It seems this TV is more rare than special. Sony was again making up to 42" models in the 2000s. Not quite at 43" however those were 1080i, 16:9 flat screen CRTs with a plethora of analog and digital ports in the rear.
The later CRT models you are describing here are not coveted by retro gaming enthusiasts (which the people involved here clearly are) since the digital nature of them meant they introduced a ton of processing that negates the near zero input lag all earlier analog CRTs benefit from. Many of the later digital models can actually be had for much cheaper these days than the full analog ones despite looking more powerful on spec sheets.
