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makes sense. I don't understand why there is such a pessimism on tube life as well. I think it depends somewhat on the design and I am sure luck plays a part as well. This goes against what some believe, but my Uncle who was a repairman for 20 years always said that sets with instant on always had the best tubes in them, which somewhat coinsides with life-span tests. I would assume GE had those tubes running non-stop. 2000 hours would be 142 days of not being shut off. My Uncle believed that a tube that was always on would last longer because there was no shock or voltage variation from warm-up time. Back in the day, most sets that came in with instant-on had very good pictures. (and some of these sets were 10 years old) However he did not like instant on in tube sets. Said that altho it would keep the picture tube good, the rest of the set was getting destroyed from heat. I wonder if the design process playes a big part tho? Has anyone ever seen a bad delta Chromacolor tube? I never have. They just go on and on and on. However it was a different story when they went to the tri-focus in-line tube. Anyway.... I believe that if designed well from the start, CRT's can last almost forever, and I do not believe that instant-on shortens a tubes life.
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