"Jerry Greenberg" bravely wrote to "All" (08 Dec 03 15:02:21)
--- on the heady topic of " CRT life"

JG From: (Jerry Greenberg)

JG This can be a complicated issue.

No kidding! If we look at basics, a crt is in fact a vacuum tube.
There are special recommended precautions on how to operate power
tubes and a crt is certainly a power tube. Primarily, the matter of
allowing the cathode to reach operating temperature before applying
plate voltage, this in order to avoid cathode stripping, among other
things. This aptly applies to a crt to prolong its life. Even some
tv's actually test the emission before unblanking the picture. Some
early "instant-on" tv's left a little current flowing through the
heater to keep it warm since most wear and tear happens at turn-on.

.... A picture is worth a 1000 words (but it uses 1000 times more memory!)