[Keiron]

I made a decision a couple of weeks ago to finally change my Toshiba 36" CRT for a 42" flat panel.

Since then I have looked at possibly hundreds of plasmas and LCDs. Comet, Currys, John Lewis, a couple of small independents. Now I know that some aren't set up well, but I have not seen a single one that impresses me.

I can't see any reason why those sets displaying the BBC HD "preview" channel should look so utterly atrocious. Surely a few adjustments to a a few settings buried in the menus won't remove the awful blotchiness and pixelation that is so prevalent?

Perhaps more disturbingly is those that are directly connected to blu ray leave me underwhelmed.

I'm asking here because most threads on the plasma and LCD forums simply refer to CRT as museum pieces.

Can anyone convince me that a 42" plasma really could give me a better picture than my old Tosh, or should I just stick with it until it goes kaput?

[jmtech15]

plasmas use the same kind of technolagy as a crt so if you like your crts picture then get a plasma,but if you want something diffrent then go for a led tv .

[GGTVBD]

We're still using our 36ZP38B as our main set. There's still nothing on the market which makes me want to change it!

Various LCD's around the house but they're there for practical reasons. And as the ZP is in the corner of the room, the space it takes up isn't an issue.

Lovely picture, great in-built sound. It's staying put for a while yet!

[mikej]

I managed to get hold of an immaculate, second-hand 32" Panasonic widescreen CRT last year (TX-32PD30) for a bargain price of £75 and it produces a better SD Freeview picture (via Topfield PVR) than most LCD/plasmas that I've seen, which is why I didn't go for an LCD or plasma at the time. You'd be hard presssed to tell the difference between DVD picture quality too.

A friend of mine swapped his 32" Sony CRT for a 40" Sony LCD recently and he admits that the SD Freeview picture was better on his old CRT.

I do have a new 22" LG LCD in the bedroom and the Freeview picture quality is actually very good - I'm just not convinced that the low bitrates/resolutions currently used on Freeview look any good on a 40"+ 1080p set.

The areas I think LCD and plasma offer a significant advantage over CRT are physical size (36" CRTs are huge !), larger screen sizes (for larger rooms), HD movies (eg. Blu-Ray) and console (eg. PS3) gaming. If I had a PS3, I'd probably have an LCD or plasma by now !

There really isn't enough HD TV content around to make me want to switch at the moment (I don't have, nor want, Sky) and my TV viewing consists of SD Freeview, DVD and Wii gaming, so I'm happy to hold off for now and wait for the technology to improve, prices to come down, more HD content to become available etc.

[peneau]

For what it's worth I have a 32ZP48 and a Pio KRP 500a and as far as SD goes
the Toshiba is still King IMO, the PIO is good very good in fact on SD but still just comes up short on SD when compared to the ZP, great all rounder and given that I bought it at the end of the retai sales CRT life cycle a couple of year ago at a fraction of the original cost of these sets it has been terriffic value for money.

Just my two cents

[ProDave]

I have LCD as my main set and am very pleased with it. But it took a while to get the picture settings right.

A LOT of sets have a "shop mode" which deliberately gives a bright, over saturated picture, because some strange people think that's the way it should look in a shop. But people like you that appreciate a good picture are not impressed by that. Surely the salesmen must know a large percentage of people are put off by that?

One think I like about the LCD set is 100% absolute perfect picture geometry. I've probably been unlucky with my CRT sets but I can honestly say I have never had one that has not had some minute linearity imperfections, my last one (admittedly a cheap JVC Vestel set) has a horizontal linearity problem, something for which there is no adjustment to correct. Also a lot of CRT sets suffer from image geometry distortion due to areas of large contrast changes, i.e a bright white band on the image can cause image distortion. You don't get any of these issues with an LCD or Plasma.

But I still use several small screen portable CRT sets and see no reason to change those.

One thing that is abundantly clear with Plasma and LCD is they are nowhere near as reliable as a CRT set, and nowhere near as robust (very easy to damage the screen). I have an old Sony CRT portable that's already over 20 years old, but I maintain it will still be working long after my two LCD sets have been scrapped.

If you have the room to store it, then if you do buy an LCD or plasma, keep your old CRT as a spare set. They are not worth much now so it's probably worth more to you as a backup set than the little you would get if you sold it.

[davee b]

Originally Posted by Grumpy Old Troll

We're still using our 36ZP38B as our main set. There's still nothing on the market which makes me want to change it!

Various LCD's around the house but they're there for practical reasons. And as the ZP is in the corner of the room, the space it takes up isn't an issue.

Lovely picture, great in-built sound. It's staying put for a while yet!

I'll second those thoughts exactly (except mine is a 32ZP48)
edit :I see peneau is also in agreement

[homerging]

I've seen high bitrate MPEG-4 576i on Full HD 32" LCDs and it still looks terrible.

[Dumachi]

Originally Posted by Keiron

I made a decision a couple of weeks ago to finally change my Toshiba 36" CRT for a 42" flat panel.

Since then I have looked at possibly hundreds of plasmas and LCDs. Comet, Currys, John Lewis, a couple of small independents. Now I know that some aren't set up well, but I have not seen a single one that impresses me.

I can't see any reason why those sets displaying the BBC HD "preview" channel should look so utterly atrocious. Surely a few adjustments to a a few settings buried in the menus won't remove the awful blotchiness and pixelation that is so prevalent?

Perhaps more disturbingly is those that are directly connected to blu ray leave me underwhelmed.

I'm asking here because most threads on the plasma and LCD forums simply refer to CRT as museum pieces.

Can anyone convince me that a 42" plasma really could give me a better picture than my old Tosh, or should I just stick with it until it goes kaput?

How much you planning on spending?

[Stout Fellow]

If I had Sky HD I would get an LCD or Plasma, don't think Freeview HD with it's 3 channels and Freesat with it's two are worth the expense.

Buying an LCD/ Plasma is a minefield as well, there's always something wrong with them that stops me buying one.

For example the Sony KDL-40EX503, an acclaimed set, great picture but 60ms input lag means it's no good for games, and it has poor sound. The 50hz Sony KDL-40EX403 has less lag at 40ms but motion blur as it's 50mz.

What about the Panasonic equivalent; the TX-L37S20B has 35ms input lag and better sound but won't output Dolby 5.1. on the Freeview HD channels because the Freeview HD standard doesn't require it until April 2011.

Panasonic plasma perhaps? Great for HD, no input lag but no SD processing so SD pictures look terrible and most TV is of course still SD, plus there's the higher power consumption and soft plasma picture.

I'll keep waiting I think.

[jmtech15]

the samsung 46c8000 has gameing lag of 30ms

[Dumachi]

Originally Posted by Stout Fellow

If I had Sky HD I would get an LCD or Plasma, don't think Freeview HD with it's 3 channels and Freesat with it's two are worth the expense.

Buying an LCD/ Plasma is a minefield as well, there's always something wrong with them that stops me buying one.

For example the Sony KDL-40EX503, an acclaimed set, great picture but 60ms input lag means it's no good for games, and it has poor sound. The 50hz Sony KDL-40EX403 has less lag at 40ms but motion blur as it's 50mz.

What about the Panasonic equivalent; the TX-L37S20B has 35ms input lag and better sound but won't output Dolby 5.1. on the Freeview HD channels because the Freeview HD standard doesn't require it until April 2011.

Panasonic plasma perhaps? Great for HD, no input lag but no SD processing so SD pictures look terrible and most TV is of course still SD, plus there's the higher power consumption and soft plasma picture.

I'll keep waiting I think.

Have you seen the g20 in action?

[jmtech15]

yes want overly impressed but it was am ok picture

[Stout Fellow]

Originally Posted by Dumachi

Have you seen the g20 in action?

Only in HD, have seen the G10 with SD and it's poor though.

[Stout Fellow]

Originally Posted by jmtech15

the samsung 46c8000 has gameing lag of 30ms

Bit of a price difference though!

[RichB14]

Originally Posted by Grumpy Old Troll

We're still using our 36ZP38B as our main set. There's still nothing on the market which makes me want to change it!

Various LCD's around the house but they're there for practical reasons. And as the ZP is in the corner of the room, the space it takes up isn't an issue.

Lovely picture, great in-built sound. It's staying put for a while yet!

Agree with that,
All my mate have LCD's and none come close to the picture of SD on my KV32FX66 which we've had for about 8 years virtually trouble free. Ideal for freeview

[Dumachi]

Originally Posted by Stout Fellow

Only in HD, have seen the G10 with SD and it's poor though.

The G20 is far superior at handling SD content than the G10 (which sucked tbh)

But if your only using the TV for SD content nothing can beat a CRT.

[timearp]

Originally Posted by mikej

I managed to get hold of an immaculate, second-hand 32" Panasonic widescreen CRT last year (TX-32PD30) for a bargain price of £75 and it produces a better SD Freeview picture (via Topfield PVR) than most LCD/plasmas that I've seen, which is why I didn't go for an LCD or plasma at the time.

I've exactly the same setup, person who sold it to me now regrets purchasing a Plasma as the picture on the Pan was better. I got mine about 2 years ago and it's still going strong. Unless it breaks I can't see a reason (or afford) to replace it.

The Mother in Law is selling her 32" CRT, it is heavily discoloured due to smoking though.

[radioian]

Im still happy with my Philips 32" 100hz crt set that Ive had for 11 years now, the picture is still fantastic, as is the sound quality--- which is sadly lacking in power and bass on every flat screen set Ive looked at, or seen at family member's houses.

Im in no rush, when it blows up, then Ill look around.

[theworldsmalles]

crt plasma lcd i love the quality of image from a decent CRT the past 2 ive had have been sony freebies people buying flat screen having no place for the old one, ive been lucky the first one i was given was a sony 32 4:3 fatastic picture fantastic sound scrap that the best sound realy deep bass and crisp clear highs unfortunatly it died 3 months ago so found someone giving away another sony 28 4:3 still a great picture reasonable sound unfortunatly its died too ive purchased an lcd would have had plasma as its the closest to crt it doesnt have the same technology as crt its similar but not the same with a new hd box installed i suppose an hd tv was enevitable would love a hd crt without any geometry issues but ultimatly if you love CRT keep looking for them because your gonna pic up a bargain, unless your spending a hell of a lot of money your not going to match it IMO.

[mrsmr2]

I went from a 32" CRT to 42" G20 and have regretted it ever since.

Considering there are so few HD channels on Freesat there really is no point. BBC HD is only on half the day, and most of ITV HD is upscaled. Freeview HD has 1 or 2 more channels but you need to be in an area where analogue has been switched off for that.

SD is superior on a CRT as is any motion handling.

[theworldsmalles]

i think alot of the motion handlind problem lies with the Broadcast as i was watching spartacus, theres a scene where some people ride past on horses and that was on my crt

[mrsmr2]

Sounds like that was film e.g. 24fps, or 25fps on our TVs.

CRTs still deal with this a little better than Plasmas (but it's still not good on CRTs). Plus my 42" Plasma makes this far worse due to the much larger screen.

However, gaming wise there is no comparison. I had mine side by side and I had to take my CRT away as it was quite distressing to see the difference.

[richsmif]

I have a panasonic tx-p46G20 plasma (previous sony bravia 40" lcd) and in my opinion the panny plasma does outshine any CRT ive ever seen. IMO that is.

[smudger44]

I will be the first to admit that I had grave doubts about getting rid of my 32" CRT but last week I eventually took the plunge and replaced it with a Panny TX-L32S20B. I never thought I would ever say this after saying how crap flat panels were, but I'm more than impressed with it. I watch everything on SKY and the SD is certainly better than my old trusty CRT and the HD is streets better. There is no motion blur even in SD.

As this set has a built in Freeview tuner I have looked at the quality of that and it is also good in SD, no HD as in my area we do not have DSO until next year

I believe the displays in the shops leave much to be desired they either show a completely crappy picture with poor definition or a picture from a pre-recorded disc especially made for that purpose that looks really good but one looks at with suspicion.

Of course some of the less popular channels do show a crap picture but they looked crappy on a CRT and I rarely watch them anyway.

My wife thought we were watching a programme in HD tonight and remarked how good the picture was and then I told her we were watching it in SD.

To be honest If I knew I would have that good a picture with a LCD my CRT would have gone long ago.

[dorgan]

Picked up my 52 EX700 today and dropped off my 32" Sony CRT at the recycling center. It was a sad moment as I drove off. Thankfully it wasn't raining as that would have really depressed me

But seriously, the weight of the thing is atrocious. Myself and a friend lifted it with some grunts. It was a pleasure placing the 52" in place with minimal fuss. Even getting it on the stand didn't call for any "left, right, back, whoah!" type orders. My other half isn't going to see why a perfect CRT went to the recycling center. But who's going to take such bulk into their home these days? You always need 2 people to move it. And it's worth about 50€ these days and I'm not prepared to drive around with it in the boot of my car.

[Stout Fellow]

I decided to get an LCD but I decided to compromise and nearly gave myself a hernia carrying my 28" Panasonic CRT upstairs to the spare bedroom so now if input lag bothers me I can use the Xbox up there, if motion blur bugs me I can watch the football up there as well.

Best of both worlds.

Plus if the LCD breaks I'll have a spare TV.

[NethLyn]

Well I'm happy now, I thought it was just me. I think I will end up buying a TFT computer monitor before I'm properly seduced by flat televisions.

@dorgan - I know that feeling, I have the option of a 32 widescreen flat CRT, but none of us have got cars anymore so the money spent on delivery, could form at least 10% of any potential replacement! It's got to the point where the stand will last longer than the TV as it did for the first widescreen I inherited from a rellie, which went bang.

Stout Fellow has the right idea of the CRT as the backup/console telly. I wanted to hold out until January '13 when London had switched off but I don't see the point - once I've watched a wide enough variety of broadcasts - SD through a flat screen, Blu-Ray, upscaled DVD, SD Sky sporting broadcasts vs HD - that's when I'll go looking for a flat set, but not until I'm happy that it's at least equivalent to CRT as well as being larger.

[adamdavid]

I have been debating getting a new flat screen on and off for a couple of years. The more research I do, the less keen I am on the newer technologies. Poor black levels, poor motion handling, screen flicker, poor SD pictures, poor reliability generally. I'm perfectly happy with my 2001 Phillips 24" widescreen. The picture is (to my eyes at least) near enough flawless. Most of my viewing is DVD or analogue broadcast TV at the moment. I'll only upgrade when I have to, ie when my CRT goes bang.

Long live CRT.

[46 the goat]

Hi everone, this is my first post here and I hope my question is not too stupid. I have a 28" Sony with 100Hz frame and freeview. I was contemplating getting a larger ( 37 or 40" ) LCD or Plasma. Having looked at the offerings from the top brands I cannot believe how bad they perform in the way of resolution and motion problems on SD. Most of my viewing is freeview and at the moment only a small portion is transmitted in HD. My CRT appears to be so much better than any of the LCD/ Plasma TV's that I have auditioned when viewing an SD transmission.
Am I going nuts or do other people feel the same.
I don't suppose any manufacturer is likely to produce a CRT based HD TV are they ?
Any opinions greatly appreciated.
Alan