^Nice Panasonic. I notice those 16:9 ones with HDMI inputs still draw pretty high dollar for CRT. I picked up a 36" 4:3 Tau because it was free and probably 2/3 the size of a WEGA. Wish it had a VGA port for a Dreamcast. You guys wondering about shmups on 16:9, yeah the distortion is bad. I have my 46" LCD mounted on a ball-joint mount so I can rotate it for shmups. You do have to adjust the screen.


*oops, top of page...elahrairrah, don't miss disclord's post.

Yeah, I got a 40" WEGA and wish I could hook my Dreamcast up to it as well with VGA.

I mean I could . . .

VGA to Component (YpbPr) Converter

. . . but just too much trouble! I'll live with S-Video for now!

Now if I could only turn that 300 lb monster on its side so I can play "Ikaruga" properly

It would be quite a project to make it rotate well You'd have to mod the heck out of a stand or something.

I haven't tried anything on the Panny yet, games, LD or otherwise. But I'm sure s-video DC looks great as well on these types of sets! Some of those DC games will be nice to revisit on hd crt without VGA anyway, especially the Windows-based titles. Also looking forward to trying other systems...Eternal Darkness and Panzer Dragoon Orta are probably stunning with this tech.

*oh, some on-topic info regarding my set. If you look at the Panasonic 4:3's, the CT-(xx)hx41 is a better option than the -hx42. ***The -hx42 also lacks anamorphic squeeze in 480p. Both sets have a fair number of negatives spoken about them regarding screen distortion. So if possible try to see it in action on a news channel with a ticker tape, before loading it up, even if it's free.

How about something like this for LDs? I don't really have a place to put it right now but I'm tempted to contact the seller anways...

http://orlando.craigslist.org/ele/3439209035.html

Nice! It probably has the same 3D comb filter that my 40XBR800 has, but that one ups the ante by having an HDMI input as well as a built-in ATSC tuner.

For that price, you really can't go wrong.

That's the model I have and it is superb for laserdiscs and any older format for that matter. Actually mine is a year older, and has DVI input not HDMI

The set is 34" widescreen, 16:9 format, and so the image size on letterboxed LDs is practically the same size as it would be for the 40" XBR when you have the image on the zoom mode, however, there's full use of the set's definition even then.

The only other CRT set that does as well in my opinion are the Pioneer Elite pro series rear projection sets if you want one that has a bigger screen. Like this one:

http://orlando.craigslist.org/hsh/3486344861.html

I also have that one, the 64" model, and it is really fine as well, but for best picture, I have to use an HD enhancer/scaler like the DVDO or else I can see the scan lines on zoom. The Sony doesn't have that problem.

Both are well worth the price if they are indeed in good shape.

I disagree. The SONY KD-36XS955 has the super-fine pitch tube, an excellent comb filter, and is already a 4:3 set, so letterboxed LDs look "normal" without any monkeying around with the picture aspect ratio/geometry. All native 16:9 content is automatically letterboxed (DVD/BD/HD satellite/HD cable), which makes the viewable area equivalent to your 34" KD-34XBR970 -- or the KD-34XBR960 or the KD-34XS955. It's the finest direct-view CRT I've seen specifically for LD display.

TLK

You misunderstood what I meant, or I wasn't clear enough. I didn't mean just that one particular Sony, I meant the only other CRT than the whole Sony Wega/XBR series, not just that one model.

Oh, okay. Carry on!

TLK

Not using a 16:9 display. My CRT is a 4:3 set. And I wouldn't use the 16:9 enhanced mode for any letterboxed LDs. I just watch them in normal 4:3 mode as that's the type of display a "regular" letterboxed LD was made for ("Squeeze LDs" on the other hand . . .)

Only ever use 16:9 enhanced mode for Anamorphic DVDs, Xbox 360 and Blu-rays. I actually think the set is locked to 16:9 enhanced mode when using the DVI input!

Now I do have a 32" widescreen LCD that I sometimes hook an LD player up to. For letterboxed LDs on that one, I use the "Zoom" feature. Doesn't always give the best results tho, so I sometimes watch letterboxed LDs "windowboxed" (un-zoomed.)

Or I just forget the idea of watching LDs on the 32" LCD altogether and just watch them on the CRT!

Gonna chime in on the Panasonic Tau sets. I remember how expensive these were when they were new. Just tonight at the apt complex I live (and work at) someone put out a free (I believe it's 27") Panasonic Tau with VHS and DVD Combo (everything working). Haven't tested LD yet but I popped a VHS in and it looked great. There's even optical out, and from what I'm reading online these things can decode DD and DTS?

If it does, it's probably not worth it because of the TV only having 2 speakers.

Mine is still on ice but I'll be working in the garage this weekend. I'll check it for outputs to an amp -- I'll also look at the manual which I do have. If it does decode though, I would wonder about proprietary quality. ?could be cheap goods doing that for convenience factor.

One of the big advantages of a CRT - especially an interlaced one - over a flat panel pro-scan set is in the display of LaserDisc's that have been processed using a players built-in digital NR. The frame and field correlation based video NR affects diagonal resolution, giving it a stair-stepped look in small, high resolution areas (like around people's eyes or downward slope of the putter eyebrow) - interlaced sets 'hide' this effect while LCD sets can make it quite apparent, especially if the chroma and luma NR are set at very high levels in players like the CLD-99 or the Mode-2 setting in the Runco's/Panasonic LX-900. We are less sensitive to diagonal resolution by something like 4x than to horizontal/vertical res, and NTSC has higher diagonal resolution than vertical/horizontal, so on interlaced sets, the trade off between high levels of digital NR and resolution loss/artifacts was well balanced since artifacts occurred only in small diagonal edges, which were rarely seen. Flat panel sets make this artifact stand out quite prominently sometimes, so lower levels of DNR have to be used or you need to sit farther away from the television to hide the artifacts. On interlaced sets, the artifact, when it appears, looks more like progressive scan combing than an actual loss of diagonal resolution.

Is there a reason why Edge Enhancement is so prominent on bigger CRTs? Many of my LDs have at least some degree of EE, with some having massive halos around everything.

Wish I knew. Aside from chroma noise, this is the only other artifact of LD that bothers me.

Only way I've found to combat it is to roll with no comb filtering, but that brings its own issues. *shrug*

Cefiro, I checked but it's actually pointless because mine doesn't have all that other stuff. It's just a display. If you have separate outputs for VHS and DVD I'll bet you just need to go find an amp.

I watch my Lasers on a 32" LCD and I can see some edge enhancement but its not too bad most of the time, it depends on the transfer..

Someone convince me to not buy this monster . . .


RCA F38310 38" 16:9 CRT