The Institute - September 2018 - 8

Mitsubishi Electric's Diamond
Vision was the first really
large-scale, video dispay system. It was installed in Dodger
Stadium in the summer of
1980. In this photo, a tribute is
displayed to former Brooklyn
Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella on 27 June 1993, before
the Los Angeles Dodgers game
against the Chicago Cubs.

DIAMOND VISION
FOREVER CHANGED
T H E S TA D I U M E X P E R I E N C E
Mitsubishi's 1980 innovation receives IEEE Milestone
B Y A M A N D A D AV I S

TH E IN STITUTE S EP TEM B ER 2018

Milestone program recognizes
outstanding technical developments
around the world.
I N L I VI N G CO LO R

The Diamond Vision system was built
in 1980 at Nagasaki Works, in Japan,
and flown to Los Angeles that May
for installation. Although large-scale
outdoor electronic color displays
existed before 1980, they often were
used to display a single image such as
an advertisement.
Mitsubishi developed the first
screen that could show high-resolution
videos in color. Close-ups of key plays
as well as commercials, cartoons, and
animated text could now be shown
during the game.
According to an Electronic
Engineering Times article, the screen
incorporated tens of thousands of
high-performance RGB (red, green,
and blue) cathode-ray tubes (CRTs)
as individual pixels arranged in a
matrix controlled by a computer.

High performance refers to the tubes'
ability to change color quickly enough
to reproduce fast-moving images.
Each tube consumed 2 watts, about
a 10th of the power of incandescent
bulbs, the standard at the time.
The display was extremely bright-
which was necessary to produce clear
images that could be seen in broad
daylight. Mitsubishi's display was
50 percent brighter than one with
incandescent bulbs.
Mitsubishi's CRT matrix was the
forerunner of today's superlarge LED
displays, which show ultra-highdefinition images and consume even
less power.
According to Mitsubishi's website,
the company has installed Diamond
Vision screens in more than 950 locations worldwide, including NRG
Stadium in Houston, the Tokyo Dome
sporting arena, and New York City's
Times Square. The screens are found
in all manner of sports and entertainment venues.

M ILESTO N E C EREM O N Y

The first Diamond Vision system was
honored on 8 March at Nagasaki
Works. A plaque mounted inside the
building reads:
Mitsubishi Electric developed the
world's first large-scale emissive color
video display system and installed
it at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles,
California, in 1980. It achieved bright,
efficient, high-quality moving images
using matrix-addressed cathode-ray
tubes (CRTs) as pixels. With increased
dimensions and resolution, the
system has entertained and informed
millions of people in sports facilities
and public spaces worldwide. ◆
This article was written with assistance from the
IEEE History Center, which is partially funded
by donations to the IEEE Foundation. This article was part of our special issue on the future
of television (http://theinstitute.ieee.org/
static/special-report-the-future-of-television).
THEINSTITUTE.IEEE.ORG

SIMON BARNETT/GETTY IMAGES

N THE SUMMER OF 1980,

baseball fans in the upper deck at
Dodger Stadium, in Los Angeles, no
longer had to squint to see which
player was taking the mound or stepping into the batter's box. Mitsubishi
Electric, an electronics company in
Tokyo, installed Diamond Vision, the
first really large-scale, video display
system, one that showed high-resolution
television-like moving images in color.
The Diamond Vision screen hung
above the left-field seats, giving fans a
closer look at the action and showing instant replays (a new concept at
the time). The US $3 million system was unveiled at Major League
Baseball's 1980 All-Star Game, held
in the stadium on 8 July. The screen
initially measured 6 meters high and
8.5 meters wide. It was enlarged a year
later by a meter in each direction.
In March, the technology was
named an IEEE Milestone. Administered by the IEEE History Center and supported by donors, the

https://www.mitsubishielectric-displaysolutions.com/news/news/mitsubishi-electric-supplies-diamond-vision-screen-to-hong-kong-jockey-club-s-happy-valley-racecour http://ieeemilestones.ethw.org/images/7/77/N4_Electric_Engineering_Times%2C_Monday%2C_July_21%2C_1980.pdf http://ieeemilestones.ethw.org/images/7/77/N4_Electric_Engineering_Times%2C_Monday%2C_July_21%2C_1980.pdf https://www.ieeefoundation.org/ http://ieeemilestones.ethw.org/Milestone-Proposal:Outdoor_large-scale_color_display_system,_1980 http://theinstitute.ieee.org/static/special-report-the-future-of-television http://www.ieee.org/about/history_center/index.html http://theinstitute.ieee.org/static/special-report-the-future-of-television http://theinstitute.ieee.org/static/special-report-the-future-of-television http://www.ieee.org/about/history_center/index.html https://www.ieeefoundation.org/donate_history http://theinstitute.ieee.org/static/special-report-the-future-of-television

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