Sony Trinitrons, and CRT Debate.

[madhatter667]

So, a while back I put up a thread called "I Made Mistakes!" where I had fun detailing how I scored a free Sony KV-32FV310. Monster of a TV. Looks nice, sounds nice. Cosmetically flawed. But, free is the favorite price, so I can easily look past those flaws.

 

Last night, I did it again. I nabbed a Sony Trinitron (no WEGA logo) KV-27FS100. Also free. Also cosmetically flawed. Not as flawed as the 32". Also flat faced CRT. Fewer inputs... but it still has component in, A/V/composite in, S video, and a spot for RF (which I avoid whenever possible, but will use it if it is all I have). Given that I am using these for older systems... they seem a good fit. PS2 looks great on the 27" as well. Almost better, actually. Colors are still rich, sound is still nice (though I think the 27" doesn't have the integrated woofer of the 32"). I think someone upgraded to a newer TV, and didn't want to keep the old one around... pushed it to the curb. Lol.

 

Given that it is non WEGA, I don't see any digital inputs on the back... would this one also be a true analog television (as in well suited to older systems like Atari on through PS2/XBox)? I know my disc based systems look good, but the bulk of my game collection is boxed up, and in storage... we're closing on a house in a few weeks.

 

Are there any bonuses to the 27" that the 32" doesn't have? I mean it is easier to move and still looks great. Ideally I would keep them both.

My wife doesn't like the large one, because it giant, heavy etc. She does agree that it looks and sounds nice. I have a goal of adding some of the more modern systems to my console line up (ex got the 360, PS3, and I want to add a PS4), which means a modern TV....which means need to arrange space in the new place for multiple screens. Lol.

 

Thoughts? Input? I know.... crazy good luck finding two nicer quality CRT TVs for nothing but a little grunt lifting.

[goaltoss]

Personally I would go with the 27

 

I have a 27 and a 32 KV model Sony's. The 32 does offer the sub woofer inside which is nice but you need to be careful as long term use of it will vibrate the alignment of the guns. I had to take mine apart twice to readjust.

 

The 27 honestly at least on mine has better detectable scan liens which was a major plus when using it for 8bit systems.

 

I rarely use either of them these days as I picked up a few PVM's. Although smaller they offer a far superior image quality and support RGB

 

Now your two KV models would work great with a RGB to Component since they support 240p

[Austin]

I can't comment much on your situation, but this just gives me another option to gloat about how awesome the Trinitrons are. I've been using RGB recently through an upscaler on different HD sets, and while it looks phenomenal, when I go back and play on my Trinitron through standard composite, it still looks damn-good. Nice and sharp, good colors. Even though I've got RGB for other sets, I don't mind playing on the Trinitron at all. It's a good compromise between size and picture quality and I don't have to have specialty cables. I can't say the same for other TVs using the same A/V method.

[zetastrike]

I found a tiny, 14 inch Trinitron at a Goodwill for $15 last year. It has component, composite, and RF (no svideo sadly). My component modded Genesis and my PS2 look great on it over component and my Saturn, 3DO, and 800XL look pretty nice over composite too. The RF is garbage though. I was forced to get my 2600Jr composite modded because it wouldn't accept the RF signal no matter what I did. The same thing happened when Time Warner forced customers to get those analog to digital converter boxes. The cable signal became so snowy it was unwatchable.

 

If I ever get another console that only has RF, I'll have to dig out one of my really old CRTs.

[CRTGAMER]

Are there any bonuses to the 27"; that the 32"; doesn';t have? I mean it is easier to move and still looks great. Ideally I would keep them both.

My wife doesn't like the large one, because it giant, heavy etc. She does agree that it looks and sounds nice. I have a goal of adding some of the more modern systems to my console line up (ex got the 360, PS3, and I want to add a PS4), which means a modern TV....which means need to arrange space in the new place for multiple screens. Lol.

Thoughts? Input? I know.... crazy good luck finding two nicer quality CRT TVs for nothing but a little grunt lifting.

 

Some WEGAs have SD Tubes!

Base on your description, both your Sony flat tubes only support 480i. The smaller 27" has the advantage of not quite as large an image, so the 480i resolution looks sharper. Too bad that 32" is not an HD CRT which is the perfect setup offering all resolutions from 480i to 1080i with no upscale issues.

 

I own both a Sony KD-27" (480i with HD Tube) and two Sony KV-HS 32" (HD CRTs) as well as two 14" Sony PVMs and a bank of four 4" Sony PVMs. The curved glass PVMs are beautiful for SD gaming, but in no way up to a quality of the newer flat screen Wegas.

 

Try your modern systems on a HD CRT, you might be surprised of the clarity. Plus you have the advantage of playing the older lower resolution consoles all crystal clear with no upscale issues.

 

Personally I would go with the 27

 

I have a 27 and a 32 KV model Sony's. The 32 does offer the sub woofer inside which is nice but you need to be careful as long term use of it will vibrate the alignment of the guns. I had to take mine apart twice to readjust.

 

The 27 honestly at least on mine has better detectable scan liens which was a major plus when using it for 8bit systems.

 

I rarely use either of them these days as I picked up a few PVM's. Although smaller they offer a far superior image quality and support RGB

 

Now your two KV models would work great with a RGB to Component since they support 240p

 

That is hard to believe that the factory built in surround sound speaker will affect the CRT gun on a 480i tube. The third speaker is not that big and is mounted in a "bose reflex" box. There is more variance caused by heat expansion of the components that affects the geometry over the years.

 

The Component input on the Sony KV-FS series do NOT support 480p.

 

Not entirely true as the absolute best picture quality of PVMs, just long term durability. With the exception of the few CRT PVMs that have higher resolution then 480i, the WEGA HD CRT TVs are a newer design with flat tube, higher resolution (DVI/HDMI) and digital enhancements to further improve the picture. The PVM has the advantage of all the great control features up front instead of buried in a hidden Service Menu. SD looks sharp on a PVM (due to smaller sized tube) and looks just as well and sometimes better on the bigger WEGA with its digital enhancements.

 

Sony Trinitron WEGA RLOD Repair Guide

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=458437#p458437

 

Edited June 21, 2016 by CRTGAMER

[Rick Dangerous]

I have a 39" Phillips CRT in silver from 2003 with an S-Video input. I bought it exclusively for playing light gun games on, and it looks great.

 

I wanted the big screen but man is it HEAVY. Easily a two person (struggling) lift...

 

To me the ultimate 90's TV is a 27 inch (the standard back then) Sony Trinitron or Zenith CRT TV.

[Silverfleet]

This thread is relevant to my interests....

 

I was thinking lately about upgrading the TV in my small game room. Right now, I have a 25" Samsung CRT, and it's not great. I bought it in the late 90's, and it only has front and rear composite AV (the yellow video and the two sound channels) and RF. The tube has been discoloring lately, and I was thinking about upgrading. I am well versed in the world of Sony Trinitrons (and WEGA's), as I grew up with a couple of them, and they are awesome.

 

Anyone ever run one of those early 2000's CRT HDTV's? Right now, my game room has everything from the PS2 back to the 2600, but I was thinking of adding my 360 to the setup, and I don't want to use that crappy TV I currently have. If I upgrade to a modern LCD HDTV, that opens up another can of worms, including lack of light gun support and possibly the need for one of those frame skip box things for the older stuff. I do have a smaller 13" CRT that I could use when I want to play light gun games, but space is really limited in my room. I'm thinking that a CRT HDTV might be the best of both worlds.

[Austin]

I am pretty sure light guns won't work on HD CRTs as well. Can anyone else verify? (I should probably test it myself, I do have a HD CRT in the other room).

 

That aside, they work well. You might want a widescreen in that case if you are going to have the 360 hooked up. My widescreen Sony Wega will allow me to view classic games in 4x3 with black bars on the sides, while doing the HD stuff in widescreen like intended. It works well and the picture is great.

[LaserCat]

The FV310 features an internal voltage regulator. It is the only consumer tube tv that I have ever heard that includes this feature. This will probably help during movies that features lots of scenes that transition from light to dark but I have no idea how effective this feature will be for video games. I would like to own a FV310 but I've had to settle for the previous years model the FV300. I also own a FS100. Instead of commenting how I feel about these 2 televisions I have decided to link 2 reviews that pretty much sum up my feelings.

 

http://www.cnet.com/products/sony-kv-fs100/#!

 

http://www.cnet.com/products/sony-kv-fv300/#!

[Silverfleet]

I am pretty sure light guns won't work on HD CRTs as well. Can anyone else verify? (I should probably test it myself, I do have a HD CRT in the other room).

 

That aside, they work well. You might want a widescreen in that case if you are going to have the 360 hooked up. My widescreen Sony Wega will allow me to view classic games in 4x3 with black bars on the sides, while doing the HD stuff in widescreen like intended. It works well and the picture is great.

 

After some digging around, it looks like the HD CRT setup will NOT play light gun games. Something about the refresh rates being different and affecting the response of the gun. That's too bad.

[CatPix]

Yes. That's because you have more lines to draw on screen (depending on how those tubes works, but I wouldn't be surprised that the SD picture is upscaled to HD), therefore the light beam stays less time on a line, throwing the count off.

Also, if the picture is upscaled, mean that where the game expect one line to be, there is actually two lines.

 

So to play light gun games on a HD CRT set, you have to know if the CRt physically display the picture in SD standard or upscale it digitally. in the latter case, light guns will not work.

[LaserCat]

This thread is relevant to my interests....

 

I was thinking lately about upgrading the TV in my small game room. Right now, I have a 25" Samsung CRT, and it's not great. I bought it in the late 90's, and it only has front and rear composite AV (the yellow video and the two sound channels) and RF. The tube has been discoloring lately, and I was thinking about upgrading. I am well versed in the world of Sony Trinitrons (and WEGA's), as I grew up with a couple of them, and they are awesome.

 

Anyone ever run one of those early 2000's CRT HDTV's? Right now, my game room has everything from the PS2 back to the 2600, but I was thinking of adding my 360 to the setup, and I don't want to use that crappy TV I currently have. If I upgrade to a modern LCD HDTV, that opens up another can of worms, including lack of light gun support and possibly the need for one of those frame skip box things for the older stuff. I do have a smaller 13" CRT that I could use when I want to play light gun games, but space is really limited in my room. I'm thinking that a CRT HDTV might be the best of both worlds.

 

I have a 2001 Toshiba hd crt and I have played my Xbox 360 on it. As good as the image is the overscan is noticeable on some games.

[jdollatari]

i miss my 27 inch trinitron wega so bad it was my first tv purchase when i start collecting again i will get another i had no idea about the subwoofer on the 32 or the pvm models. good info ive since learned about in recent years on retro forums like this one and neo geo .com anyway for now my samsung and vizio lcds will have to do

[Viscountalpha]

On the subject of PVM's I've recently purchased a few 13-14 inch pvms and I have to say, I love them. Supposedly they used a better quality phosphorus (rumor) But the screen convergence is very impressive on them. When calibrated, the color gamut is well above average. I'm still trying to sort out the whole RGB cable but my 8 inch will become an arcade test monitor soon enough. Part of me still wishes I had a working blasteroids arcade board and whirlygig spinners.

 

Oh well. I'll find some good spinners soon enough.

 

I do love the pvm's and they are starting to become very spendy for anything of reasonable size. (fyi 8inchers aren't practical)

[Nebulon]

27" CRT TVs are my limit (partially because I have back issues and that's as heavy as I can deal with).

 

Whichever one you choose, please sell (or give) the other one to a good home. Too many good CRTs were recycled or trashed during the great flat-screen purge. Now (some) people are starting to recognize that CRTs are still great for certain tasks.

[MotoRacer]

I prefer EDTVs, personally. I kept getting screwed over with BVMs and PVMs, time and time again. either they'd arrive broken, or they'd have a flaw from the get-go that progressively got worse to the point where having it on was more trouble than it was worth.

 

EDTVs allow for me to play with a display at the correct resolution, with the image quality of a more modern set, all while being able to do things like progressive scan. Games look just as crisp as a CRT from a resolution stand point, and may even look better (depending on the set) from a color perspective.... all while taking up significantly less space, and not having to deal with BNC connections.

[phoenixdownita]

.... Now (some) people are starting to recognize that CRTs are still great for certain tasks.

Weight lifting?

[Austin]

I prefer EDTVs, personally. I kept getting screwed over with BVMs and PVMs, time and time again. either they'd arrive broken, or they'd have a flaw from the get-go that progressively got worse to the point where having it on was more trouble than it was worth.

 

You need to find someone local to deal with. I had one dropped off at my place last weekend, and man.. the picture is nice.

[MotoRacer]

 

You need to find someone local to deal with. I had one dropped off at my place last weekend, and man.. the picture is nice.

I've had several now in the last few years. I donno, I just find them not to look as good, not to have progressive scan, have annoying connections to deal with, are extremely expensive, take up too much space, and tend to hurt my eyes with longer play sessions. My edtv is a Toshiba and the resolution and colors are astounding.

 

But different strokes for different folks. Anything is better than an hdtv with double the resolution that makes everything blurry and stretched to 16:9. Let's just agree to that haha.

[Austin]

So then is it just because they were broken, or because you just don't like them? Just tell it to us straight.

 

But of course, it's to each their own regardless. Myself, I'm finding my PVM basically makes Genesis games look like arcade games. That's definitely not a complaint. Shame the things are so damn expensive now.

 

As far as HD TVs, they can be incredible with the right upscaler (like a Framemeister). Stock out of the box, yeah, they suck with these older consoles.

[Crand]

Why is everyone calling these TVs "Wega"? The name is VEGA, people! VEGA!!!!! Also, Sony did make a single model of a glass tube HD Vega in 32" and 36" which could display 1080i over component video inputs.

[Punisher5.0]

3 hours ago, Crand said:

Why is everyone calling these TVs "Wega"? The name is VEGA, people! VEGA!!!!! Also, Sony did make a single model of a glass tube HD Vega in 32" and 36" which could display 1080i over component video inputs.

Because thats the way Sony spells it.....

[DragonGrafx-16]

I have a 1999 Trinitron (I think it's a 24 inch I'm not sure nope it's 27) and It did need some maintenance. It looks really good now. The picture is crisp an clear and nothing like the fuzziness that of the 32inch RCA TV I was using before it. MY Trinitron lacks any inputs above S-video but it still looks amazing even when using RF! 

Edited July 26, 2020 by DragonGrafx-16

[+GoldenWheels]

20 hours ago, Crand said:

Why is everyone calling these TVs "Wega"? The name is VEGA, people! VEGA!!!!! Also, Sony did make a single model of a glass tube HD Vega in 32" and 36" which could display 1080i over component video inputs.