I'm looking to make an inexpensive upgrade to the 20" Sanyo CRT I currently use. It's rather old and unfortunately has the rounded edges which chop off the edges of the image on all sides.
I'd really like a late model 25 to 32" CRT from around 2005 or so that has a flat or flat-ish screen and has a component video input so I can watch DVDs as well. I'm not sure what I should look for otherwise ins electing a model that I can calibrate for LD.

Is there any place better than Craigslist to find these for cheap? I'd love to find a nice one for about $20 or so.

Sony Wega, nuff said Though I have a 32 inch jvc which is pretty cool and I paid 25 for it.

check local thrift stores

hey, it's you again TN.
if you are near the goodwill over on berry road off of franklin pike they had a killer 16.9 CRT phillips flat screen for 40 bucks last week.

i didn't test it but i can't have a backup set, no room.

they also had 3-4 other CRT but they were 4.3 and i didn't look at them, still around 30-40

Definately dont pay over 40 for anything!

well, it's easier to find stuff in CA than TN.
pawn shops don't take CRT anymore and most didn't have good CRT when they did have one.
so when you do find one you'll probably find one of those old ones in the wood case

there was a 27 or 32 incher next to the dumpster in my complex this morning, but it didn't have S-video and by noon it was gone, it also had the rounded corners that sdraper was talking about.
otherwise i would have taken it.

That I am guessing is very true. I just looked at the Wega's here and there were dozens on craigslist, though for some reason they are getting expensive, lol.

i just searched wega on craigs here in nashville, there is one for 30, 50.
so i guess sdraper can get that one for 30, but 20 seems a little low for anywhere.
but the rest started at 150

That is about the same here, weird, people just want to move them or think they can get lots for it.

toshiba's good too, ive seen some very nice looking toshiba crt's at goodwill

This Wikipedia page is pretty helpful to discern what goes into each WEGA. Helpful since there are quite a few model variations.

FD Trinitron WEGA

The best of them would probably be one of the Super Fine Pitch models which they make in both 4:3 and 16:9.

I remember one member here on LDDb saying he has the SFP KD-36XS955, touting the 3D comb filter in the set as being amazing.

I have the KV-40XBR800. Great set, just weighs about 8 tons.

Does have an HDCP compatible DVI input for when I decide to jump into Blu-ray (which will probably be soon since I've already bought a few blu's.)

Also, according to that Wikipedia article, JVC also made hi-res CRTs like the WEGAs. Doesn't give the model numbers though.

Panasonic also made hi-res flat screen CRTs to compete with Sony's WEGA. Those are called their "Tau" line which they made in both 4:3 and 16:9 ratios. Haven't really seen too many of them in person so can't really say much about them. I do have a review of one of the 16:9 Tau sets in an old issue of Widescreen Review, and they liked it a lot.

CRT's are so cheap that if your going to get one just get a Sony Wega, one of the late and large models.

The only real downside is that you have to have a friend help you move it as it weights a ton!

I have gone through quite a few CRT TVs buying and selling on Craigslist. That's probably your best bet as you can buy cheaply, try a set out and resell for roughly the same price if you don't like it.

Toshiba made some of the best sets that used shadow mask technology. They are very sharp, with good color balance and temperature (very little to no red push). Watch out for geometry though.

Sony made really good sets as well. They used their aperture grill technology so you get a vertically flat picture and also one that is very sharp. I have had issues with older (mid 90's) Sony's though. I had a couple go out on me. That being said, my current CRT is a 1996 Sony PVM-2950 (fantastic picture). If you don't have a problem going into the service menu, Sony's tend to have a lot more adjustments and there is quite a bit of useful documentation on the web for getting the most out of your Sony set.

yep i have a Toshiba CRT sitting here, and it's free!

I'm looking at a couple sets that are 16:9, but for LD is it better to find a 4:3 set? How bad does it look when stretched out via the TV to 16:9 or do you guys leave it letterboxed? That SFP KD-36XS955 4:3 sounds like it would be perfect for LDs.
The one I'm eying also has an HDCP DVI port, though I'd need a good HDMI-DVI cable for the PS3. It's a Sony KV-30HS510 which has had the voltage regulator chip cleaned/replaced (not sure what that means).

Letterboxed material can look all right stretched if you get a good enough scaler. But if you're mostly just interested in LDs (over BDs, HDDVDs or most DVDs), than you'd probably be better off with that SFP KD-36XS955

Anyone in the DC/NoVA area?

There's a KD-36XS955 out there for cheap!

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/ ... 27374.html

Just $50! Damn! If I didn't already have the KV-40XBR800, I'd take the 3 hour trip to get it!

Also, after getting the blu-ray player, I can say that blu-rays look damn good on the 40" as well. I know it's not showing off all that the format can do, but as a compromise between LD and blu-ray, I'd say it's a damn good compromise.

If you already have a good HDMI cable, you can always just buy a DVI-to-HDMI adapter like this one . . .


Male DVI-D to Female HDMI adapter

And non-sequitor, but this is a pretty funny video, but I'm now worried about sitting too close to my 40" WEGA . . .

Breaking a 40" Sony Trinitron with a Hammer

Wound up finding one for free. It's a 4:3 Sony KV-36FS17 trinitron 36" flat panel and works fine although it's extremely heavy. LD looks quite good as does DVD, but I can't say the same for my PS3 input which looks surprisingly worse on this than the little Sanyo I was using. I'm thinking about getting the PS3 component cables as there is a component input on the back of this set, but not sure just how much of an improvement there will be.

This TV has the 16:9 enhancement option, but all that seems to do is just squash the image and letterboxing bars.

16:9 Enhanced mode should only be used for anamorphic sources. It applies the full resolution of the set to a 16:9 area (whereas if you chose the letterboxed option in your DVD players menu setting, only 70% of the TVs resolution would be used in that setting.)