Good Sony Trinitron Models
I have been keeping an eye out for a Trinitron locally and one finally popped up. The exact model is the KV-36fv15. I was kind of hoping to find one of the Hi Scan models that have the HDMI as well but this one doesn't. Is this a good model? Think it's worth picking up or should I try and find one with the HDMI and/or DVI as well. Are these more basic models any better for the old systems?
How much would you guys pay for one?
How much would you guys pay for one?
Comments
$50 for a 36" trinitron in good shape is acceptable I'd say.
Yes the zappers work. I just played duck hunt with my kids yesterday. I have a 36" Trinitron WEGA. That thing is pure awesome. Not quite 250 lbs. but heavy. Maybe 170 lbs.
This one is 233.5 pounds or so the manual says. I think the actual flat screen wegas are heavier. So much tv lol
Yes the zappers work. I just played duck hunt with my kids yesterday. I have a 36" Trinitron WEGA. That thing is pure awesome. Not quite 250 lbs. but heavy. Maybe 170 lbs.
This one is 233.5 pounds or so the manual says. I think the actual flat screen wegas are heavier. So much tv lol
I could have seen the salesmen using that one back when those came out...
Customer - "But it is a lot of money!?"
Salesperson - "Yeah, but it is a lot of TV."
Yes the zappers work. I just played duck hunt with my kids yesterday. I have a 36" Trinitron WEGA. That thing is pure awesome. Not quite 250 lbs. but heavy. Maybe 170 lbs.
This one is 233.5 pounds or so the manual says. I think the actual flat screen wegas are heavier. So much tv lol
I could have seen the salesmen using that one back when those came out...
Customer - "But it is a lot much money!?"
Salesperson - "Yeah, but it is a lot of TV."
Absolutely great salesman-like spin you did there lol
Yes the zappers work. I just played duck hunt with my kids yesterday. I have a 36" Trinitron WEGA. That thing is pure awesome. Not quite 250 lbs. but heavy. Maybe 170 lbs.
This one is 233.5 pounds or so the manual says. I think the actual flat screen wegas are heavier. So much tv lol
I could have seen the salesmen using that one back when those came out...
Customer - "But it is a lot of money!?"
Salesperson - "Yeah, but it is a lot of TV."
Absolutely great salesman-like spin you did there lol
You just made me notice I royally screwed up my consumer's quote.... fixed.
Obviously prices might be different in your area, but $50 for a Sony Trinitron would be pretty expensive over here. I see them on a pretty regular basis for around $20. The most common place is Goodwill. I seem them there almost weekly. I just thought I would mention that in case you hadn't checked your local GWs. However, if that's what they go for in your area, then it might not be a bad price.
Yea I was hoping to find one for 20 bucks too, since I had heard of several people on the forums find them for this price. But my area does suck the big one... I have kept an eye out on craigslist for months and this is the first one I have seen. Also, while I don't go every day, I do hit GW from time to time and have never seen one their either.
Obviously prices might be different in your area, but $50 for a Sony Trinitron would be pretty expensive over here. I see them on a pretty regular basis for around $20. The most common place is Goodwill. I seem them there almost weekly. I just thought I would mention that in case you hadn't checked your local GWs. However, if that's what they go for in your area, then it might not be a bad price.
Yea I was hoping to find one for 20 bucks too, since I had heard of several people on the forums find them for this price. But my area does suck the big one... I have kept an eye out on craigslist for months and this is the first one I have seen. Also, while I don't go every day, I do hit GW from time to time and have never seen one their either.
Yeah, that sucks. I thought I would mention GW just in case you hadn't tried it yet. Flea markets are another source around here, but I don't trust them with TVs usually.
I would pick one up and ship it to you, but it would probably cost $300 to mail it.
I'm pretty sure the zapper does not work on high resolution CRT TVs like the KV-36fv15. You will need one of the older 480i sets if that concerns you. If you are planning on using it for pre PS2 era gaming, a 480i set will look better anyway.
Not really sure what you're getting at here. From whad I had read KV-36fv15 is a 480i set, I just wondered about the zappers working with the flat screen tvs (not flat panel) as opposed to the original convex crts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FD_Trinitron/WEGA#List_of_Sony_FD_Trinitron.2FWEGA_television_models_released_in_the_United_States
I'm pretty sure the zapper does not work on high resolution CRT TVs like the KV-36fv15. You will need one of the older 480i sets if that concerns you. If you are planning on using it for pre PS2 era gaming, a 480i set will look better anyway.
Not really sure what you're getting at here. From whad I had read KV-36fv15 is a 480i set, I just wondered about the zappers working with the flat screen tvs (not flat panel) as opposed to the original convex crts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FD_...
CNET says it is 1080i
http://www.cnet.com/products/sony-kv-36fv15-36-crt-tv-series/specs/
They could be wrong but I just thought I would caution you about HD CRTs if that isn't the case. The Zapper works fine on a flat crt tv as long as it is 480i.
I'm pretty sure the zapper does not work on high resolution CRT TVs like the KV-36fv15. You will need one of the older 480i sets if that concerns you. If you are planning on using it for pre PS2 era gaming, a 480i set will look better anyway.
Not really sure what you're getting at here. From whad I had read KV-36fv15 is a 480i set, I just wondered about the zappers working with the flat screen tvs (not flat panel) as opposed to the original convex crts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FD_Trinitron/WEGA#List_of_Sony...
CNET says it is 1080i
http://www.cnet.com/products/sony-kv-36fv15-36-crt-tv-series...
They could be wrong but I just thought I would caution you about HD CRTs if that isn't the case. The Zapper works fine on a flat crt tv as long as it is 480i.
Ok, that wiki article may be wrong, several other sources say 1080i as well. But I thought the reason why CRTS work so well for retro gaming is because crts were capable of just displaying whatever the sources native resolution was, up to the max resolution of the tv. I thought just because an old crt was capable of displaying 1080i, if you gave it a 480i source, then it would still actually display at 480i, not force it to upscale to 1080i.
I'm pretty sure the zapper does not work on high resolution CRT TVs like the KV-36fv15. You will need one of the older 480i sets if that concerns you. If you are planning on using it for pre PS2 era gaming, a 480i set will look better anyway.
Not really sure what you're getting at here. From whad I had read KV-36fv15 is a 480i set, I just wondered about the zappers working with the flat screen tvs (not flat panel) as opposed to the original convex crts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FD_Trinitron/WEGA#List_of_Sony...
CNET says it is 1080i
http://www.cnet.com/products/sony-kv-36fv15-36-crt-tv-series...
They could be wrong but I just thought I would caution you about HD CRTs if that isn't the case. The Zapper works fine on a flat crt tv as long as it is 480i.
Ok, that wiki article may be wrong, several other sources say 1080i as well. But I thought the reason why CRTS work so well for retro gaming is because crts were capable of just displaying whatever the sources native resolution was, up to the max resolution of the tv. I thought just because an old crt was capable of displaying 1080i, if you gave it a 480i source, then it would still actually display at 480i, not force it to upscale to 1080i.
I would be more inclined to believe the wiki than CNET. I believe the HD crts upscale and display a poor image for older systems (no scanlines) I have never owned one so I couldn't tell you for sure, I'm sure someone who is more knowledgable can chime in.
Stolen from another forum
"I suppose like anything else, it depends somewhat on the particular model of TV you get. I used an HD CRT as my main TV for about 10 years, which included retro gaming. If you're looking to have a single TV that can do a good job with just about anything you give it, the HD CRT tends to be a well-rounded solution. Having said that, there are some compromises. If you're limited (by space/budget) to 1 TV, you have to consider the pros and cons of each type of TV. As for HD CRT, my experience is with the Sony "HS" series (KV-36HS500 and KV-36HS510). The HS510 was the original one I bought back in 2004. The HS500 was one I got for free when a friend of a friend was cleaning out his garage. They are pretty similar--the HS510 is a basically just newer version of the HS500.
Picture Quality:
Picture quality should generally be quite good. However, be aware that aging CRTs are likely to have convergence issues in the corners. I think this is something that can be fixed, but I'm not sure if it can be done through Service Mode or if it requires opening up the TV. Both of mine have a bit of a convergence issue in the upper left corner, which is most noticeable when you're displaying a white background in 16:9 mode (the screen itself is 4:3, so you get the black bars at the top and bottom). I have a copy of the service manual and a calibration DVD (Avia), but I just haven't had time to mess around with it yet. I'm hoping I can at least improve it a bit. The service menu has dozens of parameters you can change, which are all abbreviated so it can seem intimidating. However, there is a good thread on avsforum, which goes into great detail, so I'm hopeful that I can make sense of it all.
Barring issues of that sort, as I understand it, these TVs only support 2 native resolutions: 480p and 1080i. That means anything below 480p gets up-converted to 480p. This conversion is configurable through the DRC (Digital Reality Creation) mode. However, you only have 3 preset options to pick from: Progressive, Interlaced, and CineMotion. I found the Interlaced option to look the best in most cases. If it's a non-scrolling game (e.g., Dr. Mario), the Progressive option might be preferable.
For 240p content, the picture quality is good overall. However, be aware that the scan lines are not visible. What you're seeing is a line-doubled image from the 240p -> 480p conversion. Whether this is acceptable depends on how picky you are about picture quality. As a comparison, I don't like the way retro games look on flat panel TVs, but the HD CRT didn't really bother me. However, when doing a side-by-side comparison, I would have to say the SD CRT does look a bit better, if only because of the proper scan lines.
For 480i content, I think the HD CRT looks a bit better than the SD CRT. The de-interlacer does a good job, creating a clear, stable image.
For 480p content, this is where these TVs really shine. My go-to game for this is F-Zero GX (GCN), which looks fantastic. The silky smooth 60fps combined with crisp visuals is really hard to beat. No flat panel I've ever used makes these games look as good as they do on an HD CRT. Also, it goes without saying that the SD CRT can't display this resolution so that takes it out of consideration.
Input Lag
The other consideration for gaming is the lag time of the TV. Initially I had assumed that any CRT wouldn't have input lag issues to deal with, but now I know better. I tested the HS500 using the "camera test" with 3 different systems (SNES, N64, and GCN). I ran quite a few tests and came up with about 45ms for the lag time. This is enough to feel the difference, although it doesn't make games unplayable. I did manage to beat several challenging games on these TVs such as Mars Matrix (DC, via S-video, making it subject to the lag), Castlevania (NES), Ninja Gaiden (NES), and Ninja Gaiden II (NES)."
Not sure about the HD CRTs, but all others, including Trinitrons, are pretty much free on Kijiji where I live, although small (less than 24") and large (more than 32") are not often listed.
I wish my area was like that. My area sucks... in fact, I will probably be moving the family sometime in the next couple years. This area doesn't have a lot goin for it anymore (well it never really did in the first place I dont think lol). It is pretty back country, and has a pretty big drug problem. It's not a big place so there isn't really much goin on here, and usually everyone wants something for nothing. Most stuff that is posted is either in terrible condition or incredibly overpriced.