I am considering purchasing a 57 - 65 inch high definition crt rptv. There are some that are still being sold from hitachi and philips. I am not satisfied with the picture quality with flat panel displays right now. There most significant problem is there ability to reproduce the color black.

Frankly they can’t reproduce black well. Black ends up being gray. To my eyes its like trying to admire a picture like the the mona lisa and everything that should be black is gray instead. The full effect of the painting is lost. I will say however there have been a few significant leaps in various technologies as shown at the last consumer electronics show that will eventually make their way to consumers. Some examples of these are pioneer’s 8th generation plasma tvs, sharps lcds lg/philips lcds, and sony’s oleds tvs. Pioneers plasma tvs coming which have a contrast ratio of 20,000:1 and are coming in july of 2007. LG/philips has a lcd with a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio (no that is not an error) coming in 2007. sharps lcd with a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio has not been given a production date yet. And sony’s oled with 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio with first appear in a 27 inch guise later this year.

I guess the question is with all these things coming down the road why am I still opting for a crt rptv? Actually for a few reasons. First and most importantly to me they have no problem reproducing black. I cant full enjoy this visual medium if the tv I’m watching cant do this. Secondly they are a steal. They are fraction of the cost in comparison with plasma and lcds in the 57 to 65 inch range. I have seen crt in this size range priced from $1099 to $1499. A third reason I’ll purchase one of these tvs is because it is a mature technology I know their short comings(size, weight, etc). But I know what I’m getting, with these other technologies who know what kind of new and/or annoying problems they will have. I am not going to pay to be a beta tester for anyone. I would rather wait for their problems to be found and fixed.