Suggestions wanted : new TV purchase (1 Viewer)

[ChristopherDAC]

I'm in the market for a new television set, and I thought I'd see if anyone here had any advice as to what my good choices are. In brief, I'm looking for a widescreen direct-view CRT with the following characteristics :

CONSTRAINTS

- no greater than 36" overall width
- screen must be flat and rectangular : no rounded corners, no curvature
- must include ATSC tuner
- must display 1080i30 and 720p60 natively
- must incorporate the full suite of input connectors : HDMI, HD-capable component, S-Video, composite
- must provide both analog [stereo minimum] and digital [at least for ATSC] outputs for TV audio
- must be available in the United States

OBJECTIVES

- should be easy to adjust, including geometry, overscan, and convergence
- should provide high resolution when properly adjusted
- should provide faithful colour rendition when properly adjusted
- should have a high degree of controllability [e.g. I should be able to turn off SVM, 480i upconversion, and any other features]
- should provide a high-quality picture from NTSC sources [good comb filter, &c.]
- should be stable [well-regulated power supply, not too much drift, &c.]
-should have a large screen size
- should be inexpensive

As always, "constraints" are non-negotiable, while "objectives" can be traded off against each other. Obviously, for instance, there's going to be an inverse correlation between screen-size and cost, so I'm interested in finding out what my range of options is. I should mention that I don't require the TV to have speakers, just a line-level audio ouptut that works for NTSC and ATSC both.

I figure people here might have some experience or at least general advice to better arm me for going out and looking at on-line retailer listings and product reviews, not to speak of [ugh] in-store displays ; there are enough options that I'd at least like to get a line on particularly good ones, or cross off particularly bad ones, before I start.
Thanks much.

 

[ChristopherDAC]

I've been trying to research this, but the retailers' and manufacturers' Web sites have been unhelpful in the extreme. As far as I can tell: ALL Toshiba HDTVs have the "CrystalScan HDSC" circuit which converts all incoming signals into 1080i or, at user option, 540p. It doesn't say anything about being able to turn off the circuit and view native 720p. LG's HDTVs allow both their "XD" upconversion and SVM circuits to be shut off. I don't know whether they will display 720p natively with XD off. There are also 3 colour temperature settings, "warm" "neutral" and "cool" — is one of these [hopefully "neutral"] 5600K? Samsung models don't seem to have an option for setting SVM off, and the site reports "Native Resolution 1080i/480p/480i". Again, looks like there's no way to get real 720p. Does anybody have any experience with the LG televisions? Are they actually any good? Do they really display 720p as 720p? Can the colour temperature adjustment give you a good greyscale? I like the user controls, but if the electronics and picture tube aren't good I don't want the TV.

 

[ChristopherDAC]

The JVCs have a colour temperature adjustment, which is nice, but again I can't tell if their "DIST" mode, scaling everything 1080i, can be turned off or not. Panasonic's "Tau" shallow CRTs report being compatible with HDTV and EDTV, "1080i and 480p" but again don't mention 720p.

Am I just missing something, or is native 720p display something the tube TVs on the market today just won't do? I don't see why not ; any CRT PC monitor these days can do 1024×768 at 85 Hz, which is a far higher H frequency than 720p60, without much in the way of geomtry or high-voltage regulation trouble.

 

[JediFonger]

http://westinghousedigital.com/pc-52-2-32-lcd-hdtv.aspx
or
http://westinghousedigital.com/pc-56...p-monitor.aspx

i haven't seen a lot of 35-36" HDTV's. it jumps from 32 to 37 afaik.

 

[ChristopherDAC]

Like I said, I'm really not interested in a panel display. About the biggest CRT you can buy is 34 inches, and the smallest widescreen HD set seems to be 26 inches, so I'm looking in that size range. The Sony 34" XBR is too large, mostly because of that huge surround they put on it.

 

[JediFonger]

oh, do they still sell CRT's? heh heh heh.

 

[ChristopherDAC]

Admittedly, they're getting harder to find, and most of them one does find are the new super-shallow type which has focussing and geometry problems at the edges, but they're out there. [I wonder what the deflection angle on those is? First 45 degrees, then 75, then 90, and for something like 30 years it was 110 degrees ; these new units have to be, what, 135?] As far as price, off-axis viewing, resolution, colour rendering, and so on, I haven't seen a panel display in the size range I'm looking for that I'd really want.