They took a photo from the future and went back in time.

I used to sell TVs in a department store in 95, as part of our range Philips had a wide screen TV, and possibly Grundig, though I think that was an 80cm. The Philips widescreens were comparatively small, so this isn't it, but the tech was certainly possible back then.

That looks like a rear-projection CRT TV.

133MHz wrote:

That looks like a rear-projection CRT TV.

At first I thought I could see some sort of AV component inside the TV stand, but after blowing the image up on the computer screen, it looks like that might not even be a stand at all. So you're probably right.

Still, 16:9 in '94 would've been pretty special, even though there would've been remarkably little widescreen content available. Laserdisc, I guess, but even those weren't anamorphic.

Nothing wrong with CRT TVs. We still have a Philips 32PW9617/12 as our main screen. Still works fine, though the remote has had to be replaced several times over the years.

133MHz wrote:

That looks like a rear-projection CRT TV.

And after a bit of searching, it also does look like a Toshiba too - model TW56D90 seems to fit the bill.

JidaiGeki wrote:

133MHz wrote:

That looks like a rear-projection CRT TV.

And after a bit of searching, it also does look like a Toshiba too - model TW56D90 seems to fit the bill.

Thanks! That looks like the one, or at least it's a very similar model.

Back then you would've been the envy of your neighbourhood with a 56" widescreen! According to the owners manual, that set doesn't have any component or RGB video inputs; only composite and S-video. That's kind of surprising for a high end set. Composite and S-video sources looks pretty bad at 56 inches. Although, I guess back then most people would've been used to VHS hooked up via RF. Still, I seem to recall seeing many high end CRT front projectors having component and/or RGB inputs.

I remember around that time period seeing widescreen CRT TVs at one of the big department stores at the mall (US).
Over the years I had come to question my memory, but I'm glad this thread has informed me that such TVs really did exist.
I'm not sure what the appeal would have been really. But I guess they could have had scaling options that made them useful with letterboxed video tapes and laserdiscs, as mentioned. I think I just remember them showing stretched out versions of that day's football game.

The addresses given in the ad imply it would be a US/Canada market TV. From the TVs I've seen, I think S-Video was typically the best input offered on our TVs in the mid to late 90s. I'm not saying component or RGB were impossible in the mid-90s, but I think it must have been very rare at best. I think component started to be common in the early 2000s, probably in response to DVD players. I haven't personally seen RGB on anything in the US. It existed, but it was never a common standard here.
In an age before DVD players, I'm not sure what consumer devices in the US market would have supported component or RGB outputs. All I can think of are some game consoles which had RGB but only because it was useful in Japan and Europe.

I'm still fond of CRT TVs for playing old game consoles. The graphics were designed for CRTs and they also play better thanks to no lag. I can do without the really big TVs but I hope to always have a good CRT in the ~20" range.

My limited memory tells me that the only format that output component video in the early to mid 90's was Muse LD, but that would've required a high definition set. That's probably why CRT projectors had component inputs before TV sets got them. If you were rich enough to watch HD movies at home, you probably wanted to see them on a really big screen. IIRC, some of those projectors were capable of 1500+ lines of resolution!

I remember seeing 16:9 or 16:10 Proscan CRTs at Circuit City (around 95-96.) I don't think they had component inputs, but I could be wrong. You had to get anamorphic Laserdiscs or S-VHS tapes and push the widescreen button on the remote. There was also a zoom mode for letterboxed movies. Neither looked good.