Thomson ""Performax"" Widescreen HDTV Picture
A new 38-inch wide high definition (HDTV) color TV picture tube unveiled and demonstrated at the CES is said to offer unparalleled picture performance for a new line of HDTV receivers built by Thomson Consumer Electronics. The new 38-inch (diagonal) widescreen tube, and a companion 34-inch (diagonal) widescreen tube, and a companion 34-inch (diagonal) model, will be key components in the line of RCA and PROSCAN-brand HDTV receivers to be sold by Thompson under the ""Performax Expansion Series"" moniker. ""Our widescreen HDTV tube will be the largest direct-view widescreen tube in the industry, and it's designed to provide the ultimate in high definition picture performance at a cost that allows more affordable HDTV receiver pricing. We've developed an asymmetrical glass panel contour that minimizes the additional glass required to make widescreen HDTV picture tubes,"" said Tom Carson, Vice President of Thomson's Americas Tubes Operation. Thomson was the first in the U.S. to offer widescreen analog TV displays with its 1993 CinemaScreen introduction. ""As the country's number one manufacturer of color TV picture tubes, we feel it is incumbent on Thompson to take the lead in the production of direct-view displays for the emerging digital era of television. As a result, we have elected to invest some $20 million in our Marion, Indiana, facility for the development of these 1.78:1 aspect ratio tubes, which are 30 percent wider than conventional color TV tube displays. Following extensive summer 1999 modifications at the Marion plant, Thomson will start production of the industry's largest 1.78:1 direct-view HDTV picture tube - a 38-inch (diagonal) product that will be available for Thomson's HDTV models in late 1999. Additional tube sizes are scheduled for future availability. This direct-view HDTV tube will display more than one million pixels, the standard for HDN performance. We've designed this new widescreen product on the foundation built by Thomson's Digital Precision Pitch tube products that are now found in a variety of multimedia applications,"" said Pat Dunn, Manager of Product Management and Technical Coordination for Thomson's Americas Tubes Operations. ""A new line of high-scan frequency deflection yokes has been developed to support the higher 2.14H and 3.OH scan rates needed for HDTV and do so with increased efficiency and lower temperature characteristics. The electron gun utilized in this product employs the latest Thomson dynamic focus technology for optimum center and corner focus. The built-in Beam Scan Velocity Modulation (BSVM) coil exhibits very high sensitivity characteristics that can enhance the HDTV picture presentation when combined with the excellent dynamic focus electron gun performance. `In our 38-inch tube, we'll combine the screen dot pitch of .78mm with an Invar shadow mask to support the resolution requirements of HDTV with the brightest possible picture. The result is outstanding - so good that it is almost too realistic for a television image,"" Dunn remarked. Since 1989, Thomson has invested $135 million in the Marion Very Large Screen facility to make it the industry's largest U.S. manufacturer of color TV picture tubes. The facility was the first in the U.S. to produce 35-inch tubes and currently manufactures over 4.1 million picture tubes annually - an average of approximately 15,000 each day - in screen sizes ranging from 19 inches to 36 inches diagonal. Over 2,200 Indiana residents are employed at the 1.2 million-square-foot Marion plant.