Proton VT-210
Scott Woskoff
outstanding; noticeably better than anything else we saw (Toshiba, Sony,
Phillips, JVC, NEC) and liked. Before I spend $800, I'd like to know of
other people's experience with this model, or Proton in general. Thanks.
-Scott
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Scott Woskoff (Amateur Radio: W0UG)
GE Medical Systems
Computer Systems Engineering
Milwaukee, WI
--
sc...@gemed.med.ge.com
...uunet!crdgw1!gemed!scott
Mike Yang
(Scott Woskoff) writes:
|> I'm looking for a 20 inch set and saw the Proton today. The picture was
|> outstanding; noticeably better than anything else we saw (Toshiba, Sony,
|> Phillips, JVC, NEC) and liked. Before I spend $800, I'd like to know of
|> other people's experience with this model, or Proton in general. Thanks.
I bought my VT-210 a year ago, because I too was very impressed with
the picture. I've had no problems with it since. If you have the
money (the Proton VT-210 costs more than the Sony equivalent, and
twice as much as the Mitsubishi) and like to have really nice things,
I'd recommend it.
Be aware that the VT-210 lacks an S-connector, and has 400 lines of
resolution so that if you have a Laserdisc or S-VHS unit, you might
lose a little bit.
The VT-270, the 27 inch equivalent of the VT-210, can be had here (SF
Bay Area) for $999 vs. the VT-210's $800. I believe that it's
basically the same set, but bigger. I don't know if it has an
S-connector.
There is another 27 inch Proton, the VT-296, which is better than the
VT-270. In fact, I just purchased this model last week. It's extra
features over the VT-210 include an S-connector, 550 lines of
resolution, on-screen adjustment of tint, color, detail, etc. The
VT-296 is sold here for $1299. The third set of A/V inputs is located
in the front panel, rather than the back as with the VT-210.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Yang Silicon Graphics, Inc.
mi...@sgi.com 415/335-1786
Michael Portuesi
> I'm looking for a 20 inch set and saw the Proton today. The picture was
> outstanding; noticeably better than anything else we saw (Toshiba, Sony,
> Phillips, JVC, NEC) and liked. Before I spend $800, I'd like to know of
> other people's experience with this model, or Proton in general. Thanks.
I have the VT-210. I agonized over the purchase, because $800 is a
lot of money for a 20" monitor, but in retrospect I don't regret
spending the extra money. It's a dream to watch. The screen is flat,
the picture is sharp, colors are deep and stable, and it can actually
produce decent, dark blacks. The tuner does an *excellent* job; the
picture received by the tuner is always sharper and freer of video
noise compared to the tuner in my Panasonic VCR.
The Proton is nice in that it has three RCA inputs, two antenna
inputs, an RGB input, and two sets of RCA outputs, one of them
governed by the set's volume control. You can connect your video
components to it, then run an audio connection back to your preamp or
receiver. The Proton then serves as the switcher for the video half
of your system. You can control the volume for the video using the
Proton's remote.
The VT-210 has little in the way of special features; no
picture-in-picture, no on-screen menus to adjust volume, color, black
level, etc. About the only special features it offers are a mute
button, channel programmability, and a "last channel" button on the
remote. It's definitely for the person who prefers video quality over
gimmicks. I recommend it highly if you've got the money to spend.
Another way to look at it is that you can have a high-quality 20"
screen for the same price as an average 27" screen. For me, the
tradeoff was worth it and I'd do the same thing over again.
--M
--
__
\/ Michael Portuesi Silicon Graphics, Inc. port...@sgi.com
"man, this is weak."
Mark Newton-John
Although the center of the Proton screen is "flat", the screen is
still spherical in shape.
The only screen I have ever seen that is actually flat, is a Zenith
color computer monitor.
In televisions monitors, the closest to flat screens is Sony, who
has the *only* vertically flat screen.
Not to get into a big argument about flatness, just look at the
right and left edges of any other TV. It will be curved. Only Sonys
are ruler flat, top to bottom. New TVs will approach flatness in
the center, but it will still be a spherical based screen.
One advantage to Sonys cylindrical screen, is that the guard
grille, mask, whatever, will not need cross bracing. Look closely
at a Sony monitor, and you will see unbroken phoshor stripes top to
bottom. It can be unbroken, because the structure can be hed by
tension, will all others will need cross bracing, so you see
rectangles of phosphors.
--
(ames att sun)!pacbell! \ Sakura-mendo, CA
ucdavis!csusac! - sactoh0!mfolivo
the good guys!
John Abt
........
>One advantage to Sonys cylindrical screen, is that the guard
>grille, mask, whatever, will not need cross bracing. Look closely
>at a Sony monitor, and you will see unbroken phoshor stripes top to
>bottom. It can be unbroken, because the structure can be hed by
>tension, will all others will need cross bracing, so you see
>rectangles of phosphors.
The phoshor may be unbroken, but the horizontal brace for the Trinitron
shadow mask leaves a thin dark line that is very noticeable on the
high resolution units. It's about 1/3 up from the bottom on my
20TS30, and noticeable enough that I can see it on VHS playback from
8 feet away (it does take a light flat field image though). I noticed
it within 10 seconds of first turning the set on. Because the set
has an otherwise excellent picture, I decided to live with it. The
next time I was in the store where I bought it, I asked the sales
person if it was the same on all units, or are some worse than others.
After first attempting to pretend that it did not exist, the sales
person reluctantly admitted that a "few" customers notice it, and
all units seem to be the same. BTW, this was at your store, John.
John Abt Grass Valley Group