I was in a hunt for a replacement to my vintage 29 inch bedroom TV. Initially, I thought of getting a 32 inch LCD. But taking a look at several brands in various appliance stores convinced me that even the hi-end LCD models are still less eye friendly compared to Plasma and CRT TVs. Getting a second plasma TV just for cable TV viewing was to me impractical while getting hold of a CRT over 29 inches was like finding a needle in a haystack. Facing this constraints, I put off my search for a while. Then yesterday, I came accross a 34 inch CRT on sale. The Sharp 34H-F200 was originally priced at 64K. It was up for grabs to anyone willing to pay 28K for it. After testing the display unit, I reckoned it had an overused tube. At first I was told it was the only unit available, but after convincing them that I know how to assess if a CRT has had its best life behind it, they relented and offered me a sealed one from their warehouse. It turned out that it was the only one left based on their stock card and when it reached their display area, I was able to ascertain that it was indeed new.
It was a behemoth at 70lbs. But what really clinched the deal for me was that it has a progressive component video input capable of broadcasting 480p and 576p DVD inputs. Given the screen size, viewing it at 5 feet and beyond on these formats will make it indistinguishable from a 720p or 1080i in my opinion. More so, my upscaling digital player, the Cambridge Audio DVD99, can precisely output in the said formats.
However as of this writing, it's doing what a CRT does best---broadcasting SD cable TV signal.
