Panasonics don't take lightning well.It often goes right to the jugular(microprocessor)But parts aren't terribly expensive like JVC parts are.

Early 90s Mitsubishis are like timebombs.When they fail you'll often find many electrolytic capacitors leaking and corroded traces.My record is 80 caps on one tv.The picture is good though.
Sony Wegas have a good picture but they do like to eat flybacks.Though I've never had a flyback Sony back for a repeat replacement.

Sanyos are a good value for a cheap set.The crts are fairly good and they're easy and inexpensive to repair when they break down.

[kx250rider]

I agree with all the other guys... Best picture probably the WEGA, and reliability is OK. At least you can get parts for a several-years-old WEGA, but probably NOT for a Mitsubishi. And the Panasonics are nice, but please don't ask ME to troubleshoot those power supplies

Charles

[Duane]

Would you be looking to purchase an HD capable set? 4x3 or 16x9 ratio? If standard set,then you have a lot of choices in a direct view CRTs.
If you could find a Sony KV-32XBR100,jump on it.One of the best sets ever as far as picture quality is concerned,but it's not HD.
I bought my sister and brother in law a 30" Sony WEGA HD set in 2003 and it is stunning.It has been very reliable.
One of the problems I have had with Sony's in recent years is their reproduction of reds.They look a bit orange.I also wish Sony would have ditched that cheap silver plastic looking cabinet.A good black surround makes the image jump out a bit more.

I owned an expensive Proton set years ago and they were marvelous looking sets,image wise.But the company had problems and I finally decided on a widescreen RP.Sold the Proton.

[Bigerik]

Ok, just to clarify, cheap would be good too, so a 16X9 is probably not going to happen. Would probably remove me from the HD race too. The thought in the back of my mind is trying find a quality tv that someone is getting rid of as they are upgrading (?) to Plasma or LCD.
As an aside to all of this, did older tv's really used to have better, more vivid colours? I am certain that build quality was higher.
Thanks for answering so many questions from a TV newbie!
Erik

[colortrakker]

If you have a Sony outlet near you you can get away pretty cheap. 40% off all CRTs 30" and larger 'til Labor Day means a 34" Trinitron XBR with HD tuner and Memory Stick slot for about $500.

[andy]

Some HDTVs are pretty affordable (under $500). Sanyo makes a wide screen and a 4:3 HDTV for around that price. If you get a non-HD set, go for one that calls itself an "SDTV". These have built in ATSC tuners and will display HDTV signals at NTSC resolution. If it has a QAM tuner, you should be able to receive any unencrypted digital cable channels with it.

[Tony V]

I just bought a Sanyo 30 inch wide screen HDTV for $479 and am really happy with it. After years of nursing used tv sets only for them to last only short periods i finally bit the bullit and bought a new one. I wanted a crt set as the plasma/lcd sets are still too new for me to trust yet. I did get the extended warranty just in case since it was only $20 . I have friends who own plasma and LCD sets and mine beats the picture that those display hands down once i adjusted the picture controls to my liking as the defaults were too harsh.

[rcaman]

i have been working on tv,s for over 23 years. panasonic hell no, sanyo is still a darn good tv. sony has picture tube problems. rca has gone to crap and zenith is just plain crap. my choice sanyo or hitachi steve

[colortrakker]

Does Hitachi even make tube sets anymore? I haven't seen any for the last few years, save for their CRT projectors.

[andy]

I think Panasonic has actually improved a lot in the last few years. A lot of their sets from the 80's and 90's were not that great. They used cheap boards that got too hot and they were hard to work on. Their CRTs weren't that long lasting either. The few I've seen from the 2000's were easy to work on and looked well made overall.

[dr.ido]

If you're prepared to do your own repairs a 16:9 CRT set is probably within your price range. Around here a load of dead ones are starting to hit the junk market. I've seen them sell for between $20 and $50. Sometimes less for those Vestel/Teac 66cm sets (not the nicest thing around, but if they share their basic design with the 4:3 sets they're easy to work on).

I've yet to try my luck with one, partly due to lack of space, partly as 16:9 just doesn't really excite me that much at the moment. It would also break my $2 TV rule which I can easily stick to with 4:3 sets.

[Nakdoc]

Hitachi has no crt sets in the line.
I would buy a used JVC from a shop that services them. It was very common to have vertical circuit failures that were cheap to fix, but customers abandoned the sets anyway.
Look at the Pioneer PD4214 at costco. This is a Chinese set, but backed by Pioneer. You will not have problems with a Pioneer plasma.