RIP Trinitron! - Videokarma.org TV - Video

walkandtalk · #1 03-03-2008, 01:13 PM

I'm really an audio guy, but I thought this article deserved space. I had a roomie in college who had a 27" Trinitron that was a stellar performer for all the games, movies, and tv we wasted our time with. I'll likely be getting an LCD of some sort soon, but that TV had many fond memories...

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/03/s...tron-crt-sets/

MAXZ28 · #2 03-03-2008, 01:22 PM

I have a 1991 27" Sony Trinitron that gave me 15 years of absolutely wonderful service before refusing to turn on one day in 2006. You push the on button and it doesn't energize anymore....just a muffled click and no nothing. I haven't had the heart to get rid of it yet as the picture quality was quite impressive and put the Phillips I bought as a replacement TV to shame. One day I will get it running again....one day.

*zenithfan1* · #3 03-03-2008, 01:59 PM

Workin' on a 1998 "32 KV32S36 right now, hopefully I can bring 'er back to life.

MRX37 · #4 03-03-2008, 02:49 PM

I never cared too much for the Trinitron.

I see no major difference in picture quality, in some cases the picture is actually worse then a standard CRT, and they are HEAVY! The visible support wires always bothered me as well. It's one or two lines across the screen and no adjustments will make them go away.

The Trinitron wasn't a bad design, but there has to be a reason so many of them are thrown away around where I live...

vintagecollect · #5 03-03-2008, 07:02 PM

...

3Guncolor · #6 03-04-2008, 12:05 AM

To me a Trinitron is not really any different then any other color CRT it still had three beams for the three color stripes on the face plate. The shadow mask was different that was the big difference it was made of wires or a plate with lines cut in it and not a plate with holes punched in it. That is why Sony's never curved at the top or bottom.

dr.ido · #7 03-04-2008, 10:14 AM

I've always liked Trinitrons. I have quite a few, though more monitors (computer, video and some weird stuff) than TVs. I'd love to find one of their 24" 16:9 PC monitors (GDM-FW900, or the HP/SGI version) or a nice HD broadcast monitor (though I doubt I'll find one of those for a while yet).

I just hope that once their gone the name is left to die. I'd hate to see it brought back and stuck on an inferior product like so many other once great brands.

Grainger49 · #8 03-04-2008, 10:50 AM

I used to sell the one in the picture. I would spray some water/windex on the screen and let the customer see the bars. Then spray the Panasonic, and they would see the dots.

My explanation was, a square has a larger area than a circle. Sony puts more color on the screen.

I have owned 8 Trinitrons since 1972. Three still in this house.

Snade · #9 03-04-2008, 10:55 AM

I've got a 19" Trinitron from 1981 and 32" from 1996. Both work great.

The warm beautiful colors have me sticking with low-def for now.

But good time to retire the name. It's been a good run.

Snade

Stoffie · #10 03-04-2008, 11:21 AM

Got a 1999 28" 16:9 WEGA trinitron. Best picture I had ever seen when I got it, very lifelike, almost struck me as 3D at the time. Still blows me away today. Wish they'd made them bigger though, a 46in Bravia LCD is tempting for size alone. Plus my tv rack is crumbling under its weight after all those years.

But I will not part with it

bgadow · #11 03-04-2008, 12:01 PM

For some reason the Trintron just never did anything for me. Maybe the old ones look too new? I've only ever owed one, a 13" from the 70s (as I recall) that had odd convergence issues. If I ever found a deal on a really old one I'd have to snatch it up, I guess.

Old1625 · #12 03-04-2008, 01:16 PM

Except for one boo-boo back in the late '80s (NEC) I have stuck with the Trinitron. I have about a dozen of them around here in this room and that--ranging from late '60s vintage to very recent. Good picture, mediocre sound from the internal speaks, and very reliable overall.

old_tv_nut · #13 03-04-2008, 04:18 PM

When the Trinitron first came out it was instantly the brightest around. Also, sony turned one problem into an advantage: the tube had terrible moire patterns if any color subcarrier leaked through the luminance amp and beat with the stripe structure. Hence, Sony did a great job of filtering off the high frequency response, but with symmetrical transients on edges. So, the sets had very clean looking but not too high-resolution pictures. The result was that it made any high-frequency crap in the video invisible, and studios fell in love with it. Of course, the screen structure was made finer eventually on the larger tubes, so this problem was reduced.
One disadvantage of the early Trinitrons was low contrast due to the larger percentage of screen covered in light-colored phosphor with the stripe structure, but of course studios used them in sufficiently subdued light that this was not a problem.
Other CRT designs eventually caught up, but the Trinitron definitely did stand out when it was introduced.

holmesuser01 · #14 03-13-2008, 10:44 PM

I worked in TV broadcasting in the mid-1970's to 1985. We had lots of monitors around the station with Sony tubes in them. They ran 24/7 and kept good registration.

That said, now, almost every 13" mid '70's set that I find: Gassy tube.

I also have a 27EXR25... Other than having a now-weak tube after running for 18 hours a day since I got it in 1991, still looks good, after a few minutes. I recently found a 1993 27" tube, and I planned to change out the kine this winter, '08. Well, it hasent happened yet... I simply dread having to get the incredibly heavy set out of the cabinet... I had enough trouble just getting it IN there...

Also have a 27TS32... it is much lighter than the old EXR is. Internally shielded tube sure made it lighter. Right after I bought it, and I had my shop then, we had a wave of TS32's that came back as dead sets. My particular set never went out, but after I had repaired a few sets, I checked out my own chassis and replaced the usual suspects. It's never failed, and since it only runs 2-3 hours a day, its kine is still in good shape.

The first Trinitron I worked on was a 17" 1971 model. The last one was a 2002 35" monster.

I remember how different they looked compared to a delta tube. I also LOVED the fast convergence, but I sure dont like having to position magnets allover the tube bell in the later ones.

Celt · #15 03-13-2008, 11:01 PM

Many years ago I had a little 15" Trinitron TV and really loved it. I got goofy and sold it to a friend and bought a 27" RCA, which wasn't a bad set. It just didn't have the quality picture the Trinitron seemed to have. (Duh, smaller screens almost always look better!) Anywho, about five years ago I ordered a Sony from Crutchfield and the picture wasn't what I had come to expect from a Trinitron. But curiosity got the better of me and I opened it up and found a Gold Star CRT inside. The "Made In Mexico" stickers plastered all over the box and back of the set should have been a clue. Was probably built in the same factory as Zeniths and other brands. A few weeks later the audio amp in it died, so I exchanged it for a JVC, which I still have.