Question about electrolytic capacitors  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: Mhael
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2021, 07:33:58 am
content: Hello, I apologize for my first post here being a question...but eevblog on youtube was a great help when researching a soldering station purchase and learning to solder...so I thought this might be a good place to ask. I am currently doing some work on my 40in sony trinitron, it has a bad capacitor on the power board. I am really new to this, so I am un-certain about how important esr/ripple current ratings (not that I have alot of choice in what is available to purchase as a replacement). I have the sony part number from the the service manual, but there doesn't seem to be any information available. The failed capacitor is a Rubycon 250v 1200uf and as of now I am planning on replacing it with a Nichicon LGX2E122MELB50. I am trying to make sure this is an acceptable replacement. I have asked over in the crt subforum on the avsforum, but unfortunately it seems to be a graveyard these days. I just want to do my best in avoiding the release of the magic smoke from this thing, so I figured it can't hurt to ask those more knowledgeable. Thanks for any input you might have and thanks for having me here.

author: Siwastaja
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2021, 07:53:15 am
content: Ripple current rating is important.What you post is not a low-ESR type but a general purpose type. The telltale sign is that it lacks ripple current rating at 100kHz, only has 120Hz rating.This being said, original part might be a "general purpose" type as well, I don't know.It's unlikely to fail catastrophically right away. If you are sure the original cap is indeed bad, just replace it. The new one will last for at least some time.You could also pick a low-ESR type and use that regardless what the original was.For a proper solution, you would need to try to find the more exact part number and datasheet of the original to see its ripple current rating.

author: Faringdon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2021, 01:34:29 pm
content: Whats its rated temperature......it should say on the case.Pick one thats at least as high as that...and preferably, more hours rating.But yes, El caps do fail from drying out.How olds your equipment?..If its only a few months old and the cap failed, then it sounds like its an under-rated cap. Bad design.Also, are you using your equipment in a very hot, unventilated place?....thats not going to help the El caps either.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2021, 01:40:43 pm
content: Quote from: Faringdon on June 27, 2021, 01:34:29 pmI… think you need to be a bit more attentive before replying.He said it's a 40"Trinitron. That means it's a CRT, and Sony stopped selling those in USA 15 years ago.And, um, the temp rating is right on the image in the post.

author: G7PSK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2021, 03:00:22 pm
content: It is hardly likely to be a low ESR type,looks to be a bulk cap from the power supply which is most likely not a smps in a 40 inch triniton.

author: Siwastaja
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2021, 03:15:16 pm
content: Quote from: G7PSK on June 27, 2021, 03:00:22 pmExcuse me? CRT television sets were some of thefirstconsumer devices to widely use switch mode power supplies, already in the 1970's. There may be small linear supplies but the bulk supplies are all SMPS.This being said, such large capacitor might be on the primary (rectified mains) side and if so, given the large size, the ripple current usually isn't an issue.The fact that original only has a 85 degC rating gives a hint that a 105 degC rated general purpose cap likely survives there.But nothing beats figuring out the actual part number, looking at the schematics or reverse-engineering the circuit to the point that you can guess why the original part failed, then engineer in a better suited part. But this is a lot of work, I would just try out the general purpose replacement cap as linked by the OP.

author: Mhael
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2021, 04:59:15 pm
content: Thanks for all the replies, I appreciate the input. The unit is just shy of 20 years old, I am guessing it just failed from age. Considering the repair threads I have been reading are from over a decade ago, it had a pretty impressive problem free run up until now. It is one of two (largest physical size capacitors) on the main power board. Digikey only has 4 capacitors in stock that have the right specs and diameter and they are all are rated at 120Hz, the one I was planning on using has the higher 105c operating temp and the longest life rating, so it looks like that will be the route I'll be taking. The attached picture is the extent of the information from the service manual in regards to the capacitor and an online search only brings up a defunct parts page that contains no further information.https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/panasonic-electronic-components/EET-HC2E122DA/483334?s=N4IgTCBcDaIAoEYEHYDMyC0A5AIiAugL5AThis is the capacitor that was mentioned in the repair thread as a replacement by one of the main contributors to the thread, the one I mentioned in my first post seems to be as good if not better...at least as far as I can tell. This one does have an esr rating though, but I don't know if it is low or not.

author: bdunham7
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2021, 05:33:20 pm
content: Do you have a schematic of the power supply? And how did you determined that this capacitor has failed?

author: Mhael
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2021, 05:49:54 pm
content: Quote from: bdunham7 on June 27, 2021, 05:33:20 pmThe set failed with a 7 blink error code that is usually related to an overvoltage issue, 90% of the time it is fixed by replacing 2 defective IC's on the D-board. I performed the IC replacement and the symptoms remained identical, afterwards I noticed that this capacitor had a bulged top. Some other users in the repair thread had reported these to be another source of problems. I am not overly experienced, so I didn't notice the bulged capacitor until taking a closer look after the IC replacement did not solve the problem. I have attached the 4 pages of schematics relating the D-Board. Grid location A-9 on the component side diagram is the capacitor in question.

author: bdunham7
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2021, 06:08:08 pm
content: OK, there's two of these, right? If you replace one, replace them both.From the schematic these are just bulk filters from a mains-frequency bridge rectifier and they feed the additional stages of the SMPS. Extremely low ESR isn't a big deal and the originals were probably not any ultra-low-ESR type--although RTP-series datasheets seem to be not found anywhere.You probably should find a way to actually test them. Is the top scored aluminum casing bulged, or is there a plastic disc on top? If the latter, that may not be a sign of failure at all.

author: Mhael
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2021, 06:11:57 pm
content: Quote from: bdunham7 on June 27, 2021, 06:08:08 pmYes, there are 2 of them. I was wondering if both should be replaced or it was better to "if its not broke don't fix it". The top is x scored bare aluminum casing and the one has a noticeable bulge, the other is completely flat. Thank you for taking a look.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2021, 06:22:43 pm
content: Those big Trinitrons were really something, I didn't realize they ever made a 40", the only CRT that big I ever saw was a Mitsubishi, seems like those weighed over 300 lbs. Hopefully you can get it working again, I'd have to guess those are very rare now.I have a 27" Trinitron XBR in my rec room, somebody gave it to me and I repaired it around 20 years ago, still looks fantastic.

author: Mhael
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2021, 06:59:21 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on June 27, 2021, 06:22:43 pmThanks for the well wishes. Yeah it clocks in right at 300lbs, carrying it into the basement was a real good time...lol. 720p/1080i still looks pretty incredible on a crt in 2021, at least in my opinion. Hopefully we can get her choochin again.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2021, 07:04:24 pm
content: Other than maybe OLED, nothing beats a good CRT in terms of image quality IMO. The dynamic range is untouchable by LCD, and the fact that it's an analog display with no fixed resolution means it can display arbitrary formats without any scaling. For watching SD content that was intended to be displayed on CRTs nothing else even comes close. Due to the lack of fixed pixels, the round electron beam and the natural analog blending (the beam cannot go from bright to dark instantaneously across pixel bounds) the perceived image quality is much better than the resolution would suggest. The effective resolution is much higher.

author: bobbydazzler
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2021, 09:50:55 pm
content: Any ideas on why the capacitor is failing? Was it near high temp components? Maybe replace it with a slightly higher voltage rated capacitor(I see you've chosen a higher rate temp already which is good).

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2021, 10:49:57 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on June 27, 2021, 07:04:24 pmI too have the same opinion - mainly for original 4:3 programming.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2021, 10:54:32 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on June 27, 2021, 06:22:43 pmSony made a 45" (43" visible) Trinitron broadcast monitor, the PVM-4300. Over 400lbs!

author: Mhael
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2021, 01:12:33 am
content: Quote from: james_s on June 27, 2021, 07:04:24 pm+1Quote from: bobbydazzler on June 27, 2021, 09:50:55 pmI honestly just think it is due to age, its not around any external heat sources and there seems to be plenty of room in the chassis for everything to breath. In the decades old repair thread there were a few people that had to replace those caps back in 2009, perhaps this issue might have become a common one if more of these sets were still in service...I am guessing the majority of them are long since in the boneyard due to a faulty $20 pair of IC's. From what I have learned, the 2 IC's that I originally replaced in an attempt to remedy the problem had a high failure rate and were responsible for 90% of the issues this particular platform had.Quote from: tooki on June 27, 2021, 10:54:32 pmThat's a hell of a big crt, I wonder if any of them still exist. I know the 40 was the largest available on the consumer market.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2021, 01:13:05 am
content: Quote from: bobbydazzler on June 27, 2021, 09:50:55 pmMy guess is because it's around 20 years old. They don't last forever.

author: Doctorandus_P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2021, 01:34:26 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on June 28, 2021, 01:13:05 amReminds me of an old CRT I "fixed" long ago.It did some kind of "beam current" measurement upon startup, and that was out of spec, and it refused to turn on because of that.Apparently this was normal for an old TV and I did not want to spend too much time on it.I fixed it with a resistor, a micro switch and a piece of string.You just had to pull the string after you turned the TV on.Then the resistor pulled the beam current into an acceptable range, and it turned itself on.This got a handful of extra years out of the old thing.

author: peteru
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2021, 02:50:15 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on June 27, 2021, 07:04:24 pmThis is a common misconception. The phosphors on the screen are still in fixed locations, so there is a native resolution on CRTs.Quote from: james_s on June 27, 2021, 07:04:24 pmSo, in other words, smearing.Quote from: james_s on June 27, 2021, 07:04:24 pmThis is exactly the same argument as people make when discussing tube vs solid state amps or vinyl vs digital audio recordings. Each technology (and each specific implementation) introduces a different set of limitations and artefacts. People may have a preference for a particular mode of degradation, which is a subjective evaluation and difficult to measure - especially when people have been conditioned to expect a certain look by many years of viewing using a particular technology. Objective measurements, that quantify various metrics put modern mature digital technology implementations way ahead of anything that was available with CRTs.Nothing wrong with being nostalgic and enjoying the results that a CRT produces, but let's not kid anyone, high-end CRT picture quality isNOTbetter than high-end modern display technology.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2021, 04:50:01 pm
content: Quote from: peteru on June 28, 2021, 02:50:15 pmNope, it is not a misconception. You are categorically mistaken. The phosphor dots are not individually addressable, since a) the beam size is not the same as a phosphor dot (the beam is generally substantially larger), and b) the beam scanning is completely, 100% independent of the phosphor dot positions.Now, what youcanmeasure is resolution in the sense of “lines per inch” of actual scanned image, exactly as we do with digital cameras and printers.

author: tunk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2021, 04:53:22 pm
content: And since this thread is about a trinitron, there's no dots either.

author: bdunham7
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2021, 05:15:48 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on June 28, 2021, 04:50:01 pmThe phosphor pitch would represent an absolute upper limit to the resolution. On most color CRT TVs, the phosphor grid is visible. The fact that the operation of the CRT blurs it to a much lower resolution does not provide 'greater effective resolution', it just blends more smoothly if you are looking at it up close. Blurring out pixelization isn't an increase in resolution. I'm in agreement withpeteruthat the nostalgia for CRTs is vastly overrated. The only reason they are tolerable next to decent modern displays (not decades-old dim, slow LCDs) is that they are typically much smaller. Even my full-HD plasma is falling behind good LCD TVs nowadays. The next time it breaks, I won't be fixing it.

author: helius
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2021, 05:24:11 pm
content: It is true to say that the color phosphor dots/stripes place an upper limit on the effective resolution of the display, but it needs to be qualified that this is an analog function (aMTF) and not a discrete cutoff.The fact that color phosphors limit resolution is the reason Tektronix and HP pursued exotic color display technologies on their color CRT scopes, instead of using standard shadowmask units. In other fields such as film recording, only monochrome tubes were used (with color filter wheels).

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2021, 05:29:42 pm
content: Quote from: peteru on June 28, 2021, 02:50:15 pmI agree with james' assertives since I don't think he was talking about objective measurements. Sure, you can deterministically find how the analog circuitry will introduce measurable distortions to the signal, but theperceptionis what is at stake here. And no, I am not defending these older technologies are always better - just that some sources tend to have better reproduction with older technologies.Quote from: peteru on June 28, 2021, 02:50:15 pmQuality itself is a very tough concept to be applied here - too many angles to consider. Regardless, in my case it is not nostalgia but I have compared side-by-side technologies and objectively found no pixellations, lack of contrast and blurring of color tones (especially on the red side of the spectrum) when older productions were reproduced with analog circuitry. Modern equipment is improving, but we have been in this game for 20+ years already.

author: peteru
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2021, 05:31:53 pm
content: Trinitron CRTs have two resolutions. The horizontal resolution is fixed and dictated by the phosphor coating pitch between the vertical lines. The vertical resolution is a function of focusing accuracy and the scanning frequency.

author: helius
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2021, 05:44:02 pm
content: Quote from: bdunham7 on June 28, 2021, 05:15:48 pmInconsistency detected.A home television is designed to be viewed from 6-10 feet away. If you are looking at it up close enough to see a grid, it will just make you cross-eyed. At the designed viewing distance there is no visible phosphor grid!If we are talking about a computer monitor, designed to be viewed from ~2 feet away, the phosphor pitch is much smaller, and the grid is still not visible. People who first experienced Trinitron monitors complained about the suspension wires, not the grid! The computer systems that were driving these displays didn't have "UI scaling". They were effectively unusable unless every pixel was clearly visible, and 1900x1200 at 19" resolutions were common.

author: bdunham7
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2021, 05:58:48 pm
content: Quote from: helius on June 28, 2021, 05:44:02 pmNo inconsistency, I was referring to the inability of the CRT to illuminate individual pixels. Yes, the maximum observable resolution will be less than the phosphor grid spacing at normal viewing distances, but that's true for almost all HD televisions, even large HD plasma or LCD models without 4K.

author: Siwastaja
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2021, 06:21:50 pm
content: Dots can light up partially! They are not on/off. Say, an upper half of a dot being hit by the electron beam.It's best thought as a grid of "dead zones" instead of grid of light-emitting things.Like looking the world through a bug net does not magically make the view discrete or change it to "pixels".In practice this doesn't matter as the beam is always significantly larger than the dot size, but earlier comments tried to be pedantic as well, and failed at that.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2021, 07:11:56 pm
content: Quote from: peteru on June 28, 2021, 05:31:53 pmThat's not entirely true. The beam sweeps smoothly across the screen, if you were to watch a single phosphor stripe up close in slow motion, you'd see it gradually start to light up as the beam nears one edge, peak and then gradually decay as the beam passes by, followed by a longer decay due to phosphor persistence. It's possible to light only part of a phosphor stripe, limited by the focus of the beam. Whatever the case, if you look at a 640x480 image on a modern display and compare it to an image of approximately that same resolution on an analog display, the analog display will typically look more natural. The beam cannot focus infinitely small but you do get an infinite gradient between any one point and any other point, there are no discrete pixels.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2021, 07:20:39 pm
content: Quote from: peteru on June 28, 2021, 02:50:15 pmNo, I'm sorry but you're wrong, this is not nostalgia, and I'm not saying it's all around better than high-end display technology, OLED looks great but a good CRT puts LCD to shame. My point is that all else being equal, a CRT is far superior. The key here is all else being equal, take a 27" 640x480 LCD and it will look like total crap, the pixels will be visible from feet away. Take a 27" CRT displaying a 480i image and it looks great. This is not going by memory, I have a 27" Trinitron TV downstairs and I can look at it side by side with a similar sized LCD TV displaying SD content, there is no comparison, the CRT looks far better. The LCD looks like shit, you can see the blocky pixels, the CRT image looks smooth and natural. The LCD looks washed out, the CRT looks bright and vibrant with deep blacks. Have you had a really good CRT display or compared one to a modern TV displaying SD content? I'm guessing not.

author: bdunham7
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2021, 07:47:20 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on June 28, 2021, 07:20:39 pmIn all likelihood that is simply because itistotal crap...Now put that image on my moderately good 30" 2.5K monitor with appropriate (real-time) processing and see how it looks.You may prefer blur to pixelization, and I'm sure you aren't alone. I loathe both, along with flicker, motion blur and strobing. My TV is over twice 27" and I can comfortably watch high-quality 480i SD content from six feet away with no noticeable pixels or blocks. VHS still looks fairly terrible despite my best processing efforts. Actual live broadcast SD TV, which still exists, looks as good as I think it can.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2021, 07:52:03 pm
content: I absolutely prefer blur to pixelation. Like you, I would prefer neither, but you can't make pixels out of nothing, if the original source material is SD then that's all you're ever going to get. You can display it in on an analog display like it was meant to be displayed on, or you can do processing to simulate the analog characteristics on a modern fixed pixel display. Either way the analog display has a lot better effective resolution than the raw numbers would imply. At some point when you get enough pixels, it is your eyes that are doing the blurring, they are analog after all.

author: bdunham7
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2021, 08:07:16 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on June 28, 2021, 07:52:03 pmI'll disagree, subject to clarification of the term 'effective resolution'. At close range, you can pick pixelization or blur. At long range, it doesn't matter. But I think at some intermediate range, right where the pixels are just barely not visible, the pixelized version will have better resolution than the blurred one.QuoteI suppose the optics part is analog, but the retina isn't.

author: Mhael
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2021, 10:11:25 pm
content: Its all very subjective, everyone has different criteria for what makes for the best viewing experience....it's kind of like cars. I personally don't think anything can beat crt for viewing sd content and honestly there was never a time when I didn't think to myself when watching a bluray "wow, this looks good". Even after almost 20 years, I think easily holds it own when it comes to image quality...then again, everyone thought I was a lunatic for driving over an hour one way to buy a used 40in hdcrt 7 years ago...so my judgement could be skewed. In case anyone was wondering what a close up looked like, this is probably at least twice zoomed in from what you would see having your cornea firmly pressed against the glass. (been awhile since I took the image and I can't remember how far I zoomed). I had always been very impressed by the quality of the sound this thing put out but I had never been inside it until recently, this explains alot.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 29, 2021, 02:41:06 am
content: Quote from: bdunham7 on June 28, 2021, 08:07:16 pmSDTV is at the absolute maximum 640x480, and realistically it's less than that. A 640x480 video on a computer looks pretty terrible, especially expanded to full screen, much worse than SD analog video on a much larger display. I noticed this way back when TV was still analog. Good quality SD video looks pretty good, even on a fairly large screen, like 32". If you had a 32" fixed pixel display that was such low resolution the pixels would be very visible, on an analog display that isn't the case. It's not the same as just being blurry. At one point I connected a digital converter box to the old Sony downstairs and I was astonished at how good it looked, although ultimately it's still just broadcast TV with all the things I hate about broadcast TV so the novelty wore off.

author: peteru
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 29, 2021, 05:43:47 am
content: Quote from: james_s on June 28, 2021, 07:20:39 pmYour guess is as far out as can possibly be. I've had the pleasure to use many, many excellent CRTs, in all sorts of incarnations, including calibrated broadcast monitors. I spent decades working on broadcast equipment, format conversion and transcoding technology - even won a technical EMMY for the work done in this field.There are many reasons why the industry has not persisted with CRT technologies. If CRTs were genuinely superior there would be a market for them. A properly format converted image on high quality modern display will not look worse than the original analogue footage on a high quality CRT.

author: wizard69
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 29, 2021, 08:24:31 pm
content: Quote from: Mhael on June 27, 2021, 06:11:57 pmIn the case of electrolytics, in power supplies, replacing all of them is a very good idea. This even more so with old supplies that have been in operation for decades. This especially in the case of consumer goods which sometimes have marginal designs.

author: Mhael
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 29, 2021, 08:54:58 pm
content: Quote from: wizard69 on June 29, 2021, 08:24:31 pmYeah, I have 2 on order and I am planning on replacing both of them. Hopefully the parts will arrive tomorrow. There are over 50 other electrolytic capacitors of varying size on the D-board, it would be a pretty involved process to replace all of them.

author: Mhael
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 01, 2021, 07:54:05 pm
content: So I received my replacement capacitors and I replaced the one with out much issue. The second one I want to make sure this is correct before proceeding. The first capacitor had through hole pads right next to where the blade terminals on the original capacitors came through. The second capacitor only has it next to the positive side and what I am assuming is the negative pad would require rotating the capacitor 90 degrees. I have attached some pictures that will hopefully explain better. I also soldered closed the holes where the original blade terminals came through on the first capacitor, is this the correct thing to do? I appreciate any input.

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 01, 2021, 08:52:43 pm
content: Yes, the round pads just below '' and just above 'C6503' silkscreen, track side, are for mounting an alternative style of capacitor with pins or leads. Desolder them and mount the new part there, rotated to fit, being careful to get the polarity correct.I don't think it matters if you solder up the old slot hole pads as there's plenty of track width either side of them. If you can do so easily, great, but don't fight it if you cant get the solder to bridge the slot first try.

author: Mhael
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 01, 2021, 09:39:04 pm
content: Quote from: Ian.M on July 01, 2021, 08:52:43 pmThank you!

author: Mhael
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 01, 2021, 11:39:34 pm
content: Well I replaced the 2 capacitors and fired the tv up and everything seemed to be working and looked normal. I didn't have any inputs hooked up, but the menus, color and everything else looked normal. I replaced the back cover and hooked up a ps3, turned the ps3 on and then the television. The screen had a red hue and then went solid red and then powered off, giving the same error code. I unhooked all the inputs and tried turning the tv on and it is just a solid red screen before shutting down after about 10 seconds, exactly the same as before. I am going to pull the board back out and and recheck everything that I soldered, but I am starting to think the issue might lay else where, and unfortunately is probably beyond my current abilities to diagnose. I just wanted to say that I really appreciate all the responses from everyone, it is nice that there is still such a helpful place like this on the internet. Thanks again!

author: xavier60
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 02, 2021, 07:17:42 am
content: Quote from: Doctorandus_P on June 28, 2021, 01:34:26 pmI used to put an RC somewhere to fool it into thinking that the beam current was high enough. It was a long time ago.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 26, 2021, 12:49:09 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on June 29, 2021, 02:41:06 amActually, no. For starters, if we're talking about analog, it has discrete scan lines, but not discrete pixels.But if we do include digital: Numerous widespread consumer formats (including DV video and DVD) based their resolutions on the broadcast BT.601 standard, which uses 720x480 for NTSC and 720x576 for PAL/SECAM. This means the digital pixels are non-square, since the same pixel count is used for both 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios, meaning that on display, the same 720 pixels are either compressed horizontally for 4:3 playback, or stretched horizontally for 16:9 playback.These formats, especially DVD, were extremely common. All but small, low-end SDTV broadcast monitors certainly could display each and every one of the pixels on a DVD, as could better large consumer CRT TVs and CRT projectors.Note that pixels cannot be compared directly to the "lines" traditionally used to measure the horizontal resolution of an analog TV system. This refers to the ability to resolve black and white lines on an actual card, as filmed through a camera system. When you see statements like "VHS could resolve 240 lines of resolution", it doesn't mean 240 pixels, it means 240 lines on that card — almost. The 720 pixels of digital TV work out, on average to be around 400 "lines". I say "almost" because the "lines" number is normalized to that of asquarescreen. So you have to multiply the lines number by the aspect ratio: for 240 lines a 4:3 system (aka 1.33:1), it'd be 240x1.33=320.But if the source material is of much higher resolution and scaled down (or digitally created to begin with), then the actual maximum lines (as in, lines = pixels) is possible.I've attached a PDF of a decent overview of this.See also:-Horizontal resolution: Pixels or lines-https://www.danalee.ca/ttt/analog_video.htm