4-year-old CRT RPTV Nicer Pic than new DLP?
I have a 4-year-old 55-inch CRT RPTV 4:3 Toshiba, and I recently viewed some new DLP/LCos/LCD 60-62 inch 16:9 RPTVs using some of my own favorite DVDs (Gladiator, Sense and Sensibility). The new RPTVs were all linked via HDMI to the dvd player (for those sets with HDMI connectors).
Frankly, I was rather dissapointed -- I really felt that my old CRT RPTV had a better, cleaner pic. I viewed all the sets -- including my own in my den (connected to a high-end Pioneer progressive scan DVD player) -- with an 11-foot distance. The LCos/LCD sets I saw had rather poor blacks so that the sets -- no matter how the stores adjusted them -- always seemed to have a slight white/foggy haze over the entire screen and the black bars. The candle-lit scenes in both dvds were particularly dissapointing. The DLP set I saw was much better in this regard but the picture of my old RPTV seemed sharper and cleaner with less noise.
When in letter box mode, my CRT RPTV has a 48-inch diagonal size or about 12 inches less than the new TVs I viewed. Does the bigger 60-inch size contribute to the apparent worsening of the picture clarity/quality? I was really expecting to be blown away by the new sets and to feel like junking my old one -- the revelation to me was how good my old set still seemed to be, its only main disadvantage was size and 4:3 layout. Will the new 1080p sets be better in this regard?
Thanks for your comments and advise!
I Love my 48"CRT HDTV my 30" HDTV doesn't compare
I'm in total love with my Mitsubishi 48" rear Projection widescreen VTR HDTV (cost all of $1600 new a year or so ago including delivery & installation)- picture is perfect & I honestly haven't seen any better. Based on that, I bought a 30" Samsung widescreen CRT HDTV for around $750 including everything also around a year ago for my bedroom for which the TV is on top of my dresser, I might be able to go up to 37", no bigger, because of space limitations.
Anyway, the picture is very good but unfortunately, there is still a night & day difference between that & the 48" one. Going through places like Circuit City & others, I didn't really see any CRT HDTV's under 37" that had a notceable better picture- afew of them looked more cosmetically high tech which I like but the pictures were pretty much the same. I did notice that on some, that is the keyword, some, LCD's between 30-37", the picture was noticeable better. Unfortunately, I don't have $1500 or so to buy one now & psychologically I just am not ready to spend the same amount on a 32" one that I did on my 48" one. I keep checking Craigs list & other places in search of a bargain, but I haven't seen any, in fact some of these morons list used TV's for not that much less then what you could one new.
As for non HD 4:3 shows, the bars don't bother me but I'm not thrilled with the picture either on both sets. This doesn't have anything to do with the set, its the 4:3 format & the
cable company, so I would accept that part.