{{short description|Large-screen television}} {{redirect2|TitanTron|TurnerTron|the use of jumbotrons in professional wrestling|Glossary of professional wrestling terms#TitanTron}}
A '''jumbotron''',<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jumbotron - Wall Video Screens, Custom Led Signs USA |url=https://jumbotron.com/ |access-date=2021-12-04 |language=en-US}}</ref> sometimes referred to as '''jumbovision''' or a '''jumbo screen''', is a video display using large-screen television technology (video wall).
The original technology was developed in the early 1980s by Mitsubishi Electric<ref name="sbnation" /> (using the name Diamond Vision) and Sony, which registered '''JumboTron''' as a trademark in 1985.<ref name="Popular" /> It is typically used in sports stadiums and concert venues to show team statistics, close-up shots of an event or even other sporting events occurring simultaneously.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goldstein |first=Adam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QTkL5K3RCM0C&pg=PA119 |title=Tailgate to Heaven: A British NFL Fan Tackles America |date=2012-07-01 |publisher=POTOMAC BOOKS |isbn=978-1597976923 |pages=119 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627122630/https://books.google.com/books?id%3DQTkL5K3RCM0C%26pg%3DPA119#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=2014-06-27 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Mercer">{{Cite book |last=Mercer |first=Bobby |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lpDTyljqFCYC&pg=PA115 |title=ManVentions: From Cruise Control to Cordless Drills - Inventions Men Can't Live Without |date=2011-04-18 |isbn=978-1440510731 |pages=115–116 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627122445/https://books.google.com/books?id%3DlpDTyljqFCYC%26pg%3DPA115#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=2014-06-27 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The same jumbotron technology is used in outdoor public places, often for advertising purposes (such as Times Square, for example).<ref>{{Cite news |last=Elliott |first=Stuart |date=31 August 1993 |title=THE MEDIA BUSINESS: ADVERTISING; Sony's Times Square Jumbotron has begun to attract advertisers. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/31/business/media-business-advertising-sony-s-times-square-jumbotron-has-begun-attract.html |access-date=27 September 2019 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>
==History and development== {{multiple image | align = left | direction = vertical | header = | header_align = right | header_background = | footer = | footer_align = right | footer_background = | width = | image1 = Expo85 sony.jpg | width1 = 250 | caption1 = The Sony JumboTron made its debut at World's Fair 1985. | image2 = ABC - Good Morning America.jpg | width2 = 250 | caption2 = The "Super Sign" on ABC's Times Square Studios facility was a very large Sony JumboTron. This unit was later replaced with a Mitsubishi Electric LED display. }}
The jumbotron was invented in Japan during the early 1980s, but there is a dispute between two rival Japanese companies, Mitsubishi Electric and Sony, over its invention.<ref name="sbnation">{{Cite web |last=Pilon |first=Mary |date=11 November 2015 |title=Twilight of the Jumbotron, the biggest invention in sports |url=https://www.sbnation.com/2015/11/11/9703912/twilight-of-the-jumbotron |access-date=27 September 2019 |website=SB Nation |publisher=Vox Media}}</ref> In 1980, Mitsubishi introduced the first large-scale video board,<ref name="Nelson">{{Cite book |last=Nelson |first=Murry R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tfTXAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA653 |title=American Sports: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas [4 volumes]: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas |date=2013 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9780313397530 |page=653}}</ref> the Diamond Vision, which was a large screen using cathode-ray tube technology similar to traditional tube televisions.<ref name="sbnation" /> The first demonstration of the technology was during the 1980 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles.<ref name="Nelson" />
The first Jumbotrons used cathode-ray tube based technology, in which several sub-pixels were integrated into a module made of glass with a vacuum inside, with the shape of a block, in which each subpixel was individually controllable (addressable) with each subpixel acting as a flood beam cathode-ray tube<ref>{{Cite web |title=Futaba SONY (TRINILITE) A-6279-869-B Flood Beam CRT Jumbotron Module |url=https://lampes-et-tubes.info/cd/cd059.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250724060950/https://lampes-et-tubes.info/cd/cd059.php |archive-date=2025-07-24 |access-date=2025-07-24 |website=Lamps & Tubes}}</ref> Eventually this technology was replaced with LED technology.
Panasonic introduced Astro Vision, which was based on fluorescent discharge tube technology, and together with the other two companies, these were the only players in the large-screen industry.
In 1985, the term "JumboTron" was coined by Sony for its large-scale video board.<ref name="Nelson" /> The JumboTron was the brand name for the large-scale video boards originally manufactured by Sony and is recognized as one of the largest non-projection video displays ever manufactured. Sony creative director Yasuo Kuroki, who previously helped create the Walkman, is credited with the development of the JumboTron.<ref name="sbnation" /> It was introduced at the Expo '85 held in May 1985 at Tsukuba, Ibaraki. It had a display resolution of 450,000 pixels, using a new proprietary Sony technology called the Trini-lite.<ref name="Popular">{{Cite journal |last=Fisher |first=Arthur |date=May 1985 |title=Science Newsfront |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iwAAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA10 |journal=Popular Science |publisher=Bonnier Corporation |volume=226 |issue=5 |page=10 |issn=0161-7370}}</ref> It was a microprocessor-based light bulb developed by one of Kuroki's colleagues, chief Betamax engineer Yuji Watanabe. Trini-lite technology allowed screen clarity and computer control, laying the foundation for the first Sony Jumbotrons.<ref name="sbnation" />
In December 1986, the San Antonio Spurs unveiled the first indoor arena JumboTron scoreboard at the now-demolished HemisFair Arena.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rodriguez |first=Ken |date=2017-04-22 |title=Introduced by the Spurs, the JumboTron Marks a Sports Arena Milestone |url=http://sanantonioreport.org/introduced-by-the-spurs-the-jumbotron-marks-a-sports-arena-milestone/ |access-date=2022-09-09 |website=San Antonio Report |language=en-US}}</ref> thumb|Starting lineup players are introduced on the jumbotron during a WNBA Basketball game While the JumboTron and similar large-screen displays are physically large, they ranged from low to medium display resolutions. While the original Sony JumboTron in 1985 had a 450,000-pixel resolution, comparable to standard-definition televisions of that era,<ref name="Popular" /> certain later models had lower resolutions. The JumboTron at the now-demolished Tampa Stadium in Tampa, Florida, measured 30 ft (9 m) diagonally, with a resolution of only 240x192 pixels, below VHS resolution. Screen size since then varies depending on the venue. The display introduced in 1985 was 40 meters wide by 25 meters tall. Newer, LED-based large screens have resolutions that are an order of magnitude greater than the early JumboTron resolution at a fraction of the cost. For example, the much publicized center-hung video board in the Dallas Cowboys' AT&T Stadium is 72 feet tall and 160 feet wide (22 m x 49 m), displaying HDTV at 1920 x 1080 resolution, 45 times more pixels.
The largest JumboTron in use was located at SkyDome (now Rogers Centre) in Toronto, Ontario, and measured 10 m tall by 33.5 m wide (33 ft × 110 ft), with a resolution of 672 × 200 pixels, or 134,400 pixels.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Filey |first=Mike |title=Like no other in the world: the story of Toronto's Skydome |date=1989 |publisher=Sun Controlled Ventures |isbn=0-919233-31-7 |location=Toronto |page=112}}</ref> Its cost was US$17 million; by comparison, a similar-sized LED system sold today would cost around $3 million. The Rogers Centre JumboTron was replaced in 2005 by a Daktronics ProStar as part of a stadium revitalization project.
Sony JumboTron was the first video board ever in Times Square. It remained that way for almost ten years.
== Purpose == Originally, JumboTrons solely displayed the scores of the games via numerical displays. This later evolved into instant replays being shown for the benefit of fans within the stadiums or arena, and in modern day, social media is heavily integrated, with fans being urged to post on various social media platforms to then have their content appear on the JumboTron screen.<ref>{{Cite web |date=28 November 2015 |title=The History — And Uncertain Future — Of The Jumbotron |url=https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2015/11/28/mary-pilon-jumbotron-history-fututre |access-date=2021-04-14 |website=www.wbur.org |language=en}}</ref>
Sony JumboTron's were the world's first mobile screens and concert screens. Big Mo was the first portable video screen and Genesis used the first portable video screens for concert tours in the mid-1990s.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021|reason=Lacks any proof for this paragraph.}}
==Specifications of production and design== thumb|An LED jumbotron display aboard a pelican barge.
Originally, the JumboTron was not an LED display, since blue LEDs were unavailable at the time, and the only green LEDs available were of the traditional yellow-green variety, which were unsuitable for an RGB display. Each display consisted of multiple modules composed of 16 or more small flood-beam cathode-ray tubes (CRTs), each of which included from 2 to 16 pixels composed of red, green, and blue phosphors. Sony displayed one of the earliest versions at the Expo '85 World's Fair in Tsukuba. Eventually, JumboTron systems adopted LED technology as blue and pure green LEDs were developed.<ref>{{Cite web |last=XP |first=Stellar |date=2024-01-20 |title=Jumbotron Rental For Small Business Advertising |url=https://www.stellarxp.com/blog/the-top-benefits-of-using-jumbotron-rental-for-small-business-advertising |website=Stellar XP}}</ref> LED-based systems have about ten times the lifespan of CRT-based systems, a key reason for the change.
==Genericized trademark== Although ''JumboTron'' was a registered trademark owned by the Sony Corporation, Sony stopped manufacturing the devices under that name in 2001 and the word <u>''Jumbotron''</u> has since become a genericized trademark.<ref name="Mercer" /> An Illinois-based company called Watchfire Signs filed for the US trademark in February 2023{{citation needed|date=July 2025}}.
==See also== {{portal|Technology|Television}} *{{section link|Scoreboard|Video board animation}} *LED display *Trinitron
Displays similar to the JumboTron include: * Barco LED Screens * Daktronics ProStar * Mitsubishi Electric Diamond Vision * Panasonic AstroVision * Philips Vidiwall * Toshiba TechnoRainbow * Eidophor video projector
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{Cite book |last=Meares, Harriet |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pPuQHAAACAAJ |title=Precedents and Issues with Billboard Live's JumboTron: The First Electronic Board on West Hollywood's Sunset Strip |publisher=H. Meares |year=1997}}
==External links== * {{commons-inline}} * {{Wiktionary-inline}} * {{Wikiquote-inline}}
{{Sony Corp}} {{Display technology}}
Category:Sony products Category:Video Category:Vacuum tube displays Category:Stadiums Category:Japanese inventions Category:1985 introductions Category:Audiovisual introductions in 1985 Category:Brands that became generic