Page 4

Televisions- The LCD or Flat Screen TV- Real Portability

Above: Casio TV-10 (first LCD TV-BW)Below: Seiko Wrist Watch TV

LCD Television is not a new technology. In the 1970's companies like AT&T, NEC, RCA and Panasonic experimented with flat screen television. Panasonic and RCA experimented with PLASMA and AT&T worked on Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). The big problem then was the inability to get it bright enough to see in the daytime. By 1982 Casio came out with the first practical LCD TV. It was a portable black and white, and hard on batteries, poor picture quality and dim in bright light. SONY stayed with the picture tube on the Watchman and second tier TV companies stayed with LCD. Epson / Seiko came out with the first Color LCD TV in 1983. Problem with early LCD TV was sharpness, color quality and brightness but much better than the 1970's. Seiko came out with the world's first wrist watch TV (LCD of course), which was featured in a James Bond movie "Octopussy". The LCD finally overcame many of the problems in the late 1990's. Casio and Sharp basically the lone companies producing mass production LCD's until companies started to get into the LCD boom including SONY, which changed all their CRT Watchmans to LCD models. Panasonic perfected PLASMA for use in Big Screen Flat Screen's in the early 2000's

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE FIRST LCD COLOR TV


Epson (Seiko) "ELF" ET-10 (1983) World's First LCD Color TVUses as ACTIVE MATRIX LCD unlike others who used TFT types. Result was a brighter and sharper picture but at a higher price.
BELOW: Fold out light panel, to allow room light to illuminate the LCD panel. The light panel consist of a fluorescent tube.
2 inch TFT LCD screen. Notice the poor contrast and definition compared to active matrix LCD screens.

THE SECOND LCD COLOR TV


Casio TV-1000 (1984) World's Second LCD Color TV
BELOW: TFT LCD Panel Display
BELOW: Fold out light panel, to allow room light to illuminate the LCD panel. The light panel consist of a fluorescent tube.

EARLY MONOCHROME LCD TV's


Casio TV-200 BW LCD TV (closed) with optional back light projection
Citizen TB20-0A Large BW LCD Active Matrix

THE SONY COLOR WATCHMAN

Why a special spot for SONY? Although they were not the leading edge of LCD technology, Sony put considerable effort to package and provide a portable TV that fit the trend and wants from consumers. Unlike other manufacturers of LCD tv's, Sony sets continually were upgraded or redesigned to cater to those that want to follow trends. They resisted the "same o same o" generic designs that put lots of "bang and whistles" to the product but technologically was no different than previous designs.

First Generation 1989-1991

Sony FDL-310 Color Watchman (1989-90) Price- around $260- Sony's first consumer handheld LCD color TV. Uses TFT active matrix LCD with fluorescent tube backlight. The FDL-320 has am/fm stereo.

BELOW: Inside the FDL-310. There are two separate circuit boards. One for Video and another for power and audio.
ABOVE: Common failure of Sony Colorwatchmans during the late 1980s to early 1990's. Surface mount electrolytic capacitors become leaky causing power supply and bypass failures. Values above 10 uF are suspect.


Second Generation 1992-1993


Sony FDL-370 and FDL-380 Color Watchman (1993-94). TFT Active matrix LCD, improved picture, A Flourescent tube backlight and sound quality.are greatly improved in this generation. The FDL-380 with am/fm stereo. The FDL-370 is a TV only version. Both can be used as a video monitor

ABOVE: FDL-370 (Price $250)BELOW FDL-380 (Prtice $275)

BELOW: The FDL-380 uses two circuit boards. The smaller one is the radio and audio while the larger one is the power supply and video circuits.



Third Generation 1994-1995



Sony FDL-3105 (1994-95) Color Watchman (Price $325)Sony returned back to the handheld styling. Much improved picture quality and contrast. Color is sharper on a 3 inch diagonal TFT active matrix screen.
Comes with removable sun visor BELOW
ABOVE and RIGHT: TV stand opened and stowed away.















Fourth Gerneration 1996-end of product line


Sony FDL-PT22 (1998) Color Watchman Passive TFT LCD TV. Sold as a more economical version of the Color Watchman. The strap is the antenna, picture quality definitely poorer than earlier generation Color Watchmans.

Sony FDL-250T (1999) Price $165- Color Watchman Active Matrix LCD. High end Color Watchman. Sony's last Color Watchman as TV. Strap is antenna and the picture is crisp and clear and used LED back light. Folds up and antenna doubles has a necklace strap.
The newer TFT active matrix display in the FDL-250T are brighter and sharper than the predecessor models.
ABOVE: FDL-310 Video board showing replacement of surfsce mount electrolytics with radial lead electrolytics.







ABOVE: Main Power and TV circuits circuit board for FDL-370 and 380. The FDL-380 has extra cable connectors mounted for radio connections.




















Screen folds down to protect screen






-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


SHOWCASE:

Casio AV-100 FREEDOM VISION- LCD Portable Desktop AV Center

A color television, clock radio with calendar and games in one package. Introduced in the mid to late 1990's, Casio wanted to showcase this as a new product line using all solid state components. Uses a 2.5 inch TFT LCD panel and a separate LCD panel for the clock functions. Runs on 9 AA batteries (three for the clock and memory) or external AC adapter. Has AM and FM radio and can operate with built in telescope antenna or external antenna. Uses electronic scan tuning for the TV and can be used as a color monitor to watch with a vcr or dvd player. With batteries weighs about 2 pounds and very compact in size. Unfortunately Casio used a TFT LCD and this early LCD technology does not provide a sharp or bright picture. Active matrix LCD panels which is used today are much sharper and brighter but at that time far more expensive. Casio had to make a compromise so they went with TFT to keep cost down. Sold for around $119. Casio discontinued this product line soon after.









LCD Display

Return to PHOTO Index: PHOTO COLLECTION INDEX

<<< BACK A PAGE: SONY Watchmans

Return to TV Home Page: TV HOME