Trinitron

[citation needed] Patent protection on the basic Trinitron design ran out in 1996, and it quickly faced a number of competitors at much lower prices.

Most systems broadcast entire frames in sequence, with a colored filter (or "gel") that rotated in front of an otherwise conventional black and white television tube.

[citation needed] Because they broadcast separate signals for the different colors, all of these systems were incompatible with existing black and white sets.

In spite of these problems, the United States Federal Communications Commission selected a sequential-frame 144 frame/s standard from CBS as their color broadcast in 1950.

Focusing the proper signal on each of these tiny spots was beyond the capability of electron guns of the era, and RCA's early experiments used three-tube projectors, or mirror-based systems known as "Triniscope".

The shadow mask consists of a thin sheet of steel with tiny holes photo etched into it, placed just behind the front surface of the picture tube.

Stray electrons at the edge of the beam were cut off by the mask, creating a sharply focused spot that was small enough to hit a single colored phosphor on the screen.

Sony engineers had been studying the color market, but the situation in Japan was even worse than the U.S.; they accounted for only 300 of the 9 million sets sold that year.

Masaru Ibuka, Sony's president and co-founder, steadfastly refused to develop a system based on RCA's shadow mask design, which he considered technically deficient.

They were demonstrating a new type of color television based on the Chromatron tube, which used a single electron gun and a vertical grille of electrically charged thin wires instead of a shadow mask.

[8] Morita arranged a deal with Paramount Pictures, who was paying for Chromatic Labs' development of the Chromatron, taking over the entire project.

Ibuka had bet the company on Chromatron and had already set up a new factory to produce them with the hopes that the production problems would be ironed out and the line would become profitable.

Susumu Yoshida was sent to the U.S. to look for potential licenses, and was impressed with the improvements that RCA had made in overall brightness by introducing new rare-earth phosphors on the screen.

The combination of three-in-one electron gun and the replacement of the shadow mask with the aperture grille resulted in a unique and easily patentable product.

In spite of Trinitron and Chromatron having no technology in common, the shared single electron gun has led to many erroneous claims that the two are very similar, or the same.

[12][13] Officially introduced by Ibuka in April 1968, the original 12 inch Trinitron (KV-1210) had a display quality that easily surpassed any commercial set in terms of brightness, color fidelity, and simplicity of operation.

[19] In 1980, Sony introduced the "ProFeel" line of prosumer component televisions, consisting of a range of Trinitron monitors that could be connected to standardized tuners.

[20] The concept was to build a market similar to contemporary stereo equipment, where components from different vendors could be mixed to produce a complete system.

However, a lack of any major third party components, along with custom connectors between the tuner and monitors, meant that systems mixing fully compatible elements were never effectively realized.

They were popular high-end units, however, and found a strong following in production companies where the excellent quality picture made them effective low-cost monitors.

A second series of all-black units followed in 1986, the ProFeel Pro, sporting a space-frame around the back of the trapezoidal enclosure that doubled as a carrying handle and holder for the pop-out speakers.

When these were cancelled as part of the wider Trinitron shutdown in 2007, professionals forced Sony to re-open two of the lines to produce the 20 and 14 inch models.

By this time, Sony was well established as a supplier of reliable equipment; it was preferable to have minimal field failures instead of supporting an extensive service network for the entire United States.

In response, Sony started development of the GDM (Graphic Display Monitor) in 1983, which offered high resolution and faster refresh rates.

In April 1981, they announced the High Definition Video System (HDVS), a suite of MUSE equipment including cameras, recorders, Trinitron monitors and projection TVs.

New uses in the computer field and the demand for higher resolution televisions to match the quality of DVD when it was introduced in 1996 led to increased sales, with another 180 million units delivered in the next decade.

Among these experiments were organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) and the field-emission display, but in spite of considerable effort, neither of these technologies matured into competitors at the time.

[26] The Trinitron design incorporates two unique features: the single-gun three-cathode picture tube, and the vertically aligned aperture grille.

The electrons from the cathodes are all aimed toward a single point at the back of the screen where they hit the aperture grille, a steel sheet[dubious – discuss] with vertical slots cut in it.

These wires are less apparent or completely obscured on standard definition sets due to wider scan lines to match the lower resolution of the video being displayed.