CRTs did tend to take a couple seconds to properly warm up, charge up and reach final image size (the image is directly scaled by the acceleration voltage, which is a high impedance source charging a not-so-small capacitor formed by the aquadag on the inside and outside of the picture tube).
CRTs did need a moment to stabilize the image, but they showed signs of life virtually instantly. At the least they'd make a little noise and had buttons with tactile feedback so you knew something was happening. Many screens today have capacitive touch buttons and have 5 seconds or more between a button 'press' and anything happening at all, leaving you to wonder if you even managed to successfully press the power button in the first place.
Yes! I remember movies and TV shows would have scenes where a character is called and told to turn on the TV for breaking news. They'd see it the story instantly, and that was actually realistic! (Assuming it was big enough news to be on all channels.)
Today if you had such a scene they'd be like, "okay <presses remote, waits five very immersion-breaking seconds>".
> Today if you had such a scene they'd be like, "okay <presses remote, waits five very immersion-breaking seconds>".
But they still have these scenes in movies
The way these scenes work now is "picks up phone - check the news!", they grab the remote, and turn the volume up on one of the many already running and tuned in wall-mounted 24/7 on TVs ... :)