Photos by Tony Cordoza

The good old cathode-ray tube (CRT) is up against some stiff competition these days. Leading the charge are sexy flat-panel plasma and LCD TVs that can be mounted on the wall like a picture. Following right behind are DLP (Digital Light Processing) and LCoS (liquid crystal on silicon) TVs, a new breed of rear-projection sets that are so slim their tube-based brothers look like cows in comparison. Given this situation, you’d think TV makers would be ready to put the CRT out to pasture, but that’s hardly the case. To judge from Sony’s new KV-34XBR910 HDTV monitor, the tube not only has some life left in it, but it’s being taken to the next level of performance.

Super Fine Pitch is Sony’s tag for the CRT used in its latest direct-view set. The tube’s aperture grille — a slotted mask that’s used to direct electron beams to the phosphor stripes on the CRT’s inner surface — is said to contain 65% more slits than grilles in previous tubes. Basically, the more slits, the higher the resolution. Such tradeoffs usually entail a decrease in brightness, but a new, high-intensity phosphor developed for the Super Fine Pitch tube allows it to deliver fine detail without any compromise in brightness.

FAST FACTS

KEY FEATURES • Widescreen HDTV monitor • Displays native 720p and 1080i HDTV programs • Front-panel Memory Stick slot • Copy-protected DVI input INPUTS/OUTPUTS Front composite- and S-video with stereo audio; Memory Stick slot Rear three composite-video, two wideband component-video, two S-video, and one DVI input, all with stereo audio; two antenna inputs; composite-video output; two stereo audio outputs DIMENSIONS 39 1/8 inches wide, 25 5/8 inches high, 23 7/8 inches deep WEIGHT 198 pounds PRICE $2,499 MANUFACTURER Sony Electronics, Dept. S&V, One Sony Dr., Park Ridge, NJ 07656; www.sonystyle.com; 800-222-7669

This Sony set has a stylish, streamlined “pro monitor” look that will appeal to video enthusiasts. Like many other recent TVs, it has a silver cabinet, but its completely black faceplate frames the screen image and provides visual contrast. Outside of a power button and a slot for inserting a Memory Stick card, pretty much the only features on the front panel are the almost invisible grilles for the built-in speakers. A flip-up panel just below the screen conceals an A/V input and control buttons for navigating menus, switching inputs, changing channels, and adjusting volume.

Inputs on the rear panel include two sets of wideband component-video jacks and a DVI (Digital Visual Interface) input with HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) That means it’s compatible with new high-def satellite receivers that are equipped with a copy-protected digital output. Of course, you’ll need an external digital tuner to receive HDTV broadcasts.

Sony’s remote control has a partially backlit keypad and a central joystick for navigating the TV’s setup menus or scrolling through digital snapshots stored on Memory Sticks. You toggle through the set’s inputs by pushing the TV/Video button (a menu option lets you label inputs with names like DVD and DTV as well as “turn off” unused inputs to streamline the process). And pressing the Wide Mode button lets you toggle through four display options: Full (for anamorphic widescreen DVDs and HDTV), Normal (displays standard 4:3 aspect ratio programs flanked by vertical gray sidebars), Zoom (evenly stretches 4:3 programs to fill the wide 16:9 screen), and Wide Zoom (enlarges the center of 4:3 images proportionally and stretches the outer edges).

Setup of the Sony was a breeze. You can’t create a custom setting for each of the TV’s inputs, but you can adjust the four picture presets in the set’s Video menu and store your changes. Besides Warm, Cool, and Neutral color-temperature selections, the setup options include three settings (plus off) for scan-velocity modulation (SVM), which is intended to enhance the edges of objects. There’s also a CineMotion setting that smoothes the display of film-based programs on satellite, cable, or DVD, a process technically known as “2:3 pulldown.”

Once my tweaks were completed, I sat back to watch some TV. The picture was undeniably crisp — the Super Fine Pitch tube really does live up to its name — but even with the Warm color temperature selected, whites looked slightly blue and there was a reddish cast to faces seen in closeup. The set’s color literally snapped into place after I made minor adjustments in the service menu (see “in the lab” below).

HIGH POINTS Excellent all-around video performance. Stylish design. Wide range of video inputs. Defeatable SVM processing. LOW POINT Slight red push from color decoder.

In the Daredevil DVD, Jennifer Garner’s pale skin looked natural, while her green eyes had an intense, otherworldly glow. In the scene where Garner and her superhero boyfriend Daredevil (Ben Affleck) attend a black-tie event, I could easily discern the many different shades of black in the guests’ tuxedos and other formalwear. In an earlier scene where Affleck first encounters Garner, I was even able to make out the fine weave of his suit — a subtle detail that wouldn’t have been easy to spot on a lesser TV.

DVDs looked fantastic on the Sony, but what I really wanted to do was give its Super Fine Pitch tube a workout with some HDTV. I was not disappointed. Tuning into my local PBS channel, which broadcasts a steady stream of eclectic high-def programming, I caught a good slice of a Chef’s Afield segment that was taped on a farm in Oregon. I was struck by how incredibly vivid a yellow squash looked set against the slate-gray northwestern sky. And when the camera zoomed in on a shallot, the range of pink/purple tones on the surface of this obscure vegetable was staggering. The colors appeared to leap from the screen, yet they were clean and solid. Background foliage and trees also looked very sharp and detailed, while the thin roots protruding from the front of the shallot gave the image a nearly three-dimensional quality.

Sony’s KV-34XBR910 proves not only that tubes are alive and kicking, but that CRT technology still sets the standard in video performance that other technologies are trying to match. Sure, you can buy a similar-size HDTV-grade plasma set for five grand or so, and it will look very cool mounted on your wall. But if you have some cabinet or table space to spare, this set will deliver superior image quality at half the price. There are plenty of new HDTV alternatives to consider, but something tells me that the death of the picture tube has been considerably exaggerated.

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In The Lab

Color temperature (Pro preset, Warm color temperature before/after calibration)
Low window (30 IRE): 11,943/6,509 K
High window (100 IRE): 8,358/6,538 K

Brightness (Pro preset, Warm color temperature before/after calibration)
100 IRE: 27.6/21.7 ftL

With the Sony’s Warm preset selected, it measured far enough off the NTSC standard of 6,500 K that you might want to consider professional calibration. (Calibration needs to be performed by a qualified technician with specialized equipment, so discuss it with your dealer before purchase, or call the Imaging Science Foundation at 561-997-9073.) After adjustment, light output was similar to other direct-view tube TVs we’ve tested. This is an impressive achievement given that the aperture grille has a finer pitch than those in previous CRTs — a factor that would normally decrease brightness. Grayscale tracking fell within the ±200-K range, which is excellent.

Screen geometry and corner focus were very good, but overscan was 5% on all sides, which is higher than average. I also measured a color-decoder red push of +15% — a relatively common problem that I corrected with a service-menu adjustment. DC restoration was excellent, with the level of black remaining rock solid through changes in average picture brightness.