How many airlines still have aircraft with CRT TVs connected to a DVD or VHS player for entertainment?

SWISS still doing it on intra-Europe flights with usually some kids cartoons (if there are multiple children on board). On all other European carriers I know don't use it for IFE. Norwegian however still has the mounted televisions, but uses them for advertising and route info instead of IFE.

Bdutch wrote:

SWISS still doing it on intra-Europe flights with usually some kids cartoons (if there are multiple children on board). On all other European carriers I know don't use it for IFE. Norwegian however still has the mounted televisions, but uses them for advertising and route info instead of IFE.

Norwegian has a media server onboard for IFE. Connect to the free WiFi and you can stream the content to your own device.

Bdutch wrote:

SWISS still doing it on intra-Europe flights with usually some kids cartoons (if there are multiple children on board). On all other European carriers I know don't use it for IFE. Norwegian however still has the mounted televisions, but uses them for advertising and route info instead of IFE.

AFAIK SWISS has LCD screens on the A320 fleet.

Good question! Not sure where you are located, but I can't think of many off the top of my head in the US. Many seem to have been phased out in favor of LCD/LED (?) systems or streaming networks (see below).

Starlionblue wrote:

Norwegian has a media server onboard for IFE. Connect to the free WiFi and you can stream the content to your own device.

This seems to be becoming the new standard on UA. Here's a thread I started which touches a bit on that, albeit I didn't have my facts right on UA's domestic 777s in the OP...
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1420065

What about radio - is this all satellite now, or are any airlines still using an analogue system (??) in their armrests?

AlnessW wrote:

Good question! Not sure where you are located, but I can't think of many off the top of my head in the US. Many seem to have been phased out in favor of LCD/LED (?) systems or streaming networks (see below).

Starlionblue wrote:

Norwegian has a media server onboard for IFE. Connect to the free WiFi and you can stream the content to your own device.

This seems to be becoming the new standard on UA. Here's a thread I started which touches a bit on that, albeit I didn't have my facts right on UA's domestic 777s in the OP...
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1420065

What about radio - is this all satellite now, or are any airlines still using an analogue system (??) in their armrests?

An analogue system in the armrests or not is unrelated to whether anything is received via satellite.

Even if the airline chooses wifi streaming IFE for personal devices they should still install overhead monitors for the safety video. I much prefer them over the crew doing it.

TTailedTiger wrote:

Even if the airline chooses wifi streaming IFE for personal devices they should still install overhead monitors for the safety video. I much prefer them over the crew doing it.

Lots of cost for something easily done by crew. Also, pax seem to pay more attention if the crew does it.

Quoting Starlionblue (Reply # 8), "pax seem to pay more attention if the crew does it."

I wish that were true. From my observation, passengers these days pay very little attention, if any at all, to the safety demonstration, regardless if it is presented in video format or in person by the cabin crew. That's unfortunate.

e38

Whether passengers pay more attention to a crew doing the safety demonstration or seeing it on screen is actually irrelevant. There is no hard demand for the safety demonstration being on video and therefor no hard demand for the screens to be fitted. It is allowed without. You may prefer it to be on video, but preference doesn't matter here. Plenty of airlines have the screens removed in order to save weight. By letting the crew do the safety demonstration they still meet the legal requirements.

But this isn't about screens in general, it's about CRT TVs. That's this type of screen:



I don't think any airline still uses those old things, they weigh far too much. They were used when they were the only type of screens available so there was no alternative, but when flat screens became good enough the old CRT TVs were quickly replaced. That's when these screens were introduced:



And even later they were upgraded to these screens:

Bdutch wrote:

SWISS still doing it on intra-Europe flights with usually some kids cartoons (if there are multiple children on board). On all other European carriers I know don't use it for IFE. Norwegian however still has the mounted televisions, but uses them for advertising and route info instead of IFE.

SWISS may have drop-down LCDs, but I don't believe any of their A/C have CRTs. Norwegian also doesn't have A/C that old.

Maybe a few third-world carriers with old 737 Classics or 757s might still have CRTs. But remember, CRTs burn-in and discolor. They don't last much more than 10 years or so. My guess is that they're mostly gone, even in the third world.

DocLightning wrote:

Bdutch wrote:

SWISS still doing it on intra-Europe flights with usually some kids cartoons (if there are multiple children on board). On all other European carriers I know don't use it for IFE. Norwegian however still has the mounted televisions, but uses them for advertising and route info instead of IFE.

SWISS may have drop-down LCDs, but I don't believe any of their A/C have CRTs. Norwegian also doesn't have A/C that old.

Maybe a few third-world carriers with old 737 Classics or 757s might still have CRTs. But remember, CRTs burn-in and discolor. They don't last much more than 10 years or so. My guess is that they're mostly gone, even in the third world.

I'm sure some of the several hundred 25-30 year old A320's still flying have them too.

1989worstyear wrote:

DocLightning wrote:

Bdutch wrote:

SWISS still doing it on intra-Europe flights with usually some kids cartoons (if there are multiple children on board). On all other European carriers I know don't use it for IFE. Norwegian however still has the mounted televisions, but uses them for advertising and route info instead of IFE.

SWISS may have drop-down LCDs, but I don't believe any of their A/C have CRTs. Norwegian also doesn't have A/C that old.

Maybe a few third-world carriers with old 737 Classics or 757s might still have CRTs. But remember, CRTs burn-in and discolor. They don't last much more than 10 years or so. My guess is that they're mostly gone, even in the third world.

I'm sure some of the several hundred 25-30 year old A320's still flying have them too.

Well then you're wrong, because the A320 has always had LCD screens.

https://www.airliners.net/photo/Air-2000 ... 9Y1w2s7zmH

unimproved wrote:

1989worstyear wrote:

I'm sure some of the several hundred 25-30 year old A320's still flying have them too.

Well then you're wrong, because the A320 has always had LCD screens.

https://www.airliners.net/photo/Air-2000 ... 9Y1w2s7zmH

Well, I beg to differ. I flew on the Braniff Inaugural and 2nd Inaugural A320 flights in 1989 and they had little tiny fixed CRT screens UNDER the overhead lockers in the PSU areas. These were a Pan Am option. When I flew the ex- Braniff A320 fleet on America West in 1992, I was surprised to see that the fixed CRT's had been replaced with the Flip-down LCD's in the same spots. I was told that the FAA changed their mind on the fixed CRT under the overhead bins due to injury risk during evacuations, as they were NOT retractable and took up considerable space.

Starlionblue wrote:

An analogue system in the armrests or not is unrelated to whether anything is received via satellite.

Whether or not that's related, how would aircraft receive such audio if not via satellite?

TTailedTiger wrote:

I much prefer them over the crew doing it.

I do, too - though admittedly I don't care for the hip-hop/rap adaptations some carriers use these days...

e38 wrote:

From my observation, passengers these days pay very little attention, if any at all, to the safety demonstration, regardless if it is presented in video format or in person by the cabin crew. That's unfortunate.

Very unfortunate indeed, as I've observed the same circumstance... These sort of things (along with the types of characters you see sitting in exit rows) make me wonder if said passenger was zoning out/flutzing around during the safety demonstration AND during an emergency which were to result in complications/injuries. If I lived through something like that, I would want to go after everything that passenger owns and suspect others would wish to do the same...

PatrickZ80 wrote:

But this isn't about screens in general, it's about CRT TVs. That's this type of screen:

Thanks for the visuals! I remember those overhead CRTs well. Then some carriers appear (?) to be phasing out ALL screens in favor of streaming systems.

DocLightning wrote:

But remember, CRTs burn-in and discolor. They don't last much more than 10 years or so. My guess is that they're mostly gone, even in the third world.

Great points, as well - and I can't imagine they would be cost-effective to replace either after such use.

deleted...

I remember the old Barco 3-lens cinema projectors with movie screens on the dividing walls. Good times.

JetBuddy wrote:

I remember the old Barco 3-lens cinema projectors with movie screens on the dividing walls. Good times.

I remember those. I think they were used in conjunction with CRT screens. What was the last airline to use the 3-lens projector? I think Northwest still had some 747-200s with those projectors in 2008?

I think some Chinese 737NGs/A320s have them.

AlnessW wrote:

DocLightning wrote:

But remember, CRTs burn-in and discolor. They don't last much more than 10 years or so. My guess is that they're mostly gone, even in the third world.

Great points, as well - and I can't imagine they would be cost-effective to replace either after such use.

The longevity is much more than 10 years. DL had plenty of 757 and 763 whose CRT monitors were well over 20yo before they were replaced with LCDs, and that was done primarily for cost (weight savings and transition from tapes to digital IFE system), otherwise those beasts would've soldiered on.

Last I remember was on a SATA International (S4) A310, in 2014, although that may have been one of those pull-down projector jobs. Do they count?

blacksoviet wrote:

JetBuddy wrote:

I remember the old Barco 3-lens cinema projectors with movie screens on the dividing walls. Good times.

I remember those. I think they were used in conjunction with CRT screens. What was the last airline to use the 3-lens projector? I think Northwest still had some 747-200s with those projectors in 2008?

I do remember them as well. PanAm had them until the end onboard their Jumbo Jets, Lufthansa had them on their 747s until the beginning of the 1990s I'd say.

I flew on one of the 8 door Air Canada 767s in 2012 that still had a combination of projector screens at the bulkheads, and CRT TVs hanging from the central overhead lockers. It was like stepping back in time! I enjoyed the novelty personally.

Slightly off topic, but are there any airlines that use projectors? Which was common in airplanes decades ago.

You're making me question my sanity here because I swear I remember seeing CRTs under the overhead bins in F on an AA flight in the last year or so. I remember because I couldn't believe there were still any left. Maybe on one of the ancient ex-US A320 or A321s ORD-PHX or LAS-PHX? Those don't even have power outlets in F, so I wouldn't be surprised. Sorry my memory isn't better.

[twoid][/twoid]

Ceamajay wrote:

You're making me question my sanity here because I swear I remember seeing CRTs under the overhead bins in F on an AA flight in the last year or so. I remember because I couldn't believe there were still any left. Maybe on one of the ancient ex-US A320 or A321s ORD-PHX or LAS-PHX? Those don't even have power outlets in F, so I wouldn't be surprised. Sorry my memory isn't better.

The US Airbus fleet never had CRTs... though they certainly had them on the Boeing’s