Looking for the largest direct-view CRT, the Sony Trinitron PVM-4300

[init4fun]

Originally Posted by vol.2

That's an absurd thing to say. Museums have collections that don't all have a place out on the floor constantly. That's how museums work and is normal. Exhibits and works are rotated in and out to highlight different parts of the collection.

Museums are tasked with storing and preserving history and art for as long as possible for future generations. It is overly dramatic to say that undisplayed exhibits are "rotting in the back room" like they are locking stuff up in some Indiana Jones style government warehouse.

To be fair to Tom's point here;

With a set as rare as this one is, it should never be anywhere but "on display" if it were to be in a museum. From my limited reading/research when I read this thread and then found the UTube vid in a search, it'd take a pretty rare specimen indeed to upstage this one in the competition for a museum's display space.

Anyway, I didn't post the vid to start a dustup, the OP (Bottom1) posted a request for information as to whether any of these sets still survive, and I obliged the request with what I found

[vol.2]

Originally Posted by init4fun

With a set as rare as this one is, it should never be anywhere but "on display" if it were to be in a museum.

As opposed to being in private hands and only ever getting seen in person by a handful of people before it gets used up?

I disagree. While I do think things are supposed to be used and enjoyed, this is a one of kind thing and needs to be preserved.

What I was objecting to was Tom's characterization of museums as being black hole that rot away artifacts. That couldn't be further from the truth. The whole purpose of museums is to preserve things by employing professionals to conserve and store things correctly. Exhibits are sometimes kept on basically permanent display, but they aren't always.

One good example of such a place is the American Museum of the Moving Image in Queens. This is the place that I first got to see many of the wonderful TVs and personal computers of history. It is an awe-inspiring and inspirational place for me and many people who became excited to learn about technology and media.

https://movingimage.org/

[MIPS]

What I was objecting to was Tom's characterization of museums as being black hole that rot away artifacts. That couldn't be further from the truth.

Nope.


Speaking from 20 years of computer collecting there are a lot of places that declare themselves as museums where the actual exhibit hall is tiny compared to the long-term storage. Some places do properly photograph, catalog and store their items. Others are black holes for machines that were found/donated, you get a few photos but then and are never seen again, or worse, the donations through poor paperwork are sold when the museum closes (the Living Computer Museum) and the items disappear into the shadows of the new private owner.
Likewise I am aware of museums who refuse to do any preventative maintenance even for static displays, either because modern technology somewhat conflicts with existing policy for handling artifacts or because the removal of volatile components would devalue the item. The Smithsonian is guilty of this.

I can absolutely see the largest known CRT on the planet doing that. I know systems that were selectively stolen and have never been seen again.

[vol.2]

Originally Posted by MIPS

Speaking from 20 years of computer collecting there are a lot of places that declare themselves as museums where the actual exhibit hall is tiny compared to the long-term storage.

All museums that I am personally aware of have vastly larger storage than exhibit space. That's perfectly normal.

The Smithsonian is not an institution that specializes in the preservation of 20th century electronics. There exists reputable museums that could care for and display a set like this. I think that would be a better fate for it.

[init4fun]

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