Big Big Screen, Big Big Price
Mitsubishi Electronics recently unveiled the biggest direct-view TV ever: the 40-inch CS40FX1, which has 66% more screen surface than a 31-inch set. Of course, the price is big too: $5,000.
Until now, the biggest direct-view (picture tube) TV was 35 inches. Direct-view TVs offer the sharpest picture and color, superior to what you get from the big screen (45-, 50-, 60-inch, etc.) rear-projection sets.
This is the first increase in direct-view TV screen size since Mitsubishi introduced the 35-inch in 1986. Industry sources say no other manufacturer is planning to introduce a comparable direct-view set any time soon.
The CS40FX1 is available in about 70 stores around the nation, including Ken Crane’s in Southern California. By early next year, though, that number will have increased to hunbdreds.
Its features include an elaborate stereo speaker system, picture-in-picture and remote-controlled graphic equalizer for audio fine-tuning.
An axiom in TV manufacturing is that as the size of the screen increases, the quality of the picture decreases, with fading color and “ghosts” around the edges of figures. In a demonstration, though, the Mitsubishi CS40FX1 offered a remarkably sharp picture. Even around the edges of the screen, the picture and color were still very clear.
But match it against the best Sony 32-inch screen or Mitsubishi’s $7,500, 35-inch CS35X7 (arguably the best direct-view TV on the market) or other top-of-the-line 31-inch screens and the CS40FX1 loses, but not by much. The colors, particularly blues and oranges, aren’t quite as deep and the picture isn’t quite as crisp.
A word of caution: If you go to your dealer to check out this new set, make sure you get a test-viewing while watching a TV show and not a laser disc. With a TV show you’ll get an accurate example of how the set would perform under normal TV-viewing circumstances. The average TV show doesn’t look nearly as good as the high-resolution picture offered by laser disc.
New on Video: “Sister Act” (Touchstone, $20). Contrived, sentimental but basically ejoyable comedy-drama about a vulgar lounge singer (Whoopi Goldberg) who breathes life into a staid, rundown San Francisco nunnery while hiding out from her gangster boyfriend (Harvey Keitel).
“Far and Away” (MCA/Universal, no set price). One-dimensional, predictable romantic adventure, directed by Ron Howard, about the struggles of two Irish immigrants--a poor farmer (Tom Cruise) and his spunky mate (Nicole Kidman)--who are looking for a fresh start in America in the 1890s.
“City of Joy” (Columbia TriStar, no set price). In this well-meaning but schmaltzy drama, Patrick Swayze stretches his limited acting talents to their limits playing a burned-out doctor who’s rejuvenated by working in a clinic in the teeming slums of Calcutta--effectively captured by director Roland Joffe.
