I <3 My Slimfit 30 inch "flat screen" tube HDTV
I can have my cake AND eat it too
I was lucky enough to get a CRT HDTV just as they were being phased out of Best Buy.
At the end of 2007 I finally decided I was going to get a new TV so I could hook up all my game systems that were gathering dust in my closet. Now I wanted to be a purist and get a CRT but as you know CRT was on it's death bed in late 2007. Well, I took the plunge and got a Samsung Slimfit 30inch 16:9 CRT (TXT-3093) @ the local bestbuy for $525. Yeah.. it was expensive, but it was probably the best I could get that would provide the best of both worlds..... CRT so it'd be easy on my "SD" sourced systems, yet HDTV so the PS2 and going forward would look amazing as well. This thing has connections out the wazoo!!! I'd love to go SCART or RGB, but I need to just take my meds and realize I will never have 'perfection'.
Anyway, this TV plays nicely with the systems I've thrown @ it. I think there might be a bit of lag induced during play. I was playing Super Mario World on the SNES and my jumps seemed to be just a wee bit off, but I think that may be due to my crappy controller or just the fact that I'm a bit rusty with the game, after playing a bit longer on the game I got used to the feel. I'll need to test it out some more to make certain there isn't any noticeable lag introduced while gaming on this tv.
So, here are the systems and how they're hooked up and my quick impressions. Note, audio is over RCA L/R except for the HDMI connection. Stereo sound is produced by the TV, not separate speakers (which is something I may need to tackle down the road if I want 5.1 from the later systems).:
1) NES -> Composite -> Colors are a bit bloomy/blurry, but very liveable, there are issues with Super Mario Brothers, you can see extra background pixels on the left hand side, but I guess that's just the nature of the beast when it comes to overscan I think it's called.
2a) SNES -> Composite -> Same bloom/blurry as the NES, but liveable
2b) SNES -> S-video -> Colors are much better defined, also the clarity is a bit higher, BUT it does introduce the 'mask' (dither?) effect. It's a trade off to decide between the anti-aliasing affects of Composite, or the crisper/more-colorful image quality of S-Video
3) 3DO -> S-Video -> Works as expected. Good god the birth of 3D was very painful!!!
4) N64 -> S-Video -> Same dither issues using S-Vid like the SNES. Also, same problem with 3DO, the teething stage of 3D stinks!!! (I can fallback to Composite if I wish on the N64)
5) Gamecube -> Component -> Absolutely amazing, very impressive (tested F-Zero on it)
6) PS2 -> Component -> Very nice as well, (tested GT4 and SSX Tricky)
7) Xbox360 -> HDMI -> Eye candy galore as can be expected.