Should I pick up this Philips CRT based on these pics?

[Brad251]

This Philips CRT has low use and was made in October of 2004. The model is 27PT6441/37. The owner took these pics of Toy Story running on VHS. The geometry doesn't look to bad from the pics. In the pic where Buzz lightyear is laying on the ground, the wavy lines in the wallpaper on the wall to his left are supposed to be that way as I verified by watching Toy Story on my LCD. I would have to drive two hours to pick this one up.

Here are the links to the pics the owner took, what do you guys think?

http://www.mediafire.com/view/dqxfukwvc ... 1934-1.jpg

http://www.mediafire.com/view/bsc88fufa ... G_1939.jpg

http://www.mediafire.com/view/d8ttqb8it ... G_1941.jpg

[Taiyaki]

Is it my imagination or am I seeing the two stabilizing wires from the aperture grille in all of those pictures (at 1/3 and 2/3 of the picture)? It could also just be a camera line.

EDIT: Since the lines are in a different spot in the third picture I'm going to assume was some camera thing.

It looks ok, but I wouldn't count on the geometry being great, I've never seen an aperture grille set that didn't need to internal adjustments to be rendered near perfect, the almost always require manual tweaking sadly. If you find one that doesn't need it it's probably because it was serviced professionally at some point.

[Brad251]

I thought this Philips set had a shadow mask screen?

[Brad251]

Just looked up Amazon reviews for this Philips model and apparently it has a very common problem where a fuse on the main board goes after a few years of regular use and you have to keep replacing it. Some people replaced the fuse and said their TV no longer worked. For this model, Amazon has 110 reviews and 93 of them are negative because of the fuse problem. I probably won't pick up this TV because of that. That's a shame.

[Brad251]

Does anyone have any experience with a flat screen standard def Philips CRT that has worked well for them?

[Taiyaki]

Honestly I'm not sure what kind of tube that is. The only Philips tv's I have used were black casing shadow mask tubes with slight curvature. It could be an invar or an aperture grille (quite a few manufacturers moved into manufacturing aperture grille in those last years before fully moving to lcd's or plasma).

I think if the tv has survived this long without that problem it might ok though.

It's as I said in some other thread: most crt's have their own quirks lol.

[Brad251]

Honestly I'm not sure what kind of tube that is. The only Philips tv's I have used were black casing shadow mask tubes with slight curvature. It could be an invar or an aperture grille (quite a few manufacturers moved into manufacturing aperture grille in those last years before fully moving to lcd's or plasma).

I think if the tv has survived this long without that problem it might ok though.

It's as I said in some other thread: most crt's have their own quirks lol.

Do you have any idea if the flat screen SD CRTs from Sanyo and Citizen are good?

[Taiyaki]

Do you have any idea if the flat screen SD CRTs from Sanyo and Citizen are good?

I have never seen flat screen crt from Sanyo, and I've never seen a Citizen tv, sorry I can't be of any help there.

[Midge_the_Mouse]

Philips have a reputation once one component goes normally more go with it

[Makinx]

Honestly I'm not sure what kind of tube that is. The only Philips tv's I have used were black casing shadow mask tubes with slight curvature. It could be an invar or an aperture grille (quite a few manufacturers moved into manufacturing aperture grille in those last years before fully moving to lcd's or plasma).

I think if the tv has survived this long without that problem it might ok though.

It's as I said in some other thread: most crt's have their own quirks lol.

Philips has always used shadow masks in their sets, right down to their last produced crt model in 2006. They only used aperture grilles for some of their computer monitors.

Just looked up Amazon reviews for this Philips model and apparently it has a very common problem where a fuse on the main board goes after a few years of regular use and you have to keep replacing it. Some people replaced the fuse and said their TV no longer worked. For this model, Amazon has 110 reviews and 93 of them are negative because of the fuse problem. I probably won't pick up this TV because of that. That's a shame.

Unless it's a big hassle to pick it up or it's expensive, I wouldn't be so picky about choosing a crt. Besides, in my experience, the geometry of Philips' late model flatscreen crt's is quite good. That outweighs the negative of a possible component failure IMO, which is something that can happen to any set of any brand. I wouldn't put too much stock in Amazon user reviews anyway.

[Brad251]

Unless it's a big hassle to pick it up or it's expensive, I wouldn't be so picky about choosing a crt. Besides, in my experience, the geometry of Philips' late model flatscreen crt's is quite good. That outweighs the negative of a possible component failure IMO, which is something that can happen to any set of any brand. I wouldn't put too much stock in Amazon user reviews anyway.

I understand what you are saying about Amazon reviews but there are 110 reviews for this model and 93 of them are one star reviews. Almost every one of them is about the fuse failing after a short period of time. https://www.amazon.com/Philips-27PT6441 ... filter-bar. Granted, the guy who owns the Philips TV hasn't said anything like this happened but he said the TV was barely used and that could be why. It is possible that I could just replace the fuse and that would fix it but some reviewers did replace the fuse and then their Philips CRT never worked again. I know components can fail on any CRT but if 93 people are saying their fuse failed, this is definitely a quality control issue with this particular set. If it only happened to a few reviewers I wouldn't think much of it but when it's 93, it's hard to ignore.

This, combined with the set being two hours away and it sounds like it's more trouble than it's worth. There are quite a few CRTs in my area to choose from and new listings are popping up all the time. If I don't get this Philips TV, I might try to find a JVC D-Series CRT. Sanyo and Panasonic would be options as well. Unless there is another good Philips SD CRT with component that people on here know is good.

[Makinx]

Unless it's a big hassle to pick it up or it's expensive, I wouldn't be so picky about choosing a crt. Besides, in my experience, the geometry of Philips' late model flatscreen crt's is quite good. That outweighs the negative of a possible component failure IMO, which is something that can happen to any set of any brand. I wouldn't put too much stock in Amazon user reviews anyway.

I understand what you are saying about Amazon reviews but there are 110 reviews for this model and 93 of them are one star reviews. Almost every one of them is about the fuse failing after a short period of time. https://www.amazon.com/Philips-27PT6441 ... filter-bar. Granted, the guy who owns the Philips TV hasn't said anything like this happened but he said the TV was barely used and that could be why. It is possible that I could just replace the fuse and that would fix it but some reviewers did replace the fuse and then their Philips CRT never worked again. I know components can fail on any CRT but if 93 people are saying their fuse failed, this is definitely a quality control issue with this particular set. If it only happened to a few reviewers I wouldn't think much of it but when it's 93, it's hard to ignore.

This, combined with the set being two hours away and it sounds like it's more trouble than it's worth. There are quite a few CRTs in my area to choose from and new listings are popping up all the time. If I don't get this Philips TV, I might try to find a JVC D-Series CRT. Sanyo and Panasonic would be options as well. Unless there is another good Philips SD CRT with component that people on here know is good.

For every angry customer that logs on to Amazon to leave a 1 star review, there are a 100 people that are happy about their tv who have no inclination to say as much on the internet. That's why I said not to put too much stock in bad user reviews on the internet. Unsatisfied customers are vocal, happy customers are silent.

But if you don't think it's worth a 2 hour drive, that's entirely fair. I hope you find a good set!

[Brad251]

An interesting thread I came across, https://techlore.com/forum/thread/21212 ... wing-fuses. One poster in the thread said that the Philips 27pt644127 has a degauss thermister that draws to much current at power on.

[Makinx]

That seems reasonable. It's rarely the fuse's fault when it blows. If you only replace the fuse, it's likely to blow again because the actual fault isn't fixed.

[Bratwurst]

I have a Sanyo 20" flatscreen (DS20930) and the picture is rather nice by my standards. S-Video is crisp but the set cannot be conventionally modded for RGB input. No component input either.

[Xyga]

Had a flat tube Philips once, it fried after only a couple of months...

[Taiyaki]

Reading all this does make me weary of Philips tubes...

What's wrong with the two Sony tubes you almost picked up last week Brad? You didn't want them after all?

[Classicgamer]

It depends where you live.

Philips only made TV's for the European market. They sold the use of their name to crappy low end manufacturers for America. They made some nice sets in Europe but none made it to the States.

So, if you are in America, no, unless you plan to RGB mod and it is free.

Otherwise, look for a later Sony Trinitron with Component.

If you are in Europe, check that it is one that can handle a 60hz RGB signal. Not all Philips tv's could.

In any scenario, it's not the first choice for vintage gaming. It's behind Sony, Toshiba and Panasonic etc.

[Taiyaki]

Classicgamer recommendations are essentially my preferences for gaming as well. Non fine pitch FD Trinitron sets, Toshiba without forced edge sharpening and late Panasonic tubes (especially the European 2002~2004 non HD aperture grille models) are my favorites.

[spmbx]

I am by no means an expert in this field, but the philips crt’s ive seen around here had pretty fuzzy picture over rgb scart. Tbh i’d never buy or even pick up for free any crt without seeing it on an rgb source in person.

Edit: i mean the crt tv’s ofcourse, im in love with the small homecomputer crts like the cm8833

[Makinx]

It depends where you live.

Philips only made TV's for the European market. They sold the use of their name to crappy low end manufacturers for America. They made some nice sets in Europe but none made it to the States.

Good point, I hadn't even considered that.

I am by no means an expert in this field, but the philips crt’s ive seen around here had pretty fuzzy picture over rgb scart. Tbh i’d never buy or even pick up for free any crt without seeing it on an rgb source in person.

Edit: i mean the crt tv’s ofcourse, im in love with the small homecomputer crts like the cm8833

This is true for a lot of sets. They're almost always fine after you adjust the focus on the flyback.

[FinalBaton]

Isn't Philips stuff sold in NA under the Magnavox name? That's the case for their CD players at least. I know their '80s ones were made by Philips at their Belgium HQ/main plant


Yeah classicgamer's suggestions are pretty solid


One thing that I'd like to add is that not all Sony sets with component are the FD flatscreen ones. There are some with the cilyndrical tube and black case. Worth keeping an eye one (don't think they are better than the FD sets, just saying that they exist and knowing that will add to your pool of potential targets).

[Taiyaki]

I've seen both Magnavox and Philips tv's in the US, so I'm not sure what was made by whom and where.

The best Philips I've seen was on a friend's European model (I believe it was from France), it was compatible with 60hz (when they aren't you get a black and white picture) and it was a really nice and solid 24ish inch tv with a scart connector. Colors weren't really pop but then again it was a mid 90's shadow mask so that's not a big surprise.

The most recent instance where I almost encountered a Philips crt was when two relatives offered to give me their Philips crt which was in a guest room, but I declined as I'm no longer on the lookout for tubes. I spent years trying many tv's but I never found anything I liked more than what I already had so I've sort of settled down for good (probably).

[BONKERS]

Does anyone have any experience with a flat screen standard def Philips CRT that has worked well for them?

I have a flat screen 27" Phillips CRT made in 2007. (US Model)
It's an decent set, has a lot of geometry problems and issues with getting magnetized easily from near by speakers. (Requires cycling the TV on and off otherwise patches of the screen turn purple).
It also has an issue that I think I may have created myself when adjusting in the SM once. The edges of the screen are sharper than the center, which you can see in the picture below. Compare the edges to the center. (Focus is set on the edges for emphasis in the picture. In person the difference is a bit more subtle)
And the flyback noise is really loud if you can still hear frequencies near 15khz well.

http://u.cubeupload.com/MrBonk/IMG2017070819350812.jpg

I've been thinking about downsizing recently as I don't have a spot for it permanently right now.

[Classicgamer]

If someone is going to use a TV instead of an arcade or pro monitor in America, there is no reason not to get a Trinitron.

They are easily the most widely available as they sold more than any other decent brand. One of the things they were famous for in their day was great build quality. They age very well and you get a great image on pretty much any model 21" and above.

Unlike other brands where you might get lucky but it depends on the model etc... you can get any (non-Hd) Trinitron and be guaranteed a decent experience.

[Taiyaki]

Frankly even the 13 inch models I've seen were pretty good. Although not sure they'd have component.

[Midge_the_Mouse]

If it's a pick up for free gotta be better then throwing endless amounts of cash on making old systems work with newer tv sets

[fuchi_jeg]

I have a phillips 27pt9015d running groovymame theough a retrotek vgactv1 transcoder and it actually looks better than my sony f27kv120. Someone dumped it in the parking lot at work and i expected the geometry to be horrid, but aside from some convergence in the bottom corner it is in great shape. Much better than the wonky corners on the sony set. Ill post some photos if you are interested.

[Taiyaki]

With an FD Sony set you just have to open to up and tweak corner geometry internally or comparisons to other tv's in terms of geometry are never going to be fair. I'm starting to think for people who want plug and play and who are strict on geometry, FD Trinitrons might not be an ideal recommendation.

[Brad251]

I have a phillips 27pt9015d running groovymame theough a retrotek vgactv1 transcoder and it actually looks better than my sony f27kv120. Someone dumped it in the parking lot at work and i expected the geometry to be horrid, but aside from some convergence in the bottom corner it is in great shape. Much better than the wonky corners on the sony set. Ill post some photos if you are interested.

Definitely interested in some photos. Please post some.