Trinitron is the Sony brand name for the aperture-grille-based CRT line used in television sets and computer displays. One of the first truly new television systems to enter the market since the 1950s, Trinitron was announced in 1968 to gain widespread recognition for its bright image, about 25% brighter than the general shadow mask television of the same era. The constant increase in basic technology and attention to overall quality enabled Sony to charge a premium for Trinitron devices into the 1990s.
Patent protection on the Trinitron base design was exhausted in 1996, and quickly faced a number of competitors with much lower prices. Sony responded by introducing their FD Trinitron flat screen design (WEGA), which maintained their primary position in the market until the early 2000s. However, this design is surpassed relatively quickly by plasma and LCD designs. Sony removed the last Trinitron television from their product catalog in 2006, and stopped production in early 2008. Video monitors are the only Trinitron product manufactured by Sony, with low production rates, although basic technology can still be found on downmarket television. from a third party.
The Trinitron name comes from trinity , which means the union of three, and tron ​​â € <â € < from the trunks tron ​​ele , after the Trinitron way of combining three separate electron guns from the other CRT design into one.
Video Trinitron
History
Color television
Color television has been studied, but it was not until the late 1940s that this issue was seriously considered. At that time, a number of systems are being proposed that use separate red, green and blue signals (RGB), broadcasted in a row. Most systems broadcast the entire frame in sequence, with colored filters (or "gels") played in front of conventional black and white television tubes. Because they broadcast separate signals for different colors, all these systems are not compatible with existing black and white sets. Another problem is that the mechanical filters make them flicker unless a very high refresh rate is used. Regardless of this issue, the United States Federal Communications Commission selected the 144 standard sequential/standard frames from CBS as their color broadcasts in 1950.
RCA works along completely different lines, using a luminance-chrominance system. This system does not directly encode or send RGB signals; instead of combining these colors into a whole brightness score, "luminance". Luminance fits perfectly with black and white signals from existing broadcasts, allowing it to be displayed on existing television. This is a great advantage over the mechanical systems proposed by other groups. The color information is then separately encoded and folded into the signal as a high frequency modification to produce a composite video signal - on black and white television this additional information will be seen as a little randomization of the intensity of the image, but the limited resolution of the existing device makes this invisible in practice. In the color set the signal will be extracted, translated back to RGB, and displayed.
Although the RCA system has enormous benefits, it has not been successfully developed because it is difficult to produce screen tubes. Black and white TVs use continuous signals and tubes can be coated with phosphorus deposits. With a compatible color coding scheme originally developed by Georges Valensi in 1938, its color continues to change along the lines, which is too fast for any mechanical filter to follow. Instead, phosphorus must be broken into patterns of colored spots. Focusing the right signals on each of these small points was beyond the capability of the electron guns of the time, and the early RCA experiments used a three-tube projector, or mirror-based system known as the "Triniscope".
Shadow mask
RCA finally solved the problem of displaying color images with the introduction of their shadow mask. The shadow mask consists of a thin sheet of steel with a small hole photo engraved inside it, placed just behind the front surface of the picture tube. Three weapons, arranged in triangles, all directed to the hole. Electrons deviate at the edge of the beam cut by the mask, creating a focused point sharp enough to hit a single colored phosphor on the screen. Since each gun is directed into a hole from a slightly different angle, the phosphor spots on the tube can be separated slightly to prevent overlap.
The disadvantage of this approach is that for every given amount of weapon power, the shadow mask filters most of the energy. To ensure there are no overlapping beams on the screen, the points should be separated and covered perhaps 25% of the surface. This causes a very dim image, requiring far greater electron beam power to provide a useful overview. In addition, the system relies heavily on the relative angle of the beam between the three weapons, which requires constant adjustment by the user to ensure that the rifle strikes the right color. Nevertheless, the technical superiority of the RCA system was remarkable compared to the CBS system, and was selected as the new NTSC standard in 1953. The first broadcast using the new standard took place on New Year's Day in 1954, when NBC broadcasted the Tournament of Roses Parade.
Apart from these early beginnings, just a few years after the regularly scheduled television broadcast begins, the use of color television by consumers is very slow to begin. Dim pictures, constant adjustments and high costs have kept them in their own niche. Low consumer acceptance leads to a lack of color programming, further reducing demand for sets in supply and demand issues. In the United States in 1960, only 1 set of colors was sold for every 50 sets sold totally.
Chromatron
Sony has entered the television market in 1960 with TV8-301 black and white, the first non-projection type television all-transistor. Factor combinations, including their small screen size, limit their sales to market niches. Sony engineers have studied the color market, but the situation in Japan is even worse than the US. they only reached 300 of the 9 million sets sold that year. But in 1961, the dealer asked Sony's sales department when the color set would be available, and the sales department put pressure on engineering in turn. Masaru Ibuka, Sony's president and founder, firmly refuses to develop a system based on RCA's shadow mask design, which he claims is technically inadequate. He insisted on developing a unique solution.
In 1961, the Sony delegation visited the IEEE trade show in New York City, including Ibuka, Akio Morita (other Sony founders) and Nobutoshi Kihara, who promoted his new CV-2000 home videocassette recorder. This was Kihara's first trip abroad and he spent most of his time walking around on the trading floor, where he found a small booth by a small company Autometric. They demonstrated a new type of color television based on a Chromatron tube, which uses a single electron gun and a vertical grille of a thinly wounded electric wire instead of a shadow mask. The resulting image is much brighter than anything that can be generated by the RCA design, and has no convergence issues that require constant adjustment. He quickly brought Morita and Ibuka to see the design, and Morita "sold" on the spot.
Morita arranges an agreement with Paramount Pictures, which pays for the Chromatic Labs development of Chromatron, taking over the entire project. In early 1963, Senri Miyaoka was sent to Manhattan to arrange technology transfer to Sony, which would lead to the closure of Chromatic Labs. He was not impressed with the lab, describing a windowless basement as "squalor". The American team is only too happy to point out the serious shortcomings in the Chromatron system, telling Miyaoka that his design is hopeless. In September 1964, a 17-inch prototype had been built in Japan, but mass production trials showed a serious problem. Sony's engineers can not make a mass-produced version of Chromatron.
When the final set was available in late 1964, they marketed at a competitive price of 198,000 yen ($ 550), but the company cost over 400,000 yen to produce. Ibuka had staked the company on Kromatron and had set up a new factory to produce them in the hope that the production problem would be ironed and the track would be profitable. After several thousand sets shipped, the situation is no better, while Panasonic and Toshiba are in the process of introducing RCA license-based devices. In 1966, Chromatron broke the company financially.
Trinitron
In the autumn of 1966, Ibuka finally surrendered, and announced he would personally lead the search for a replacement chromatron. Susumu Yoshida was sent to the US to look for potential licenses, and was impressed by the improvements RCA has made in its overall brightness by introducing new rare earth phosphors on display. He also saw General Electric's "Porta-color" design, using three consecutive weapons instead of triangles, allowing most of the screen to turn on. His report raises concerns in Japan, where it appears that Sony is falling far behind US design. They may be forced to license a shadow mask system if they want to stay competitive.
Ibuka would not give up completely, and asked his 30 engineers to explore various approaches to see if they could come up with their own designs. At one point, Yoshida asked Senri Miyaoka whether the in-line weapons arrangement used by GE could be replaced by a pistol with three cathodes; this will be more difficult to build, but the cost is cheaper in the long run. Miyaoka makes a prototype and is surprised at how it works, though it focuses. Later that week, on Saturday, Miyaoka was called to Ibuka's office when she tried to leave the office to attend her weekly cello training. Yoshida just told Ibuka about his success, and both asked Miyaoka if they could really develop weapons into a workable product. Miyaoka, wanting to go, say yes, excuse myself, and leave. The following Monday, Ibuka announced that Sony would develop a new color television tube, based on the Miyaoka prototype. In February 1967, the focusing problem was solved, and since there was a pistol, the focusing was achieved with a permanent magnet rather than a coil, and did not require manual adjustment after manufacture.
During development, Sony's Akio Ohgoshi introduced another modification engine. The GE system increases on the RCA shadow mask by replacing small round holes with slightly larger rectangles. Because the weapons are in-line, their electrons will land on three rectangular patches instead of three small dots, about twice the area of ​​light. Ohgoshi proposes removing the mask completely and replacing it with a series of vertical slots instead, illuminating the entire screen. Although this would require weapons to be very carefully aligned with the phosphors on the tube to ensure they hit the right color, with Miyaoka's new tube, this emerged as possible. In practice, this proves to be easy to build but it is difficult to fit inside the smooth, mechanically weak, smooth tubes that tend to move when the tubes are hit, resulting in a shift in color on the screen. This problem is solved by running some fine tungsten wires in the grille horizontally to keep the vertical cable from the grille in place.
The combination of three-in-one electron guns and the replacement of the shadow mask with the opening lattice provide a unique and patented product. Regardless of Trinitron and Chromatron that lack the same technology, single shared electron guns have led to many false claims that they are very similar, or similar.
Introduction, initial model
Officially introduced by Ibuka in April 1968, the original 12-inch Trinitron has a display quality that easily surpasses commercial sets in terms of brightness, colorfulness, and simplicity of operation. The vertical cable in the aperture grid means that the tube should be almost flat vertically; this gives it a unique cylindrical look. It's also all solid state, with the exception of the picture tube itself, which enables it to be much more compact and cooler to run than a design like GE Porta-color. Some of the larger models such as the KV-1320UB for the UK market were initially equipped with 3AT2 valves for extra high voltage (high voltage) circuits, before being redesigned as solid state in the early 70s.
Ibuka ended the press conference claiming that 10,000 sets would be available in October, well beyond what the technician had told him. Ibuka persuaded Yoshida to take over the effort of bringing the set into production, and though Yoshida was furiously assigned to a task that he felt was impossible, he finally accepted the task and successfully fulfilled the production objective. KV-1210 was introduced in limited quantities in Japan in October as promised, and in the US as KV-1210U in the following year.
The initial set of colors intended for the UK market has a PAL decoder different from that created and licensed by Telefunken from Germany, which invented the PAL color system. The decoder in Sony's color produced by the British Trinitron set, from KV-1300UB to KV-1330UB, has a custom NTSC decoder for PAL. The decoder uses a 64-microsecond delay line to store each other line, but instead of using the delay line to average out of the current line and the previous line, it simply repeats the same line twice. Each phase error can be compensated by using the color control knob on the front of the set, usually not required on the PAL set.
Reception
Reviews from Trinitron are universally positive, although they all mention the high cost. Sony won an Emmy Award for Trinitron in 1973. On his 84th birthday in 1992, Ibuka claimed Trinitron was his proudest product.
New models are quickly followed. Larger sizes at 19 "and then 27" were introduced, as well as smaller, including portable 7 ".In the mid-1980s, a new phosphor coating was introduced that was much darker than the previous set, giving the black screen a moment when it was turned off, as opposed to light gray earlier.This increases the image contrast range.The initial model is generally packaged in silver case, but with the introduction of the dark screen, Sony also introduced new cases with dark charcoal color, following similar changes in the colors that occur in the hi-fi world The line was expanded with 32 ", 35" and finally 40 "units in the 1990s.
In 1980, Sony introduced ProFeel, a prosumer component television channel, consisting of various Trinitron monitors that could be connected to a standard tuner. The original formation consists of KX-20xx1 20 "and KX-27xx1 27" ("xx" monitor is the identifier, PS for Europe, HF for Japan, etc.) VTX-100ES tuner and TeleText TXT-100G decoder. They are often used with a set of SS-X1A stereo speakers, which match the gray box style. The concept is to build a market similar to that of contemporary stereo equipment, where components from different vendors can be mixed to produce a complete system. However, the lack of a third-party main component, together with a special connector between the tuner and the monitor, means that a fully compatible mixing system element has never been effectively realized. They are a popular high-end unit, however, and find strong followers in production companies where excellent image quality makes them an inexpensive effective monitor. A second series of all-black units followed in 1986, ProFeel Pro, featuring a space frame around the back of a trapezoidal casing that was duplicated as a handle and a stand for pop-out speakers. These units are paired with a VT-X5R tuner and optionally APM-X5A speakers.
Sony also manufactures professional Trinitron studio monitor lines, PVM (Professional Video Monitor) and BVM (Broadcast Video Monitor) channels. These models are packed in gray metal cubes with various inputs received in almost all analog formats. They initially used tubes similar to ProFeel lines, but over time, they gradually increased in resolution until the late 1990s when they offered more than 900 lines. When this was canceled as part of the wider Trinitron closure in 2007, professionals forced Sony to reopen two lines to produce models of 20 and 14 inches.
Among similar products, Sony manufactures a combination of monitor/TV KV-1311. It accepts NTSC compatible videos from various devices as well as analog TV broadcasts. Along with other functions, it has video and audio input and output as well as wideband-IF decoded output sound. The exterior looks like a monitor illustrated here, with additional TV controls.
At this time, Sony has been well established as a reliable supplier of equipment; it's better to have minimal field failure than to support a wide service network for the entire United States.
Sony began to develop Trinitron for the use of computer monitors in the late 1970s. The demand is high, so high that there are examples of third-party companies that pull out the Trinitron tube from the television to use as a monitor. In response, Sony began the development of GDM (Graphic Display Monitor) in 1983, which offers higher resolution and faster refresh rates. Sony is aggressively promoting GDM and it became a standard on high-end monitors in the late 1980s. Particularly common models include Apple Inc. models. 13 which was originally sold with the Macintosh II starting in 1987. Well-known users also include Digital Equipment Corporation, IBM, Silicon Graphics, Sun Microsystems and others. The demand for lower cost solutions led to the CDP series. In May 1988, a 20-inch high-end DDM model (Data Display Monitor) was introduced with a maximum resolution of 2.048 by 2.048, which was then used in FAA's Advanced Automation System air traffic control system.
This development means Sony is well placed to introduce high definition television (HDTV). In April 1981, they announced High Definition Video System (HDVS), a set of MUSE equipment including cameras, recorders, Trinitron monitors, and projection TVs.
Sony sent a 100 million Trinitron screen in July 1994, 25 years after its introduction. New uses in the computer field and the demand for higher resolution televisions to adjust DVD quality when introduced in 1996 led to an increase in sales, with another 180 million units being shipped in the next decade.
End of Trinitron
The Sony patent on the Trinitron screen was exhausted in 1996, after 20 years. Following the end of Sony's Trinitron patent, manufacturers such as Mitsubishi (whose monitor production is now part of NEC Display Solutions) freely use Trinitron design for their own product line without a Sony license even though they can not use Trinitron's name. For example, Mitsubishi is called Diamondtron . To some extent, the Trinitron name is a general term referring to a similar set.
Sony responded with the Trinitron FD, which uses a computer-controlled feedback system to ensure a sharp focus on a flat screen. Originally introduced on their 27, 32 and 36 inch models in 1998, the new tubes are offered in various resolutions for different uses. The basic WEGA model supports normal 480i signals, but the larger version offers a 16: 9 aspect ratio. This technology is quickly applied to the entire Trinitron range, from 13 to 36 inches. High-resolution versions, Hi-Scan and Super Fine Pitch, are also produced. With the introduction of the Trinitron FD, Sony also introduced a new industry style, leaving behind a charcoal-colored set introduced in the 1980s for the new silver styling.
Sony is not the only company that manufactures flat-screen CRTs. Other companies have introduced high-end brands with flat-screen tubes, such as Panasonic's Tau. Many other companies enter the market quickly, widely mimicking new silver styling as well. The Trinitron FD can not retrieve the cap that Trinitron once owned; in the Christmas season of 2004, they increased sales by 5%, but only at a cost of 75% profit in plunging after being forced to lower costs to compete in the market.
At the same time, the introduction of plasma televisions, and later LCD-based, caused the high-end market increasingly focused on the "thin" set. Both of these technologies have a very well known problem, and for some time Sony explores a variety of technologies that will enhance it in the same way that Trinitron does on a shadow mask. Among these experiments are organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and field emission displays, but apart from sufficient effort, none of these technologies are competing. Sony has also introduced their Plasmatron screens, and then LCDs as well, but this lacks the technical advantage attached to above similar sets from other companies. From 2006, all Sony BRAVIA TV products are LCD screens, originally based on the screen from Samsung, and then Sharp.
Sony finally "threw a towel" at Trinitron, ending production in Japan sometime in 2004. In 2006, Sony announced that it would no longer market or sell Trinitron in the US or Canada but continued selling Trinitron in China, India. , and the South American region uses tubes sent from their Singapore plant. Production in Singapore finally ended in March 2006, just months after ending production of their rear projection systems. Two factory lines were then brought back online to supply the professional market.
Maps Trinitron
Description
Basic concepts
The Trinitron design combines two unique features: a one-gun three-cathode picture tube, and a vertically aligned aperture grille.
The single gun consists of a long-necked tube with a single electrode at its base, extending to a horizontal rectangular shape-parallel to the three inner-rectangular cathodes. Each cathode is given a reinforced signal from one of the translated RGB signals.
Electrons from the cathode all point to a point at the back of the screen where they hit the opening grilles, steel sheets with vertical slots cut in them. Because of the slight separation of the cathode behind the tube, the three beams approach the grille at slightly different angles. As they pass through the grille, they retain this angle, hitting their respective colored phosphors stored in vertical lines inside the front plate. The main purpose of the lattice is to make sure that each beam only attacks phosphor lines for its color, just like a shadow mask. However, unlike a shadow mask, there is essentially no obstructions along each phosphor line. (Larger CRTs have some horizontal stabilizer cables between the top and bottom, but in practice they are not being noticed.
Benefits
Compared to the initial shadow mask design, the Trinitron lattice cuts much less the signal coming from the electron gun. The RCA tube built in 1950 cuts about 85% of the electron beam, while the grille cuts by about 25%. Improvements to the shadow mask design continue to narrow the differences between these two designs, and by the late 1980s the difference in performance, at least theoretically, was eliminated.
Another advantage of the aperture lattice is that the distance between the cables remains constant vertically on the screen. In the shadow mask design, the size of the hole in the mask is defined by the required resolution of the phosphor points on the screen, which is constant. However, the distance from gun to hole changed; for the points near the center of the screen, the shortest distance, at the point at its maximum angle. To ensure that the weapon is focused on the hole, a system known as dynamic convergence must constantly adjust the focal point as the file moves across the screen. In Trinitron design, the problem is greatly simplified, requiring changes only to large screen sizes, and only by line per line.
For this reason, the Trinitron system is easier to focus than the shadow mask, and generally has a sharper image. This is the main selling point of the Trinitron design for most of its history. In the 1990s, the new computer-controlled real-time feedback focus system eliminated this advantage, and led to the introduction of a "completely flat" design.
Losses
Supported visible cable
Even small changes in the grille alignment above the phosphorus can cause color purity to change. Because the cord is thin, a small protrusion may cause the cable to shift if it is not in place. Monitors using Trinitron technology have one or more thin tungsten cables that run horizontally along the grille to prevent this. The 15 "and below screens have one wire located about two-thirds of the way down the screen, while monitors larger than 15" have 2 wires at one third and two thirds. These cables are less obvious or completely obscured on the standard definition set because of the wider scanning line to match the lower resolution of the displayed video. On a computer monitor, where the scan line is much closer, the cable is often visible. This is a minor weakness of the Trinitron standard that is not owned by the shadow mask CRT.
Anti-glare coating
These are polyurethane sheets that are coated with scattering and can be very easily damaged. How to fix it is to remove the whole sheet, which can be done in Trinitron and Diamondtron CRT Monitors using a Stanley knife and chopsticks. Many users claim that removal of the anti-glare coating increases overall light output from the display and produces livelier colors and sharper images, but at the expense of reduced contrast and (as expected) increased reflections from the light source in front of the display screen.
Partial list of other aperture lattice brands
- NEC/Mitsubishi "Diamondtron"
- ViewSonic "SonicTron"
- MAG Innovision "Technitron"
- Gateway Computer "Vivitron"
See also
- Television history
References
Note
Bibliography
External links
- Trinitron: An Unbeatable Sony Product
- Sony Trinitron Explained
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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