SONY 34 Inch Super Fine Pitch(TM) XBR(R) Television KD-34XBR960
My First Sony - My Last CRT
For Christmas, I did the unthinkable (and irresponsible): I purchased a new Sony 34XBR960.  The TV is being moved out of production and it's hard to find anywhere on the market nowadays.  I felt the need to jump on this monitor before it went the way of all CRTs.  The cathode ray tube is being replaced by the inferior technology of plasma and LCD (although, to be fair, this quality gap is narrowing with each passing generation).  I visited a local electronics store and sampled a few TVs with my attention piqued by two Sony's: a 55\\" Sony LCD Projection and this 34\\" Sony CRT.   <br /> <br />55 inches is extremely large, especially considering my relatively small viewing space.  It required a good ten feet of clearance before the screen door effect was eliminated.  Since I knew my couch is a mere eight feet from the television, I felt this could be detrimental to my viewing pleasure.  It also was not able to achieve 1920x1080 resolution, something I felt would be irritating since I intended to have this TV for years (and HDTV is becoming more mainstream each day).   <br /> <br />But the real distinction was in my testing of the two monitors.  I brought my brother's XBox 360 in to hook up and watch the results (the sales reps were extremely helpful).  Playing the 360 on the 55\\" LCD was an astonishing display--beautiful, crisp details and a completely immersive experience.  I then swapped it out for a copy of \\"Batman Begins\\" and my heart sank.  The bats flying in the opening credits were a blur of LCD splotches, an ugly mess if you ask me.  I will be the first to admit that since DVD puts out a maximum of 480p, a higher-resolution DVD may look vastly superior.  But everything considered, the size and relatively new LCD technology left me a bit cold. <br /> <br />The 34XBR960, on the other hand, not only handled the XBox 360 well, but made \\"Batman Begins\\" look rich in detail, color, and clarity.  The blacks were simply astonishing--something LCDs have yet to replicate.  And being a fan of both B&W and film noir motion pictures, blacks were an essential for me.  It became clear that the XBR960 was my choice--in spite of the relatively small size given the price (it cost the same as the 55 incher). <br /> <br />Picture: Hands down the best CRT I've ever seen.  There are the two dark fine lines which only become apparent during white outs (such as the opening \\"death\\" credit of \\"Six Feet Under\\"), common in Trinitron displays.   There also appears to be some focus issues near the corners, although this is quite possibly due to the camera lens instead of the TV.  I have not done any testing to ensure which is the case, since it doesn't bother me (I'm leaning to camera lens distortion since it doesn't seem to affect video games). <br /> <br />As mentioned previously, it entirely matters upon the input source.  Crap in, crap out.  DVDs look fine and, thanks to Comcast's HDTV DVR which upscales the 480i signal to 480p, even most standard programs are watchable.  That said, once you view 720p or 1080i with this TV (which purportedly only supports 1080i and upsamples 720p), you will have a hard time reverting back to the standard definition programs.  I hooked up a standard rabbit-ear antenna and my TV found all the HDTV stations in my area.  Nice, although it takes a good long time to scan for all channels--the TV says it can take up to 50 minutes to do this, though it was much shorter for my 20 channels. <br /> <br />There are a couple problems which may or may not be limited to my experience--ghosting in high-contrast motion areas and an overly bevelled TV frame, which becomes a problem when lit from an overhead light (causing a slight shadow to be cast onto the screen).  These are minor problems which rarely detract from the viewing experience. <br /> <br />Sound: Let's face it--you'll never get good sound from a TV monitor, no matter how good it is.  If you are going to invest in an expensive monitor, drop some money down on a good surround sound system as well. <br /> <br />The weight of the TV has been an issue for many, although I did not find this to be the case (maybe since my brother's TV is a good 150 lbs more).  Its 200 lbs is hefty, and since it is a CRT, the depth of the TV is approximately 32\\"--not quite as friendly as flat panel LCDs or plasmas (or even projections, for that matter).  However, a friend and I were able to lift the TV onto our stand without much trouble.  Sony was also nice enough to create a box which folds away from the TV instead of having to lift the TV from the box. <br /> <br />It has been a few months of watching the XBR960 with nary a problem.  I am still to this day awed by some of the pictures this TV produces.  I hope to have this thing for a long time.  Here's hoping it lasts!