My mother had a behemoth of a Panasonic console TV in her living room right up to the early 2010s. Still worked when we got rid of it, too, just finally decided it was time to upgrade. I remember, when we moved it, there was a half-inch-deep sunken area where it sank into the floor over the years, compressing the carpet.
Doesn't look like Sony made a 42". They did make a 43", which is what this story is about, but it was only 480p not 1080i. The largest 1080i CRT they made was the 34".
Hmm, I went through that entire link on gallery mode and I actually didn't see my parents TV in there. I also couldn't find it on a general Google search or Wikipedia
One of its defining features that I remember clearly, was it had a downward rectangle "paddle" for a power button that had that "fake vent" texture on it, and I didn't see that on any of the wide screens on that link.
So either what my parents had is some sort of forgotten model, or I got the brand wrong, but I'm like 80% it was a Sony
If it did 1080i, I’m guessing it was a widescreen model. Done in the early 2000’s. I got a 36” trinitron for about $1600 that did 1080i/720p. Heavy as crap, but damn fine picture. Halo looked awesome.