Is this a good CRT tv?

My dad just got it for free off Kijiji. Bringing it home on tuesday. https://esupport.sony.com/CA/p/model-home.pl?mdl=KV32FS210

I heard the Sony Triniton's are the absolute best TVs for retro gaming, I'm just wondering if anyone has experience with this particular model. The one I'm currently using is a JVC AV-20F476 if that's useful in telling me which tv is objectively better.

Yeah that's a great CRT, not the best but you won't find much better.

@nyadc: I'll say. I've been searching for a Trintion for over a year now to no avail.. the likelihood of finding like, the EXACT model that's better than all the rest is the equivalent of finding big foot where I live. The differences between this particular one and like, the best of the best is pretty minimal right?

Essentially yes, it's not something drastically different or anything.

If one is to invest money in a crt for old consoles, best to hunt down a deal on a decent sony bvm/pvm.

@Heirren: Well I didn't invest any money into it. It was free.

Good find, I had to rob my local junkyard for one of those

@conkertheking1: Worth it. I honestly didn't expect this TV to be so.... big. It's absolutely perfect for my viewing distance, and with the built in surround sound it's like playing retro games in a movie theater.

@mand0n said:

@conkertheking1: Worth it. I honestly didn't expect this TV to be so.... big. It's absolutely perfect for my viewing distance, and with the built in surround sound it's like playing retro games in a movie theater.

I got one of those ( 29" ), it broke ( started to do crazy things like changing channels when you pressed the volume buttons and things like that ), I had it fixed but meanwhile I got a 40" screen, by the time it returned from the repair shop ( maybe a month later ) I had nowhere to install it anymore, it´s so damn heavy that it needs a special stand for it so now it´s gathering dust ( figuratively speaking ) in the laundry room, games look and sound fantastic in it ( mine has surround like yours and a big subwoofer behind and above it ), meanwhile my older consoles are hooked to the screen along with the newer ones, I gotta figure out how to install both; I was thinking in getting a short stand for it and placing the screen on the wall above it. That´s the problem when your house is too small ( mean the house not the lot ).

How tall is that stand you have under your TV ?

@mand0n said:

@conkertheking1: Worth it. I honestly didn't expect this TV to be so.... big. It's absolutely perfect for my viewing distance, and with the built in surround sound it's like playing retro games in a movie theater.

I really hope you're using a VGA cable through an HDMI upscaler at 720p for your Dreamcast, if you're not you have no idea what you're missing, it completely changes the Dreamcast experience.

@nyadc said:

@mand0n said:

@conkertheking1: Worth it. I honestly didn't expect this TV to be so.... big. It's absolutely perfect for my viewing distance, and with the built in surround sound it's like playing retro games in a movie theater.

I really hope you're using a VGA cable through an HDMI upscaler at 720p for your Dreamcast, if you're not you have no idea what you're missing, it completely changes the Dreamcast experience.

No need to upscale. Why introduce lag when you can output a raw vga? VGA to Component would be a better scenario.

@nyadc: No I'm using composite cables.. blasphemous I know. I know the DC can output 480i with a VGA cable but wouldn't 720p stretch the image and make it look fugly? Does my tv even output 480i? I think it does, since the "High-scan" models are supposed to be able to output up to 1080i.. but then I'm no expert on this stuff by any means

That's a pretty ignorant thing to say without actually having a setup like that, there is no lag, I've got that exact setup running, control input is instantaneous. Also the image quality looks substantially better, upscaling from 480p to 720p brings a drastically improved and sharper image.

It's 480p, also no, it would still output in 4:3 on your TV because it doesn't change the aspect ratio of the game. Even on a widescreen TV, I use a Toshiba 34HDX82, it looks fantastic, the stretch is not dramatic at all.

@nyadc: If we're upscaling to 720p then wouldn't it be better to hook my DC up to my HDTV instead of the CRT?

Well that TV you have is an HDTV if I'm not mistaken, also older games always look better on CRT's regardless.

@nyadc: Yeah I can dig that. I'm not sure if mine is an HDTV though.. it doesn't have HDMI inputs, just those HD composite cables you'd normally find on an xbox 360. I guess that counts.

I do know that it classifies as a "Hi-Scan" display, which I think means it can output HD resolutions.

It isn't ignorant at all. Upscaling the image is rather pointless. Why change the raw image when the crt can display the resolution, natively? Perhaps for use on an lcd or plasma I can understand. Sets vary, but if it is a high scan model it will output the upscaled image in an interlaced format--of which degrades the image quality. 480 progressive on a Dreamcast is better than 1080 interlaced in this scenario.

480p with a VGA adapter is considered one of the best solutions for dreamcast, if your TV only accepts component video then you'll need a VGA -> YPrPb transcoder. But if I'm reading the TV's manual correctly, it only supports up to 480i over analog component video. Hopefully someone with more knowledge can confirm if the TV does or doesn't support 480p.

@nyadc are you suggesting he uses a scaler with that CRT? I don't see how that would work.

Also what upscaler are you using? An upscaler on an average TV (35ms-45ms delay on HDMI) has a delay that is slightly noticeable compared to a CRT. On my Sony TV I can notice some latency, on my asus 144hz monitor I don't notice it. Scaling from 480p to 720p isn't that big of a deal, most TVs handle 480p with little if any issues. A video processor/upscaler is generally only critical when dealing with 240p signals as the TV interprets them as interlaced signals, or when you need to use video inputs which aren't supported by your TV (scart).

Absolutely he should, VGA to HDMI, I experience zero perceivable input delay, none. It's not a big deal? Based upon what? I have all of the hardware sitting in front of me and use it daily, it's a pretty large increase in fidelity.

This is the converter I use, now it may look like a cheap piece of shit but it accomplishes its task beautifully.

http://www.amazon.com/Vktech-Lenkeng-LKV352A-Converter-Processing/dp/B00FXLZVMI

I base that upon the fact that I'm in the process of designing a video processor with a team as the scaling logic designer. I'm familiar with the algorithms used and the drawbacks.

Scaling from 480p to native is done pretty much the same whether your video processor does it or the TV. In most cases I've tested the TV has a good enough internal scaler, with monitors though it is needed to scale it as close to native as possible externally because their internal scalers aren't good. If your TV has a crappy scaler (which somehow I doubt given that you have a good gaming setup) then by all means use an external device. Perhaps you're noticing other benefits (better internal processing on your TVs HDMI input vs it's VGA). On my XRGB-mini (one of best scalers on market) the difference between it's 480p output and 720p output is minimal, even on SNES games where it should be most noticeable.

It's generally agreed that 480p sources in most cases are often fine with no external processors. You really want processors for 240p sources and even then it's not the scaling that's the biggest benefit, it's the lack of deinterlacing (most TVs treat 240p as 480i and deinterlace).

I might buy the scaler you linked to compare against my XRGB, that might give me a better window into your viewpoint.