new crt 50"+ suggestions man! :)

[whatismouse]

you gotta understand how excited i am, getting a new tv, sound system, just heard about sed's, etc.

so ive been doing research for months about which dlp micro dislplay to get, between $1700-$2500. annoying hearing all the problems associated with them and the prices and this and that.

i landed on the sony vs. samsung rptv thread from a google search and heard the word "crt" for the first time in ages (actually many times, from aud19 and peters). this got me thinking, i have no size or weight contraints, and if crt is the cheapest and has the best PQ, then what the "naughty word alert" am i doing wasting my time looking at all these bloody micro displays?

not convinced yet, i browse the rest of the forum and land on the future sed owners thread 8O tight. freaking, tight. so what does this mean to me? even more reason not to waste money on a micro display, just get a sweet, sweet crt and save money for an led in a few years. what does this also mean? i save lots of money now that i get to put into my sound system ;x( so now instead of trying to put together a cheap system to go with my expensive dlp :roll: i get to invest in a quality sound system that will last me years and wont become technologically extinct like my micro display would have :T

well so there is a point to this thread. mainly im trying to get peterS and aud19 in here and anyone else who may have experience with all these crt's to share some more info about them, specific models, prices, certified technician tuning people, places to buy etc.

heres what i have gathered so far:

- hitachi or mitsubishi only

- about $1000 for a 50" or so

- $300 for certified tuning thingy :Z

- can be gotten in stores for nearly identical prices as online :dancenana:

what i havent gathered:

- specific model selections

- where the best prices are

- something about not being able to put them on a stand or something

- what kinda ports and stuff crts have, will a pc connect?

- other stuff id need to know about a crt before buying? dont tell me they weigh 300 lbs or anything :W

yea thats it..



:dancenana: :dancenana: :dancenana: :dancenana: :dancenana: dance banana dance! :dancenana: :dancenana: :dancenana: :dancenana: :dancenana:

[aud19]

Some very sound thinking there (pun intended :lol: ) though I doubt Peter will agree with it all :lol:

For ISF calibration, go to http://www.imagingscience.com/ and look up techs in your area

Now let's try our best to answer your other questions:

Thankfully, specific models are pretty limited, Mitsubishi only has one 55" model (their smallest) http://www.mitsubishi-tv.com/j/i/183...s.html?cid=121 and

Hitachi has two 51" models

http://www.hitachi.us/tv/browse/projection/16-9digital/16-9digital_int_index.shtml

The 51F710A being the top 51" model.

As for best pricing, that depends a lot on where you live I'd imagine but really you're probably going to have to do some legwork and go to/call some different local shops yourself. Both companies web pages hould have search engines for local authorized dealers as well.

They all have lower cabinets that hold the CRT's, optics etc so they can not be placed in a "table top" manner.

They have pretty much the same connections as any modern TV...coaxial, RCA, S-video, component, HDMI etc. With the appropriate pieces for your PC, you should be able to connect to the component, HDMI (DVI) ports.

[whatismouse]

thanks for the fast imformative reply! i couldnt seem to find the mitsu for sale anywhere. i havent called locally but usually if its in stores locally it will also show up on online stores? this is the case for the 51f59. i do see the 51F710A is about $1400 but i couldnt find out much about the differences. knowing nothing of the differences, im highly leaning towards the $1050 51f59.

one question, i assumed it would but i will ask anyways, do crts work well for gaming?

another thing, the hitachis say they work as a center speaker. is this decent enough to let me hold off on buying a real center for a while? this would be great, freeing up another $200 for everything else. :T

lots of isf guys in my area so that is good.

where do you put the elctronics like dvd players and recievers??? cabinet on the side? :roll:

[aud19]

An email to Hitachi would likely spell out the differences and/or a knowledeable salesperson. honestly I'd avoid online sales personally for a TV. Otherwise without checking the webpage I'd guess the 710 likely has better optics, scalers, more features and inputs etc... I think it also includes a digital tuner where the f59 only has an analog tuner and would require a seperate STB for digital channels but confirm with Hitachi/salesman

You do have to use caution with gaming and CRT's as static images (life meters etc) can be "burnt in" to the screen phosphors. A properly calibrated display will highly minimize that risk though but if you plan on playing a LOT of games for very prolonged periods of time.... you may want to look at DLP's etc.

Yup cabinet beside, above etc

[SteveCallas]

Anybody done any direct comparisons of a high quality CRT set to a high quality LCD panel? My CRT exposure has been limited to Sony (46" and 52"), and in my opinion, a good LCD panel looks much more vibrant and detailed. If so, any screen shot comparisons?

[dyazdani]

I've got an older Mits 55" CRT - I think they're great. I saw a 51" Hitachi at the store the other day, it looked pretty good too though I didn't spend a lot of time watching it.

Anybody done any direct comparisons of a high quality CRT set to a high quality LCD panel? My CRT exposure has been limited to Sony (46" and 52"), and in my opinion, a good LCD panel looks much more vibrant and detailed. If so, any screen shot comparisons?

I could compare my CRT to my LCD PJ pretty easily. Not sure how much different it would be relative to an LCD RPTV...

[SteveCallas]

I was referring more to an LCD panel than a LCD rptv - unfortunately I don't think it would be a fair representation. Thanks for the offer though :T

[dyazdani]

I was referring more to an LCD panel than a LCD rptv - unfortunately I don't think it would be a fair representation. Thanks for the offer though :T

Oh, I read panel but LCD RPTV stuck in my head...

I do feel like my PJ is more vibrant than the CRT, but it's almost twice the size too. Maybe some day when I have time to waste, I'll set up some sort of test.

[aud19]

Anybody done any direct comparisons of a high quality CRT set to a high quality LCD panel? My CRT exposure has been limited to Sony (46" and 52"), and in my opinion, a good LCD panel looks much more vibrant and detailed. If so, any screen shot comparisons?

LCD's have MUCH higher light output than CRT's but that's not necessarily a good thing unless all you watching is done mid day in a BRIGHT room. If you want a good picture for critical viewing of HD/DVD's at night and or in a darkened room (ie: how your supposed to do critical viewing), than CRT still sets the gold standard in PQ with deeper blacks, better contrast, better shadow detail and better gradiation from white to black being some of the bigger reasons why.

[SteveCallas]

Even in a darkened room, there is something about the color reproduction from a pannel that stands out and I have yet to see replicated from a CRT - though I've never seen a Mitsubishi diamond CRT. When watching in a darkened room, the black levels of the LCDs become almost a non issue, though a CRT will still be better in that regard. It may sound silly, but HD feeds on good pannels look better to my eyes than real life. And unless I have never been to a "good" theater in my life, I don't understand what the worshipping of film projection is all about either.

[aud19]

When watching in a darkened room, the black levels of the LCDs become almost a non issue, though a CRT will still be better in that regard.

That's actually backwards. In a dark room the LCD's black level (or lack thereof) becomes MUCH more noticeable looking dark grey and poor shadow detail and gradiation become VERY obvious. The only time LCD's excell is in a bright room where their extremely high light output does a better job competing with bright ambient light.

Try watching a movie with a lot of dark scenes (Matrix, Master & Commander etc). An LCD will have large portions of the picture look like flat grey blobs with no depth or definition. Then watch it in a properly calibrated CRT and you will see shadow detail and DEPTH that makes the picture much more 3D like.

[SteveCallas]

Are you basing this on current LCDs, or older generation models? Things have improved quite a bit. Here are some shots from a Westy 42" 1080p with lights off. Personally, I'd change the settings to get the colors to pop more, but these are someone else's pictures.





Again, a CRT will be a little better for black, but this is definitely not gray blobs. Now when something like Shark Tale in HD comes on, I think a pannel wins hands down due to color vividness - though again, I still haven't seen a Mitsubishi Diamond. Then of course there is the issue of CRT sets not being able to do a true 1920x1080, aside perhaps from some projectors using 9" CRTs.

[aud19]

Yes it's based on seeing current panels. I agree it has improved but it's still no where close to CRT's.

It's hard to tell with those pics anyways but the Max W pic looks washed out, Dave's shirt looks like the whites are being crushed and what's her names black outfit looks pretty "flat" to me.

[SteveCallas]

I agree that the first and last pics kind of have a washed out blue/green tint to them, but that's due to the settings that person is using. As for the blacks, I guess you are just much more concerned with black levels than I. They definitely aren't flat grey blobs though :W I wish I had some shots of HD material with great colors - do you have any CRT shots you find impressive? We might be able to get some indirect comparisons going

[aud19]

I agree that the first and last pics kind of have a washed out blue/green tint to them, but that's due to the settings that person is using. As for the blacks, I guess you are just much more concerned with black levels than I. They definitely aren't flat grey blobs though :W I wish I had some shots of HD material with great colors - do you have any CRT shots you find impressive? We might be able to get some indirect comparisons going

It's not really all that scientific of a comparison. Different lighting, sources, cameras, photo editing software, video cards and monitors (and their settings) all skew results beyond what ca reasonably be "compared". That's why I was hesitant to make any firm comments in my last post :lol:

As for not being blobs, they're also comparatively well lit material. Seriously, look at some of the below deck scenes from Master & Commander or other similarly "lit" films. It's apalling on flatpanels.