• Sharper and brighter images for a while. The aperture grille design allowed more light through than the shadow masks for a while until shadow mask manufacturing quality caught up in the late '80s. The flat screen offered a simpler geometry that allowed for sharper images until the old school CRT manufacturing caught up in the mid '90s. By the early '00s, there were really no advantages and they were riding on name recognition as a superior brand until the late 00’s when LCDs finally overcame their size and price hurdles.