At this point, any serious retro gamer knows that a bulky cathode ray tube (CRT) TV provides the most authentic, lag-free experience for gaming consoles that predate the era of flat-panel HDTVs (i.e., pre-Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 era). But modern gamers used to huge flat-panel HD screens may question the screen size of the most common CRTs, which are typically between 20 and 30 inches (depending on the era in which they were made).
For those who want the absolute greatest possible CRT experience, Sony's KX-45ED1 model (also known as PVM-4300) has become legendary. The massive 45-inch CRT sold for as much as $40,000 (over $100,000 in today's dollars) in the late '80s, according to contemporary reports.
That price means it wasn't exactly a mass-market product, and its limited supply has made it something of a white whale for CRT enthusiasts to this day. While some photos of the PVM-4300 have surfaced in the wild and in marketing materials, no collector has come forward with detailed images of a working unit.
The PVM-4300, seen in the shade of the tables and chairs in an Osaka noodle restaurant.
Credit: Shank Mods
Meet Shank Mods, a retro gaming enthusiast and renowned maker of portable versions of non-portable consoles. In a fascinating 35-minute video posted this weekend, he details his years-long efforts to find and secure a PVM-4300 from a soon-to-be-demolished restaurant in Japan, and preserve it for years to come.
A confirmed sighting of white whales
Shank Mods' search began in earnest in October 2022, when the moderator of the Console Modding wiki, Derf, reached out with a tip about a PVM-4300 sighting in the wild. A seven-year-old Japanese blog post featured a photo of the huge TV that could be sent into a waiting room at Chikuma Soba's noodle restaurant and factory in Osaka, Japan.
The discovery came just in time, because Chikuma Soba's website stated that the restaurant would move to a new location within a few days, after which the old location would be demolished. Shank Mods took to Twitter to recruit an Osaka local in a last-ditch effort to save TV from destruction. Local game developer Bebe Tinari responded to the call and managed to visit the site, confirming that the TV still existed and was even on.
