Don’t discount the picture tube just yet! Polls like the one at the Home Theater Shack, which asks home theater enthusiasts what display they like the best, are coming up pro-CRT. Even with the myriad of digital and fixed pixel display options available to consumers nowadays, the good old CRT still wins out by a wide margin.

What is CRT?

Cathode Ray Tube, or picture tube (also referred to as the boob tube). This display type uses electron ‘scan lines’ to produce an image that consists of lines of resolution rather than fixed pixels. For decades, the CRT was the standard in television.

How can CRT be better than Plasma or LCD?

It’s true that flat panel plasma and LCD offer some of the best images around. Statistics show that most people shopping for an  HDTV have one key ingredient in common: their old TVs are 27” SDTVs. That being the case, our average shopper is liable to be won over by the striking contrasts offered by fixed pixel display types like LCD and Plasma. They look incredible in the HD demo loop played at the stores, because, while judging your potential new HDTV there, chances are you’re viewing it in a fully lit environment. Subtleties like ‘blacker than black’, which CRT clearly does better than any other display type, are usually lost.

But at the big box store, where a row of HDTVs are lined up competing in an oversized noisy room with fluorescent lighting, image subtleties are not what win the sale. Eye-popping contrast and incredibly bright pictures scream “look at me!" and get attention from across the room 

Unfortunately for the unwary consumer, the “look at me” image quality doesn’t make for an immersive movie experience when sitting through a two and half hour epic. For this you’ll want brightness that isn’t burning holes in your retinas, flesh tones that look real and details that emerge from shadowy darkness. This is home theater!

Now, nobody is saying CRT is right for everybody. But certainly don’t discount it if a competitive CRT matches the screen size you’re looking for. You might just save some money on your purchase and you’ll have the technology that video professionals still use for reference quality imaging.

Go to HomeTheaterShack.com and vote in its ‘best picture’ poll.