older hi-end tube tv recommendations.....and hdtv.

I have the Loewe Aconda 38" and agree with what has been said: best TV on reg def as well as high def. Mine has had zero problems since I bought it in 2001. Full 1081/960i capable. Heavy 220 lbs. I love it as much as the day I purchased it.

GReat to hear that the Loewe Aconda displays SD well. The only complaint I have (which is significant) is that the Loewe 30" 16:9 Planus that I own is NOT GREAT w an SD signal. It makes standard DVDs look fantastic w its built in de-interlacer via component in, but it was built just as the transition to DTV was starting here in the US and is a bit of "bastard child". Of course, the other problem is that AFAIK, Loewe has gotten out of the consumer TV market in the U.S. And they are not only heavy but VERY clumsy to handle. OTOH, you cannot beat its PQ for watching movies. Properly set up, the black levels beat the pants off LCD and are better than plasma as well.

I bought my Sony Kv-34" XBR800 widescreen CRT as my first/main HDTV and it is still awesome after owning it over five years. It sits in the corner of my living room so the bulk/depth is not an issue. In fact, it still looks quite handsome if you ask me! I used the video essentials DVD to adjust the picture to a contrast-safe level from when the set was new so it still has lots of life left in the tube. Before purchasing my Sony XBR, I considered the larger 38" Aconda set too, but preferred the truly flat screen of the Sony to the Loewe's slightly curved one. The sound in the XBR's is very good as well, with a built-in 15 watt "subwoofer" that provides very good bottom-end for a TV.

My set is not the newer "super fine pitch" tube but the PQ on DVD and high-def is still exceptional. The video processing built-in this set is hard to beat, too. The DRC (scaler) is adjustable on these XBR's so you can really tweak a clean image with very few artifacts. In fact, I still use a non-progressive DVD player feeding it 480i and have never felt the need to "upgrade". I have never fed it a Blu-Ray disc yet but have no doubt it will look stunning with the new format. I'm in no hurry to get into BluRay for HT because my front projector is, alas, only 480p. I may buy one for the better audio, though. We'll see...

The set will scan at true 1080i horizontal resolution with roughly 1150 vertical slits in the trinitron aperture grill which provides a "pixel count" somewhat north of a 720p plasma or lcd. Resolution falls short of 1080p X 1920, however. The newer "super fine pitch" models have over 1600 vertical slits so they will very nearly resolve all the detail in the 1080i format, despite it's modest 34" diagonal size.

Yes, these sets are heavy and bulky by plasma/lcd standards, but the picture quality is still very hard to beat or even match. I have yet to have the set ISF'd to eliminate the slight red push in the color decoder and to tweak the gray scale, but even without that it still has a great picture overall. On a good over-the-air HD program that is well-produced ( like good PBS shows produced in HD) there is a "liquid" and three-dimensional quality to the image that I have not seen as well-produced in fixed-pixel TV's. I spent several hours with my father-in-law's new Panny 42" 1080p plasma watching it and adjusting w/video essentials and it looked very good after calibration. But, when I got home and turned on my XBR, I remembered why I am so happy with this set. The shadow detail and seemingly infinite gradations within the shadows give the picture amazing depth and realism. Pick one of these sets up for a smaller room or bedroom and you will not be dissapointed. People in the Bay Area are practically giving them away on Craigslist after they "upgraded" to a new flat panel for Christmas.

One more I forgot to mention.. If you don't mind the smaller 30" (widescreen) diagonal size, the HDTV monitor from Princeton Graphics was hard to beat. (I'm not referring to their computer monitors). It was a TV produced in the late '90's and originally sold under the Unity Motion brand. It had a Toshiba tube and high-quality line doubler built-in. It also featured design input by Joe Kane and was one of the few consumer-grade CRT's that would do 720p native. Princeton also offered a few 4:3 HD-capable sets in the 32"-36" size as well. All had excellent PQ - probably the best available this side of a professional monitor.

I just picked-up my 40" XBR yesterday and my back is still killing me. This was after I moved the 250lb 36" XBR into the bedroom.