Hitachi C50-F550P 50" Rear Projection CRT TV

[@drPeidos]

I have a Sony 41'' 4:3 rear projection tv, I love it for retro games. Rear projection TVs have zero dot pitch. I play in a room with dim lights and with the tv right in front of me, so I'm able to reduce it's brightness/contrast/color to reduce the risk of burn in. Cost me 10€, and it's less heavy than what I expected. I've screwed wheels in the base so I can push it around the room.

[@MrKrimstah]

I didn’t know rear projections had mini crts inside , why do people hate on these ?

[@rgbrob]

They seem to drift/deteriorate out of spec faster and more substantially that a direct view CRT TV. Becoming blurry, very misconverged, heavy burn-in, dull. The tubes in projection systems are driven harder than a regular crt tv thus have a shorter life span. There are some shocking examples in arcade machines of the aforementioned symptoms. They can also be difficult to view and become very dark depending on your angle of viewing in relation to the screen.

[@BGTech1]

See my rear projection tv tear down video. I go over all the parts and the working principles

[@DoubleMonoLR]

Earlier ones & some later ones used CRTs, more used an LCD later on.

[@Necrotheshadow]

Some rear projection crts have quality enough parts to truly earn its place next to some tube sets. This one seems to have very crisp picture for the resolution and that is why hitachi is regarded as one of the better rear projection crt manufacturers.

[@rgbrob]

Good to know, ill try and hunt some more Hitachis for future vids.

[@TheAcadianGuy]

Really? I got one for free : Hitachi 51f510

[@Necrotheshadow]

@@TheAcadianGuy oh hey I just checked out that model with proper calibration it has really good picture supposedly the user who calibrated it removed the glass protection screen to increase the contrast levels. I have no idea how that works but the picture before and after did seem to be a huge Improvement.

[@TheAcadianGuy]

@@Necrotheshadow thanks for the info :)

[@roveradventures]

Making me wonder what a pioneer elite rear projection would be like. We had a mitsubishi that was used for years until it finally just died. Bought new. Did the job but it didn't die till mitsubishi actually stopped servicing them! Impressive service life I'd say.

[@deckofcards87]

Love the soft look of rear projection, yea it's not high def but it is very nostalgic.

[@lmtliam]

You did well to get such a new RP CRT in 4:3 without 100Hz. The only thing it lacks is SCART. I got a rear projection TV last year, and it's hard to go back to anything else for gaming. Like most people, I was put off them by the memory of bad ones from yesteryear. I remember being appalled at the state of Saturn Daytona USA on a widescreen rear projection CRT on display in a games shop. Then there were all the 50" arcade games that had gone pink.

[@rgbrob]

Lol your rear projection story explains well why the bad perception of rear projection tvs exists. What RP are you running?

[@lmtliam]

@@rgbrob It's a Toshiba 43VJ22P.

[@RainerK.]

Fascinating. Nearly bought one in the early 2000s, but got a big CRT instead and soon afterwards switched to plasma.

[@lexrol86]

Looks like new condition rear projector very clean and nice.

[@rgbrob]

Came from an old fellow, he must have looked after it well, not much use perhaps.

[@zombee38]

It looks good!

[@BGTech1]

Man I wish SED and FED displays where a thing

[@rgbrob]

Same

[@BGTech1]

@@rgbrob I do know some prototypes exist. It would be super cool if someone like TechnologyConections got one to do a video on.

[@rgbrob]

@@BGTech1 It would be mind blowing

[@voltz15]

Has there ever been a rear projection tv that takes pc monitor resolutions into account and not have to deal with the analog/digital conversion?

[@steve50431]

Ya they made HD rear projection TV's with HDMI connection. You can probably plug in your PC as its Video IN port to TV.

[@agfa1854]

Hey Rob, this is a bit off topic, but have you heard of the new reproduction VGA input cards for Loewe 100Hz sets? I was wondering if you still had that 38" Loewe Aconda, since it's compatible with the new card. It would be awesome to see that 38" set running in 480p VGA.

[@rgbrob]

that would be great, id have to dig out the bet set

[@BeatemupMaster]

Nice TV! Would also have a Rear projection TV, but dont have a Room for it and have Stairs...:(

[@MrScharonne1996]

What's that spaceship game before duck hunt?

[@VaporMan420]

I like projection CRTs a lot too, but I think projectors give a better image than the rear projection sets. I have a Sony VPH 1042QM myself (SD only)

[@rgbrob]

Im coming around to that opinion too

[@Agent57000DM]

Yes, they never appealed to me back in the day. You sacrificed some brightness and clarity for a "big" screen.

[@DoubleMonoLR]

Yeah, I suspect it may in large part be due to the screen, it would be interesting to see how they performed if you repaced the fresnel lens with material designed for rear projection home cinema. Perhaps would be dimmer though.

[@yohan8325]

COOL!!!

[@freddychopin]

Excellent video. This thing blows away all the examples I remember from childhood with terrible convergence and chromatic aberration issues. Side note, it's definitely "Hee-tah-chee" and not "high-tah-chee". That is to say, the two I vowels are the same sound.

[@rgbrob]

Thanks for the feedback!

[@touch_the_sky]

Looks brand new! Lucky you :) May I ask what's the best Rear Projection CRT TV you've been able to try?

[@rgbrob]

I havent seen enough to really know but this Hitachi is very good, one of the last CRT rear projection models out there.

[@thestreaker4635]

Those tv speakers use to shake the room the bass hits hard with surround sound

[@F0CKSTR0T]

Honestly, for 480i content like VHS, PS2, 3rd party Gamecube, etc, these seem like the perfect displays. Wouldn't use it for scanlines but definitely would use the huge 480i screen and sound system to play Vice City how it was meant to be played. I'm really regretting passing so many of these up on the streets. Hope I see another one soon. Got a 27 inch Trini and an old cabinet Zenith as well as an HD Wega and plasmas for everything else. Do I need one? No. But it would be a rad final edition for that specific era of gaming.

[@blazuma111]

I'd still say direct view CRT TV's are better than rear projection, especially since all the colors are focused on a single electron gun instead of 3, which has less space to move around in and places the electrons much closer together unlike rear projection which doesn't focus them quite as well, especially since it has to bounce off of a mirror. I own a Mitsubishi WS-55313, which is a 1080i DV-i widescreen rear projection TV, and while I'd say it's better than a standard Sony Trinitron, it fails to beat a 1080i direct view CRT due to blurriness of rear projection technology.

[@rgbrob]

I agree with you

[@beaumotplage]

I think there's tradeoffs with both. 3-CRT projectors don't have phosphor dot pitches so you can get better defined pixels, and direct-view CRTs still have 3 electron beams and when they do go mis-converged (e.g. around the edges), it can be a nightmare of adjusting rings and adding magnetic strips (whereas newer projection setups had a digital convergence that could adjust 64+ sections of the screen independently). But I do agree you're typically going to see better convergence on a direct view CRT as the RP setup would be more likely to drift over time and require frequent readjustment. Calibrating a 1080-capable projection setup would've taken an immense amount of time, I bet.

[@blazuma111]

@@beaumotplage Actually, I think you're right, because it's not often that you can find a highly detailed resolution picture of a RPTV set these days online, if, even at all, as I now discovered that mine has slight coolant build-up on all the lens, and needs new coolant, as whenever looking at small detail such as letters and my profile picture online, it should be fully visible and the edges should be nice and clear, but it's a bit of a blur. Once I get new coolant, It will be much better, because as far as I'm aware, the 1080i CRT RPTV's I remember having some of the most beautiful picture and detail than any other display type, if not, still better than all the ones today including OLED if it's precisely and perfectly calibrated. I believe that I read somewhere that due to no phosphor pitch, 1080i CRT RP displays are still the clearest imaging displays to date, it's just very difficult to document this, as I bet no one wants to do an extremely risky repair of possibly breaking the tubes in order to remove the build-up and putting new coolant. I want to do this to my TV, but it's the only one I have and it's nearly impossible to find another excellent set; mine is one of the most high-end consumer sets that was made and is a Best Buy exclusive, meaning it's quite rare to find. My dad just said until the picture quality is TRULY blurry until it's mostly unwatchable, then we would try to remove the build-up and put new coolant, but that could be up to 5 years from now.

[@kanayanfantv]

Do newer games perform better on it too? I think it is! Hate motion "blur" in LCD monitors.

[@rgbrob]

Yes, no blur on this rear projection.

[@ArtVandelayOfficial]

Nice score, looks in very good nick I think Toshiba were the best rear projections back in the day

[@rgbrob]

Thanks, ill keep an eye out for Toshiba RP for the future

[@israelgonzalezabrego3551]

I had a Toshiba 61A60A and a Mitsubishi VS 60607 and the Mitsu bring a better image get better black leves because they dont give you that glowse effect that you see in this video when are made it the convergence, in other hand the sound is alot better on the Toshiba

[@TronicGames]

Great find in great condition. Thanks for showing it!

[@aniltriballifestyle343]

❤❤❤❤

[@athrunzala5337]

is it the same as old CRTs for retro graming or are they different tech than cathode tube ?

[@Electrotat]

they are trash

[@peytonlutz1]

Why does Duck Hunt sound a pitch down? Like it's almost exactly 5/6th of what the sound should be from what I remember

[@RamClaw]

The Australian PAL version may be a bit slower than the US NTSC version. Our electricity cycles a little slower than the states. 50hz vs 60hz

[@peytonlutz1]

​@@RamClaw I feel bad for the clocks and coffee makers...

[@branhicks]

I've always wondered what it would look like if you put a modern short throw projector inside

[@gphilipc2031]

Have same question. My old Hitachi is too dim but works.

[@DoubleMonoLR]

Like an LCD rear projection TV, which were common.

[@gregrejr65]

Maravillosa maquina

[@skanlines]

It sucks that the convergence and geometry are way off. I wonder how good it would look if perfect. How good were they when new?

[@swardmusic]

love it!

[@zuffin1864]

this man has incredible taste in videogames

[@Reyas]

10:39 haha ;)

[@علمونور-س4ق]

Primare C43- LF9000

[@josephdias5859]

they need to bring rear projection back now that we have short throw 4k projectors

[@rgbrob]

Would be cool but direct view CRT would be the place to start first...

[@RahmanDwi]

I noticed at 1:19 that the component video input consists of Y, Cb, Cr (not Y, Pb/Cb, Pr/Cr used in progressive scan-capable and HDTV ready TVs). My CRT TV also has the same Y, Cb, Cr component input, and therefore unable to display progressive scan correctly (from my DVD player) as you did in 12:26.

[@rgbrob]

ive never made it a point to take note on the specific labelling of the component input to see if there is a pattern or differentiation for progressive and interlace or other factors by the naming. Doing a quick search, it may be that TV manufacturers may be incorrectly using the terms. Y, Cb, Cr is digital and carried on 1 wire (SDI or firewire for example). Whereas Y, Pb/Cb, Pr/Cr is analogue and carries on 3 wires. Someone else might like to comment and bring clarity to the definitions.

[@jimbotron70]

There is no such thing as "CRT rear projector", they are mutually exclusive technologies.

[@DoubleMonoLR]

That's completely wrong. CRT rear projection TVs use 3 bright CRTs (red, green and blue) to project an image. Likewise there were normal (front) projectors that used the same system, and could be superb. I have one myself, though mine is an old bottom end projector. It's conceptually similar to LCD TVs and LCD projectors.

[@jimbotron70]

@@DoubleMonoLR I have investigated more, and yes, you're right. Don't know what I was thinking.

[@eijentwun5509]

If it is Rear Projection then its NOT a CRT! a CRT already has beams coming from behind... this looks like a Projection TV....a Projector behind a translucent plastic or glass screen.

[@rgbrob]

the 'projector' inside this TV is made of 3 CRTs. The image is created from the 3 crts, 1 red, green & blue tube.

[@TheAssclown213]

The timing on Duck Hunt is off for my ears lol