In 1990 I saw a Sony 43 inch direct view CRT. It took 4 men to carry it. They had a big sling and two long poles to carry it. They had to carry it on their shoulders. It cost $13,000 in 1990.

Have you ever seen or heard of a larger direct view CRT?

TIA

:confused:

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/ele/562778008.html

A friend has a 51". The glass looks to be about two inches thick. Crazyness.

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/ele/562778008.html

Well, he capitalized it, so it must be true!

Mitsubishi's 42"-ers were probably the largest commercially available models, overhere in Europe they only came as commercial 'presentation'monitors, not as regular TV's.

Philips has had a 40 or was it 42 inch tube in the late eighties or so. But, never seen any pics let alone an actual monitor.

Widescreen model largest size probably were the Thomson (USA) 40" tubes. Believe these were also used in the Loewe TVs.

As for experimental models and technology demonstrators, could you post some pictures of that 51"-er?

Hehe

They used to have the 40" Mits on display at Hudson's Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi Meeechigan but it was never running. Finally I asked a salesman, why don't you turn that puppy on? It consistently kicked out the circuit breaker for the tv department......they could not demo the beast!

Well that's a pretty lame excuse.

Heck, I've invented a 20Kw amplifier, fits into a showbox (a heavily modified Carver M400), but I can't ever demo it, no one has enough power to turn it on..:D

A guy I know who manages a Barrow's Pizza in Mesa still has his 40" CRT TV. I keep bugging him when he's goin' HD but he's happy as is. Not sure what brand. Did Sony make a 40'er CRT TV? If not, then its a Mits.

Yes, Sony made a 40-inch XBR. According to CNET (http://reviews.cnet.com/direct-view-tvs-crt/sony-wega-kv-40xbr800/4505-6481_7-9453304.html) it was the largest direct-view tube when the review was written in 2002. According to Sony (http://reviews.cnet.com/direct-view-tvs-crt/sony-wega-kv-40xbr800/4505-6481_7-9453304.html), their 40-inch was the world's largest flat screen CRT when introduced in 2001. (That suggests that there were larger CRTs that were not flat.)

yourgrandma: I can't find any information about a 50" CRT direct-view set. Are you sure it is not a CRT-based RPTV? I have one of those now myself. For instance, if you google "50 inch CRT" you will find references to videowall "cubes" which are actually rear projection units.

http://catalogs.infocommiq.com/AVCat/images/documents/pdfs/PV8000_Leaflet.pdf

If it is a CRT, it would weigh a good 500-750 lbs and would have cost tens of $thousands. At least.

Plus it would have been a prototype and he would have worked for some Japanese TV company. Or had huge connections in the industry.

I brokered two of the Sony 42" deals in 1989, one to Roger Gimbel and the second 0ne to Otto Beisheim - for many years the single wealthiest German citizen.

http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,320726,00.jpg

On a surprising note I recently found out that Herr Beisheim had been hiding a big WW2 skeleton in his closet until 2005 (http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Beisheim&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=3&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dotto%2Bbeisheim%2Bss%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.micr osoft:*). To think that after the death of his wife in 1999 I sent him a letter in German suggesting that since he had no children he could clone himself and name himself as the sole inheritor. His demeanor towards me turned surprisingly friendly after that comunique. If I had to guess, chances are he did it. In 2001 he built his own city within Berlin: BESHEIM CENTER (http://www.beisheim-center.de/). In the past here I have credited her Beisheim with the introduction of the Faroudja into the consumer arena, as his "too many lines" CRITIQUE TO MY PROJECTION display IS WHAT FIRST CAUSED ME TO RESEARCH THE THEN $50,000 FAROUDJA LD-1, hell I have called him the "Vater von Heimkino".

Little did I suspect of Herr Beisheim's dark underbelly when I tried to concince him to use his billions to clone himself and collect "his own" inheritance. What may I have created? The first cloned nazi. Oh my God. I do feel bad now.

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/ele/562778008.html


I betcha he's pay your $100 just to pick it up. Even charities won't take it!!!:D

Max, how about you get it and put it in your video museum????:D

Hehe

They used to have the 40" Mits on display at Hudson's Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi Meeechigan but it was never running. Finally I asked a salesman, why don't you turn that puppy on? It consistently kicked out the circuit breaker for the tv department......they could not demo the beast!

Little weird to read that... most likely my father if it was before '91.

I remember getting the newest TV, VCR, camcorder or whatever every quarter for his bonus - never did get a 40" Mitsubishi though - no where to put it.

I know Sony had a 40" set for a couple few years.

we had 15 of the 40" mits. we used them when renting out video conference setups. we would have to send 4 guys just to get them out of the case and setup.

I hated them!

we had 15 of the 40" mits. we used them when renting out video conference setups. we would have to send 4 guys just to get them out of the case and setup.

I hated them!

What the case didn't come with a scissorstyle lift to make it pop-up on the push of a button;-).

they were available. hydraulic ones. but they increased the size of the case so much we could not put the monitor in a regular panel van.

I thought the RCA 36" and the Loewe 36" WIDESCREEN direct view HDTVs were the largest TVs made (even though the RCA model was a rebadged Loewe with a Direct TV HD receiver built in).:confused:

A 40" diagonal, 4:3 screen is 768 square inches. A 36" diagonal, 16:9 screen is 554 square inches. It isn't even close! The 40" 4:3 even produces a slightly larger 16:9 picture---576 square inches, 36.7" diagonal.

I've got a 36" Sony XBR in my family/wreck room and I've moved the Sony 3 times. Every move I've made, I had to hire a pro mover to come and do the transport. It's just to damn heavy.

Although the image is beginning to lose its luster after like 8 years, the plus of this heavy CRT is my 2 year old cannot knock it over or damage it. My daughter is pretty disciplined, but kids are kids and occasionally she takes a run at it and that display never moves an inch when she pushes it. The thick glass is a strong asset in this situation.

The widescreen tubes were made by Thomson in the US. Believe they may have moved production to Mexico at some point. There was a second series that required less glass and was 40" instead of the first model's 38".

Yeah i had one of those 40 mitsubishi's. The thing was not only heavy but the weight was all in the front, so if you lifted it, you had to compensate for that. We almost fell down the stairs carrying it. Really a beast.

Back in the day it was the king. That unit was the beginning of the end for Mitsu.

I haven't been to my buddy's parent's house with the huge CRT in a long while. Obviously I was mistaken on the size. I believe its like 40 or 42. 4:3, very boulbous. I think it's a Sony, but I'm not really sure. I'll call him right now and see if i can find out.

I know this is an old thread but I just had to respond. I'm a proud owner of a Sony KV-40 XBR800 and have no immediate plans of getting rid of it. According to the info plate it was built in August of 2003. I think that was the last year Sony made these 330# beasts. At least I don't have to worry about somebody slipping out the door with it if I'm not home. :D

I had a 40" Mitsubishi in the mid 90's. Good TV. I bet it weighed 200 pounds. It had a weird compass button that counteracted the which way the TV was facing.

I believe the 38" Aconda was the largest widescreen consumer set but the XBR 40 had a bigger tube. The Aconda actually has a slightly larger 16x9 presentation than the XBR 40.

Mitsubishi did give a run at the 50 inch tube, but I understand that they essentially imploded. The 40" tube weighed almost 260 pounds, was extremely front heavy and had a large handle on each side to assist grabbing the unit

I know this is an old thread but I just had to respond. I'm a proud owner of a Sony KV-40 XBR800 and have no immediate plans of getting rid of it. According to the info plate it was built in August of 2003. I think that was the last year Sony made these 330# beasts. At least I don't have to worry about somebody slipping out the door with it if I'm not home. :D

Mine was Built in June 2004. I really like the HD Picture, But I am thinking of upgrading to a Pioneer 151. I watch Directv in 480P so I can fill the screen. I think it is cleaner picture than any Plasma out there.

I am still using my Sony 36 ins XBR which I purchased in 2000. I will run it until it fails as the picture is incredibly good, much better than any flat panel TV that I have seen. But it does hog up a lot of room space!

I am still using my Sony 36 ins XBR which I purchased in 2000. I will run it until it fails as the picture is incredibly good, much better than any flat panel TV that I have seen. But it does hog up a lot of room space!

just had to get rid of my panny 34" because it took up so much room. But wow was the picture good.

I had applied for the Mitsu credit for a 40" back in school but decided I did not need the payment so never got one....I do still use daily a Sharp 34"wide CRT looks and works great just do not ever want to move it.

I still have one of the old Mitsubishi Megaview Pro 37" stored, it's ridiculously heavy and there was a bigger 42" model, both presentation monitors.

The things still still unbelievably awesome piece of work, it can take and display 1080p. I believe I bought mine back in 1997.

Hmm, only ever encountered the VGA/SVGA units.

This thread really makes me wish I had bought one of those 40" Sony XBR units. I heard nothing but glowing reviews about them.

Does anyone know if they can still be bought from anywhere? How much would I be looking at?

I would love to use one as an arcade monitor running MAME via the SVGA connection.

Have you checked craigslist?
price $200-500

they are not really that good. The shadow mask is very large and only offers around 640 lines of resolution at the center and worse toward edges. The PIC does look very nice still though. It was just the largest. The 36xbr from the same era is much better with better power supply/black level and resolution due to a finer pitch mask. The 700xbr ones are known to be less reliable than the 800's.

Also these do not do SVGA or even VGA. they do 480p and 1080i on component or HDMI if you get one of the later 36" or less ones.

If you can fit it, manage to get it in your house then it may be worthwhile to you for cheap if you look around.

i had one of the big Mitsu units! Bought it in Boston in 1997 when I was in grad school. I loved that TV. I had it hooked up to a Pioneer CLD-99. Back then the picture quality was pretty amazing. Obviously, there was stuff that would run circles around this set-up but when you consider the cost you got an awful lot for a relatively modest amount of money. I kept the Mitsu until 2005!

I own the Sony. It's hooked up to a DVD player, and various gaming boxes, but no cable or sat. My kids are the sole users. I walk by on occasion and the picture blows away most anything out today (wrt black level, and some aspect about the color,... it's just great).

I'm not much into the video side of AVS, I hang in the audio sections. I can't explain what it is about the Sony 40" picture, but it never ceases to impress as I walk past while the kids are gaming. The cartoonish features associated with the Wii system, look stunning. The colors pop, and the blacks are black, and everything else is great.

The pro movers had no problem with it when we moved into our current home. Guys like that love a challenge. But several years ago I paid two guys delivering a 60" LCD to move it into an adjacent room, no stairs, just family room into living room. These guys freaked out over that thing! They'd never seen such an animal. They bitched and bitched, and I was generous with the cash, but they bitched some more. I don't blame them. It's everything two individuals can handle.

Todays displays have made these delivery guys soft:rolleyes:

Remember first gen XL plasmas? Those bad boys weighed a ton. I had to remove a first gen Philips plasma (all steel, with maybe 40 to 60 fans), from Jim Irsay's suite at the RCA Dome circa 2000-2001. It was mounted up high on a bulkhead, up above some seating.

Funny, any critical app in the RCA dome during the early HD era, was never RCA product. The nameplate was removed and re-badged w/ a sticker (RCA). RCAs early HD stuff was marginal at best.

Anyway, back to the Sony 40" XBR, they're worth pennies on the dollar, I'll never get rid of mine. IMO, the pinnacle of CRT development. Mits 40" was curved front, and Sony went to great lengths to make it a flat screen. The 34" 16x9 would be nice today as well, as the 4x3 40" doesn't spec out properly to any HD format. I think I paid $2300-$2500, about ten years ago.

Have fun

Back to Beisheim's past for just a moment- I just took a look online, and though he was the equivalent of a corporal in the 1st SS Panzer Division, stationed at the Bavarian Ministry of Culture. Allegedly, he was not involved in any atrocities. I don't see why it would surprise anyone that he had served Germany in WWII. Many of his age did.

Unless there is something more substantial to add, I don't see what the point of bringing that up would be. I hate what the Nazis stood for. But we can't forget the situation the industrial base of Germany as a whole, found themselves in... either you complied with the state, or you got payed a visit by a man in a trenchcoat and hat who had "ways of dealing with you". Mercedes-Benz, and every other German mfr that goes back pre-WWII was a part of the Nazi war machine; yet, most of us don't have a problem with the prospect of driving driving a Benz today. But I digress from the OT...

We had a few of those huge 42" Mitsubishi CRT's in the substations I used to be involved with years ago. They were secured to rolling carts & I can't imagine how much they weighed. My 36" Toshiba CRT was enough of a monstrosity...

I know this is old but i found a usage that only a "tube" tv can offer. The joy of my NES/Sega Master system guns. They wont work on my LCD TV and im on the hunt in Clist for the biggest on i can find......

There was some discussion on Curt's forum about those old guns in combination with CRT projectors, I believe some got it to work.

The "51 inch" model someone mentioned must have been a three CRT rear projection unit like my old Toshiba. Mitsubishi once made one of those up to 72" diagonal.

I saw a 80" Sharp LCD flat screen the other day. Looked just about perfect to me. It was very affordable as well, at Video Only. Love that store chain!

Edit; just realized I posted this same info a year ago! I'm slackin'...! I didn't read the entire thread.

I've got the Sony XBR 40", what a piece of engineering it is too. Stunning pic, just stunning. The absolute pinnacle of a entirely mature technology.

Primarily, the kids game on it, however movies are enjoyed as well,...but no cable, or any external sources. The de-gaussing sound is wicked. The on-board speakers are so good, that with an old Velodyne 15" sub, the whole system sounds great! I mean it, with the sub covering the bottom, the speakers in the TV are plenty robust to sound really, really good. Love that TV, been through a few since,..it's still looking as good as new.

Thanks

I also have a Sony 40" XBR800 I still use. It has a single DVI input, but works best with component video. I moved recently and the movers didn't seem to have much of a problem with it. It sits on the stand Sony made for this particular model.

I also have a Sony 40" XBR800 I still use. It has a single DVI input, but works best with component video. I moved recently and the movers didn't seem to have much of a problem with it. It sits on the stand Sony made for this particular model.


My movers, several years ago, also didn't have a problem with it,...actually they were boastful about how it wasn't a problem. But paying a couple delivery guys to move it into the other room,...a different story altogether. I didn't realize the DVI input was comprimised,...when compared to the component.

It's still so nice, we played Guitar Hero on it today!

I know this is an old thread...

I own three huge monsters.. One is a NEC XP3791 (XP37 Xtra) with a true 36" viewable picture tube. It weighs 220 odd pounds and its a beast. 1536p in VGA and 1080p crystal clear in component. Its even 3d compatible cause it supports 720p at 120hz vertical. It has perfect convergence and ALMOST perfect geometry (little slight bow on the top right which isnt even there in 16:9). I use it for blu-rays and games and for my PC. The thing was well over 15000 new(some were sold over 30000CAD)... Its heavy but it has a better picture quality hands down than any plasma or lcd (and believe me i install and repair LCD's and plasmas all day long) and i have yet to see a newer set that has perfect blacks, no lag AND NO digitilasation whatsoever (i.e. velocity modulation etc, Comb filters etc.). Its a true multisync monitor which saves adjustments for every single resolution and frequency you leave it in.

My other beast is a 1991 37" CS-3725C. This one weighs over 250 lbs and its crazy how good the picture still looks after all those years, especially in S-Video. The speaker system in this set is just awesome. Your ears hurt at 1/2 the volume... the audio amplifier board is as big as most complete chassis in the recent crt's ahhah. Man it takes courage to change this one location..

Also own a 1995 XC-3716C (Mitsubishi Megaview 37) with a 35'' viewable screen. This one has an awesome picture quality in VGA (its a presentation monitor) and even accepts 1080i through VGA and a HDMI to VGA converter. (has only 39khz horizontal max but only 34-37 is needed for 1080i) Its probably one of the oldest HDTV you can get on the market and it weighs in at around 215 pounds.

I know this is an old thread...

I own three huge monsters.. One is a NEC XP3791 (XP37 Xtra) with a true 36" viewable picture tube. It weighs 220 odd pounds and its a beast. 1536p in VGA and 1080p crystal clear in component. Its even 3d compatible cause it supports 720p at 120hz vertical. It has perfect convergence and ALMOST perfect geometry (little slight bow on the top right which isnt even there in 16:9). I use it for blu-rays and games and for my PC. The thing was well over 15000 new(some were sold over 30000CAD)... Its heavy but it has a better picture quality hands down than any plasma or lcd (and believe me i install and repair LCD's and plasmas all day long) and i have yet to see a newer set that has perfect blacks, no lag AND NO digitilasation whatsoever (i.e. velocity modulation etc, Comb filters etc.). Its a true multisync monitor which saves adjustments for every single resolution and frequency you leave it in.

My other beast is a 1991 37" CS-3725C. This one weighs over 250 lbs and its crazy how good the picture still looks after all those years, especially in S-Video. The speaker system in this set is just awesome. Your ears hurt at 1/2 the volume... the audio amplifier board is as big as most complete chassis in the recent crt's ahhah. Man it takes courage to change this one location..

Also own a 1995 XC-3716C (Mitsubishi Megaview 37) with a 35'' viewable screen. This one has an awesome picture quality in VGA (its a presentation monitor) and even accepts 1080i through VGA and a HDMI to VGA converter. (has only 39khz horizontal max but only 34-37 is needed for 1080i) Its probably one of the oldest HDTV you can get on the market and it weighs in at around 215 pounds.

Man you're one lucky sob. I'm jealous :D

Still have my 40" Mitsubishi. In fact it is sitting about 10 ft from me right now. The kids play WII on it. It has been moved several times including up 6 flights of stairs. I bought it about 14 or 15 years ago from a company I worked for that was going out of business for $350.

I don't know if anyone is still looking but I have a 36 inch tube Toshiba and the big 40" Sony. Let me know if anyone is looking.

Were their ever "cost no object" CRTs produced for NORAD, NASA, etc.

Steve

From what I read the (Houston) tracking window used live redundant* blended Eidophors in rear projection, so that was pretty much cost no object and CRT.

* CRT life time of 100 hours

^The opening post indicates the question is regarding "direct view", not projection CRT.

Duh! Anyway, it shows they quickly moved to projection, when size requirements reached beyond the small directviews we all saw on the various TV shows on Nasa.

Although there have been various claims of larger ones, I have yet to see anyone here provide any verifying links for anything larger than 40 inch, direct view CRTs, even if it was one of a kind or "for NASA only", etc. Also, "Trust me, I sold it, and my memory is infallible!" doesn't cut it in my book.

Sony had the KV40XBR800 (http://reviews.cnet.com/direct-view-tvs-crt/sony-wega-kv-40xbr800/1707-6481_7-9453304.html) and Mits had the CS40503 as examples, but I think the earlier point made that the Thompson/RCA 38" widescreen tube found in the F38310 (http://www.hometheater.com/content/rca-f38310-38-inch-crt-hdtv), for instance, actual had a larger 16x9 image (since the 40 inch ones were 4x3 aspect ratios, necessitating black bars above and below the image when showing wide content prolperly), is a valid point.

edit to add: In some countries, it was legal to describe a CRT direct view TV/monitor by its diagonal measurement of the glass tube, unlike the US where we only measure the diagonal, viewable image area, so what we call a "40 inch CRT TV", here in the US, might be described as a "42" or even "43 inch tube" in some other countries, but it's really the same TV.

I remember seeing a really large Sony CRT that I thought was over 40" for sale at a Circuit City in Huntington Beach, CA. The price was $10,000 and if I remember correctly the sign in front of it said it was one of 10 made for C.E.S..

Is it theoretically possible to make a CRT Television of *ANY* size? I know it sounds ludicras but how awesome would it be to have a CRT TV at say, 120" ?

There's no theoretical limits, as far as I know. The obstacles to overcome are making it pass through a standard (36" ?) door opening, being not so heavy that a bunch of very strong guys can't lift it up and carry it through such doors and over flights of stairs, once unpacked from its giant shipping container left on the street, and there may be an issue that the magnetic field of the Earth needs to be compensated for in a more rigorous way than it already has to be on most large screen CRTs, but that's probably not so hard, just different from how engineers do it now in just a few spots, not many.

Glass tube TVs are vacuum bulbs, so to make them robust (so they don't implode) the glass, especially the front surface , must be quite thick (and glass is heavy). Making the front surface flat means even thicker and heavier. Standard light bulbs can use the same thickness glass all around, because they are curved and have no flat surfaces which are weak points.