I have a 4-5 year old 42", CRT-based RPTV (Toshiba 42H81). It's been fine, but it lacks HDMI inputs, so I'm considering upgrading to a good plasma. In the RPTV threads, there seems to be a dirty little secret that the best picture quality was from the those CRT-based sets. So, here's a stupid question: has picture quality actually improved beyond my older set?

The picture quality of the Pioneer KUROs will blow out the picture quality of your CRT-based RPTV.

Look Up Mr. Bob. He is a big advocate for CRT technology. He can answer all your questions.

The CRT might still have better black levels in some situations (although the Kuro's ANSI contrast will be much much better), it will handle motion a little better, and the color may be more accurate.

The Kuro should be better in almost all other respects -- resolution, geometry, ansi contrast, inputs, etc.

If your RPTV has been calibrated by someone who really knows what they're doing, you may prefer the way it looks. Most likely you'll find the Kuro to be a big improvement.

I have a 4-5 year old 42", CRT-based RPTV (Toshiba 42H81). It's been fine, but it lacks HDMI inputs, so I'm considering upgrading to a good plasma. In the RPTV threads, there seems to be a dirty little secret that the best picture quality was from the those CRT-based sets. So, here's a stupid question: has picture quality actually improved beyond my older set?

Having gone from a 65" Mits CRT TV, I have to say the 6010FD Pioneer plasma is a serious improvement over my beloved Mits (at 1/5 the space). If money si not a serious issue, get a Pio Kuro. I have a Pana 700u as well and it's good and possibly better than the Mits but only slightly- not in the ballpark of the Pio.

I went from a 51 inch Sony HD CRT RPTV to my 50 inch Panasonic professional TH-50PH9UK, huge improvement all around simply no comparison. The blacks are also better on my Panasonic plasma display. I think the Panasonic professional models have one of the very best picture qualities I have ever seen.

CRTs have the best blacks. But CRT projectors are a different story. Their black levels are great in low-lit scenes. But when there's any high-contrast light source in the image, there are usually enough internal reflections inside the projection enclosure that your surrounding black levels are compromised. Plus, you don't get the brightness of an LCD or the off-axis consistency of a plasma. And the beam convergence problems presented by three separate light sources rarely produce the sharpness of a discrete megapixel display.

I have a 6-year-old Toshiba 56H80. (You know, back when plasmas were $10K.) It's a good set, but sure is a refrigerator. Seems like I'd get half my room back if I got a flat panel. When our main room remodel is done this summer, we'll move the Tosh down to the basement and get something new and flat. I'm open to LCD but am leaning towards plasma. And I'm hooked on the 56" screen size -- don't want to step down to a 50. I'll probably see if I can talk the wife into a 58" Costco Panasonic, or maybe that 60" Vizio (1080p) coming out in June.

Problem is, my wife likes "bright" rooms.

Dont forget too that plasmas have WAY better viewing angles than any RPTV ever could. This is huge, IMO unless you are the only one watching and are always sitting in the sweet spot!

CRT = OLD News.... and more than ready to be retired into the video hall of fame. ;)

Suggested reading:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1744455,00.asp
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=991844
http://archive2.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9178202#post9178202
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=11843791&postcount=200
--John

I just went from a Mitshubish 46807 (46 inch 2001 model) at a little more than 10 feet to a Panasonic 58pz750 plasma veiwed at a little mroe than 11 feet ( we kept the same seating position but gaineed a ton of room without the cabinet) and I have been very happy overall.

I had tweaked the Mits pretty extensively, even adding anti-reflecting cloth to the inside of the set to help black level and the plasma is very close to the same level of shadow detail. I would say the RPTV probably can beat the Plasma barely in the finest of gradations of black, but I am talking less than a 1% difference IMO. I have not bothered to tweak the set too much as it is only 3 weeks old.

In every other way, the new TV is a leap and bound better. I could not be more happy with the detail that we can see, that just never quite resolved on the smaller RPTV. Plus, the picture has a wow factor quality to it that the RPTV did not have. My wife said the difference was just like it felt in going to HDTV in the first place.

What bothered me most about RPCRTs was the abysmal performance even slightly off-axis (particularly on the vertical axis). The other annoyances were convergence and screen geometry.

modern plasmas are light years ahead for antiquated rptv crts. Dont let any crt zealot tell you otherwise.
Crt rptvs had LOTS of issues, they were not the paragons of picture quality that people claim. They were the best of their day, but their time has come and gone.