36" Widescreen Advice

[lebon]

I'm looking to buy a 36" widescreen CRT with a budget of £1500.

At this price, contenders appear to be Hitachi, Panasonic, Philips and Toshiba. I'm leaning towards the Hitachi because of the built in DD/DTS and progressive scan (and I believe it uses a Panasonic tube), but ultimately picture quality is my main priority.

Has anyone seen any comparison tests, or managed to get more than one set together in a dealer's, with a half decent input !!

Any advice appreciated, thanks

[Michael Brooke]

I was considering 36" tellies on a similar budget a few months ago, but ended up going for a 43" rear projection model at least partly because they were much slimmer front-to-back - CRT sets that size are colossal!

[nigel_williams]

Also VERY heavy!

My brother got the Hitachi 36" for £850 on qxl - a dealer in Birmingham. I think it was the model 810 so it's slightly older than the current but still has PS.

I'm checking it out this weekend.... Might be tempted to get one myself.

[lebon]

£850 is an absolute bargain price.
Is it new and do you know which dealer it came from?

[nigel_williams]

I can find out.

I think the on-line seller ID was something like "BeQuick", based in Birmingham.