Question about the history of CRT monitors - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 17, 2020, 02:26:54 am
content: When did monitors start having OSD and touch controls instead of pots and knobs?I remember the first 21 inch CRT I saw at work, used for CAD in the mid '90s was an absolute hulk of a thing, but still had dials and knobs.But around the same time the software guys got 17 inchers with OSD which was impressive at the time. Like maybe MAG Innovison?But when did that really start? SGI and HP and co. must have had industrial or workstation monitors with those features first?I'm guessing that the video OSD function itself wasn't a big deal in the '90s, all they had to do was take a VCR chip (more or less). I'm guessing the delay was in the electronics capable of doing the job on CRT signals.

author: bdunham7
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 17, 2020, 02:38:22 am
content: I got a ViewSonic 17" in 1993 that had OSD controls. $1000 at the time.I also had some CRT flat-screen Zenith VGA (I think, but maybe 800x600) monitors from the mid-to-late 80's that I'm pretty sure also had OSD, but I'm not 100% sure about that. They did not have any dials or pots though--it was button controls.

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 17, 2020, 03:51:05 am
content: Yeah, like the monitor I had for my Amiga in the 1990s was a multisync monitor that was pretty decent image-wise, but all knobs and switches.I think I went from that to LCD, bypassing the OSD CRTs altogether.Do you think there were OSD control monitors in the 1980s?I mean this legendary beast is from 1995, I think this had OSD for sure...https://www.reddit.com/r/crtgaming/comments/gxvm99/legendary_intergraph_interview_28hd96_all_we_know/

author: bdunham7
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 17, 2020, 04:08:12 am
content: Quote from: Alex Eisenhut on December 17, 2020, 03:51:05 amIf there were, like my Zenith flatscreens, they were exceptional. My ViewSonic was exceptional in 1993, I think OSD wasn't all that uncommon in the mid-90s, then 10 years later CRT monitors were dinosaurs. Some tech just doesn't last, or disappears right as it is perfected.

author: helius
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 17, 2020, 06:56:09 am
content: I believe OSD was introduced first for VCRs, then televisions, and computer monitors later. VCRs have had OSD since the early 1980s at the latest. Mid-1980s large-screen televisions also had OSD for channel selection, volume control, etc.If you can find a photograph of a monitor, a sure sign that it has OSD is if it has up-down buttons but no LCD panel (some high-end CRT monitors had LCD parameter displays instead of OSD). An exception was screens like the AppleVision 14", which do have buttons but the controls were routed through the computer so OSD was not necessary.My earliest monitor with OSD is a Sony workstation display from 1993. It also has a remote control.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 17, 2020, 06:57:11 am
content: I saw a few of them around in the 90s, I had one in I think 1997 but most of the low end consumer stuff still had knobs until the early 2000's.