CRT TVs??

daedalus2097

Hi All,
Okay, don't kill me for this, but I was looking to get a top-end CRT TV recently... And nowhere in Dublin had one to sell me I currently have a nice setup with a 20" Philips TV which has a fantastic picture, RGB/component input and all that, but it's a little dwarfed by the speakers and other HE equipment surrounding it. Now, I've nothing HD at the moment (bar the Wii which is grand on normal 60Hz PAL and component). I was looking for perhaps a 32" version of the same TV, but would consider anything decent.

Everywhere I went people were trying to sell me LCDs and plasmas. Now, I know they're all fashionable and all that, but from watching movies on several of my friends' LCDs I have to say the picture's awful compared to a CRT. They look fine with their bright colours in the shop but don't hold up well in dark conditions with dark pictures. Plasmas are better at it and I may consider one, but does anyone know anywhere still stocking good CRTs?

Yeah, I'll probably get slated for the above comments, I know the salesmen I was talking to were pretty put out by it Nothing personal though! Thanks!

8T8

Well I'd have to disagree about the picture quality with LCD vs CRT's but thats true CRT's were always better at handling dark areas than LCD's were however I'd say the latest generation LCD's are probably now just about on par but the latest gen panels are generally limited to the big 40"+ screens and then the tech filters down to the cheaper panels over time.

Plus badly calibrated screens can make all the difference between a scene looking too dark and washed out so some adjustments usually need to be made to an LCD TV depending on the room.

If you cannot find any suitable CRT's then Plasma is the way to go in your case with the better contrast if offers but Plasmas have been somewhat side lined by LCD's so generally you can only get 37-40" models new these days.

daedalus2097

Yeah, I've liked a couple of plasmas that I've seen, but we're talking an extra 2 grand over a CRT that will for my purposes anyway be an equivalent level of picture quality. How much scope is there for calibration on an LCD though? One of the reasons I still have a huge 21" CRT monitor creaking on my computer desk is that I'm into photography and hence quite picky about colour and detail, and it's almost impossible to calibrate an LCD monitor to show the detail that I want. I've always assumed LCD TVs suffered the same problems...

I'll have a look around for some good 2nd hand units, but if not I'll probably lump for a plasma. It's depressing to think though that so many of these perfectly good TVs have gone to be scrapped when being replaced by flat panel ones

CJhaughey

You are correct in that the best LCD is no match for an average CRT tube when it comes to colour rendition.
My friend imported 2 Metz televisions from Germany, he hates LCD and Plasma screens and decided to bring in his own.
Philips Ireland no longer carry CRT screen TV's and I would hazard a guess that most of the major manufacturers will follow suit.
IMHO LCD is just a very expensive marketing exercise that the general public have fallen for.

daedalus2097

That's my thought on it too - it's amazing, but in about 3 years pretty much the entire country has bought a new TV. It kinda had to work out like that really or all the major manufacturers would be in trouble. They made it fashionable and it worked very well...

8T8

It is possible to calibrate LCD monitors buy you have to buy the right kind of one in the first place as not all are equal.

Professional LCD displays for photography can run into the thousands but there are good displays which give excellent results at a fraction of the price.

I suggest taking a look at the NEC 20WGX2 and this review of the display which offers up some calibrated ICM profiles for various tasks ( I own one & it kicks ass).

As for TV LCD's well those are calibrated for TV signals out of the box and there is not much you can do outside of using the TV's built in controls to alter the displays settings but some manufactures are better than others in particular Sony, Toshiba and Samsung offer a wide range of tweaks in their good LCD displays (in other words not bottom of the barrel).

zilog_jones

I'm also completely not impressed with LCD TVs and monitors compared to CRTs, especially when it comes to interlaced video.

Contrary to what they make us normal consumers believe, Sony Trinitrons et al are still in production - however only for the professional/industrial market. Hell there's even HD Trinitrons! They cost shítloads new though. Could try second-hand.

I found a 14" PVM-1442QM Trinitron monitor being thrown out in college one day. Despite the plug being cut off it there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. It's at least 15-20 years old, it's a big hideous metal box (designed for a 19" rack), and I had to make my own SCART to BNC RGB adaptor, but it's the best looking picture I've ever seen on a 14" TV
You'd have to buy something newer than that though if you're looking for a widescreen or a 16:9 underscan switch.

My friend's dad managed to buy a new JVC 28" widescreen CRT TV from some local shop earlier this year. However, I'm not that impressed by the picture quality - it can't seem to handle very bright pictures too well, sometimes it looks really flickery, and even on normal 16:9 mode it does gammy things to the geometry (stretching the picture out at the sides).

mathias

Like it or not , CRT is a dead technology and wont be coming back , on the plus side , I have a panasonic 32 inch LCD and couldnt be more happy. its hooked up to Sky HD , all the inputs that Im using are digital , and its the best picture quality Ive ever had ...by a country mile.

The CRT I got rid off , A panasonic 32 inch Quintrix , was terrible with the HTPC anyway !!
So all smiles here.

dloob

I got a samsung 42" plasma the pdp-42Q96hd it's only 1300 in currys, cheap for a plasma at least.
Your right about the crts disappearance, the only crt tvs I've seen in shops recently are those small all in one dvd player units.

daedalus2097

Yeah, I know it's dead and buried technology (well, until those thin panel CRT things come out), I'm just so surprised at the amount of people who went for lesser picture quality for the sake of fashion so quickly!

@8T8: Yeah, there are expensive ones, but hell I've been using a Digital 21" CRT for many years now, calibrate it every so often and couldn't be happier with it. If it should ever die I'm sure I'd go for a nice LCD - yours looks nice alright.

Anyway, was in Curry's in Carrickmines and they had one decent CRT there, a Samsung 32" 16:9 with 100Hz refresh, 1080p support from HDMI and component, and looked to have a lovely picture, even from their poor feed. It's a 419D, but I've been reading a lot of scathing reviews of it. Anyone know if they're any good?

@Zilog: Yeah, that figures alright... Would like to get my hands on a HD Trinitron though!

mathias

I'm just so surprised at the amount of people who went for lesser picture quality for the sake of fashion so quickly!

It really does depend on the TV , there are some terrible LCD's /Plasmas out there no doubt about it , the technology has not reached a good base standard yet like CRT , where you could expect a certain quality regardless of make.

The top players though , have some stunning sets , Im very happy with mine , the picture quality beats the CRT in all respects.

big_moe

if your looking for something to replace a crt, you can't look past the panasonic th-XXpv70, avaialble in 37" or 42".

i have the 42" with a pioneer upscaler dvd recorder. picture is unreal.

moe

stevenmu

I'm using a crt (a panasonic pd30) still and I love it. If you're really determined to get a crt your best bet may be to get one 2nd hand, keep an eye on adverts.ie and the buy and sell.

edit: watch out for the slim or reduced profile crts, they're supposed to have lots of problems with geometry.

hargo

Just a thought but if your over in France there is no problem getting crt tv. You could always do a booze cruise wekend in Sept/Oct and bring home a load of wine and tv. Just check that they are the same spec as here first:)

Snake Plisken

Yeah I have upgraded recently from a 100hz Quintrix Panasonic 32", was thinking of selling it but then thought nobody would want it, maybe I'll stick it in adverts here and see if I get any takers.

Snake

daedalus2097

hargo wrote:

Just a thought but if your over in France there is no problem getting crt tv. You could always do a booze cruise wekend in Sept/Oct and bring home a load of wine and tv. Just check that they are the same spec as here first:)

Good thinking I'm not so sure the sound encoding's the same over there though - Most TVs nowadays do cover them all and are switchable between them I suppose.

zilog_jones

Yeah, you usually get an option to say what country you're living in when setting up most modern TVs (even the cheap junk these days), but you should try and make sure first. You'll just have to change the plug (or jam it in with a screwdriver or biro if you wanna live on the edge - I wouldn't personally recommend this though as plugs are supposed to have fuses here!).

Saruman

Second hand is a good idea, with everyone buying LCD's they will be getting rid of their CRT's.
I sold a 29" philips widescreen and a 32" Orion widescreen on adverts.ie.
The reason, i got a 32" LCD TV from tesco for €399

thebman

I'm looking at getting an LCD TV and maybe selling my 20" Philips widescreen. Twin scart and side av if anyones interested. It also has virtual surround sound, not that you'll notice it.

I'm getting a HDTV for my 360 and thats the reason I'm thinking of selling it. Its a great tv. Only have an all in one remote for it though as my philips one that came with it was stolen. I like the Philips CRT I have but at the end of the day, I want a HDTV for my 360 and the LCD's ones seem to be the cheapest and it will fit in the space I want to put it in.


That's a bad picture of a similar model to mine. That weird crap around the edge is actually just the speakers and looks much better in real life. I can take a picture of it if anyone actually cares about my TV

Anyway I suppose its all a matter of preference. I think women like having LCD TV's because they don't take up half the living room which is why they are selling so well. A piece of technology men want to buy that women aren't against.

peneau

Hi daedalus,

Tesco in Stillorgan are currently selling a Philips CRT TV circa €550 (admittedly not cheap) don't have the model no. I'm sure if you give them a call they'll get you the model no. and you can do your review searches It's Dolby surround enabled I think, so might be worth a look for you.

Hope that helps.

daedalus2097

Cool, might check that out at some stage... Tis only just up the road from me