Digital Tube... Dead???

I suppose EVENTUALLY Tubes as we know them now will be phased out. But how far into future are we looking at the Crystal Ball?? Noting the enormous majority of Tube owners in this country w/TV's lasting 10-15 years, not to mention they presently own smaller screens than 34". I'd say we'll be well into the next decade before this is all turned around in favor of Flat Panel Displays.


BTW, more Crystal Ball stuff... the really good Plasmas are selling for around $6000-$8000 for a 50"er. That's is well above the price point most folks are willing to pay now or in the near future. Prices are not falling as far & as quickly as some people on this Forum predicted.

Several months ago it was reported that Sony was laying-off 22,000 employees in their CRT factories. Looks to me that CRTs are short lived.

It will be yet another huge mistake by Sony (just like they adopted Palm over PocketPC) to abandon CRT. The price difference between CRT and flat panel is still high, and will probably be the same in the next few years. Also, not everybody in all situation need a big screen TV. A 20 inc LCD is over $1K now. How much is a flat screen CRT at this size? Also, at this size, HD or not is not an issue at all, PQ enhancement of HD is insignificant. I will say that CRT will hold the market of 36" and below for a long time. This is where they belong to. I think the death of RPTV will come earlier than direct view CRT if you are talking about the type of TV, not the technology.

I agree, it would be a big mistake for Sony to abandon CRT this early in the game, especially in the US. But if they do, there will always be a Mfg. willing to fill the gap and satisfy the market, providing the profit margins are present. Right now, the under 40" Tubes are just too good a deal for the average buyer to make a switch to Flat Panel tech that cost many times the current Tube price.


Weight & screen size are the two main drawbacks of Tubes. But for most people, these drawbacks are really only applicable if you want a larger screen than 34". Proper sitting distances for a 42" or 50" Plasma will limit screen size for many people, and the Tubes will continue to fill this gap.

I remembr when everyone was making 31-inch sets and someone made a 32. The same with 35 and 36. Some companies will get out of the direct-view buisness, but mark my words: in 2005 someone will either come out with a 37-inch 4:3, but more likely with a 35or36 inch widescreen. Why? If your display is only 1-inch bigger than everyone else people will buy it. Maybe Sony's 40-inch 4:3 and RCA/Loewe's 38-inch widescreen are too hard to replicate, but a 35 or 36-inch widescreen?...it'd sell like hotcakes!

Heck I don't have to cart it in I would buy a 50 inch tube if they had one tomorrow as long as it's widescreen, paying for is easy getting the Mfrs to make it is the hard part, it would be certainly less than plasma in cost to me

besides when are they ever going to stop their practice of saying the diaginol when nobody on the planet views it that way! The F38310 is only 34.125 inches wide another 12 inches would be 46.125 inches wide short of their diaginol measure of 50 inches crapola!

Wrong Jet. The bigger sizes of CRTs have been discontinued and it will continue to happen from the large sizes first. Already Toshiba is going to discontinue their 36" 4:3 HDTV CRT sets next. They aren't going to invest in a larger CRT tube size, the plasmas in the 37"-42" size price is already at parity with a CRT of that size and they will continue to drop in price.

Thumper,


I would like to know what el cheapo brand of lame Plasma TV's are you recommending that are in price parity & PQ w/the Tubes??

The top-quality Panasonic commercial model plasmas.

Thumperboy,


Please provide some Panny model #'s, prices quoted, and the Store(s) where you can purchase them.

If you want to see an indication of the severe price competition HDTV CRTs will face look at the Gateway and Dell sites today.


Gateway has a 42" 852x480 plasma at $2499.


Dell has a 30" 1280 x 768 (no DVI) LCD at $2799.

Quote:
Is it safe to say that the XBR910 series is the last widescreen CRT Direct View TVs from Sony? I was hoping they might come out with one last series with a few extra features like HDMI and FireWire.


I have to agree that Sony is a bit premature about leaving the CRT market where they certainly established themselves as the best.

Quote:
Thumperboy, is 36HFX73 the last 36" HDTV from Toshiba? They won't make 36" for Y'04 and beyond? I saw several new 36" from Panny according to their press release at CES '04 in this month. One even comes with integrated HDTV tuner.

I believe Sony and most other manufacturers are going to make less models--they're probably going to just produce a bargain basement model and a high end model with little in between. I don't think the XBR 910 will be the last high end widescreen--Sony will make 1 more with HDMI just so some of its executives can hook it up easily to their Sony high end stereo systems! If the 34-inch widescreen barrier is broken it will occurr in 2005--by the way who produces the glass tubes that are used in the 38-inch Loewe? If they want to make money and produce the tubes will be the key as to whether the 34-inch barrier is broken--at this moment they're still making the 38-inch Loewe tube which means it isn't impossible.

Jet,


RCA makes the Leowe's 38" Tubes, and they've been around awhile.

I have a wide screen tube TV and a 19" viewsonic a90f monitor. When watching TV I prefer the monitor as it has superior picture.

cajieboy: if other manufacturers wanted to buy the 38-inch tubes from RCA--would RCA produce and sell them?

Jet,


Why not??? They have the patent & research invested. RCA failed w/their own 38"er, but it took a fine German Co. like Loewe to take this tube to a level of excellence that is only matched by none in its size. Go look look at this TV. It's a work of engineering genius. You WILL BE impressed.