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Sony to Stop Producing Smaller CRTs

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the forced-obsolescence dept.

NerveGas writes "Sony is apparantly going to stop producing 17- and 19-inch CRTs, in favor of LCDs. It seems a bit soon to drop CRTs completely, seeing as how LCDs still have less than 30% of the market share. Maybe since their patent on Trinitron screens expired, they're not able to command ridiculous margins any more." Smaller CRTs? I've got a couple 19" Sony monitors here, and I've always considered them to be a good size.

6 of 508 comments (clear)

  1. Does this mean... by s.a.m · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That we'll get to see some companies pick up the details of the patent and start producing CHEAPER trinitron crt's? That would be awesome since sony crts are expensive.

  2. Re:LCDs Still Suck. by aetherspoon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm a gamer.
    I run UT2003.
    I own a LCD.
    My LCD runs usually at 75 hz, although it can run at 80 hz.
    I see no ghosting whatsoever.
    I see no dead pixels, and I've even had my monitor go through the US's airline BAGGAGE.

    Me thinks you have not seen a modern LCD.

    --
    --- Ãther SPOON!
  3. Re:the las vegas effect by PhantomHarlock · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Plasma screens have really short burn in times, if you put a computer desktop on it you'll have permanent ghosts where the static objects on your desktop are in notime.

    People who buy them as televisions have to be very careful to avoid burn it, that's why they have grey vertical bars instead of black when watching 4:3 television on a 16:9 display. The technology just isn't quite there yet.

  4. Back in the old days... by jmichaelg · · Score: 5, Interesting
    ...when color television was just getting going, my best friend's dad worked as a machinist at the Berkeley Rad Lab. That was the lab that E.O. Lawrence had started just before WWII. One day in the very early 60's a group of physicists invited him to be the group's machinist and moonlight on a project. They were going to build a new color TV tube that was going to beat every other TV then on the market. They figured that since they had worked on particle accelerators for years, they really ought to know a thing or two about TV tubes which are nothing more but scaled down electron accelerators.

    They worked nights and weekends on the project and when they finally had something to show, they schlepped the tube around to Motorola, Zenith, Sylvania, GE and one other American Television company. They chose those 5 companies because, combined, the companies dominiated the world television industry. None of the companies was interested. Discouraged, the group sold the rights to the tube to a European outfit. The Europeans gave the tube up as a lost cause because it was too hard to manufacture so the Europeans dumped it on a small Japanese electronics company. The company was Sony and that's how Sony ended up with the Trinitron. The name Trini - meant three for the three color guns and Tron, well because everything being built at Berkeley back then was a "-tron" - Calutron, Bevatron.

  5. Re:the las vegas effect by StArSkY · · Score: 4, Interesting


    This all depends on what the pixel response time is. I get no ghosting on my LCD's at all, but I have seen some crappy (eg Viewmaster) ones that did ghost.

    My pixel response time on my TWO LG 563LE's is 25ms. This is the equivalent of 40fps... BUT this is only for the pixels that change colours.

    All of the other pixels don't change color at all, and as such are inifite FPS !!! This is why you don't get such sore eyes on these babies.

    I also play counter-strike and DOD on my LCD's and I experience no problems at all playing. I have had other gamers surprised at how good they are given they are LCD's

    --
    lounge around on the blue couch
  6. Corporate reasons for LCD screens by Michael+Snoswell · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Having been an IT Manager in a big corp and also worked at SGI where 21" monitors are par for the course, and in military app development, I can think of many reasons to favour LCD screens:
    (not in any particular order)

    - less desktop space
    - lighter (you'd be surprised the number of insurance claims for back problems come from lifting monitors, they get moved from deskto desk or returned for repairs)
    - don't go fuzzy over time
    - look more high tech
    - less fire risk
    - less electric shock risk
    - less radiation risk
    - no alignment problems
    - less heat generated
    - lower magnetic interference of nearby equipment
    - able to withstand wider temp and pressure fluctuations
    - less storage space for stock

    This is offset by the dowsides ppl have mentioned like:

    - limited viewing angle
    - gamma/colour problems in cheaper LCDs
    - fixed resolution
    - images can look "harsh"
    - cost

    I'm sure Sony did their marketing homework before announcing this. Personally I love my 21" Trinitron...

    --
    pithy comment