• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

What's next for CRTs?

Z

zsouthboy

Platinum Member
I was thinking about CRTs, and wondering what kinds of advanvements can still be made with them, like new masks, multiple electron guns, etc...

zs
 
The current rage appears to be 'flat' CRT's, i.e. CRT's which take about as much space as an LCD-screen. There are still some problems with the development of these screens, though, especially with finding new kinds of phosphor and some other parts.

I really hope that OLED's will be ready to compete with LCD and CRT screens very soon, though =)
 
Hmmmmm... I had heard about that.... that they may be used in portable devices(i remember some reviewer reporting that he saw a pocketpc with screen flicker)

How do they do that? Is it essentially a lot of little CRTs?

OLEDs will be the future!


zs
 
Don't hold your breath for OLED... the useful lifetimes are way too short. There's also issues with contrast, brightness, etc.
 
yeah I heard they are working on those..... make 'em last longer and stuff..... eventually, they'll do it.


lets be optimistic at least 🙂

zs
 
I'd like to see CRTs with significantly lower power consumption by manufacturing with different materials, or refine the mask so the tube doesn't have to emit as many electrons to achieve a certain brightness or clarity. I'm a minimalist in my ways of thinking so more guns or brighter (at the cost of power) screens doesn't "do it" for me.
 


<< I'd like to see CRTs with significantly lower power consumption by manufacturing with different materials, or refine the mask so the tube doesn't have to emit as many electrons to achieve a certain brightness or clarity. I'm a minimalist in my ways of thinking so more guns or brighter (at the cost of power) screens doesn't "do it" for me. >>



I think they are bright enough already, but I do agree that we need to find a way to make the mak better..

I originally posted this thread to find out about future CRT technologies(as I though that somebody would be in the know about this)..... Perhaps CRTs have outlived their usefulness(for computer purposes)?

zs
 


<< Perhaps CRTs have outlived their usefulness(for computer purposes)? >>

Not until something like OLED's becomes mature enough to take over the CRT market (and the LCD one as well 🙂 ). For now we're stuck with our bulky, energy-sucking CRT's =)
 
Actually, oleds are already being used in car stereos and they will be going mainstream next year as screens for cellphones. There are a number of problems that have to be resolved with them, but this is definately an expanding market.
 


<< Actually, oleds are already being used in car stereos and they will be going mainstream next year as screens for cellphones. There are a number of problems that have to be resolved with them, but this is definately an expanding market. >>

Yes, monochrome OLED's are already being used, but OLED screens capable of displaying 32-bit color (or better) have still to many problems to be practical.
 
I'm quite looking forward to plasma displays. Although they're not quite as vibrant as LCD's or CRT's and the contrast levels aren't great, their response rates are great and they're more flexible than LCD's since they don't have a physical number of pixels.
 
Multiple guns in a CRT could be used to reduce flicker, you could put in 2 and have either a better resolution or twice as much Hz as with only one gun. One other (maybe) possible thing might be to build a CRT 3D monitor. I read an article about 3D LED screens, which work without special glasses. Something like that might be possible with CRTs too, just cheaper. Can't remember how they did it though... OLEDs are cool, but... well, there's still a lot of work to do... or do you want to buy an expensive screen every few weeks because the old one is... eh, burned out? But I wonder what became of some sort of laser beamer. Just like a normal video beamer, but using a laser. Should have an awesome quality... they thought of making glasses which project the screen into the eyes... cool too 🙂
 
EDIT:
The method used to make 3D LCDs wouldn't work with CRTs; it involves having more than one light source to direct the image properly, and I don't believe it would actually be feasable in a CRT.
/EDIT

Actually, there would be some serious problems in implementing a multi-gun CRT, but I'll let someone else go into that.

Cold cathode tubes are coming - in fact, they're already being manufactured for use in automobile displays in Japan. Dell has a decent investment in them, but then, Dell has invested in some other new CRT technologies as well.

Basically, Cold cathode tubes work by exciting phosphors, just like normal CRTs do - but how they go about doing it is considerably different.

An array of very tiny "electron guns" is created, each forming a pixel or sub-pixel, depending on the design, very similar to the setup in an LCD - the difference is that each gun excites phosphors, hence there is no need for a backlight. The individual electron guns work entirely differently than those of normal CRTs, and don't generate much heat at all; the actual display probably wouldn't even be warm to the touch. Phosphor life for CCTs and Plasma displays has been expanded greatly in the last few years; burn-in and phosphor life shouldn't really be too much of a problem.

CCTs will have essentially the same viewing angle and refresh rate as traditional CRTs, but will be much more efficient in regards to power consumption and heat generation. And of course, they have the benefit of being flat and very thin.
 
Also, you can purchase laser projection units - they have amazing clarity, but they are very expense, even when compared to other high-end projectors.

OEL screens (which is what I think you've been talking about in reference to OLEDs) have come quite far recently; Sharp is already manufacturing small scale screens that are being used for G3 phones in Japan. I also wouldn't be suprised to see Nintendo adopt them for whatever the next revision of GBA is called - probably sometime within the next 12-18 months. Internally, I know Nintendo already has some lit GBAs in limited production for internal company use, but I'm not sure whether they went with OEL or transflective screens. Either would be useable.
 
My Pioneer car head unit uses OLEDs - nice and bright display. I was puzzled by an interesting feature of the display - every few seconds, the display becomes negative - so what was on is now off etc, yet there was actually no way to disable this actually quite irritating feature.

It took me a while to work out that this is necessary - OLEDs fade rapidly with use - noticably after only 1000 hours. So the repeated flipping of the screen colours is necessary to prevent images from burning into the display.
 
Can someone give me a description of what an OLED is? - I've never heard of then before. I think LEP screens may have a bright future. I'm not sure on the current screen qualities, but from what I've heard it will be possible to just print a layer of LEP onto a flexible material to have a screen which can be rolled up and transported around very easily. Also they have potential to be very cheap to manufacture so it could become the choice technology for small screens on phones / PDAs.
 


<< not quite as vibrant as LCD's or CRT's >>



The newest plasmas claim 3000:1 contrast, with practical contrast being around 800:1 (measured on AVSForums a while back). My NEC plasma is FAR brighter than my brand-new Dell 20" LCD (a top of the line screen that runs about 350:1)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top