The cathode ray tube will be with us for a while longer – Samsung have developed a new display that’s less than half the thickness of a traditional CRT, and is as thin as some LCD panels on the market.
The 81cm Vixlim is only 35cm thick, and Samsung claim it has a far higher picture quality than a comparable LCD. A standard 81cm CRT-based display is generally about 50 to 60cm deep, often more.
The company are promoting their technology for use in digital televisions, stating that their new tube could reduce the price of a digital television by about a third. They will begin mass production early next year, with a view to replacing all of their large CRT products with this tube by the end of 2005.
The Vixlim may not be as light as a TFT display, but it is considerably cheaper – and may well prolong the use of cathode ray tubes as a display technology for some time.