picture tube

English

picture tube (plural picture tubes)

(electronics, historical) The cathode ray tube which produced moving images on the screen of a television set, prior to the development of LEDs.
- 1955 May 7, “Science: Slimmer TV”, in Time‎^[1], archived from the original on 30 June 2022:
  The conventional TV picture tube, whose monstrous bubble of vacuum is responsible for most of the bulk of the TV cabinet, may be on its way out. Electronics men have long dreamed of shrinking the tube to a flat plate not much bigger than the picture.
- 2006 May 7, Eric A. Taub, “Picture Tubes Are Fading Into the Past”, in New York Times‎^[2], archived from the original on 2 December 2025:
  The bulky, squarish, heavy picture tube, the standard television technology for more than 60 years, is heading for the dustbin of history much faster than anyone expected.