Ohio TV tube plant to close

There are no longer any CRT type monitors and TV sets being produced by the major manufactures. There are still some low end CRT device manufactures in the Orient. But, their productions are declining.

There are many reasons for the increasing demand for flat panel displays. A few simple reasons are that the power consumption is generaly better than 30% less than the CRT type, there is very little radiation, and when disposed of, they are less harmful to the environment.

A few other attributes with the LCD displays are that they take up much less space in the work area, give off less heat, do not employ high voltages, do not radiate any UV or X-Ray radiation, and they are much safer for pregnant women and young children to use.

As the sales of these monitors increase, and the technolgy improves, the production costs will also decrease. In a few years, the purchase price for an LCD monitor will be much lower than that of the equivelent CRT type.

There are some newer technologies being developed that will offer more improvements over the present LCD monitors. This new technology will have a higher contrast ratio, finer defination, have quicker response, and have higher brightness levels. From what I have been hearing, it will be based on an LED type of technology.

Jerry G.

Sure there are, Sony still makes high end CRT monitors and TV sets, I'm sure most of the other big ones must be as well. CRTs are declining, but they're not dead yet.

But, the handwriting is on the wall:

But how much of those savings will be passed on to the customer?

Here in the UK a new 19" CRT monitor can be had for around £100 ($150-ish?). I really can't see 19" LCD monitors getting much cheaper than that. Manufacturers have to take other factors than production costs into account when pricing, and will usually set prices at what they think they can reasonably get for them.

They will certainly be much cheaper to store and transport, so there'll be some cost savings there, but it seems after many years of TFT production, manufacturers still whine about a large number of rejects on production runs keeping costs up. It makes one wonder if they'll ever get it right.

Dave

NEC is a major manu. They are still making CRT units, and I hope they don't stop. I'll choose my NEC FP2141SB over any LCD screen any day, or for that matter any other CRT monitor under $1000, as I've compared it to some of the best.

LCD output in resolution modes other than native (scaling) look like crap. Unless and until designers overcome this limitation in a pixel-addressed display, there will always be a market for CRT monitors, at least for the high-end crowd (think professional graphic artists, video production, programmers, etc.) I frequently change graphics modes on my pc's and I won't even bother doing so with LCD.

Sure, CRT units weigh a ton (especially this 22" NEC monster), and sure they eat more power and yeah they generate more heat and no they aren't emission-free (fairly safe levels from what I've read on MPR-III/TCO99, though). But.. until pixel-addressed displays are capable of matching my NEC's color reproduction, video playback quality and ability to work well in various resolutions, I'll keep buying CRT's. BTW, this NEC cost $600 -- that's for a 2048x1536 22" screen. Try finding an LCD monitor with a pixel count this high (do they exist?) for anywhere near that price -- or even an LCD screen of lower resolution but similar size. Before I get flamed, yes, CRT text sucks at 2048x1536, BUT video is good. And how about annoying dead pixels? Won't find those on CRT's. The CRT beats LCD's quality (notable exception being text) and price point. Of course, should all these CRT plant shutdowns cause individual CR-tube prices to skyrocket, LCD's will eventually win the price war.

OLED (Organic LED).

Benefits include physical flexibility (imagine the apps!), true black, very low power consumption and low production costs. Still gonna be pixel-addressed and as such will suffer the aforementioned scaling drawbacks. I suppose I'll "get over" the scaling issue if ONE DAMN resolution is adopted worldwide (and the world sticks with it). At least then one could render a project knowing it will look identical -- and hopefully pleasing -- to everyone who views it!

The other--so far unmentioned--advantage of CRT's over LCD is viewing angle. For some, it could be a drawback of the CRT; but for most users, the changes in the perceived image on an LCD when viewed off-axis is a major annoyance. They've gotten better, but still not anywhere near the viewing angle of a CRT.

I expect the OLED displays will address that drawback.

jak

Hi James,

I was infact at a number of Sony meetings over the last year. (I am doing authorised industrial service for them). They told us that they DO NOT make any more of the CRT's. They have some inventories that are being used up. When these are finished, they will only have a limited number of spare tubes for warranty service. After that, the client will need to change his monitor to an LCD, or some other type.

We have a major broadcast client that is still using CRT broadcast monitors. Sony told us, that after next year, they don't think they will be able to supply any more of the tubes for their monitors. The client is now preparing their budget to get LCD replacements as these fail. In the meantime, we bought a fair number of tubes that were still available to hold in inventory.

Below is a link to show the new Sony professional replacment monitors for the CRT ones. For rackmount, there are kits available from Sony.

Sony Halts Producing CRT's

Sony Stops Producing CRT's In Europe

Sony To Stop Producing Consumer TV Sets With CRT Technology

I think the links above will indicate what I am mentioning. It is also the same for all the other major manufactures of TV sets, computer monitors, industrial monitors, and broadcast monitors.

Jerry G. ======

snip. How unfortane. CRTs is still a king for pic quality. Deep blacks, sharp (possible on decent CRT) if driven by analog circuits. Not the mishmash of digital conversion for different size formats. I'm waiting for OLED.

Snip

What set apart from consumer level CRT TVs and the professional CRT based sets? Such as rock hard pic stablity in face of wild picture gyrations? Same question for consumer & profressional LCD, DLP etc, what's the difference?

Cheers, Wizard

The main difference is the performance. Some to mention is the accuracy of the color ballance, color temperature, pin cushening, noise, stability, and defination. To have many of the specifications refined, there is a cost.

If you were to ever get a demo, or have the oportunity to use a very high end professional monitor and compare it to even the high end consumer type, you would see the difference. That is why the pros spend the extra dollars for them, and that is why there is a market for them.

Jerry G.

The main difference is the performance. Some to mention is the accuracy of the color ballance, color temperature, pin cushening, noise, stability, and defination. To have many of the specifications refined, there is a cost.

If you were to ever get a demo, or have the oportunity to use a very high end professional monitor and compare it to even the high end consumer type, you would see the difference. That is why the pros spend the extra dollars for them, and that is why there is a market for them.

Jerry G.

Sony no longer makes any CRT computer monitors.

There used to be a Corning plant that made CRT parts in my town, but they packed up and moved to China about 2 years ago. Andy Cuffe

snipped-for-privacy@psu.edu

One way around the scaling problem would be to make a display that has a resolution so high that the pixels aren't visible. I'm thinking of something on the order of hundreds of pixels per inch so it would look like a printed page. Andy Cuffe

snipped-for-privacy@psu.edu

I reciently read an article mentioning that Sharp, Sony, and a number of others, after January 2006, they will no longer be producing any type of CRT TV set or monitor for both industrial and consumer use.

This is a recient news letter put out by Sharp to their share holders and clients:

There were similiar news letters put out by many of the manufactures.

Jerry G.