Looky What I just got - 4341 Monitors

[JBL 4645]

Philips CRT HDTV is as of last saturday afternoon - gave it to a friend, she and her sone came and hauled it away, and she loves it!
TV Is Vizio M470VT - found it just fine on Vizio.com -
its been available for maybe 2 years now ...

Oh, that explains why I couldn’t find it easily listed on ebay or Google shopping. I was just curious about the pricing and if it was availably in the UK.

That’s very kind and generous of you, to give the CRT away to a friend. My friend still wanted £50 or was £65.00 for his, Panasonic I thought it was good deal. I saw model above it in shop last week going for I think it was £45.00.

No one wants CRT anymore and at prices under £100.00 it’s a steal!

I still use SONY CRT in the bedroom most evenings watching FutureWorld. I still have the other CRT at the end of bed and in the wardrobe I have the old CRT computer monitor for back-up.

I guess you got rid of all you’re CRT by now?

My dad has two LCD one large one in the living room and small one in the bedroom for him and my step-mom.


How well does this Vizio M470VT hold up against DVD in standard to upscale I take it you attached HDMI lead to it from the OPPO.

It sucks with my Panasonic as it doesn’t have RGB input or yes it does via the SCRAT hmm, I wonder if there’s away around this?

The bluray players I have each have RCA RGB outputs and all I need is lead to connect the RCA RGB to a SCART yeah, and use one of the lower upscale modes on the player, I just didn’t give that any thought before.


Am I reading this right? Vizio M470VT £79.99 pounds!
http://alatest.co.uk/reviews/tv-revi...3-38697197,33/

[Rolf]

Buy a "Top Model" Flat screen LCD TV. If you do you don't have to change so often as one must compared to the budget models.

hjames: the mount you have bought looks very fine.

[hjames]

Buy a "Top Model" Flat screen LCD TV. If you do you don't have to change so often as one must compared to the budget models.

hjames: the mount you have bought looks very fine.

Thanks Rolf!
The last HDTV I bought was over $1000 just over 7 years ago,
so my buy price and interval must be just right!

Technology changes faster than that!

Oh, for Ash - I still have a 25 inch Zenith non-HD CRT TV in the basement in front of our treadmill -
its connected to an old JVC DVD-VHS player.
Emma has a Bicycling through Europe VHS tape she watches sometimes when she exercises, or
sometimes we watch the Planet Earth DVDs while walking ...
The TV has no resale value but its paid for and works fine - at 15+ years old!

[Rolf]

Yes, a CRT tv can still be used if you don't care about HDTV. But the quality on HD is so much better, so when you get used to it you don't want anything else. I believe I got about 16 -18 channels sending HD, and more to come. My latest (and my first) LCD flat screen TV is a 52" Sony. Todays price is about $3000. When I bought it, about $4000, (two years ago) so prices are dropping.

Thanks Rolf!
The last HDTV I bought was over $1000 just over 7 years ago,
so my buy price and interval must be just right!

Technology changes faster than that!

Oh, for Ash - I still have a 25 inch Zenith non-HD CRT TV in the basement in front of our treadmill -
its connected to an old JVC DVD-VHS player.
Emma has a Bicycling through Europe VHS tape she watches sometimes when she exercises, or
sometimes we watch the Planet Earth DVDs while walking ...
The TV has no resale value but its paid for and works fine - at 15+ years old!

[John]

Yes, a CRT tv can still be used if you don't care about HDTV. But the quality on HD is so much better, so when you get used to it you don't want anything else.

I have a CRT Sony 34XBR960 It is HDTV

Google it and you will see it is a reference standard that has still not been met by any flat panel, not even the Last generation Pioneer KURO surpassed it in Black level. And the Kuro was regarded as the best flat panel available to consumers regardless of tech. Even today no one has surpassed the 9th. generation KURO.

[hjames]

Okey - but there is always something better - in Audio, in Video - in everything. I don't play that game.
I get the best thing I can find within my budget and am quite happy for many years.

The Philips 34 CRT HDTV was VERY nice - and had superb blacks, among other things ... but I got tired of dealing with a 235lb TV that wasn't easy to move, wouldn't do 1080p, and had backwards HDMI standards. The 47 Vizio seems to be over 96% of the way there with picture quality, and superbly past it in picture size, set weight and a host of other places.

It was quite a worthwhile trade off for me ...

And when you get what you want, you will take one home too!

I have a CRT Sony 34XBR960 It is HDTV

Google it and you will see it is a reference standard that has still not been met by any flat panel, not even the Last generation Pioneer KURO surpassed it in Black level. And the Kuro was regarded as the best flat panel available to consumers regardless of tech. Even today no one has surpassed the 9th. generation KURO.

[John]

Okey - but there is always something better - in Audio, in Video - in everything. I don't play that game.
I get the best thing I can find within my budget and am quite happy for many years.

The Philips 34 CRT HDTV was VERY nice - and had superb blacks, among other things ... but I got tired of dealing with a 235lb TV that wasn't easy to move, wouldn't do 1080p, and had backwards HDMI standards. The 47 Vizio seems to be over 96% of the way there with picture quality, and superbly past it in picture size, set weight and a host of other places.

Hi Heather I was not comparing Sony to Philips as there is nothing to compare, Sony wins. It is still the reference if we are talking picture regardless of technology. It is heavy at 200lbs. but no one complains about the weight of the 43** JBL's ???
And 34" is not going to cut it in a large home threatre, but in a average room still works.

I was only responding to Rolf, who believed CRT's where not capable of HDTV.
The XBR960 could only scan to 1080i but at 34" as well as the superfine-pitch picture tube and other refinements, it was a non issue.

It could not be compared to any other consumer CRT. Sony stopped making them as they were to costly to manufacture and people want cheaper, bigger screens, and slim and sexy. If the picture looks kind of good it's a bonus.


The pioneer Kuro plasma's were also dropped from production because they were costly to produce and people prefer price point first, then size, and then quality. Pioneer was not interested in producing less than state of the art units to be sold at walmart.

Panasonic has bought the proprietary rights and hired some of the top engineers that worked at pioneer and are slowly using the pioneer mojo, and they are coming close to where pioneer left off but there top line units are over $4000 and I am not sure if they will have any better success than pioneer since every one wants cheap stuff.

[hjames]

Yes, a CRT tv can still be used if you don't care about HDTV. But the quality on HD is so much better, so when you get used to it you don't want anything else. I believe I got about 16 -18 channels sending HD, and more to come. My latest (and my first) LCD flat screen TV is a 52" Sony. Todays price is about $3000. When I bought it, about $4000, (two years ago) so prices are dropping.

Seems like the CableTV here has about 80 or so HDTV channels - I haven't counted but nearly every slot is filled from 702 up into the low 800s. But, no doubt, they do have compression on some of them, which lowers quality ...
And we don't even buy the premium channels like HBO, Showtime, TMC and all of them ...

[Rolf]

I have a CRT Sony 34XBR960 It is HDTV

Google it and you will see it is a reference standard that has still not been met by any flat panel, not even the Last generation Pioneer KURO surpassed it in Black level. And the Kuro was regarded as the best flat panel available to consumers regardless of tech. Even today no one has surpassed the 9th. generation KURO.

I am sure you are right that this is a nice unit. I am not sure if it ever has been on the Norwegian marked at all. I have never seen it. I'll guess you are using component cables? or are you using HDMI? Do you have satellite or cable connection? It is my experience that there are quite a difference in quality between the two. Satellite wins. You should also be aware of that the Black level has become much better the past two years, and as I can read the specs my Sony 52" LCD has a better Black level than any CRT's ever had, and better than most other sets on the marked at this time. Another thing is that a 34" is to small in my opinion.

[Rolf]

Seems like the CableTV here has about 80 or so HDTV channels - I haven't counted but nearly every slot is filled from 702 up into the low 800s. But, no doubt, they do have compression on some of them, which lowers quality ...
And we don't even buy the premium channels like HBO, Showtime, TMC and all of them ...

80 HD Channels? I would sure like to know what channels they are. The HD Channels available here in Norway is 3 from the national broadcaster, 2 from other "Norwegian" broadcaster, Discovery, National Geographic, History Channel, 5 Sports Channels, 2 Movie Channels. That is 15. I might have forgot a couple, as I don't have the list in front of me right now.

When I say HD, I mean HD with minimum 720P/1080i. 1080P is at the present only on Blue Ray DVD.

[hjames]

80 HD Channels? I would sure like to know what channels they are. The HD Channels available here in Norway is 3 from the national broadcaster, 2 from other "Norwegian" broadcaster, Discovery, National Geographic, History Channel, 5 Sports Channels, 2 Movie Channels. That is 15. I might have forgot a couple, as I don't have the list in front of me right now.

When I say HD, I mean HD with minimum 720P/1080i. 1080P is at the present only on Blue Ray DVD.

Sure, minimum 720 - I get that - I think most of the better channels in SD (Standard Def) also have High Def version on the cable. like SciFi and SyFyHD, BBCA and BBCAHD, etc ...

There are about 10 local broadcast HDTVs (Networks like NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, etc) a lot of specialty stuff like Golf channel, ESPN (3 to 5 of those at least, plus quite a few regional sports!), Speed (Formula 1 and Rallye stuff in HD), NatGeo, Hallmark, BRAVO, Comedy Central, Discovery, The Learning Channel, SciFiHD, History, Home & Garden TV, BBC America HD, couple of goofies like MTV, VHS Palladium, The Box, Spike and some other I never watch, heck, man, there is a ton of them on Cable ... American Movie Classics, TNT, Lifetime, heck, more channels than I ever watch - but I imagine someone does!
And we don't even get the big pays like Cinemax, HBO, Showtime, The Movie Channel - and a bunch of others there too!

[Rolf]

I understand. I put in only the ones I can actually watch. Of curse there is a lot of HD Channels from other satellites. German, Frence, Italian, Spanish etc etc. I haven't even bother counting them. I have 4 heads on my dish, and I believe it is about 3000 channels possible to watch. ... If you have the correct cards.

I use only on head, and on that satellite it is about 350 Channels, I subscribe to about 40-60 of them, but I use only about 30. That is also to many, as I can't use more than one at the time. Some programs I record to watch at a later time.

Sure, minimum 720 - I get that - I think most of the better channels in SD (Standard Def) also have High Def version on the cable. like SciFi and SyFyHD, BBCA and BBCAHD, etc ...

There are about 10 local broadcast HDTVs (Networks like NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, etc) a lot of specialty stuff like Golf channel, ESPN (3 to 5 of those at least, plus quite a few regional sports!), Speed (Formula 1 and Rallye stuff in HD), NatGeo, Hallmark, BRAVO, Comedy Central, Discovery, The Learning Channel, SciFiHD, History, Home & Garden TV, BBC America HD, couple of goofies like MTV, VHS Palladium, The Box, Spike and some other I never watch, heck, man, there is a ton of them on Cable ... American Movie Classics, TNT, Lifetime, heck, more channels than I ever watch - but I imagine someone does!
And we don't even get the big pays like Cinemax, HBO, Showtime, The Movie Channel - and a bunch of others there too!

[hjames]

I understand. I put in only the ones I can actually watch. Of curse there is a lot of HD Channels from other satellites. German, Frence, Italian, Spanish etc etc. I haven't even bother counting them. I have 4 heads on my dish, and I believe it is about 3000 channels possible to watch. ... If you have the correct cards.

I use only on head, and on that satellite it is about 350 Channels, I subscribe to about 40-60 of them, but I use only about 30. That is also to many, as I can't use more than one at the time. Some programs I record to watch at a later time.

yep, local cable is about 800 channels but I don't view the foreign language stuff either.
Fairfax County is WAY diverse - but there are only so many hours I want to spend watching TV!

OUR CATV is quite nice - fiber quality plus 25 meg internet speeds - much better than US satellites.

I tried FIOS - not quite as fast internet - I build websites and need the faster speeds.

I don't have access to Euro satellites, so they are not a choice for us...

Understand that I use to run the satellite gear for a large (200,000+ customer)
CATV system in Maryland near here in the mid 90s .. I know the technology VERY well.

[Rolf]

yep, local cable is about 800 channels but I don't view the foreign language stuff either. Fairfax County is WAY diverse - but there are only so many hours I want to spend watching TV!

Get rid of the cable TV. Get your own satellite receiver and dish. Much better picture, and more flexibility.

[John]

I am sure you are right that this is a nice unit. I am not sure if it ever has been on the Norwegian marked at all. I have never seen it. I'll guess you are using component cables? or are you using HDMI? Do you have satellite or cable connection? It is my experience that there are quite a difference in quality between the two. Satellite wins. You should also be aware of that the Black level has become much better the past two years, and as I can read the specs my Sony 52" LCD has a better Black level than any CRT's ever had, and better than most other sets on the marked at this time. Another thing is that a 34" is to small in my opinion.

Yes it is a fantastic unit. And in the right room 34" can still work, It was not that long ago 27" was a big screen. I am using HDMI on the the XBR. It was ahead of it's time!
Not sure what countries it was sold in but mine came from the USA.
I only watch blu-ray movies, no cable no satellite on the XBR or on my Plasma.

As far as black levels go, do not believe the manufactures specs. Either get them from a review like CNET or measure your unit by yourself or by a TV tech.
I have seen some LCD panels that seem to have some good looking blacks but the LCD,s have too many problems with processing of picture, and fast moving scenes still show signs of smearing. I also find LCD's add a artificial look to film. Plasma never had a problem with speed and film looks like film not video. Blacks colors were always the problem with plasma till the Pioneer Kuro arrived.

Think of compression drivers and when Pioneer TAD arrived with Be diaphragm.