The following is what we were told at our meetings with some of the
manufacture reps that we deal with.

It is true that there will be a number of low cost models in the
market using CRT technology to fill the market place. But, the major
manufactures, such as Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, NEC, and Hitachi, plan
to discontinue CRT Monitors and TV sets by this fall coming. Infact,
we were told that many of these companies are no longer producing the
tubes at this time, and when they run out, there will no longer be any
assembly of these CRT sets. This includes all sizes from 3/4 inches
(used in small viewfinders) up to the large 36 inch ones.

There are many news releases that ALL major CRT production will not
exist in about 2 years time. The production runs will be stopping this
year. We had notice from three major companies that they will not be
doing any CRT manufacturing after this year. For the time being, there
will be a few models of very high end broadcast and CAD type CRT
monitors being made. These are going to be very expensive models, that
will not be on sale at the consumer level.

There will be some low end CRT sets coming out of the Orient for a
while. This is to fill the market place, and attempt to make some
profits until there will no longer be any demand for CRT sets. You
will see a number of models priced below $150 US for the 17 to 19 inch
range. They will be taking on much of the old manufacturing equipment
that the main manufactures will be doing away with.


I very strongly suggest you visit the links below.

http://quickstart.clari.net/qs_se/we....RkEn_DN8.html

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/.../09/2003075266

http://www.creativepro.com/story/fea...l?origin=story

http://www.hardwarecentral.com/hardw...l/news/3651/1/


Jerry G.

--


"Bob Myers" wrote in message ...
"Jerry G." wrote in message
...
Some people I speak to, also have the opinion that nothing beats a
conventional CRT type set. But, in about a year or two, these will no
longer be available in the major type models. In about 5 years, CRT sets
may
not be available at all.

This simply isn't so, unless you're looking SOLELY at the
large-screen (over 40" diagonal) HDTV market. For TVs
under 40", both HD and SD, CRT technology is expected to
remain in the market for the foreseeable future. You did
qualify your statement with "major type models," and if by
that you mean the Japanese brands we've known over the
past 20 years, there's some truth to this. However, CRT
sets will still be available, and new makers (Korean, Taiwanese,
and more and more from mainland China) will be coming to
the U.S. market. In many cases, these are only "new" here.

In fact, I just returned from a display industry conference at
which the TV market was forecast to still be at least 80%
CRT-based by 2008. CRT PROJECTION sets will be
declining in favor of other projection types (esp. the various
microdisplay technologies), but direct view up to 40" diag.
remains very much the domain of the CRT.

Bob M.