The last production run of the LG.Philips 32" Tube Plant - On YouTube
 

1st - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iEl-...eature=related
2nd - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0a-r...eature=related
3rd - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGVdw...eature=related

I found these videos just by searching LG.Philips on YouTube. This is the last run of 32" Picture tubes at their plant, which I imagine must be in Korea or China. This video was filmed in June 2007, and this plant no longer exists :(. Very interesting to watch, although there is no narration of what is going on, I've always wanted to see what a tube plant looked like and this video shows one in action.

I just fixed a 2006 32" Toshiba flat screen with an LG/Philips tube. I didn't pay attention to where it was made. I have a 27" Philips (L01.1U chassis) that I think may have an LG/Philips tube. I'll see where it was made when I open it up. I think the day of buying a new CRT set is rapidly coming to an end. Mostly what I'm seeing in the way of new sets is Funai made crap.

"How It's Made" did CRT's recently, but is was almost like a laboratory, not reall mass-production. Amazing that the first CRT was made in 1879 (?) and we still use the same technology.

most of the lg philips tube sets i work on today have crt,s that are aging very quickly just like the zeniths of the 90,s steve

These shitty CRTs are a conspiracy to force us into expensive but inferior flatscreens. How would you be able to sell a $2000 set if you had a really good CRT set (like a Chromacolor or Trinitron) displaying next to it?

Thus we are stuck with low-China-tech trash if you want a CRT.

Oops, it went through twice, sorry!

You are right. I recently ran into a 2002 27" JVC with a bad CRT. I also found a POS 19" Orion with a shorted CRT after about 1.5 years of use! All of the Durabrand (POS) sets that I'm lucky enough to fix have crappy pictures even though the CRT's test good. I've seen many brands of CRT's in those Durabrand's: Hitachi, Panasonic, Orion, whatever brand they can find that will work in the set is what they throw in it. They are likely old stock or recycled tubes. I see the flatscreens every time I go to wal mart and some look better than others; but, I've seen plenty of CRT sets that would blow them away, IMHO. My mid '80's Sony and '76 Zenith will blow those cheap Chinese wannabes right out of the water. Even the cheap mid '80's 13" KTV in the bedroom produces a better picture than today's cheap garbage. OK, I'm done now!

Most of the people I saw in the background didn't look Asian, so I would guess it was in the US, Canada, or Europe.

Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to pick up a nice HD widescreen crt before they are all gone. Last time I checked BB was still selling a 32" from what I remember for around $500.

I heard on the radio the other day that they will stop production of regular light bulbs in another 2 years. Time to stock up.

Dennis

Philips also had a CRT plant in Brazil