How Blue LEDs Were Invented - LGR Tech Tales

[@TheJadeknight7]

I had no idea it took so much effort to create them. That was fascinating.

[@jruonti]

It does explain why in -99 it literally cost 20x the price of a green LED to buy a blue one. It was the coolest thing back then to swap the green power LED on my computer case to a blue one.

[@Chaos89P]

Blues and violets are the hardest colors to make, I've heard, especially in fireworks.

[@Zizzily]

Well, honestly, I think it took more efforts to make commercial-viable LEDs in the first place than it did to find a phosphor that worked to make blue commercially-viable, especially since it made white possible and white has one of the biggest demands, so of course the increased volume would make it commercially-viable much faster. Seems like every innovation comes faster than the last. Look at OLEDs today. Moore's Law kind of applies pretty well to most things related to technology.

[@Zizzily]

Yes, Gan/InGan with p-type doping. I've been sick, so my brain is kind of fuzzy. I think a wire got crossed in my brain because I was thinking about how Shuji Nakamura was working with gallium phosphors and because Nichia is also a company that mostly specializes in phosphors.

[@thiefrules]

Jade Knight and here I am, complaining about the price of buying a 5 pack of white LEDs for $5 😂

[@marco_evertus]

I love tech tales. It's so informative and well produced that I forget I am on youtube.

[@Sfekke]

Clint does a great job at video production, he really knows what he does!

[@Trashware]

He's a man computer science teachers can learn from

[@marco_evertus]

snapback to reality oh there goes gravity mom's spaghetti XD

[@LWolf12]

Same here, always look forward to them.

[@herrerasauro7429]

Yeah, it's one off a few shining examples of how youtube and the internet can be more than pure cancer distilled.

[@snorman1911]

As a kid I remember reading about how hard it was to get blue LEDs to work. I was into electronics and at the time only red yellow and green LEDs were available. I wanted blue so bad. My how times have changed

[@Summboddi]

Science is some fascinating stuff isn’t it?

[@wta1518]

Now everyone wants to replace their blinding blue LEDs with nice soft red LEDs.

[@jiffygaming1822]

lool

[@greenaum]

I remember a component catalogue about 1992, red / green / orange / yellow LEDs all about 10p each in single quantity. It wasn't a very good-value catalogue. Blue LEDs were something like £1.80 each! And dim to look at. I think they were silicon carbide or nitride. They needed a higher voltage, which modern ones still do (something to do with quantum physics, energy levels, and the photoelectric effect that first caused Einstein to start looking down the quantum path), but not so much as the early ones. Other teenagers looked at catalogues to see pictures of women in underwear. My porn was electronic components!

[@sompka1]

I remember getting my hands on my first bright WHITE led. I treasured that little thing.

[@JohnDuthie]

SHOUT OUT LGR FOR THE BLUE LED STORY 6 YEARS AHEAD OF VERITASIUM

[@WarthogRacer]

Ah, blue LEDs and Silver painted plastic, which pretty much sums up computers in the early '00s.

[@DarknessViper99]

Truly the woodgrain and chrome of its time.

[@Zizzily]

I remember my Antec SuperLANBOY very fondly! I think blue LED fans will continue to be more popular than red and green just because of that, even in this day of RGB everything. Nevermind how much brighter blue LEDs tend to appear.

[@djdjukic]

Actually, the way they made shiny mirror-coated plastic is another fantastic invention, which enabled not only those chintzy buttons on '00s electronics, but also helium balloons, thin solar cells, CDs and DVDs. Maybe LGR could do a vid on physical vapor deposition.

[@md_vandenberg]

I bought an Aiwa home stereo system in 1999 that was silver and littered in every color of LED imaginable. It was a sight to behold in the dark.

[@vampyreena2829]

@The Onyx Viper: I guess you missed how Blue LEDS changed and improved so manything..unlike chrome and woodgrain. hehehehe

[@vwestlife]

It took 86 years to make a blue LED bright enough to be usable. Now I curse them for being _too_ bright. Do we really need power indicator LEDs that are bright enough to light up your whole room at night?

[@nickwallette6201]

If only someone could invent the blue LED current-limiting resistor!

[@FirdausF3]

yeah blue LEDs are the most annoying in the dark.

[@kabj06]

*YES*

[@jimstanley_49]

Came here for this. The "novelty" of having *blue* light from a power indicator seems to have grabbed the marketing department so hard as to put _them_ in charge of choosing the resistor values​. Naturally, they put the LED on the hairy edge of its max to make their product visible from space! I don't think I've ever seen a blue indicator that wasn't obnoxious to look at, even obliquely, without special eye protection. Maybe they assume any product with a blue LED will spend the majority of its time operating in direct sunlight, because that is the only condition I can imagine the contrast being neutral enough. I say imagine because, oddly enough, the devices I've seen them on are very unlikely to be used outdoors, much less while the sun is out.

[@raster85]

Jim Stanley And that's why we all love the black electric tape that you pinch a needle size hole in and cover up the star bright LED 😎

[@metfan4l]

Entertaining *and* informative, that's why I keep coming back to LGR!

[@f67739]

almost like it's... infotainment?

[@draadhaai]

Could not have said it any better.

[@graysontc9002]

Ayy it's metfan!

[@vampyreena2829]

Well it's Edutainment month so...

[@AnvilSP]

I never knew I would be so interested in a 10 minute video about blue LEDs.

[@anidnmeno]

ikr

[@vampyreena2829]

That's the POWER of LGR!

[@Gexzumi]

I shall always remember the first time I ever saw a blue LED. It was the early 90's, and the children's museum had this diorama of the city with various color LEDs all around it which would periodically light up to demonstrate how the power grid worked. I had always been obsessed with LEDs, and of course had only seen the red green and yellow LEDs (you know, the LEDs they sold at Radio Shack), but when some of the LEDs lit up blue, my mind was blown.

[@coloradostrong]

Don't forget the _jumbo_ LED's from Radio Shack. Available in green. LOL

[@sompka1]

@@coloradostrong ugh.

[@Xilefian]

I love this story. Already knew about it from prior interests, but it's great to finally have a really nicely made video about it to share around. It's hard to describe how important blue LEDs are for technology, probably because they suddenly exploded to be everywhere thanks to the efforts of all the researchers involved to make them so affordable.

[@Timmysteve]

It's very interesting! The "explosion," especially with how it kicked off the LED home lighting market, made for big changes, though I guess I never realized the root connection between Blu-ray technology, LED lighting, and those annoyingly bright consumer appliances.

[@travosk216]

The notifications LED me to this video.

[@Nichodo]

Good one man :D

[@Phrenotopia]

I bet you were dioding to watch it then!

[@owowhatsthis3605]

i rolled my eyes _so_ hard then started cackling

[@bobderbraumeister6919]

The notification LED led me to this.

[@GeneralCodeBlue]

It's always the most mundane of items that have the most interesting stories.

[@qwertykeyboard5901]

it really is.

[@predcon1]

Now this is interesting! I had always thought that LEDs were _all_ white light, and the color depended on what you dyed the plastics they're encapsulated in. I didn't know the diodes themselves provided the color.

[@Sherolox]

Hah, that’s a funny thought. Just think about a TV. Is the TV‘s panel covered in millions of colours?

[@Slash0mega]

Thats how screens works isn't it? A red, green, and blue color element, either lit up vie phosphers or leds of vareing brightness to make color?

[@override7486]

​@@Sherolox It's so stupid I can't think about "normal" response to it... It's like people saying "Sky is blue", thinking there is something there which is actually blue. Or when ocean water seems to look blue, so it must be dyed or something...

[@backwardsface3046]

@@override7486maybe you’re just too smart… or egotistical

[@rzeka]

Whoa. This is some serious stuff.

[@rdubby1102]

Ha! I just watched your oldpeoplefacebook video and saw your comment here.

[@662kev4]

Wow this was incredibly well researched. Don't hear too much about thermal annealing on youtube but I like it.

[@stickmakerman]

Dude, Clint, I had this weird dream. So I was sleeping and then you came to me and was like "Wake up, school is starting soon." and then I got ready and we sat down in your car and drove to school. When we got there you disappeared and I woke up, and the first thing I wake up to see is a new LGR video. I don't even go to school!

[@James11111]

Basically he was telling you to wake up so he could teach you some science!

[@Zizzily]

In your dream, what kind of car does Clint drive?

[@stickmakerman]

not too sure, it was kinda old school

[@James11111]

I assume that atleast some percentage of it would be covered in wood grain...

[@stickmakerman]

Oh yeah, wood grain and leather furnishing

[@d3jake]

I remember when the Radio Shack catalog listed Blue for the first time. So cool!

[@Locut0s]

To be honest Clint I say this with 100% conviction. This series you have here is a work of art. The way you write, structure, and narrate these stories always brings such excitement to these subjects. I'm one of those like you who knows the excitement of the raw subject matter. It's so gratifying to find others who enjoy tech and history in the same niche way.

[@amphetamineblue4172]

I remember buying them to use back in the mid 90s. A standard red or green LED was around 2p, a blue one was £3 !, 150 times as much

[@RussellTeapot]

2p is 2 pence, right?

[@SomeRandomPiggo]

@@RussellTeapot ye

[@RussellTeapot]

@@SomeRandomPiggo I love your username and your avatar, you are adorable random piggo

[@TheSimoc]

@@RussellTeapot I'm wondering whether his username refers to his strong addiction and (past) costlyness of blue leds ;)

[@BanCorporateOwnedHouses]

This had to be one of my favorite episodes of tech tales. It almost made me cry at just how much we go about our daily lives ignoring these amazing marvels of science and engineering.

[@imcmart6037]

The blue LED: burning people's retinas due to power indicators since 1994

[@chickeninabox]

1994? How did Mario have clothes then.

[@AaronShenghao]

@@chickeninabox CRT uses electron guns and phosphor (fluorescent chemicals) to make blue color

[@gblargg]

And lessening the quality of sleep.

[@gentuxable]

Manufacturers universally appreciate blue LEDs so much that they put them into anything you buy including switchboxes, external hard drives and even on microservers. It's going too far, if you ask me, green or red LEDs would have been better on many of these devices.

[@gentuxable]

Because red and green LEDs are not as bright at night.

[@topdod]

Blue lights aren't a good colour for your eyes. It reaches the furthest into your eye which puts more strain on them and supposedly can lead to macular degeneration.

[@KuraIthys]

At least your monitor advertised as 'low blue light' isn't blasting a bright blue standby screen into your eyes every time you turn off your computer. XD

[@PhoenixNL72-DEGA-]

Blue leds are just more irritating my theory is that it's because blue light amplifies emotions accoring to studies ( www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827845-000-blue-light-taps-directly-into-your-emotions/ ) so it stands to reason that any iritation, frustration etc gets amplified when you look at a blue light. We also associate blue light wild cold and a less welcoming atmosphere. And they also always seem to be much brighter then their green en red counterparts. And offcourse what Topdod said is also a thing. The smaller the wavelength. The more energy the photons have and the deeper they penetrate matter. (Up to the point they have so much energy that the start to pass straight through like X-Rays and gamma rays, though some of the photons in those beams om X-RAys/Gammarays hit atoms in your DNA damaging it in the process (The cause of radiation sickness with high doses and higher risk of developing cancer at lower.)

[@EposVox]

Good stuff, man.

[@LGR]

Thank you!

[@Ralph-yn3gr]

I never expected something so simple to be so important, such a challenge to create, or particularly a topic if an LGR video. Thank you for illuminating me from my ignorance. :)

[@Zizzily]

To be fair, commercially available/common LEDs themselves are a relatively recent thing, though the blue ones are certainly more recent. Though I've always found it kind of interesting how LEDs were one of the first basic displays, only to be later replaced more often by LCDs, and now the best displays are once again LED-based. It makes me wonder if LCD displays are going to eventually end up being a dead-end, technology-wise, or if we'll continue to use both far into the future. Kind of how at one point they thought bubble memory was going to be the new universal memory until other, older types of memory became more advanced and made the once-new bubble memory a dead-end again. That being said, there's been some more research into using bubble memory again, though not feasible for now, maybe bubble memory will make a come-back at some point, too! Anyhow, sorry for the rambling, always love it when a new episode of tech tales comes out! Just need a catchier theme, like Duck Tales, to go with it. Haha!

[@KuraIthys]

Tong Zou Not quite. Many LCD displays, even as recently as that in my 2006 laptop are backlit. But the backlight is CFL not LED (Compact Fluorescent Light). (bith the Atari Lynx and Sega Game Gear have backlit LCD screens by the way. And both predate 1993) Frontlights and backlights tend to differ only in how they are mounted. Anyway, at some point CFL backlights gave way to LED backlights, yes. However, many of the most advanced displays nowadays are OLED (Organic LED). I should perhaps point out that OLED is a slightly different technology to regular LED's, so it's not really entirely accurate to say LED is replacing LCD... Also let's not forget that for quite a while all the largest displays were plasma screens, which is a different technology entirely. There are many ways to solve the same problem, so you shouldn't expect to just keep using the same thing forever... Also SRAM and DRAM are different technologies too, yet that isn't immediately obvious. We still use both though. (SRAM is easier to work with, more reliable, and generally can be faster. DRAM is much cheaper). Some things that don't seem that different actually are underneath it all...

[@gtheskater]

Excuse me for my ignorance but, what is bubble memory?

[@Zizzily]

In the '70s, it was pretty much assumed to be the future in memory: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_memory

[@700gsteak]

LCDs last longer than LED monitors/tvs. One big problem with OLED is the blue led dies early leaving you with a image that's off colour and theres no way to fix it without replacing the entire panel.

[@Zizzily]

The MTBF for LCD backlights is 60-70,000 hours. The data I found from 2Q16 from LG shows OLEDs with an MTBF of 100,000 hours, and that's surely only going to go up over time.

[@scrappyscrafty]

LGR tech tales are easily my favorite videos you make, dude. They're dense with information, but you're excellent at condensing it and explaining things in an accessible way. Plus the topics are absolutely fascinating. Keep up the amazing work, as always!

[@rrpiva]

Wonderfull video. I had no idea all that effort was taken to create something we take for granted these days. Changed my keyboard to blue to type this... Nice! :)

[@huhabab]

A bit late to the game... but I just wanted to say how much enjoy watching the development of LGR over the years. The Tech Tales series always was researched well and informative, if you were an retro-geek or not. But I think this video really expanded the target audience, which I think is fantastic!

[@AlbertHamik2]

Huh, given the time frame for blue LEDs catching on, it surprises me that Nintendo didn't try to hold back their Virtual Boy until at least the time when more companies started producing their blue LED technology. But then again, the system was made in a rush to try and satiate people over the delay on their "Ultra 64".

[@KuraIthys]

AlbertHamik Well, the prototype apparently had full RGB support but it was deemed too expensive to manufacture. So... Who knows. I don't think Gunpei Yokoi was too happy with the results of so much cost cutting that went into the final design...

[@jakerelind5577]

Seeing how the Virtual Boy pretty much nuked his reputation I would say no, he wasn't.

[@abadenoughdude300]

So blue LED VB would make users actually blind.

[@PaulTheFox1988]

Fantastic video Clint, I love this series, and this one is one of the best yet. It's always nice to have a Tech Tales video end on a positive note, and the guys who worked on the blue LED thoroughly deserve the Nobel prize. :)

[@MeerkatChris]

I never even imagined there being such a huge story around the creation of all these blue LED lights that pretty much make up my entire room... I can only thank you for this new knowledge!

[@OmegPirate]

i cant even explain why im so happy you made a video about this. truly an under appreciated landmark in technology.

[@danielscully3952]

I like most of the content on LGR, but Tech Tales (and Retrospective) is what brought me here and I'll always love it most. And on the note of it being hard to find materials that worked for a blue LED... How do RGB/other color-changing LEDs work then??

[@chrispychickin]

Until blue LEDs became feasible, they didn't.

[@RampancyIncorporated]

Any color-changing LED is actually multiple LEDs, inside one blob of stuff holding them all together. There are actually 2 kinds: One has separate leads for each of the diode junctions, and the other has power connections and then some kind (there are multiple ways) of data connection to a tiiiiny driver chip inside the package (that blob of stuff) that controls the discrete diodes.

[@KuraIthys]

Yep. RGB LED's are literally just 3 different LED's crammed into the same package. Same with those ones that even the SNES (and Wii) has, which can change from red to green. Those are are two LED's in a package instead if three.

[@Nicholas_Steel]

The Wii indicator can change between Blue/Green (on), Yellow (standby & internet connectivity) and Red (standby). I forget if the On indicator is blue or green >.>"

[@longrunner258]

The power-on LED on the Wii was green (though with blue lighting around the disc slot, and the Wii U had a blue power-on LED). The LED in the SNES was only red, though (the same goes for the other Nintendo systems - that had LEDs at all; the Famicom, redesigned NES and SNES, and early Game Boy Pocket had none - until the GBA, which starts green then changes to red when the battery is low).

[@jimsutton1179]

Great video detailing the people who struggled with this technical challenge and the details that came together to make it reality. Grateful that there are people who ask questions like "what if"!

[@stevethepocket]

It's funny how the color blue in general has been the "white whale" of so many different industries over time. First, natural blue dyes were super rare and expensive, encouraging us to engineer chemical alternatives; then it was the last color we were able to invent an edible food dye of (which apparently is still controversial, given that some products-e.g. Trix-have stopped using it); and finally LEDs and lasers. Has our quest for blueness finally ended? Is there a blue frontier yet unconquered? I suppose only time will tell.

[@gothboithick]

wait what’s the controversy around blue edible dye?

[@chrisrobinson82]

Wow.....What a fantastic tech tales episode. Clearly a great deal of research went into this and the final result is fantastic. Thanks again for giving such brilliant technological insights!

[@shreyaskul]

Electronics on lgr ?!?! Very interesting!!! I would love to see more of these :)

[@LGR]

Glad to hear it! I'd love to do more if this goes over well.

[@shreyaskul]

+Lazy Game Reviews Thanks for your comment! For sure *:)* People will love it... The _"Tech Tales"_ episodes were always *knowledgeable* ...

[@tomcombe4813]

I think that the transistor would be a good topic.

[@shreyaskul]

+Tom Combe Yes. Even better if he explains all the way from PN junction diode to transistors to modern NAND flash memory...

[@tomcombe4813]

554 Timer The silicon diode and the transistor are so similar that he could quite easily explain both in one video.

[@volvo09]

Great tech tale! When I was a kid I used to go to a local electronics parts store (not a radio shack) with my dad so he could get parts and schematics to repair TV's and VCR's, i'd always venture off on my own and look at random parts. One year I went in and was in amazement that there were a few dim blue led's added to their led display board. I begged my dad to buy me one and think I had to hold back crying and utter dissapointment because he didn't want to spend the equivelant of probably $10 today on a single blue LED for me to stick across a battery and quickly break by using it improperly :)

[@CyLonFPV]

I found this to be very interesting!, Can you do the same thing type of vid for lcd and plasma displays?

[@Josh101]

Tech Tales is maybe my favourite youtube series, I would never have even put this much thought into blue LED's. It's amazing just how much we take for granted without knowing the origins.

[@nurb101]

and the most annoying LED: the bright light to remind you that your device is OFF

[@Nicholas_Steel]

Most of my devices use red LED's to indicate standby with Blue LED's annoyingly being used when the device is operating normally. It's especially notorious on the Foxtel set-top box.

[@wta1518]

My computer has a light that is off when it’s off, and white when it’s on.

[@spaceli0n]

Try actually turning devices off. A light of any colour indicates standby.

[@gothboithick]

@@spaceli0n how do you turn things fully off? unplug them?

[@bryanv257]

The world applauds the decades of research and development which went into the creation of blue LEDs, and indeed the KZbin-watching world very much applauds/appreciates the time and effort given to putting together this most informative video. Thanks for this one, Clint. Excellent stuff.

[@jim.....]

I always pause my adblock to watch these videos.

[@kappix]

I just sub on Patreon since money from a single ad view is worthless and I don't want to waste my time being yelled at about cars I don't want.

[@JeffDeWitt]

I do the same thing, with guys who's videos I really like, including LGR of course.

[@owlredshift]

Good thing is they pay him anyway, but also he has a patreon if you want to support him and not 'worry' about adblocking.

[@jim.....]

he gets paid anyway? i thought the analytics were clever enough to know if a user has watched an ad or not. but yeah for sure, donating is probably a better option and I will do soon. I've watched hours of Clint's content so its about time.

[@LiefLayer]

I use a Greasemonkey script to wishlist some channels in my adblock.

[@fesalla242]

It's amazing how your videos catch me so much. Even a tale about a simple blue led makes me impressed. Thank you very much for your channel!

[@zippityzbrake]

this could be a real, legit show. but two tech tales onto one netflix-length episode and boom

[@megaman61293]

honestly one of the most informative videos I've seen on KZbin. Thanks, LGR!

[@Kazuo1G]

I always found it weird how a blue LED was used in Star Trek Voyager's medical tricorder props in 1995/1996. One of the ideas for the Nintendo Virtual Boy was a full-color LED display. However, at the time of development around 1993-1994, blue LEDs weren't feasible.

[@jsteinman]

I give you my thumbs up just because of the way you said “Our story begins...”. It felt like I was getting ready to listen to a much loved family storybook and that made me happy.

[@AesculapiusPiranha]

Still waiting for the woodgrain episode.

[@RussellTeapot]

AHAHAHAHAH *YES*

[@Timmysteve]

Our story begins at the dawn of time, when the first neanderthal installed wood side panels on his mini van

[@BaronVonQuiply]

_"That's...one small step for [a] man... one giant leap toward getting the wood panel siding on the lunar rover"_

[@philthehorror]

Excellent work. As a stage lighting professional and a die hard gamer, I appreciate your stuff even more than I already had in the past! Great job!

[@sinephase]

Can we talk about how terrible a lot of blue LEDs are now? They look like they're borderline UV and you can't quite focus on them. Cheap christmas lights are the worst :P

[@RW_CreativeMedia]

you said it: CHEAP

[@absurdengineering]

You can’t quite focus on them because our eyes have chromatic aberration (the elements of the eye have dispersion: different colors of light travel at different speeds in them, and that speed changes how the light refracts at optical interfaces - just like plain glass does, allowing the prism to do its job). When our eye is in focus at red, it is slightly out of focus at blue. On top of that, blue light is diffused more by the various elements of the eye, so it “leaks” all over the place and this is pronounced in darkness where light-to-dark contrast is very high (many orders of magnitude!). Blue LEDs look just as bad in daylight, but they are comparably less bright against the background. And then, the high amount of light in general makes it easier for our visual system to filter the imperfections out - there’s enough stimulus present that our brain substitutes visual models for the real thing. But, generally speaking, the image on our retina is kinda crappy in terms of chromatic aberration. If you look at a sharp RGB screen image - say a bright white circle on a black background, and of you then photograph what’s actually on the retina, you’ll see three primary color circles, of slightly different diameters, and shifted slightly to each other (not-quite-concentric) unless you look at a center mark (a small symbol like an X in the middle of the circle).

[@absurdengineering]

Richard WILSON In this case, the “cheap” thing is our eyes. There’s no way to make a “cheap” LED look worse than an “expensive” one. They are light sources. Within the confines of a given LED form factor (chip size, optics in front of it), the only differences are in the power, color, and spectral bandwidth. Cheap LEDs may be worse in all three aspects, yet viewed from far enough they are just point light sources (as far as our retina can discern), and there’s no way to mark photons with a “we’re cheap” stamp. Once the photons leave the LED, you can’t tell the price, everything else being mostly equal.

[@michaelolsen391]

This was amazing, probably in my top 5 LGR videos, the amount of work you put into this showed.

[@Pablo-Herrero]

Extremely cool topic!

[@BrianGoodeBass]

Great job, Clint! Well researched, and very professionally produced and presented. Some of your best work, IMO.

[@Judas1911WR1]

they slowly starting to install LED street lights in my town... i read the old suply of bulbs runs out soon and they rather wanted to install cheaper and efficent LED`s... the light is more dark and it makes the streets look like a Nightmare on Elmstreet movie :D

[@DarknessViper99]

At least you *have* street lights, where I live we don't even have sidewalks!

[@SlaMaster]

they installed lightstreets using LEDs here in Bucharest too now, it's a lot brighter though here and cost efficient

[@razeezar]

If it makes you feel any better, where we're going we won't need roads.

[@okarowarrior]

If it makes you feel any better, where we're going we won't need teeth.

[@jimstanley_49]

Unfortunately, the blue in these street lights actually dazzle your vision and make it harder for drivers to see at night. The old sodium lights with their mainly yellow spectrum provided excellent illumination without irritation. The novelty of the blue LED strikes again.

[@mickeymouse12678]

Wow, we just got hardcore scienced by LGR. Well done, man. Never realized blue LEDs were new (though I suppose I've wondered why I've never seen them in older tech) or that huge of a breakthrough. Thanks for this!

[@exitioregem8466]

Love your videos man. I may be a millenial, but i grew up with the classics. Thanks for bringing back memmories.

[@tomcombe4813]

Of what? Blue LEDs

[@exitioregem8466]

Tom Combe No, his videos in general. Other things like DOS games and such :P

[@AudieHolland]

LOL, think "millennial" is disturbing? I'm Generation X. FEAR ME

[@KuraIthys]

Learnt recently that 'millenial' apparently can mean anyone born from 1977 to 1999. Bleh. XD

[@exitioregem8466]

KuraIthys The More You Know! °Insert jingle°

[@rosecortes6152]

Wow! I never knew a video on the creation of blue LEDs would be riveting. Great job, Clint! Keep up the great work!

[@vreference]

Oh so I have these guys to blame for all of the obnoxiously-bright blue LEDs on electronics from the late oughts? I got pretty good at cutting out tiny squares of electrical tape to mostly cover them...

[@TheTechBite]

vreference That’s a ridiculously tacky application of blue LEDs, there’s far more subtle ones you don’t even notice that enable your phone and tv to display a wide spectrum of vibrant colors.

[@ShaunDreclin]

Lmao I've done the same thing to my monitors, why the heck do you need a blinding blue light when the screen isn't even on

[@SpoonDono]

I still find I can buy small appliances today that are still damned bright like that with no dimmer/off switch!

[@Montisaquadeis]

I know red would be a much better color of LED to use on things.

[@simontheconner]

Shaun Dreclin Also its strange that most TVs including recent led ones have a red standby light but monitors have a blue one that acts like a lighthouse in a dark room.

[@sporedream]

You keep consistently raising the bar on your videos man. On the surface someone might think your channel is just about old computers and videogames and yawn... but this is a serious history lesson right here. And an important one no doubt. Thanks for your work.

[@gartbull]

I'm never blue after watching a LGR video.

[@RussellTeapot]

but you are always _brighter_

[@110742]

This was amazing. I appreciate all the work that you put in to creating videos like this, so thank you! Also, I genuinely learned something from this! Would love to see more LGR Tech Tales on inventions/tech similar to this (Tech Tales about transistors or WiFi maybe?).

[@tehblackarachnid]

LED- LGR Educates Dudes

[@Timmysteve]

Clint, thank you so much for this video. The information is not only fascinating, but it's delivered with the high-quality presentation you always strive for. I enjoyed the video (and all your others) and I look forward to more of your impressive research and interesting topics in the future.

[@girrrrrrr2]

Honestly i thought who cares.... meh... But fuck... i ended up watching the whole thing. Nice job LGR.

[@dominateeye]

Tech Tales episodes so often end in tragedy or failure, it's nice to see one where the success is as great as with the blue LED.

[@ShinoSarna]

So basically claim I've seen that Nintendo "had" to use these horrible red LED backlight for Virtual Boy is a load of crap, and they definitely were able to use white or yellow LED and make the screen not so painful to look at and were just being cheap?

[@notyoursavior78]

They definitely didn't "have" to use the red color scheme, but going full color or such would have been way too cost prohibitive. They certainly would have to sell the system for way more than it cost, which I dunno if that would have been much of a success either. The 3D0 was frigging 700-800 dollars when it came out!!!

[@Timmysteve]

It likely had to do with the cost of a relatively new LED technology, plus they may have made the choice because red light is far easier on the eyes for an extended period of time. I think the eye strain that the system caused was more on account of to how very close your eyes were to the screen, not necessarily the color of the light.

[@KuraIthys]

The screens in the virtual boy aren't backlit. They are a linear LED matrix projecting onto rotating mirrors. We aren't talking a dozen LED's for a backlight, we're talking two grids of 224 tiny LED's. It matters here if those Led's are 1 cent each or 1 dollar each. And of course a full RGB display would have tripled the number needed. The system isn't LCD based - it's what's known as an SLA display. (haven't been able to check, but presumably that means scanning linear array). Using something other than red would have been more expensive, and apparrently give lower battery life too.

[@FlameRat_YehLon]

KuraIthys However, they might as well just put two tiny color LCDs into the unit and then use two sets of RGB LEDs, or just two white LEDs, or even two lightbulbs, to light up the reflective screen. We did have GameBoy Color and GameBoy front lighting accessories at that time, right? It would be way cheaper yet provides way better visuals, I guess.

[@DarkKnightTrinity]

Not sure you thought that one through ... if there are only two lights, then how are you going to get a full image ? If you are going to go the route of just making a Gameboy with a front light, then there would be no point in virtual reality design anyway.

[@TheDeviant88]

This was honestly one of the most interesting videos I've seen. Quality stuff! Thank you so much for making these!

[@OrbitalSP2]

OMG I love LEDs and also LGR!!!111!1

[@FabTheZen]

LGR, you along with The 8-Bit Guy, Techmoan, Digital Foundry and Nostalgia Nerd are the most well structured and interesting channels about early tech. Keep it up, your content is modern day documentaries!

[@digital4282]

Well, I was heading into work, guess I'm gonna be late, it's time for LGR!

[@NafanyaZX]

Bad decision. Should have saved something to look forward to.

[@sinephase]

Priorities! XD

[@kveller555]

You know, if you get fired then you won't be able to pay your Internet connection, and that means no LGR.

[@FinalBaton]

Just tell your boss that you were watching LGR

[@jeffburrell7648]

Clint, Keep up the good work. I was an electronics technician and EE during the time when LEDs were developed and your video is a good broad brush coverage of those times; not overly technical, but with enough detail to give a flavor to how difficult the developments were and how important they became.

[@jackkraken3888]

Those Japanese are a persistent lot, they sometimes pursue the impossible and almost achieve it.

[@DarknessViper99]

Just look at their almost-working mechs!

[@moth.monster]

"impossible" only means "impossible with current technologies" so just create new tech to do it :)

[@readordiefanatic]

"What if we put used panties..... in vending machines?" "GENIUS!"

[@jackkraken3888]

I hope you're not the same person who said that on the Japanology Vending Machines: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m6ecZHmEf95qjdU

[@violateraindrop]

This is amazing! I love this series and how you are able to present what must be hours and hours of research (not to mention production) in a ten-minute video. It is fascinating how much work was behind the thing that now lights up the num-lock of my keyboard.

[@pstechnical]

triggered by your pronunciation of the japanese names

[@Exigentable]

This is my favorite series of yours by far, I've watched them multiple times. Dope content IMO. You could do a month of this and I would have a half chub

[@HughesEnterprises]

Even if they are innovative, I still despise blue LED's.

[@gtametro]

Its when people put them up outside for christmas, blue just irritates the eyes and makes it hard to see properly at night when driving past.

[@N00B283]

except for the ones in your screen :)

[@segamon]

RetroResto My oven, of all things, has bright blue LED lights to illuminate the buttons and numbers. I can barely even read them really bright blue numbers, heh.

[@dan_loup]

We should stop Mr.Nakamura before he makes a blue led so powerful it can pierce thru the planet.

[@EchoEpsilon7]

I like them, but I still want to punch the driver of the car behind me, blinding me through my mirrors. Lol

[@bamster64]

I mean, even if he goggled all that, that's some impressive stuff he put together. The way he presented it was very professional. Excellent work!

[@StarFury2]

Sorry, a bit of a scientific-term nazi here, but: 8:45 "...only available in Red, and their lower wavelengths meant..." Wavelength of red light is actually LONGER than that of a blue light. What is LOWER is its frequency.

[@WinkelManBearPig]

Videos like this are the true gems of KZbin, things you never knew or had any idea were so interesting. I used to modify Xbox 360 controllers for years with white and blue L.E.D.s without ever knowing how recent of an invention they were.

[@kxjx]

Great video much better than that charlatan

[@sachi813]

Are you referring to Veritasium?

[@kxjx]

@@sachi813 🤫

[@david61828]

How tho

[@hperez]

Clint, you do such a great job with the Tech Takes videos. This is no exception. Fantastic job.

[@Bigbacon]

i hate blue LEDs...too freaking bright.

[@saab9251]

Lgr tech tales is one of my all time favorite series. Keep up the great work!

[@mistaecco]

Well then, that's oddly specific

[@jimmygrandin668]

mistaecco you hadn't even watched the first 60 seconds of the video when you wrote that, right?

[@RussellTeapot]

I don't understand your comment

[@DutchManticore]

mistaecco This is the most ignorant statement Ive seen all day

[@SiliconClassics]

Great episode! Thoroughly researched. It's fun to learn how much time and effort went into the creation of something that we all take for granted today.

[@johnnywinstone]

After all of these years, still once of the best Tech Tales.

[@MelodieOctavia]

LGR Tech Tales is my favorite series of yours! I can't wait until the next one!

[@pjousma]

This is why I love LGR, the stories are very well told. Just Awesome!

[@ardoronro6677]

LGR tech tales, surpasses Discovery channel, Science and History channel with just a 10 minute tale. Awesome.

[@DudokX]

LGR Tech Tales is one of the best shows on KZbin! I never realised how important blue leds are in the current world.

[@josephyn89]

I just spent a whole scorching summer evening tidying up my flat while listening to this enthralling series. I love Tech Tales and you, LGR!

[@AriaBelcourt]

I never expected the history of the Blue LED to be so interesting. Really enjoy all of your videos, but the Tech Tales are always amazing.

[@ZeeZeeBun]

It's amazing how such a seemingly innocuous little thing was not only so difficult to create.. But how much of an impact it had on the modern world..

[@lapytop]

This is great, I love being surprised by something that seems almost mundane, we have the luxury of being able to take things for granted thanks to the hard work of these people most of whom we would never know about.

[@MadmareMally]

i have begun reading every informational text in your voice and i have to say it has considerably improved the experience.

[@illogicalGhost]

the blu ray connection totally blew my mind. i had no idea that name had a meaning behind it. excellent video!

[@hellblazerjj]

One of my favourite tech tales episodes. Really excited for the next one (though I appreciate how much time and effort these must take to make) ❤

[@johng7410]

This is perhaps the most informative and important Tech Tales yet. Well done Clint.

[@Decadent36]

Great job and oddly timely, Clint. A few weeks ago I had noted with a coworker how incredibly bright a blue LED on our postage machine was. I didn't have a clue into the technology and history behind it even existing for only a relatively short time! Thanks for the history lesson.