More than a year has passed since CNET last reviewed a CRT monitor. We didn't exactly forget about the old cathode ray tube, but 2003 was unquestionably the year of the LCD. Finally, flat-screen prices descended from the exorbitant to the reasonable: a decent 19-inch LCD now goes for as little as $600, a 17-incher for less than $450, and a 15-incher for less than $350.

Still, you may find reason yet to love your old CRT or maybe even buy a new one. In fact, if you're serious about image quality--namely, you're a hard-core gamer, graphic design professional, video editor, or movie buff--you know that CRTs offer superior performance in several important areas.

Besides being hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars less expensive than LCDs, CRT monitors generally deliver superior color fidelity and better video and motion performance. Where LCDs are often able to produce a limited number of colors (usually 16.7 million), CRTs are capable of displaying an infinite range, an advantage for exacting graphic artists. CRTs offer other benefits as well, such as unlimited viewing angles and the ability to display a variety of resolutions with relatively little quality loss. Perhaps most significantly, whereas LCDs' current pixel-response times are too slow to accurately display the fast motion in movies and games, CRTs keep images sharp when the action starts.

We asked five major monitor vendors to send us their best CRTs in the $200 to $300 range--neither LCD-expensive nor bargain-bin units. It's widely held that CRT technology has advanced so that there is little performance difference among brands, and on the whole, we concur. Still, some of the models we reviewed were clearly better than others. Each also offered a variety of extra features, from image-setting presets and optimization tools to clip-on speakers.

We've just begun to hear about next-generation LCD monitors that promise to close the video performance gap with CRTs. Samsung's SyncMaster 172X, with a reported 12-millisecond pixel-response time, could be the first LCD to deliver a CRT-comparable performance with games and video. But for now, conventional wisdom prevails. CRTs still reign supreme for graphics pros, gamers, and video junkies. Will flat-screen displays change that in 2004? We'll be watching.