Specifications

TRINITRON TECHNOLOGY
VIDEO MONITORS
552
The Trinitron Difference
Sony professional Trinitron monitors have made their mark from the
broadcast studio to the boardroom. Yet even among seasoned video pro-
fessionals, few people know how fundamental the Trinitron difference
really is. To appreciate what separates the Trinitron tube from the rest,
just take a look at what makes other color picture tubes the same: the
Shadow Mask. Before Sony invented the Trinitron tube, there was only
one kind of color picture tube, the Shadow Mask. This system used
three electron guns--one each for red, green, and blue--to generate three
electron beams focused by three electronic lenses. Color phosphors were
arranged in tiny, discrete dots or slots on the face of a highly curved,
spherical screen. Since allowing the red beam, for example, to leak into
the blue phosphor would result in gross color distortion, the task of
directing each beam to its corresponding phosphors was a key concern. This task was undertaken by the Shadow Mask
itself, a heavy sheet of perforated metal. The Shadow Mask sat about half an inch behind the screen face, and attempted
to follow the curvature of the screen exactly.
By the mid 1960's, Sony engineers were convinced there had to be a better way. They saw the chance to create a picture
tube with brighter, purer colors, sharper detail, and a flatter, straighter screen. In late 1966, Sony made an unlikely
start. A Sony researcher accidentally produced the world's first color picture from a single electron gun shooting all three
beams. This was the beginning of the Trinitron system. In July 1967, the new gun was mated to a completely new color
separation system, the Aperture Grille. By 1968, the Trinitron system was ready for market.
The first Trinitron tube was distinguished by four components which still define the Trinitron system to this very day:
one gun, one lens, cylindrical screen, and Aperture Grille. As you will see, each of these components has advantages that
are quite pertinent to the world of professional monitors.
One Gun
➤ The Trinitron system used the first color picture tube to generate all three
electron beams from a single, unitized gun. Because the beams start out clos-
er together, they are easier to converge on the face of the screen. And it's eas-
ier to maintain a smaller spot size--a pre-requisite for high resolution. Sony's
one gun also makes it possible to incorporate the second Trinitron differ-
ence: one lens.
One Lens
➤ While most color tubes focus the beams through three small lenses, the
Trinitron tube is unique. It's the only system that focuses the three beams
through the center of one large electronic lens. Other things being equal,
Sony's one lens can be up to three times as large as the competition's lenses.
This gives Sony a tremendous advantage in focusing the beams--another crit-
ical step is achieving high resolution. But Sony goes even further. They only
use the center of the lens, where the laws of physics dictate that depth of
focus will be greatest. Superior depth of focus has two important advantages.
Resolution is better in the corners, where focusing is traditionally most diffi-
cult. And better focus gives us the freedom to employ a cylindrical screen.
Cylindrical Screen
➤ With their limited ability to focus in the corners, Shadow
Mask tubes are forced to pull the corners back toward the elec-
tron guns. This gives their screens that familiar spherical bulge.
In contrast, the Trinitron tube's superior depth of focus enables
Sony to use a flatter screen with the unique cylindrical shape.
While conventional color screens curve from top to bottom, the
Trinitron cylindrical screen is vertically straight. Even with the
nameplate covered, you can always recognize a Trinitron moni-
tor. The sides of the cylindrical screen are ruler-straight from top
to bottom. This cylindrical shape has three benefits you can see.
First, straight vertical lines appear as they should be: straight.
This is visible whenever the screen shows buildings, goalposts,
doors, computer graphics, or any other subject with vertical
lines. Second, there's reduced glare from ceiling lights. So there's
less chance that the picture will be washed out by ambient light.
And finally, the Trinitron screen more nearly approaches a true
rectangle. Squarer corners let you see more of every scene, for a
more complete representation of the video picture.
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