CRT:PVM-4300

The Sony PVM-4300, also known as the KX-45ED1 in Japan, is presumably the largest CRT tube ever produced. Launched in 1989, the KX-45ED1 retailed at 2,430,000 Yen (roughly $17,500 at 1989 exchange rate). There was also a variant with a built-in VT-X5R tuner, KX-45ED1T, which retailed at 2,520,000 Yen (roughly $18,000 USD at 1989 exchange rate). The PVM-4300 was reported to have been sold for $40,000 USD in the United States in 1990. It is also rumored to have been the huge TV featured in the movie "Camp Nowhere", though this may have been a rear-projection TV.

It is an example of an "IDTV" (Improved Definition TV), which uses digital circuitry to deinterlace 480i NTSC video signals to 480p. This was meant to reduce eye-straining flicker and improve image clarity on large size screens. In Japan, Sony called this "Digital Frame Memory TV".

It includes two RGB inputs. The first one is for 15kHz (480i) signals. The second one is for 31kHz (480p) signals and bypasses the digital upconversion circuitry.

There was also a similar 29" model released in Japan, the KV-29ED1. However this model lacks a 31kHz RGB input.

Gallery
A KX-45ED1 spotted in unknown restaurant in Japan:



Image of unknown source:



French magazine "Joystick" Number 15, page 20 (April-1991) contains an article about the Sony KX-45ED1:



Picture of the KX-45ED1 next to Panasonic TH-43K1DP, unknown source:



Mention in European Semiconductor Application Markets Newsletter - Research Newsletter (1990):



Chicago Tribune news article - March 6th, 1990

Sun Sentinel news article - April 22, 1990

Mention in Broadcasting Magazine, Page 49 - June 12th, 1989

Mention in Popular Electronics, Page 58 - February 1990

[[Media:PVM-4300 Diagram.pdf|Full set diagram]]