Replying to a few points raised by Jon. I have noticed with a most of the new LCD screens that like the LCD monitors you have to be sitting at the corect angle to get the best display, one up for the crt here then.
Moving on to the Sony trinitron tube, Yes they are bright but always look concaved and have a strange lensy effect to them. They are all the same from the original to the very latest wega things.
Your 1967 19 " Pye tv like my 1972 20 " ITT/KB mono tv both have flattish 110 degree crts. The truth is they ironed out most of the problems with large screen mono tubes by the 60's and with the use of more powerfull timebase valves such as the PL504, PY88 DY802 and the PCL805 these older sets could produce some very good pictures. Along came colour and it was back to 90 degee deflection as it is today. The reasons are down to power (it takes a lot more of it to deflect beam 110 degrees than 90 degrees) and also for convergance and purity reasons.Some of of the continental sets and later sets such as the TX10 did use 110 degree tubes which worked rather well but most makes went back to good old 90 degrees for reasons of power saving and picture quality.Basically 90 degree tubes are more efficient and need less correction ccts to eliminate errors and distortion on the edges of the picture. But as I said earliar there is a new generation of super slim crt's about to be released by LG Philips.
Cabinet colours, ****** awful
and have been since the 1980's. They went to black plastic in the mid 80's, then to charcoal and finally to this silvery grey in more recent years which we are still afficted with today. :
Finally vintage set usage. I used my Decca Bradford as my No1 set right up until 1996 when I lived in my bedsit. There were a few breakdowns but I was always able to clear the faults and have got loads of spares. This set is now in my workshop and gets used several times a week. I am happy about this as the main set in the lounge gets a real battering and can be on from the early hours when the kiddies progs start to the early hours of next day with me watching BBC News 24. For heavy use like this I do not think it is fair to expect a vintage colour set to be used, after all back in the 1970's most sets were only on for a few hours each evening, because most people back then had a life and did not suffer the joys of daytime tv that we have to
. The other older tv's that I use on a regular basis are both mono and in my workshop. The first is the hybrid single standard (625) ITT/KB VC205 which I mentioned earliar and my trusty old 12 " batt/mains BRC1590. Both have very good tubes and produce brilliant pictures. Both date from 1972. From 1969 I have a 19 " mono RBM A640 duel standard. Although it needs some attention I still watch it several times a week.