My last holdout, a Sony KV-36XBR800.

It was a wonderful TV, manufactured at a time when HDTV was still a developing technology (it’s HDTV interface was a DVI plug instead of HDMI). During the six years of service, it was not only the centerpiece of my living room, but a source of comfort for several children during my foster parenting years.

CRT television technology had reached it’s pinnacle, representing a choice of large and extremely heavy televisions. It was the last year Crutchfield offered them as an option, going completely to flat-panel displays the following season. The unit was so heavy that we had planned to just leave it behind if we ever sold the house.

During it’s lifetime, we saw the proliferation of LCD technology. Circumvented at times by ingenious projection-based approaches, early plasma attempts, and the amazing new LED options.

For me, Crutchfield is shipping us a new Plasma-based unit. I’m sensitive to refresh rate and even the best LEDs don’t come close to the performance of Plasma in this area. The tradeoff will be an awareness to burn-in and reflection, which are both addressed on the new TV using recent solutions and technologies. Plasma also doesn’t have the power-consumption advantage of the latest LED options, but in a few years I would think that LEDs will catch up.