What are the best TVs for viewing (Widescreen) VHS?

[CaptainKirk]

As people seem to be very keen to discard their VHS tapes these days, as is the trend, I thought I would look in to getting an optimum spec CRT TV for viewing widescreen VHS editions of films. The reason for this is that according to the consensus of a lot of experts, CRT TVs are the best for viewing VHS resolution or quality material.

To be precise, I'm interested to know if there were any 16:9 CRT TVs that were able to display a zoomed in letterboxed widescreen VHS image without showing interlace lines whilst (upscaling) increasing resolution appropriately.

Was the Philips pixel plus CRT range able to do this?

And how about the Lowe Mimo?

Grateful to know of others too.

Also, I would like to know of any line doublers or scalers for CRT (SCART) TVs.

Thank you.

 

[rocketrazor]

Thought I'd reply even though to be honest I have no idea. I wasn't even aware you could still buy CRT tv's. Best of luck though

 

[bigboss]

If you can find one, go for a non-HD TV. If not, get a 720p TV instead of 1080p. If no SCART, you can get a SCART to HDMI adaptor.

 

[simonlewis]

ooOOoo pre_historic i haven't seen vhs or crt in over 6-7 years, i thought that they were extinct, maybe it's time you upgraded.

 

[Frank Harvey]

I forget what the model numbers are, but the last of the widescreen Sony CRT screens would be a good start. You could also look at the pre-HD Pioneer or Fujitsu plasmas, which had good quality upscaling, particularly the Fujitsus.

 

[theflyingwasp]

Each to their own when it comes to home cinema.i would enjoy goodfellas just as much on VHS as I do on blu ray but maybe it's time to move on,the average person couldn't care less about blu ray they are more than happy with DVD but VHS is just a waste of time and space ,only place you will find VHS players and CRT Tvs are ebay and gumtree and most of the time it's pick up only due to the weight of postage.

 

[CaptainKirk]

Thanks David.

I was just wondering, do these models - or any other, have a similar facility as PixelPlus on Philips TVs?

 

[CaptainKirk]

Well, yes, you are right.

I've already got the HD stuff.

It's just that, as you say, people are giving these (CRTs and VHSs) away, literally for 'free'.

So if anyone isn't too fussy and can accomodate the space (like they were doing a few years ago anyway), it's not a bad deal.

Especially if you have got a VHS collection stretching back 30 odd years, it would be a shame to trash it all.

In which case there should always be atleast one decent CRT TV in the house.

Because VHS looks its best on CRT - provided the recording comes from a good source in the first place.

Laserdisc too - on a good CRT they can both come up to scratch.

I'm not saying they are superior formats, (though for ease of use, VHS is still useful as a recording medium),

but allowing for the limitations of what these formats are, they still are of some worth.

Hence my 'research' , if you will, in to this subject.

 

[Sun_Shang_Xiang]

The later Sony crts were known as Trinitron Wegas or just WEGA, in particular the Sony Kd -34xbr960 had a great reputation , unfortunately it was only on sale in the USA (I think) and couldn't do PAL.Each company would have its own CRT picture processing system, Bang and Olufsens was known as VisionClear.Whether one thinks one system of picture processing is better than another is wholly up to that individual,

You might want to have a look at the Bang and Olufsen and Loewe CRT models as these are held in high regard.

Bang & Olufsen: Beovision 3-28, Beovision 3-32 , Avant 28 and Avant 32 - some of these models had variants with vcr or dvd players already built into them.

Loewe: Articos 32, Aconda - (various sizes biggest was up to 38 inches), Mimo , Xelos and Aventos.

Of the mainstream companys Panasonic - (Quintrix) , Philips and Toshiba also produced some nice 16:9 models.

Later models tended to be 100hz as some people were sensitive to CRT flicker but this sometimes led to other problems like occasional picture smearing/artifacts.Also above 34 inches geometry problems tend to increase for CRTs.The major problem with buying a crt tv is its usually second hand which leads one to wonder how long they are going to last, however you do sometimes get crts which have been low usage for sale (usually used as a bed room tv, the Bang and Olufsen have a Menu access facily (at least for the Avants where you can access the usage via the B&O remote).

I don't have and never have had a 16:9 CRT but I do have 4:3 50 HZ crt which I use for retro gaming, I think the older 4:3 50hz crts are better for retro gaming. Hope this helps.

 

[CaptainKirk]

Thank you again for your time David.

Yes, I will look in to these.

I agree, a lot of it is personal.

But you are right about the 4:3 CRTs.

Infact, in general, they produce sharper pictures than their 16:9 equivalents.

 

[CaptainKirk]

Just out of interest... does any one have an opinion of Samsung Plano CRT TVs?