Quote:
Originally Posted by kx250rider
As Steve points out, all the '40s tubes were in fact round, but many were masked off to be rectangular since movies and shows would work better on a rectangular screen. Then in a war among manufacturers to advertise bigger viewing areas, they did away with the rectangular mask in '49-'50 to make the viewing screen show more of the face of the tube. That way, they were able to advertise a bigger viewable area without using a much more expensive larger tube. Simple ad gimmick.
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Now that makes a lot of sense, and I can see how this would happen.
Here's another question: The corners are cut off on a roundie, but I'm pretty sure the corners are still drawn. Are the corners projected onto the sides of the tube? Are the beams absorbed by the sides of the tube?
Better yet: With the corners cut off on most sets, could broadcasters have put "easter eggs" into the unseen corners? This was before rectangle tubes and VCR's, so I wonder if some broadcasters put something in the unseen corners as a joke or something.