
ABC SuperSign, with the largest Sony JumboTron in existence. This Sony JumboTron was later replaced with a display capable of 720p HDTV.
[1][2]

Sony Jumbotron at World's Fair 1985
A 'JumboTron' is a large
video screen developed by
Sony, typically used in
sports stadiums and concert venues to show close up shots of the event. Although ''JumboTron'' is a
registered trademark owned by the Sony Corporation, the word ''jumbotron'' is often used by the public as a
genericized trademark.
Manufactured by Sony, the JumboTron is recognized as one of the largest
vacuum fluorescent displays ever manufactured. It is not an LED (
light-emitting diode) display — each display element is composed of 3 or 6 small CRTs (
cathode ray tubes), each of which is one color of a
pixel.
[3] Sony displayed one of the earliest versions at the 1985
World's Fair in
Tsukuba. Sony creative director Yasuo Kuroki is credited with the development of the JumboTron.
One of the largest eight-sided (octagonal) JumboTrons in the world is in
Dallas,
Texas,
USA. While the JumboTron and similar large-screen displays are physically large, they are often low in
display resolution. The JumboTron at
Tampa Stadium in
Tampa,
Florida, USA, measured 30 ft (9 m) diagonally with a resolution of only 240×192 pixels. Screen size since then varies depending on the venue. The display introduced in 1985 was 40 meters wide by 25 meters tall. The largest JumboTron in use was located at the
Rogers Centre (formerly SkyDome) in
Toronto,
Ontario,
Canada and measured 33 ft tall by 110 ft wide (10 m tall by 33.5 m wide) at a cost of
US$17 million. The Rogers Centre JumboTron was replaced in 2005 by a
Daktronics ProStar as a part of a stadium revitalization project. The Western Hemisphere's largest high-definition display is a Daktronics ProStar at the
University of Texas Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium known as
Godzillatron.
Similar devices
Displays similar to the JumboTron include:
★ ODECO Customized LED Screens
★
Daktronics ProStar
★
Mitsubishi DiamondVision
★
Toshiba TechnoRainbow
★
Panasonic AstroVision
★
Barco Slite LED Screens
References
1. Lighting up Times Square: Opera fans honored on ABC's SuperSign this New Year's Eve
2. ABC SuperSign
3. ''Handbook of Display Technology'', Joseph A. Castellano, 1992