I have some questions and thoughts about roundies.

[peverett]

It is my understanding that both the first b&w CRTs and the first color CRTs were round due to pincushion issues. That is, the rectangular picture would have a pincushion(the tops and sides would bow inward)effect unless correction was added. For b&w sets, a permanent magnet scheme was developed. As this would not work for the 3 beam color tubes, it took some time to develop the circuitry. Developing the square CRTs is another issue.

For a round tube b&w set, any late 1940s TV is a good example-almost all have round tubes.

[Chad Hauris]

When I worked in radio/TV operating cameras I remember broadcast cameras at least used to have an area marked off inside the viewfinder that you were supposed to keep the most important parts of the picture in (like people's heads) and I think this represented the area of the round color picture tube.

The effect on a round set would be the same as if you increased both the width and height controls on a rectangular...the edges are just outside of the area of the tube. It would be possible to see the whole picture on a round color tube if you "underscanned" both the height and width.

I know rectangular studio monitors of the late 90's allowed you to underscan the picture to make sure you saw all of the edges of the picture...did the round color studio monitors also have such a feature, or were they adjusted by default to underscan the picture?

[matt_s78mn]

Originally Posted by Chad Hauris

When I worked in radio/TV operating cameras I remember broadcast cameras at least used to have an area marked off inside the viewfinder that you were supposed to keep the most important parts of the picture in (like people's heads) and I think this represented the area of the round color picture tube.

...don't mean to hijack the thread, but this brings up a pet pieve of mine. The station were I work has robotic cameras in the studio now, as do a lot of modern TV studios, and we have Marshal 5" flat panel LCD monitors in production control... Well, some of the technical directors don't realize that the LCD panels display the entire video frame, and they adjust the shots based on what they're seeing in those displays. So... when I'm at home watching the newscast on a CRT TV, the framing looks odd.