Gizmodo: Crt

iRiver Concepts Feel Straight Out of Terry Gilliam's Brain

Jesus Diaz — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 08:00:00 EDT

Apart from their Spinn 70s-retro analog goodness, iRiver had two beautiful concept products in their IFA 2008 stand which had a design that looked further into the past, as far as the beginning of the 20th century. As you can see in the video, both their Clix speaker—inspired by the shape of cathode ray tubes—and their pipe music player—which you can blow to mute (insert joke here), and connect it to a speaker resembling a phonograph horn—look both intriguing and beautiful. [More IFA 2008 Coverage]

Scope Clock Puts The Cathode Ray Tube Back in Time-Telling

Kit Eaton — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 05:35:00 EDT

This is the Scope Clock, from designer David Forbes, and if you're into retro-tech chic gadgets, this thing will beat any nixie clock hands down. Just look at it: a cathode ray tube encased in acrylic, with GPS time automagically captured for accuracy, and the ability to display digital or analog clock faces. It's fabulous, and its rear-end is jammed with controls you'd never have thought to see on a clock: an astigmatism knob, anyone? This is the prototype, but there's a limited-edition version to go on sale soon, at a respectably high $999. [Cathode Corner via Gizmo Watch via DVice]

Question of the Day: How Big is Your Monitor?

Sean Fallon — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:20:00 EDT

We already asked about the size of your TV, so it is only fitting that we do a follow-up focusing on computer monitors. The choices after the break offer a basic range that should accommodate owners of most laptops, LCDs and CRTs. Just pick the number that is closest to the measurement of your viewable area (rounding up if necessary). That having been said, if you own a CRT, keep in mind that the two types of monitors are measured differently. Make sure your figure does not include the screen frame. UPDATE: TV monitor option added.

Even in Death, This Guy is a Massive Nerd

Sean Fallon — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 21:40:33 EDT

I'm not sure who this guy was, but one thing is for sure —he was a massive nerd. Got to love that kind of commitment though. Plus, if he ever came back as a zombie you could probably stay alive by sitting him in front of a new computer with a sweet LCD monitor. [News From Gadgets World]

LG Cranks Out World's Thinnest CRT

Louis Ramirez — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 18:47:20 EST

Up close, you might mistake LG's 21FU1R for a flat-panel TV. Afterall, it has the same stylish design as most of the TVs in their line up. But take a look behind and you'll see this boob tube has some junk in its trunk, though with a deflection angle of 120 degrees, LG is claiming it's the slimmest CRT available. Still, a 21-inch screen is pretty small, so I'm not entirely sold just yet, no matter how much cheaper it is than a flat-panel TV. – Louis Ramirez

LG CRTs For the Cheapskate in All of Us [CrunchGear]

Vintage Brionvega TV Looks Nifty, Still Costs Too Much

Travis Hudson — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 11:03:29 EDT

The original Doney portable Brionvega TV made its debut back in the 1960s and really made a pretty big splash in the design world. Brionvega has re-released this TV with some more modern technologies but still housed in the same, familiar vintage shell. It is still available in the three classic colors: sun orange, snow white and night black.

Inside the Doney, the original outdated guts have been scrapped to make way for more mordern goodness. This television uses a black matrix tube, digital frequency synthesized tuning, broadband loundspeaker, SCART, SVHS, A/V inputs and the unit includes a remote control. At nearly $900 this 14-inch TV will most likely never be purchased, but whatever, vintage is super! – Travis Hudson

Product Page [Via Retrothing]

New LCD Technology Outperforms CRT

Jason Chen — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 22:55:38 EDT

This is something we'd thought would happen eventually, but not this soon. eCinema Systems announced that they've developed an LCD that surpasses CRT display quality, and is planning to launch it it by Q4 of this year.

The previous shortcoming of LCD monitors was that they couldn't support deep blacks and real dark colors compared to CRT monitors. To solve this problem, the new technology supports "deep color"—compatible with the HDMI 1.3 spec we talked about yesterday—and can go up to 48-bit colors. That's the point at which humans can't distinguish onscreen color artifacts.

Their DMC40HDR 40-inch LCD boasts these features:

Darkest black level output of any TFT in the market

Can be used for professional color grading — previously done using only CRTs

Can be used for professional critical picture evaluation — previously done using only CRTs

Allows accurate viewing of intra-field motion on interlaced standards

Video displayed at true frame rates for all standards

Rugged shock mounted components for field operations

eCinema is also looking to make a 57-inch 1920x1080 LCD and a 82-inch 1920x1080 LCD. – Jason Chen

eCinema Systems announces new LCD technology [SyphaOnline via Daily Tech]

CRT Trash Can: Old is New Again

Charlie White — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 11:31:56 EDT

Do you have an old monitor lying around? Fellow Gawker mates at Lifehacker point us to a site which shows us how to turn that old tube into a trash can with a few straightforward instructions, but the project is certainly not for the faint of heart. Remember, you're dealing with a vacuum tube that might be prone to a messy implosion. Plus, there's that weird concept of electricity that continues to hang around long after the monitor's been unplugged.

Still, we're strangely interested in clever trash cans, and we do have quite a surplus of old CRTs lying around. Ever so carefully, we might just give this one a try. Since we're mostly paperless around here, it looks like even that dusty old 15-inch monitor might be big enough to hold a week's worth of detritus. Wish us luck. – Charlie White

HOW TO: Turn an Old CRT Monitor into a Trash Can [Doodlepost, via Lifehacker]

Samsung SyncMaster 745MS 17" CDT

Jason Chen — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 12:27:49 EDT

People still buy CDT/CRT monitors? Not here in the US, but developing countries like China, Samsung is still finding a good market to unload its decades old technology.

Measuring 50mm thinner than the previous model at 358mm, the SyncMaster745MS is the thinnest CDT monitor in the world. Isn't that the same as calling someone the thinnest fat guy in the world? With all that extra room, Samsung can shove in technology that "generates helpful anionic ion and far infrared ray continually even when you don't use it". Thanks?

Samsung unveils the world-thinnest 17" CDT monitor 'SyncMaster745MS' [AVING]

Sony Resuscitates CRTs with 34-Inch XBR970 HD Model

Charlie White — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 05:39:50 EST

Reports of the death of the lowly CRT have been greatly exaggerated, and Sony asserted that point with the introduction of a line of FD Trinitron WEGA direct-view televisions—one of them HD, the rest not. Sony must believe there are still people who want to buy standard-definition TVs, so it answers that perceived need with the 36-inch KD-36FS170, 32-inch KV-32FS170 and 27-inch KV27FS170. They all use that old-skool 4:3 aspect ratio and are sticking with that 480i resolution no matter what you say.

Back to the present day, the flagship of Sony s direct-view line of CRTs is the 34-inch 16x9 KD-34XBR970 (pictured above), a full-blown HDTV with lots of enhancement circuitry built in, such as Sony s CineMotion inverse 3:2 pulldown to make those films you like to watch look better, and Sony's proprietary image enhancers such as Dynamic Picture Processor and Clear Edge. Keeping the colors true is Trinitone color temperature technology. And there's one more important detail: When you're talking tubes, the price is always right, especially compared to LCD and Plasma—this one s available for preorder at Sony Style for $1200.

Note that even though LCD and plasma displays continue to improve, lots of golden-eyed video engineers will tell you that the good old cathode ray tube still gives you the best video quality.
Product Page

Specs and pricing on Sony CRT TVs [Amazon]