Video Asylum

Posted by Some Guy on May 06, 2003 at 05:52:48

In Reply to: Since they came from the PC world, probably right . . . posted by Auricle on May 02, 2003 at 10:33:38:

We should be a little careful about announcing CRT's death, however. Digital has distinct drawbacks for those with unlimited money to spend and the willingness to do so.

Oh, I hope CRT holds on kicking and screaming! I still GREATLY prefer a CRT for use on my computer. Flat panels look cool and all, but their refresh is terrible and you can only really do one resolution on them properly (their max). My Samsung CRT is a flat screen, has a far sharper picture than my LCD at work, is brighter, and has a killer refresh.

Digital has always been about convenience to me. The reason CDs are so popular is because of that: convenience. Analog sounds better only after you've researched and bought gear that works well together and then spent the time to set it all up properly. The effort pays off in dividends, though. Digital sounds better right out of the box, but there isn't that much you can do to improve it past what it already is.

But back to CRTs - I still maintain the best picture I've ever seen on a TV was an early HDTV prototype I saw in 1997. It was maybe a 32-38 inch 16:9 tube screen showing an HD production of an outdoor concert. To this day I have yet to see that picture matched... you could read the t-shirts of the audience members on the wide shots from 200-300 feet away. You also had to creep up to about 6-8 inches on the screen to see any lines... from a distance of more than a foot, it was a moving photograph. I looked around for a tube HDTV, but nothing on the domestic market came close to that. Now it's hard to find anything HD in a tube.

en fin, I go to the concert hall often, to the cinema virtually never

I still go to concerts and films simply because that's the baseline that we're trying to emulate in our home theaters. Yes, being at home and enjoying the equipment our hard-earned dough has bought us is fun, but it's never the same as going out and seeing it in the real environment. That and their screens are always going to be bigger!