What setting are you using on your 16:9 display for letterbox LDs?

I recently got a Sony KD-34XBR960. Its rather awesome overall, but its not for everyone when it comes to SD sources. It always runs in 4X (despite having a setting called "interlaced") so there are no visable scanlines to speak of. It has a truckload of settings for the 3D comb filter and line doubler and since I've only had it for a week I can't really say that I've learned how to make the most of it. I think fans of LD (who usually want to line double everything anyway) will like it, but fans of old video games (like myself) might not be too enthused by the lack of scanlines. It makes me want a better LD player, so I guess...that means its good?

If you run it in standard zoom it will usually line up with the letterbox in most movies. Sometimes if the matte was very minimal on the LD it will cut off a few lines. I'm not sure how I feel about doing this. It kind of just...blows stuff up too far. If my room wasn't so small I'd be fine with it, but honestly it just kind of shows the flaws when you are seated only 6' away and have good eyes.

It completly rules at running Blurays. Much much better than my 34" Samsung LCD, despite it "only" going to 1080i. It even has an HDMI port, which tells you how late in the game Sony was making a go with CRT. I watched Rushmore (Criterion) on BR the other day and its about as close to the look of film as you can imagine.

Weight is a back breaking 196lbs, not including the OEM stand (which is nice). You can literally turn coal into diamonds just by setting this TV on top of it.

Overall I give it an A. I would say "if you can get one for a good price, go for it" but honestly if this is your sort of thing you should buy it no matter the cost. I paid $200, which is on the high side, but they will never ever make a set like this again.

If you want the ultimate CRT, try a Sony BVM-D32E1WU 32 inch master monitor. These monitors originally cost around $40000 (yes forty thousand) and feature an HR Trinitron tube which must have the greatest color ever, due to the use of these monitors in critical viewing applications. These are pretty affordable now, and are likely the benchmark for the capability of a large HD CRT.

The thing with pro monitors is that they are usually built assuming that everything else is pro. They assume your connections are ballenced, that you have rock solid power, shielded cables, that the source is something pro, etc. A consumer level set with have all sorts of tech in it to make the most of formats like LD which are, frankly, somewhat below pro. A $40,000 monitor is probably used for directing football game coverage shot with $200,000 cameras, not noisy dot crawling LD stuff.

I suppose if you have a few grand worth of stand alone upscalers and line doublers, go for it.

If it takes RGB and will actually display 240p properly it would probably make a WICKED arcade monitor.

I can pretty much vouch for that. I had a 37" Mitsubishi Pro monitor (circa 1999, MSRP $12,000.) While it did have S-Video and composite inputs, those were only there for convenience and not performance. The main action was with the 15-pin RGB input and the 5 BNC RGBHV inputs. It was capable of 1280x1024 resolution at 75Hz (really damn good for its time.)

So if you wanted to use it for LD, you at the very least had to use a good line doubler or scaler with a good Y/C separator. Otherwise, it will just help reveal every little flaw in the picture you're feeding it.

I believe this should sync to arcade frequencies, and this does have rgb BNC inputs on one of the input cards in its backplane (there are slots for different input cards). You are right about this being possibly the ultimate arcade monitor: just imagine standing it up vertically for top down shooters, like Raiden type games. Arcade nirvana. The latest arcade shoot em ups, of the CAVE type, are ported to the xbox 360 and I could just imagine running them in vertical mode at 720p on this monster...

but wouldn't they be stretched?
or am i looking at the photo in a wrong way, it looks like a 16x9 type set.

I assume it has a 4:3 mode, it better for $40k.

It's a 16x9 set, so you would have to tweak the aspect ratio of vertical shooters in order to use maximum screen area without excess distortion, perhaps by playing with the size adjustments slightly. Still, this thing would beat any arcade monitor out there and it could easily take the output from an HTPC, which would solve the issue of source quality. For Lds, you would need a scaler for RGB anyway, which could box the 4x3 input to maintain the correct AR or perform zoom or stretch. My ideal setup would be to have one of these for 16x9 sources and have a good NTSC display for laserdisc (to keep the signal path within the analog domain). And then wait for the crater in the floor from all of the CRT weight...

I used a SONY CRT Pro monitor with my MUSE LD's for a couple years.
It was a SONY HDVS HDM 2830 (thus 28" 16:9), weights approx 120kg and could only take 1080i and 480p signals via RGBHV/YPbPr BNC inputs.
480p was limited to RGB color space on top of that.
A 38" version of it exists too, HDM 3830 -> I really wonder how much weight that would have...
MUSE playback looked fantastic on it, to watch regular 480i NTSC discs you needed some kind of upscaler or converter box.
I used my DVHS in the beginning, which turns 480i into 480p, but only as YPbPr, so I used a color space converter to get RGB 480p.
Later I had a "real" video-processor connected to it -> Spatz M Scaler.
Used it later with HD-DVD too (in 1080i mode via component, some discs had some kinda protection and would only play in 480p mode),
after I had bought my Pioneer Kuro Plasma I wasn't really using it anymore.
So I sold it on ebay at some point.
I can really vouch for the quality of this product, sometimes you see one show up on ebay.
Keep an eye open for them if you are interested in these kind of crt pro displays.

Check the menue features on your CRT if you currently have one. Some folks have discovered settings they were not aware the display had such as film mode and color matrix (or something similarly named). There are two settings for that, SD and HD. Set it to SD for LDs and you may see what you've been missing.

If you can't get a Sony KV 34" widescreen circa 2004 try for a 2004 Panasonic Tau w/s 34". It falls slightly short of the Sony but for the reduction in price you may not notice the difference in picture quality. These sets in IMO put out the best laserdisc images you will see in that screen size.

These TVs to my knowledge are the epitome of perfected CRT displays. They are packed with goodies as they were the last consumer CRTs to sell before the onset of the newer technologies, plasma and LCD. They were on the floor of electronics shops competing with LCD and plasma in 04/05 so I would say they are technically the best CRT had to offer. I chose CRT even at that late game because outside of the bulk I knew the advantages.

I also have CRT projection and LCD displays but I wanted to have a state of the art CRT that locked in the end of the road for what served us well for years.

I agree. Late model CRTs are amazing. This KD-34XBR960 I got recently has ZERO bloom during bright spots. I mean ZERO. I've never had a set like this.

The only thing I wish it had as RGB (which the non-US versions do, if I understand this) and a true SD mode.

It looks like we have a winner for the heaviest, most expensive CRT display. The Sony HDM 3830:
http://www.broadcaststore.com/catalog/by-brands/s/sony/Monitors/Color-Monitor/_models/HDM3830/HDM-3830.htm
405 pounds, with a $70000 list price! If you thought the 40 inch Sony xbr was a heavy CRT, this thing blows it out of the water in terms of back crushing mass. One of these was on ebay a few years back, and I don't think there were any takers. The specs of the 32 inch BVM in this thread are much better, with 720p capacity and a flat tube, but I'd still like to check out a HDM 3830, if my floor could bear the weight.

Here is the spec sheet: http://likholetov.ru/pdf/18198.pdf It is amazing to think that this thing, with 16x9 HD, is basically 1980s technology, and there is an IEEE article describing it from 1991, plus a SMPTE product announcement from 1988. I think this must be the biggest round Trinitron CRT, and the one I saw on ebay had battleship like build quality.

I gotta say, I forgot how good SD video could look on a CRT. LD looks pretty darn good on this huge 36" screen, and finally having a flat panel set means no darned rounded edges!
But I later tried a DVD with an old player and component cables and engaged the 16:9 mode. And was blown away. Damn, I missed this type of image coming from video!

You're missing a rather important detail... What set are you referring to?

TLK

When making a "pro" version of a lot of these monitors it wouldn't surprise me if that process alone added 100lbs. My 34" is fine as long as it sits still, but if you moved it around very much, rock concerts, mobile TV stations, military, the thing would just get smashed to pieces. Its like a bolder in a paper bag.

Still on about the 36" Sony. I'd hate to think what a 36" pro monitor would weigh. I'm still amazed we managed to get this beast moved, and upstaris. now if I can only find a big enough stand...

Here's a spec sheet for that aircraft carrier anchor of a Sony monitor . . .

http://likholetov.ru/pdf/18198.pdf

. . . at least it will take an interlaced signal (but then again, so did the Mitsubishi monitor that I had.)

If anyone is in the NY/Northern NJ area, there's a 34" Panasonic Tau for sale up there for cheaps . . .

http://newjersey.craigslist.org/ele/3469137919.html

. . . $189 is a helluva bargain!

Wow, what a deal. There's nothing like the true black of a good CRT set. I wish I could get my Sony 36-inch XBR fixed. It just wouldn't turn on one day and I'm too afraid of opening it up to check for a blown fuse. It wasn't pro scan, but it had component inputs that look fantastic when fed downconverted Blu-ray. And LaserDisc is wonderful on it. We had it ISF calibrated to D6500 color temp and overscan reduced to 2% on all sides. It's 3D comb filter is wonderful too. It was Sony's first 35-inch XBR with component inputs and they really did a great job. It's red phosphor is spot on for NTSC specs, giving reds you rarely see from ANY television.