I won't be here quite as often...

[A Black Falcon]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathode_ray_tube

This specifically mentions that the resolution of CRT actually is fixed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCD

It should be noted that the major complaint of proper scaling is really more of a software issue than a hardware limitation. The makers seem to prefer stretching the image in a rather ugly fasion (division by fractions doesn't work with cruel hard FIXED PIXELS, you can't have half a pixel) to just showing it at it's original resolution (which would make it smaller) or just "scaling up" while maintaining the ration (which would result mainly in just having some black bars around the image, which really isn't a problem since a normal TV has AIR in the same place as the black bars).

I'm pretty sure that this is just wrong.

First... you are right: CRTs do indeed have a maximum resolution. All monitors do.

However... they do NOT have an "optimal resolution". A CRT will look equally good at any resolution below its maximum. This is not true for LCDs. CRTs aren't just set pixels in the screen that can only display things at one resolution well.

From that Wikipedia article:

Drawbacks

LCD technology still has a few drawbacks in comparison to some other display technologies:

* While CRTs are capable of displaying multiple video resolutions without introducing artifacts, LCD displays usually produce only crisp images in their "native resolution" or even fractions of it.
* LCD displays generally have a lower contrast ratio than that on a plasma display or CRT. This is due to their "light valve" nature: some light always leaks out making black grey.
* LCDs have longer response time than their plasma and CRT counterparts, creating ghosting and mixing when images rapidly change; this drawback, however, is continually improving as the technology progresses.
* The viewing angle of a LCD is usually less than that of most other display technologies, thus reducing the number of people who can conveniently view the same image. However, this negative has actually been capitalized upon in two ways. Some vendors offer portables with intentionally reduced viewing angle, to provide additional privacy for example when using the PC in airplanes. Secondly, it allows multiple TV outputs from the same LCD screen just by changing the angle from where the TV is seen. Such a set can also show two different images to one viewer, providing a three-dimensional effect.
* Many users of older (around pre-2000) LCD monitors get migraines and severe eyestrain problems from the flicker nature of the fluorescent backlights. If you experience eyestrain issues with LCDs, consider these possibilities: you are using too small a resolution for reading text, there is glare from another light, screen brightness is set too low or high, there is a defective backlight, or the LCD monitor is too close or too far away. If your operating system has antialiasing with subpixel accuracy (called "ClearType" on Windows XP), this generally helps improve font visibility, although its style is not to everyone's liking.
* LCD screens occasionally suffer from image persistence, which is similar to screen burn on CRT displays. Unlike CRTs, however, LCDs can be restored to normal by displaying an all-white pattern for extended periods of time.
* Light guns do not work with this type of display since they do not have flexible lighting dynamics that CRTs have. However, the field emission display will be a potential replacement for LCD flat-panel displays since they emulate CRTs in some technological ways.
* Many models can't display some low resolution screenmodes (such as 320x240).

While many of these things have been improved on over the years, there is only so much that can be done. As for the CRT's 'drawbacks' section, it's mostly about archaic 1950s CRTs that were prone to implosion... their main drawback is just their size. They continue to have higher refresh rates, more resolutions available (any resoulution that fits your screen's aspect ratio and is allowed by your video card can be produced, pretty much -- other ones would of course require stretching or windowing, but that's true for any monitor; LCDs, though, only only have resolutions available that are programmed in, I believe -- otherwise why would some of them not be able to display low resolutions like 320x240?), no viewing angle restrictions (that continue to be sometimes annoying on LCDs), no ghosting/trails (more common on things like some portable devices or older LCDs perhaps, but still...)... videophiles would also talk about the LCD's lack of a true black color, but that doesn't bother me as much. :) The first item on that list though, about resolutions, I have noticed while using LCDs and really annoys me sometimes. CRTS simply do not have the problem.

Anyway, it's not just things that are 'solvable'. LCDs are just more limited technology, despite improvements.

I know that LCDs have come a long, long way, but when I try to use a rarely used resolution and the monitor won't let me without big black borders or edges that go over the sides of the screen and cannot be fully adjusted within bounds, I am less than impressed. And I know that it's not exactly high on monitor companies' agendas to fix LCD comaptibility with arcaic, rarely used resolutions...