I’m purchasing a PS3 soon & I’d like a high-def. TV to go with it.

I’ve been to Comet & the likes looking at screens (LCDs & Plasmas) & can’t help but feel disappointed. The quality on SD is appalling. The plasma Pioneer sets are OK – but @ £1,200 or so they aren’t cheap & I’ve only seen them in 42” + size.

I’m only looking for a 32” & ALL the LCDs I’ve seen have numerous problems – blurring on fast-moving images being the most notable/ annoying.

What HD CRT sets are available, & where can I buy one from?!

[lazymatt]

The only one I've seen on the high street is the Samsung in Currys Digital 32" wide screen, slim back for £399. Looked quite good.

[Stephen Neal]

The only HD Ready CRTs on sale in the UK are the Samsung Slimfit models. They are widely regarded as being pretty awful in the geometry department, and suffer from a variety of known faults detailed elsewhere in this area of the forum. The issue seems to be partially caused by the reduced depth CRT they use - which also suffers from very obvious blurring at the left and right of frame. It is also 100Hz for SD sources - with the usual caveats this entails.

There is, in Europe, an HD Prepared CRT from Philips, which is not high enough resolution in tube terms to be described as HD Ready. I believe it is actually better in many ways than the Samsung - but it is not available in the UK. (Though I think at least one model has PAL I and UK NICAM support) This is also 100Hz for SD I believe.

JVC used to market a 1080i compatible HD CRT - with no HDMI/DVI input - but I can't remember if it was 50Hz or 60Hz only via HD? It didn't have 720p compatibility, and I think it has been discontinued for a number of years.

As a CRT fan I know what you mean when you say you have been disappointed by flat panel display performance. However I would stress that the panels, as displayed in shops, are nowhere near set up correctly. I've recently installed a 40" Sony Bravia Full 1080p LCD (40W2000) and as delivered the SD picture was awful (and I remain to be convinced of the connection quality internally of the Freeview receiver). However by turning off most of the digital processing and noise reduction, massively turning down the sharpness control, de-selecting the VIVID colour settings, and reducing the backlight level, the result is far, far better than any LCD I've seen on display in a shop.

Yes - the artefacts on SD broadcasts are more visible - but the results are much better than you'd expect from shop displays.

And when you feed it full 1080p from BluRay - it looks absolutely stunning.

Yes - the black levels are not quite as black as a CRT - but the geometry and resolution are stunningly good, and the colour gamut is now pretty impressive too.

OK, thanks for the info.

I did a quick search but the results were a year + old.

I thought a manufacturer may have got their act together & released a "true" (not Slimfit) HD CRT in the mean time.

The only problem I have is that every time I start doing research for a particular model of flat panel the opinions are always mixed. Usually 50:50 or thereabouts, so it makes it extremely difficult to find a good one.

When I go to the shops & have a look they look stunning with games/ HDTV, but via freeview they disappoint. I’m sick to death of trying to find a good one, & I’m not spending a grand or so in the hope I can fiddle with the settings to make it look acceptable.

I think this technology really is in its infancy – especially for use in large panels. I don’t wish to be a part of the “beta” test stage & pay a huge premium for doing so. I know this sounds like a rant against flat panels, but I’m just annoyed at wasting so much time trying to find a good one with no success.

I’d be prepared to pay well over a thousand for a truly good one, but I’m beginning to believe that no such beast exists.

[tigertimtim]

thers a new updated version of the samsung hd crt coming out in usa soon which will hopefully overcome its problems, hope so because iam after a hd crt myself

[Mofoman]

Originally Posted by Potato Pirate

OK, thanks for the info.

I did a quick search but the results were a year + old.

I thought a manufacturer may have got their act together & released a "true" (not Slimfit) HD CRT in the mean time.

The only problem I have is that every time I start doing research for a particular model of flat panel the opinions are always mixed. Usually 50:50 or thereabouts, so it makes it extremely difficult to find a good one.

When I go to the shops & have a look they look stunning with games/ HDTV, but via freeview they disappoint. I’m sick to death of trying to find a good one, & I’m not spending a grand or so in the hope I can fiddle with the settings to make it look acceptable.

I think this technology really is in its infancy – especially for use in large panels. I don’t wish to be a part of the “beta” test stage & pay a huge premium for doing so. I know this sounds like a rant against flat panels, but I’m just annoyed at wasting so much time trying to find a good one with no success.

I’d be prepared to pay well over a thousand for a truly good one, but I’m beginning to believe that no such beast exists.

That's why I am importing my HD crt Sony from Japan, as it's the best quality consumer CRT screen there is, well the best Sony made, the fine pitch model for super sharpness in the HD department.

I must admit though, the Samsung CRt when set up properly is superb, it may take a couple of hours to get the geometry near perfect on some model's, and also about an hour to get rid of all the digtal processing and calibrate properly, but when done, the picture quality is damn good, and the HD quality on these set's are simply sublime with some stuff.

It obviously looks a bit out of focus in the corner's, because the screen is darker there, but the new model coming out sort's that and the geometry issue's out too.

Belivee me the slimfit takes alot of slack of people who are not prepared to work with the set, once worked with , for the price, it's a good set.

Obviously, the japanese and american Sony HD CRT set's blow it away completely and that's why I am spending a grand to import one after shipping.

[Mofoman]

Just had to complete my post, as I was at someone else's earlier.

See what most people are forgetting, is that Slimfit is a new technology and as such, has problem's, but I applaud Samsung for trying to keep CRT competitive and alive in today's market, and that is why I bought a set to support them, as the worst thing that could possibly happen is for tube technology to die, it's just too damn good.

As time moves on, Samsung will perfect this slimfit tube and then we will hopefully see more people adopt these set's than LCD or plasma when it comes to choosing an HD set, as the tube still has the best picture imo until SED comes along, and even then that will be prohibitively expensive at first.

[simon194]

Originally Posted by Mofoman

Just had to complete my post, as I was at someone else's earlier.

See what most people are forgetting, is that Slimfit is a new technology and as such, has problem's, but I applaud Samsung for trying to keep CRT competitive and alive in today's market, and that is why I bought a set to support them, as the worst thing that could possibly happen is for tube technology to die, it's just too damn good.

As time moves on, Samsung will perfect this slimfit tube and then we will hopefully see more people adopt these set's than LCD or plasma when it comes to choosing an HD set, as the tube still has the best picture imo until SED comes along, and even then that will be prohibitively expensive at first.

I'm with you on this.

I don't really know what's happened to the CRT market in the UK. In the States, HD CRT technology is alive and well and there are a number of manufacturers in the game over there.

On another note, I don't think SED will become a consumer product anymore due to the delays cause by the litigation against Canon and the subsequent loss of the SED license from Nano-Proprietry Inc.

The license has to be renegotiated and you can bet it will not be a one upfront payment like the original license was and Canon are now saying they have no plans for mass production of SED panels so I guess it will stay firmly aimed at the professional market.

[Mofoman]

Funny you should say that, my brother is one of the top honcho's for the concept group, who are one of the main supplier's of office equipment in the UK, particularly photocopier's, and he is getting a demo of SED next month from Canon, and they said they will be selling it as a high end office display for front room's as it is superior to the large screen plasma's shown in the front of large office's such as SKY.

My brother said I had been going on about it as my next TV, and the Canon rep, said he had no idea it was going to be sold as a consumer TV, he then said, he was selling them as high end display device's, that are superb for TV of course, but not a consumer device to his knowledge.

This was just today, so I am really downbeat after hearing that as I thought we were getting a replacement for crt somewhere down the line.