I couldn't help it
 

I stopped in the thrift shop after a sad day of estate sailing, and sitting on the bottom shelf all by itself was this rather new looking Sony Trinitron. It was marked $7.98, so I figured why not. Threw it in a buggy and went to check out, and to my surprise, everything in the store was half off! So I got a very nice 2004 24" Trinitron for $3.99. They had the brightness and contrast maxed out, and it was in "sports" mode, so I feared that the CRT was totally wasted. But that turned out not to be true. I turned everything down to a reasonable level, and it makes a stellar picture.

Not long before Goodwill stopped taking CRT TVs here they were $0.49 a pop and there were dozens....No room for BPC then (or now), but that is probably the cheapest opportunity to own a 'video wall' I ever had.

Moved it to Solid State for you.

Thanks. I've been playing music through this TV, and the "WOW by SRS" sound system is quite good. I was very surprised that a set of this vintage with a plastic cabinet could sound so good.

Hey, that's the same one I have in my bedroom for regular tv watching. I really like mine, it has the optional subwoofer inside it, I suppose that must be like yours as well. Great sound, I mean it puts any flat panel to shame in the sound category.

The man who gave it to me had used it as his living room set for many years before he got a flat panel. He insisted he had never smoked around this set. The first thing I did was open it up completely and try to get as much cigarette tar off of its innards as possible.

The 24" was a big seller. Sony always ran out in a few weeks & you
had to wait til next month for another run. Just how they like it !
It was a perfect size. Fit where a 20" went most the time but
not an ugly bulky 27" Nice pix too.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

Yes, I agree with that. 24" is just right for my application. I have it on top of my CTC-31, about 3-1/2 feet from my chair, and I can watch it comfortably for hours.

A nice purchase buddy :)

Ditto what Dude said.

Nice picture. The set looks like a 2006 Trinitron I used to own (and is now used at a relative's house while I watch a widescreen HD Panasonic CRT). Another relative threw the Trinitron to the curb (kids bought her a flatscreen for Christmas), and I saved the Trinitron.

Two things that continue to amaze me:
■People are often buying flat sets only because they want to make the room look more modern. It is many of the poorest people who do this, they don't want people to think they're poor (as if living with a blue tarp on the house where the roof used to be didn't clue anyone off).
■Everywhere I go (except my own home, LOL), I'm always seeing flat screen HD sets displaying HD programs in SD with the picture not filling the screen. Often the set is on analog channel 3, with a coax from the cable or satellite box, and the owner has not explored the buttons on the remote other than power, volume and channel.

I have the 13" version of this set -- like yours, it's wonderful.

I remember seeing one almost identical to this a few months ago. I don't think it was a 36", but it was definitely bigger than a 24". I didn't bother with it because they wanted $40 for it. I'd really love to find the 40" XBR kind. I love the look of those.

I wish I knew why stores almost always turn all controls to maximum on their flat screen TVs. The resulting picture looks terrible (to say nothing of the strain this puts on the TV's power supply and other circuitry, including the display panel itself), nothing like what the set will show in someone's home, with the controls set to produce a good picture. If this is someone's idea of a sales point, I don't know what they are thinking. IMO, it is a miracle they sell as many flat screens as they do with the picture looking so awful (oversaturated colors, raster far too bright, contrast set to maximum...)

I don't know if this ploy was used as a sales point for b&w NTSC TVs, but I would guess it was, for whatever crazy reason the stores may have had at the time (maybe they thought they would sell more sets that way, as flawed as this line of reasoning seems). Flat TVs being the kind of sets they are (take it out of the box, put in on a stand or in a cabinet, hook up antenna or cable/satellite, turn it on, and watch, with little or no regard for the default control settings), this trend will likely continue indefinitely.

Sheeesh.

For the same reason that people buy the loudest speaker or the loudest vacuum cleaner. The general public will always choose the brighter TV.

It catches the eye. Some sets even had a demo mode. Terrible pictures.
& what do you do to choose one ? The remotes arnt there & the buttons
on the set are in an bad place thats dark. Not like the olden days where
you could easily adj for best pix.
Consumer just wants a size & whatever he is told he needs. It goes home
& never takes it out of demo. Also he may have chose the worst TV
pix wise. He has no way to know which is capable of the best pix.
The salesman dont care, he is a salesman. 99% only know what they memorized. He dont want to find the remote or move the set out so you
can get at the buttons. He never learned the world is not a colorful place
so couldnt adjust one right anyhows.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

Nice find. A few years from now, I wouldn’t be surprised if these flat Trinitrons become somewhat of a collectors item. Already the 34” HD version is becoming sought after, perhaps the more common 4:3 SD sets will follow. IIRC radiotvphono on YouTube got one of these and had a favorable opinion of it. I personally wouldn’t mind having one of the 20” model.

I just can't stop. I was so impressed by the 24", that I picked up this near mint condition 27" WEGA for $13 at a different thrift shop.

Trinitrons are about the best there is, in my opinion. Just about all the CRTs in our house are Trinitron, including an old computer monitor, and a Macintosh Color Classic which has one built-in (10").

Save your space for an HD capable super-fine-pitch trinitron.

Looks like you got a great deal!

Indeed. I really want to find the elusive KV-40XBR800. Nobody here could afford those though, and I don't think I've ever seen one.

One think about this new 27" Trinitron that's pretty depressing, is that it does not have the WOW sound system like the 24" set. It only has two 3x5's mounted to the plastic face that don't sound nearly as good. I ASSUMED that since this set is bigger and better, it would have a good sound system as well, but that's not the case. At least it has SRS.

IIRC there were 2 chassis 0n the 20"-32" One had an F ? in
the model# the other a V. IIRC the V was better. The Wegas
were a great line but oh did the blow FBT's

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

That is a Hi-Scan model, not a super-fine-pitch so it is not as good as the super-fine-pitch models.

This page tells the resolution specs of the CRTs Sony made and the models they offered. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FD_Trinitron/WEGA

I went with a KD-34XS955. It has ATSC/NTSC tuning, HDMI input, every analog input I could ask for and supports 1080i and has a 16:9 CRT (not many of those made which makes it a future collectable in my book)....Only drawback is that it is a bit heavier than I am (good thing I can lift more than my weight :D).

The trouble is, I have a residence basement and two pole buildings full of Couldn't Help it's. It was hard to resist a great working Sony Trinitron for $.49 at the GW.
In a way, it's a good thing they don't sell them anymore.
BTW, is the Panasonic Tau series supposed to be similar to the Trinitron.

I found one of those by a dumpster at the end of the road a few months ago, missing its power cord. Whoever had it had a legitimate reason for getting rid of it, the CRT was toast.

I'm really getting sick and tired of stuff getting broken when it's around me. It's a wonder I haven't accidentally necked a picture tube yet. I tried to load my once pristine 27" Trinitron into the car so I could watch it at the other house, and luckily, the bottom piece hit against the door jamb of the car and a whole chunk got busted off. :grumpy:

Guess what you guys! I found the SERVICE MENU. So that's what I've been playing with for the past three hours.

The last one of them I bought was at an estate sale. A buck for both the set and the Insignia DTV converter, with proper remotes. Both super clean and well cared for. Also a 13" Zenith with the converter, same condition.
When I asked the seller to give me a hand loading the Sony, he just grabbed it up and said " which car."
I used to be reasonably strong until I messed up my right shoulder and I favor it a little too much.