A Tiny, Unlikely Full-Color CRT 

The reason pro cameras used black and white viewfinders was sharpness. Camera operator is focusing, and wants a very sharp picture for fine focus.

Yeah, I'm also here from Technology Connections. You're doing great work, and I'm subbed!

The expensive camera’s CRT was B&W because they are much sharper, and focus is more important than color accuracy. Color can be changed in post, focus can’t.

This guy's definition of a "really cool party trick" makes me wanna hang out with him

What they could do with old technology always impresses me more than any modern display. It could be an 8K monitor & it wouldn't be as interesting as this for some reason.

>click on vid >some dude just talking about something he's interested in, no fancy edits and its completely niche and barely related to my interests >Instantly subscribe Very good, time for another tech youtube binge

Props to Technology Connections for bringing me to this channel. Surprised I've never seen you before. Hopefully you get more attention. You're already a good personality on camera, more support will be great for you. Good luck 👍

This was genuinely fascinating and very very well presented and edited. You've earned a sub, I'm glad technology connections put us on to you!

You owe technology connections a beer ;-)

Great video on an amazing piece of technology. One reason that professional TV cameras had monochrome viewfinders until very recently is based on the needs of videographers, and a little bit on technology... There are 4 basic things a videographer is worried about: 1) Composition, how the shot is framed. This isn't hampered by screen technology. 2) Focus. This is the important one. If it's out of focus, it's useless. So a professional TV camera, which (almost) always use manual focus, must have as sharp a screen as possible to help the camera operator judge their focus. So if you are going to add color to a viewfinder, you have to be able to do it in a way that doesn't compromise resolution at all. Add to that the human eye sees much finer detail in monocrome, and there isn't any real need for color to focus a camera. 3) Exposure. Again, it's the brightness of the image that really matters. A profesional TV camera has a large iris control right there at the operator's fingertips (except in a studio/multi-camera environment where a "Shader" is remotely adjusting exposure & color on all cameras so they match.) Again, it's easier to see brightness in monocrome, and you certainly couldn't compromise the dynamic range for the benefit of color. 4) Color. Obviously good color is important when producing color TV. In a professional environment you need really good color rendition to monitor color, or it's not worth doing it. So when you factor all those things in together, until you could get a viewfinder that could produce images as bright, sharp, & accurate as a full size video monitor, adding color to the mix was more of a hindrance than a help. It's not that it couldn't be done, but it was very very difficult to do well enough, so monocrome actually worked better for professional applications. Color was (and to a degree still is) something handled by someone with a high quality color monitor somewhere, in a control room or edit bay. I have worked in control rooms making color TV where the only color monitor was the 1 for the "Shader" at the engineering position, and the entire rest of the wall was black & white monitors, even to make a color TV program.

I never get tired of your technical story telling. The 80’s and 90’s went through tech faster than the 1800’s to 1979. What a time to be alive!

You did an extremely good presentation. This is coming from a TV tech for 50+ years.

I've gotta say, I think you pulled off the clearest explanation of how a CRT works I've ever encountered. Great little animations, too. Love it. Fantastic video!

Tech Connections brought me here... And he pulls out the 2001 camera I used to use shooting College Football games! Awesome! The B&W was fine for that purpose, because you just wanted crisp focus.

This lil CRT would be awesome paired with that Wii that was cut down and fit into an Altoids tin.

In my opinion, RU-vidrs like you are so important! RU-vidrs who specialize in old technology and explaining it in details that were even hidden to the majority of people of that era. You document and preserve pieces of history and present it in an easily accessible way. Thank you! The physics and engineering skills of old technology is amazing. You deserve at least as much subscribers as my other favourite retro tech channels, Techmoan, The 8-Bit Guy and LGR.

You're an incredible presenter, 5 min in and I've already learned so much. easy sub

Your channel is about to explode, and after watching this video you honestly deserve it. You're incredibly well spoken and so informative and well researched it's unreal. I've never seen one of your videos before but I'm 5 mins into this one and have already subscribed. I can't wait to see more videos like this in the future.

I dont know how I have not seen this channel before. Its exceptional. This is the third video I have seen of yours and each one is amazing. You have a real voice and flare for presenting information.

Welp, this channel is about to take off in a big way - Technology Collections gave ya a shout, dude! Love your style and your apparently great knowledge - new subscriber for sure!

Damn cool man. I'm a systems engineer, and can confirm that with this kind of feedback it'd be really easy to make a system that gets the beam gun changing the signal at the right rate. Hell you could probably pull it off with just the uv strip, and if you were really good you might be able to cut down the total number of uv strips. But having two strips is a good safe way of doing it.

I love how fast you go. Great explanations. Well done!

Thank you for this wonderful video! It’s great to see you gush passionately about something even as you say it’s pointless in a way. Wrapping it up into a message about researching the seemingly mundane is exactly the kind of thing I appreciate about you and your keen perspective! Also: again, thanks for the captions. :>

This is the first video of yours I've come across and I just wanted you to know I think you're an exceptionally good teacher. I've subscribed.

I can hear the distinctive sound of the CRT while watching this video.

Wow you weren’t kidding. That was quick. Great video. Love the “it’s interesting but totally useless now” genre of topics. Every time you say eyecup I just remember “say ICUP out loud”

Great video, what's crazy is I could hear the high pitched CRT sound in my headphones from this video

I'm here from Technology Connections and I must say I am very glad I found your channel. Great work and you've got a new subscriber!

Great stuff. A really good high speed overview of CRTs, too

Love it. Here from TC as well. You’re a great presenter!

The thing about degaussing color CRTs reminded me of something we used to do long ago in college. In the early '90s, I went to a tech school that had a computer center full of DECstations, with huge (for the time) CRT monitors. A bunch of us discovered that if you flicked the degauss button on those monitors really lightly with a fingernail, the screen would do about half of the usual "rainbow pulse" thing and then stay that way until the button was pressed properly, at which point it would go back to normal. Then you could wait for someone who didn't know the trick to come along and be like, "Oh no, something's wrong with this one," and you could walk up and "fix" it and look like a wizard. We were easily amused in those days. :)

Having been in the TV Repair bizz for almost 40 yrs myself, you are very knowledgeable and well spoken with your explanations....well done young man..!! Great channel also.!

Great content I wish you luck on your journey on RU-vid brother I'm gonna be a long time subscriber excited to see where your channel goes!

Dude, you're a legend, this was really interesting!

Years ago I knew someone who put a bar magnet near a CRT and was thrilled by the effect it produced. When she pulled it away, the funky colors ramained and no amount of degauzzing would fix it. So it was possible to not only magnitize the shadow mask, but to physically distort it thus damaging the CRT and have it always display the wrong colors.

I think your on screen presences is really really good...its why I watch. And your show are always very interesting and fascinating.

woah this video is way too under rated, awesome video!

Hey, a fellow CRT afficiando! Great video. I had no idea about a color CRT viewfinder.

Wow that is a really neat display.. And you seem to have a lot of interesting devices and CRTs that you can show more to us and explain more like this one.. great video!

and now I understand how CRTs work so much better than I ever did, thanks as usual for presenting interesting topics and being a very engaging teacher!

I honestly just thought this was the Technology Connections guy but 5 years ago

The RU-vid algorithm is starting to shine on this man

The level of detail in both research and presentation is awesome. I am looking forward to watching many more of your videos. You are truly fantastic. Also here from TC and I have subscribed.

Appreciate you being succinct. Good format. Good audio (important). Good framing. Enjoy the ambient thing spread.

Soo interesting!

"i have an ebay saved search for every single indextron ever made" gravis-like typing detected XD

What a wondefully succinct description. So nice to see a techie who can describe things properly. Duely impressed, thanks!

That is so cool. So specific and so cool. Thanks for doing that video. I didn't came from Technology Connections but you showed up on my homepage, probably cause I'm a TC subscriber and they all suddenly watched your videos.

Subbed from Technology Connections, hello!

Fascinating! Subbed

This is fantastic. What a great video you've made cathode ray dude. The de-gauss explanation was great. Always wondered what it actually did, I knew it was magnetic, but what did it do ??. I had a huge Sony PC monitor in the 90's and the de-gauss function made a hell of a " boink " whenever it was activated. Now I know why. Your videos are superb buddy. You're a great presenter too. Hats off to you.

Dude this amazing info. I wish more people appreciated this kind of old display tech. Your presentation style is so clear and precise. Amazing total package video.

“Before flat screens came down in price”, yep he’s right about that one. I remember people wouldn’t shut up about “plasma”.

Go find yourself a Sony Videomagic. Beam index (single gun) color tube projector.

You have an incredible speaking voice! Love the editing. This is the first video I watched of yours. Looking forward to more.

I played with a camcorder with that kind of color screen way back in the day. I thought it was neat that the color would go away when you covered the sensors, but never delved any deeper. I had no idea how fascinating the tech was. Thanks for expanding my knowledge on this!

Basically a more personable Technology Connections

I didn't notice technology connections gave you a bump, but I like his videos, I'm seeing your videos popping up all of a sudden, and I like your videos as well. Subbed.

Nicely presented, clearly spoken and easy to understand by anyone interested in CRTs.

I'm so happy that Alec from Technology Connections linked to this video in one of his posts. This is good stuff that deserves more eyes on it.

I love anything with a CRT in it... so wished I found your channel a lot sooner... BUT I'M HERE NOW!

Super happy I got lead down this rabbit hole. Super interesting to learn about tech I had no idea I even wanted to learn about. Good niche!

I've never seen a more concise and coherent explanation of how a color CRT works - I now actually understand what a shadow mask is and why it exists. Excellent animated diagrams, too. Well done.

So, I just saw your videos for the first time today. I automatically got the "Alec Connectify but much nerdier" vibe and decided to subscribe before I even finished the video. It was the one about the old m9dem from the 60's that won't die. I LOVE your videos!

Woah, so interesting. Never knew they made single gun color tube. Also, first time on your channel. I'm impressed by the overall quality of the presentation, video and audio. Good job :)

This is so cool! Thanks for sharing this. It’s amazing how these things work, I had never heard of this.

God... it took me a few days to watch this, but .... for a guy with only a few thousand subs this is great! Energetic, knowledgeable, a bit fun. Love it! I’m a subscriber now

Good job with that vid man, Technology Connection gave you a pretty epic shout out, You’ve got a certain way to make viewers be interested in what you show them!

I've worked in TV for decades and have seen lots of one of a kind implementations, but I had never heard of this one before. Thanks.

Very well explained, Dude. Probably the best explanation of colour CRTs, I have ever heard.

Your voice has a very rich calm and clear quality to it. You should do voice over and radio and movie work dude. Subbed. I also came from Technology Connections

this is excellent material, hoping this channel gets the attention it deserves!

Also came from Technology Connections, great content! Just finished the history of home video as well. Always like finding out about cool old technologies that were lesser known.

Excellent video and really superlative description of the technologies. Thanks.

This is an underrated channel. Thanks for the video @cathode ray dude

Sweet video dude! Thank you for sharing your knowledge! I'm excited to see more!!!

That was a very enjoyable video. Top tip - if you filter the higher audio frequencies out you can get rid of the high pitched scream from the screens.

This is an amazing video my man, I absolutely love everything about it

You do an AWESOME job at explaining things.

Well done sir!!! This was the most complete and concise explanation of CRT operation that I personally have ever heard. Karl Ferdinand Braun would be proud

Same as the others, great explanations, clear message no frills ! Came here from TC link and subbed ! It’s now time to dig through the other videos.

Man I love your style. Liked and subbed. Keep educating people dude you're great at it 👍.

The diagram at 4:00 set your channel far and away ahead of most content providers on RU-vid. Just that little bit of extra effort is more than most people are willing to put in, and I really appreciate it from you.

Hey friend, great video. I love your comfortable presentation style and how in depth it was at the same time. Subbed and wishing you the best!

The passion of this guy is amazing, you can tell he truly loves what he does!

Those monochrome CRTs were used in pro (even digital high-def) cameras for a long time for the simple reason that they could produce a VERY sharp image on a tiny surface, which allowed the camera operator to preview the image and adjust things like iris or focus without having to use a large outboard monitor. Colour CRTs always have some degree of image granularity because of their shadow mask, while monochrome CRTs could in theory have a 'resolution' of single electron hitting their screen.

Your speaking and writing is really clear and concise. Thanks for the video, look forward to the next one.

This is good! Thanks for bringing this back to light. The speed of light is pretty incomprehensible... a timer based feedback is quite like our WSRGB-LEDs, or whichever the controlled version is. A cross examination may yeild new and useful ideas like ot did for me!

I'm going to show this video to my dad later, as I'm fairly certain we had a similar camcorder when I was growing up. This was a great video, I subbed after Alec's post brought me here.

When I shoot photos in RAW, I have the preview after I take a photo set to B&W. The reason being is it’s far easier to comprehend contrast and exposure with B&W. Color makes it harder to differentiate contrast between colors. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was partially part of the reason they didn’t bother with color. It’s not important until the end product.

Just stopped by to say- neat channel name, creative. I look forward to seeing your videos pop up in my recommended.

This is fascinating and your passion is powerful.

I didn't saw you in technology connections just learned about it tryint to comment that this is a pretty interesting video! Although I'm a vivid watcher of him :) , also thought on him when I saw your video, keep up the great work, you have an amazing potential!

Also here from Technology Connections. Great video about a very novel CRT, and very well presented! Instant subscribe.

Super cool tech, I really appreciate all of your videos. For real.

Subbed. Great content, good production. What a blast from the past

the CRT squael in these videos is painfull im so glad I got into the broadcast biz after CRTs were phased out id die every time I walked into a studio

Sent over by Alec, but damn, you got my sub. This video is genuinely amazing.

Black and white CRTs in camcorders also were a lot finer since you didn't have a grille limiting your resolution. This made it way easier to determine focus than if you were using a low-res colour CRT. This is super neat! Thanks for the explanation!

That is totally awesome! That's quite a clever way of aligning the color with feedback. i have been trying to find a color CRT view finder and that does explain why it's so hard to find them.