Widescreen progressive scan CRTs in Europe?

[andykara2003]

Hi - I'm looking to buy a really good quality 32 inch widescreen prog. scan CRT TV for Wii & gen. 6 widescreen games. I have the whole of Europe to choose from as I can get it collected by a group I know who are experienced in CRT transportation.

In Europe, the most likely solution is to buy a TV with a VGA input - this bypasses all processing so removes lag, unwanted processing etc. I've always wanted a Loewe Aconda which are apparently fantastic, but these have power supply issues that cause many of them to die early. I have a VGA card for the Q2400/Q2500 chassis Loewes which include the Aconda and some of the various other models - Mimo, Xelos, Aventos etc.

I'm wondering - if these all have the same chassis - am I right to assume that they'll all have the faulty power supply units in them? I would assume so but am not 100% sure. If so, I'll have to forget the Loewes altogether.


Lastly, can anyone suggest another decent widescreen prog. scan capable CRT that was sold in Europe?

[Fudoh]

Panasonic Quintrix from around 2002 to 2004. There have been a few models with 480p enabled component inputs, e.g. the TX-32PD30D (while Sony for example didn't bring a single CRT with YUV inputs here in Europe).

[kamiboy]

Yeah, back in the day I remember finding SONY's lack of YUV and progressive scan support to be baffling. Panasonic did well by Europe though. That being said, progressive scan enabled CRT's were rare as hen's teeth in Europe. Very few models from a handful of TV makers supported the feature.

But do you even play enough games from that generation to justify the hassle?

It may just be me, but I played all the titles from that era when they were new and I am not too keen on going back. In the last 6 years I have only played a tiny handfuk of games from that generation.

[CMcK]

IIRC the Toshiba Picture Frame 2 sets supported progressive scan via component input.

[andykara2003]

Panasonic Quintrix from around 2002 to 2004.

Thanks v. much for that - I'll look into those models.

IIRC the Toshiba Picture Frame 2 sets supported progressive scan via component input.

Cheers, another one to check out.

But do you even play enough games from that generation to justify the hassle

I must admit I've been to and fro on this one for a few reasons:

You're right, there aren't all *that* many widescreen games in the Wii/gen 6 era I play, although some of them are my favourites - i.e. the Mario Galaxy games, Skyward sword, Metroid prime trilogy, F-zero GX, DKCR & a couple of other Wii games. I already have 2 great prog. scan 29" 4:3 CRTs which look really nice with these games, but I like the idea of running them at 16:9 on native hardware.

The main thing that concerns me about running these games at 16:9 is the potential reduction in graphical quality due to the dreaded anamorphic widescreen. My thinking is that a not-too-large 32" 16:9 CRT might mitigate this. The games look really good on my 29" 4:3 screens - perhaps the fact that the total screen surface area of a 32" 16:9 isn't much larger (hence a similar overall pixel density) will result in an image that's as good or close. My worry is that even then, the wider anamorphic pixels will still create a 'stepping' effect that will look significantly worse than 4:3, even though the screen areas are similar. I'd be really interested to hear anyone's opinion on that..

Lastly, I could just emulate these few games on Dolphin on my plasma (or 4k TV later down the road). This would look amazing in comparison (plus at a much larger screen size), but I hate microstuttering & other inaccuracies - although according to the guys at the Dolphin forums this should improve significantly soon. I love the reliability and feel of original hardware but I must admit I'm debating whether to bother or not on this one given the small number of games and the possibility of near-flawless emulation in the not too distant future..

[andykara2003]

Apologies for the double post.

I've been researching these Panasonic Quintrix and Toshibas (mentioned above) that have the component input. I realise that the 100Hz processing will not apply to prog. scan on the component input but am wondering about other processing.

The advantage of the Loewes (apart from their power supply problems) is that the VGA input has absolutely no processing or lag. Using progressive scan on the component input, would anyone know if these Toshibas and Panasonics have either any lag or image processing that would be detrimental to 480p games?

[Fudoh]

31khz signals are not being processed. Nothing to worry about.

[andykara2003]

Thanks :)