Should I buy a used CRT Projector?

[littlemonty]

Hi,
At the moment i have a really bad Proxima projector & i really want to replace it. I was wondering if a used CRT projector is the way to go? I have seen some retubed ones on ebay for about 2k.
I have heard some good things and some bad things about CRT projectors. Could some one please tell what they think. We will be buying in the next few months.

Monty.

[Senator]

There are sooooooo many things you have to be sure of when deciding what to buy -

you could go down the used CRT path -

Pros

Capable of excellent picture quality, incl resolution up to 2500*2000 if you go for a 9 inch CRT, but at $2k, it is likely you will get a 7 inch machine, but still excellent native resolution (1600*1200 I think - depending on model).

Black blacks, not greys and potentially excellent colour uniformity including accurate grey scale chart (good for skin tones, shadow detail).

Long lasting tubes, CRT tubes "typically" can last for around 10,000 hours or so, 2 - 5 times longer than LCD.

No pixelation/screen door effect/fixed panel noise.

At $2k, I would pretty much guarantee that it will not be matched in PQ by a comparably priced LCD - detail, 3-D picture.

Some even comment that a CRT projector is simply easy to watch, less fatiguing etc.

CRT Cons -

Large, bulky units, often weighing in excess of 30kgs, can be up to around 120kg.

Need a permanent install - CRT's require the Red, green and blue tube to be perfectly aligned so that there is no colour leakage on the screen creating a uniform picture, movement will put the tubes out of alignment requiring reconvergence.


Picture is typically not as bright as modern LCD/DLP projectors and those CRT projectors will generally require total light control and sometimes a high(er) gain screen to achieve a decent picture.

Not plug & play - these typically have to be either professionally set up, or set up by someone that really knows what they are doing, or else you will not get "decent" results. Set up includes mechanical alignment (ensuring projector is 100% square on to the screen), focus and convergence of the tubes.

Often, these projectors will not come with component inputs, and require some form of RGB signal (from say a HTPC, scaler or RGB DVD player).


Depending on where you are in Aussie, it may pay to also check www.htcentral.net - another aussie ht forum that even has a CRT forum thread. I know a lot of the members there have 2nd hand crt projectors and could readily offer advice over particular models pros and cons etc.

Good luck

Sen

[littlemonty]

Hi again,
I have decided to go against a CRT projector. This is because the owner of a hifi shop (Steve Bennet) told me too many things against CRT projectors. I ended up buying his personal projcector. I bought it for AU$1000 and it is a SharpVision xv-380h. Before bought it, I looked it up on the internet but I found the specs to be quite bad. Especially because it was about 5 old. But when I went in to look at the projector I found the image quality to be quite amazing (for its age)! The colour is exelent, it has very black blacks and it was quite bright. Yes, you can see the flydoor effect but not very much. It is also quite a large projector, but in my case, it doesn't matter.

I would still like to go and have a look at a CRT proejctor, but I don't know where I can go and see one.

But overall, I am extremely happy with the projector.

Monty

[Gopal]

I'm just simply amazed that no-one even mentioned a DLP projector.