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These days, you don’t need to leave the house to get the cinematic experience. With a bit of time, effort and money, you can create your very own home cinema in your living room so you can watch films at your leisure. At the heart of any home cinema is the screen. With all the talk of plasma and LCD TVs, you may have started to view your trusty CRT set with something akin to disdain. Flat
screen TVs may seem like a better option — they are the fashion accessory of the TV world. They sit in the corner, slim, sleek and as sexy as a TV can possibly get. The ultimate in aspirational technology, flat panel TVs are probably on the most wanted list
for many a technology buff.

But — and isn’t there always a ‘but? — LCD and plasma also come with a coronary-inducing price tag, and are probably out of the reach of many consumers. And before you rush out to spend your rainy-day savings on a shiny new plasma TV, it’s worth looking
into the advantages that a widescreen CRT set can offer you.
CRT, or Cathode Ray Tube, produces images through using a heated filament (the cathode) in a vacuum inside a glass tube; the ‘ray’ refers to the electrons inside the vacuum that create the image when they strike a phosphorous surface — namely, the screen at the other end of the tube. This is very basic explanation of how a TV works.

Widescreen CRT has the aspect ratio 16:9 instead of the standard 4:3 of most TVs. If you have ever watched a DVD on a 4:3 aspect ratio TV and wondered why you are missing a fraction of the picture on either side, it’s because most films are filmed in this widescreen
format. So if you want to get the full picture — and a more realistic home cinema feel to your viewing — invest in a widescreen TV.

The same basic technology
The aesthetics have improved since those first days of television, but the basic technology — for CRT sets, at least — has remained the same. But what can CRT possibly offer to consumers when technology has moved along so much in the past few years?
To be honest, they offer plenty. For a start, they have a proven track record. CRTs can offer you excellent colour, particularly in dark colours, where newer technologies may struggle to match that quality.

Unlike LCD screens, the CRT sets don’t have any problems with viewing angles, so you can sit almost anywhere in a room, under most lighting conditions, and still see the picture on the screen.
And unlike newer technologies that may be a little more delicate, CRT sets will stand up to a little more battering (although we aren’t recommending you try the ‘drop kick’ test). There’s no chance of dead pixels either, which is a risk with LCD TVs.

And last, but by no means least, CRT sets are far less expensive – an important factor for consumers who have a tight budget to keep to. It’s also worth noting that you don’t have to opt for the standard CRT set. Manufacturers are building their own technologies into the sets to enhance pictures and make sure that you get the best picture possible. Just because you can’t afford plasma or LCD TVs doesn’t mean you have to give up the idea of having a flat screen. There are flat screen CRT TVs available, meaning instead of
a curved glass you have a perfectly flat screen. It won’t be thin like the plasma or LCD versions, but you might get a better picture because it can help to reduce glare. And it looks pretty good too.

Don’t be fooled
When you are buying your TV, don’t be fooled by the setting that the store has programmed into them. It’s best to mess around with picture controls like brightness, contrast, etc to make sure that the pictures you are looking at are comparable. Check out the set to see if has different colour temperature settings; these can range from neutral to blue-grey. These settings can impact on the colour decoder the television has built-in, so check out things like skin tones and make sure they are accurate.

Another thing to check out is the type of connections the TV comes with. High Definition TV may not be a big deal on this side of the Atlantic just now, but who knows what the future olds? HDTV gives you a better picture, and usually works with component connections. If your TV has a component connection, you can also take advantage of the best picture DVD has to offer — provided, of course, your DVD player also has a compatible connection. Scart connections are almost essential for connecting to other devices like VCRs or DVD players.

The debate about upgrading to 100Hz from standard 50Hz TVs may be lost on you; it’s difficult to know what you might miss out on when you’ve never really had it in the first place. However, if you are thinking ahead and want to cover yourself for the future,
100Hz gives you a faster refresh of your screen image and will be used more effectively once high definition broadcasts are fully supported across the board.

Keep your eye out for a comb filter on your chosen TV. While it may sound like an odd technical term, a comb filter gives you the full resolution of a DVD — without it, you’ll only have about half. There are also some other improvements it can make to the picture,
such as fine-tuning the image so colours appear more accurately on the screen. While you may not notice the lack of comb filter on a smaller TV, it will get quite irritating on larger screens, especially if it impacts on the resolution of the image. There are different types
of comb filters, such as Digital, but if in doubt, ask the sales person.
At best, they will be able to fill you in on all you need to know; at worst, they won’t have a clue what you are
talking about, providing you with some light entertainment as you watch the poor salesperson grope for the proper explanation.

Some drawbacks
Of course, not everything is great with CRT. There are some drawbacks to the technology that you should be aware of. For a start, the size of the sets are limited to about 40in and generally the bigger the screen, the bigger the whole TV set is, so any ideas you have about fitting your TV neatly into that spare space between the book shelf and the wall will probably be knocked on the head.
If you opt for a standard screen, which is usually a curved one, the larger the size, the greater the curve will be. Although CRT sets don’t have the same issues as LCDs with viewing angles, if you are sitting off to the side of the set, you may lose some of the
picture as it will be hidden behind the curve of the tube.

What’s out there?
There is a mind-boggling amount of choices in the CRT TV market. There are plenty of sets to choose from on the market, from the big name brands to lesser known manufacturers. Sometimes, it might come down to simple preference between brands — if you have a loyalty to Sony, you may choose to opt for a Sony set over JVC and vice versa. For others, it may be a budget restriction that ultimately makes the final decision. Each has its own technology developed by the manufacturer

Sony
One of the strongest brands in the home entertainment market, Sony has developed its own Picture Power technology for its TV range. According to the company, the technology uses filters to enhance picture definition where the image needs to be improved. Designed to give you a clearer picture, free from image artefacts and with minimal picture noise, Picture Power improves the image by adjusting the level of enhancement frame by frame. It also claims to offer improved contrast by separately processing the edges and surfaces separately. We liked the look of the KV36HQ100, with
its large screen and sophisticated finish.

Philips
For its own TVs, Philips offers Pixel Plus technology, which it claims enhances broadcast signals, DVD or digital TV by doubling the number of pixels on a line and increasing the number of lines by 33 per cent. Combined with the Digital Natural Motion that Philips
uses in its TVs, the result is a great picture. Digital Natural Motion creates smooth movement on your TV screen by monitoring the picture and inserting frames where needed so the image looks fluid. One of our favourites was the 32PW6517, a widescreen
model with a Superflat screen.

Panasonic
Panansonic’s Aquity range of TVs includes the company’s unique QuintrixSR tube technology, giving deep, rich black tones while also maintaining high brightness and overall contrast with no picture noise. The true panoramic effect of the Acuity’s 36″ widescreen was also in full evidence when we skipped ahead to the final scenes.
We liked the Panasonic TX36PD30 Acuity widescreen TV and with its pure flat screen and astounding picture and sound quality.

JVC
JVC does a nice range of flat-screen CRTs, with Digital Image Scaling Technology, including a 36in TV, the HV-36P38. DIST converts the regular interlaced signals from the broadcast TV signal to progressive, giving you a high definition picture. This can
enhance the picture, eliminating any images that may have cropped up from time to time. The company also uses Super DigiPure to adjust colour details to match the image.

Toshiba
Another fan of the flat screen is Toshiba, with its Face Flat technology built into its CRT TVs. Face Flat is a horizontally and vertically flat tube, giving you a wider viewing angle
and reduced glare on the screen.

With all these new technologies, it seems CRT is trying to hold its own in a market that flat-screen threatens to overwhelm at some point in the future. Until prices for the sophisticated TV sets fall somewhat, we can’t see the average consumer replacing the TV
with a plasma option. So don’t abandon your trusty CRT set just yet in favour of your fickle flat screen — all it might need is an upgrade and you can get years of entertainment out of it.

03/08/04

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