LifeSpan/Operational Hours LCD vs CRT?

[thorin]

Can anyone point me to documentation or give me some longtime experience based stories about the lifespan of LCD monitors vs CRT monitors?

Thanks,
Thorin

 

[chansen]

I've got no answer for you, but I do think that's an excellent question.

 

[corkyg]

At Comdex, they were touting 60,000 hours for LCDs vs 20,000 for plasma. CRTs were not discussed - yesterday's news. CRTs have been around a long time - I have one that has been running for 12 years. Heat is a big factor.

 

[thorin]

Anyone else?

Thorin

 

[ptw]

Only 20,000 hours for plasma? Dang....6 hrs/day, 365 days a year...those suckers only last 9 years! Not too good considering their cost.

If I'm going to spend $5,000+ on a TV, I'd like to think it would last until, oh, I'm DEAD.

 

[cliftonite]

Originally posted by: ptw
Only 20,000 hours for plasma? Dang....6 hrs/day, 365 days a year...those suckers only last 9 years! Not too good considering their cost.

If I'm going to spend $5,000+ on a TV, I'd like to think it would last until, oh, I'm DEAD.

Maybe they mean that bulb? or something that you have to replace every few years. Those things cost a few hundred bucks.

 

[thorin]

Anyone else?

Thorin

 

[Gosharkss]

Life span of a monitor is a good question. Lets look at the CRT itself first. The life span of a CRT is usually considered the time it take to get to half brightness. As you use CRT's the phosphors and the cathode of the electron gun start to degrade. These days we are using techniques that make the cathodes last much longer than the rated life of the phosphor.

There are two technologies Aperture grill and shadow mask. On an aperture grill more beam current hits the phosphor. This is why AG monitors typically have more vivid colors. The downside of that is that the phosphors are more prone to screen burn and will degrade faster. Thus it is my opinion that shadow mask monitors will have a longer life span. Turning the brightness and contrast down will help prolong the life of the CRT. Based on this you can see there are a number of variables involved.

For this discussion, I will assume that a typical monitor used 8 hours a day 5 days a week. Most CRT?s will reach half brightness in about 4-5 years.

The life span of the electronics used is much more easily determined. There are military standards based on active component count. Most CRT monitors are rated for 70,000 hours MTBF.

LCD backlights are the weakest link. Most CCD tube manufacturers state that the backlight tubes have an MTBF of 50,000 hours based on the same military calculation. These fluorescent tubes will degrade over time and loose brightness just like a CRT. The backlights on LCDs are NOT easy to replace.

Plasma has a much shorter life span than CRT?s and LCD?s in the 30,000 hour range. BTW Plasma technology does not use backlights so there is nothing to replace. Plasma uses phosphor just like a CRT to generate the light we see. Plasma is very susceptible to screen burn, do not leave a static image on a Plasma display, you will be sorry and I do not know of any manufacture that warranties against screen burn.