CHAPTER 4

DISPLAY DEVICES
 Understanding Display Devices
• The primary method of getting information out of a computer is to use a
computer video display unit (VDU)
• Display systems convert computer signals into text and pictures and display
them on a TV‐like screen.
 How Displays work
• First computer sends signal to Video Adapter (an expansion board) telling it to
display an image or character
• Adapter then renders the image/character for the display i.e. converts the
above instruction into several instructions that tell the display device
(monitor, projector, TV) how to draw the image
• Finally the adapter sends the instruction to the display
**Video adapters are either digital or analog
 Types of Video Display Unit (VDU)
Types Display Components Applications

LCD (Liquid Crystal Liquid Crystal molecules Watches, digital clocks,

Display) microwave and household
appliance displays, laptops
and modern monitors
Plasma Ionized charged particles Plasma Display panels
(PDPs), TVs
OLED (Organic Light Organic light emitting Home interior, car interior,
Emitting Diode) compound headlamps, flashlights
Projection System
 1. Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)
• liquid crystals are basically liquid chemicals whose molecules can be aligned
precisely when an electrical current is introduced. Think of how metal
shavings line up when a magnet is nearby.
• an inventor found that when he passed an electrical current through a
semi‐crystalline liquid, the crystals aligned themselves with the current
• When properly aligned they allow light to pass through hence the LCD
• Require backlighting
 Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)
• LCDs have both analog and digital interfaces– VGA or DVI-A and DVI-D
or HDMI
• Analog: PC digital signals are rendered by the video card and sent out as
analog signals via a cable connected to the display (modulation); the analog
signal is then converted to digital signal by the display device (Demodulation).
This process is known as modulation
• Digital: Modern LCDs have a digital interface hence require no
modulation/demodulation and therefore don’t suffer any signal loss (DVI-D
and HDMI supported Video Cards)
 LCD Construction
Two Methods:
Methods Construction Pros Cons

TN – Twisted Two electrodes placed • Faster response rate – • Color shifting in

Nematic on opposite sides of a suitable for gamers angled view (negative
liquid crystal layer effect)
• React to pressure
(blanching)
IPS – In-Plane The electrodes that are • Colors are more • Slow response and
Switching positioned parallel to one accurate in angled lusterless or dull
another on the same side viewing display of black hues
of the liquid crystal • Do not react to • Expensive
panel pressure; best for
touchscreens
TN vs. IPS
 LCD Pixel Addressing
• Pixel is a “dot” or the smallest addressable area of illumination, usually a
square
 Active‐matrix vs. Passive‐matrix screens
• An active‐matrix screen is made up of several independent LCD pixels. A transistor
at each pixel location, when switched among various levels, activates two opposing
electrodes that align the pixel’s crystals and alter the passage of light at that location
to produce hundreds or thousands of shades.
• crisp and easy to look at through nearly all oblique angles
• 179 degree viewing angle – screen doesn’t turn dark at tight angles like in Passive
matrix
• does not require constant refreshing
• Disadv - Requires large amounts of power to operate all transistors
 Active‐matrix vs. Passive‐matrix screens
• A passive‐matrix display does not have a dedicated transistor for each pixel
• Uses a matrix of conductive traces instead
• Disadv –poor rate of response (computer takes hundreds of millions of
seconds to change a pixel as opposed to tens of millions of seconds in
Active matrix)
• An effect called Submarining occurs – mouse moved rapidly it disappears and
reappears on new location
 Dual scan
• Dual scan is a variation of the passive‐matrix display.
• The classic passive matrix screen is split in half to implement a dual‐scan
display.
• Each half of the display is refreshed separately
• Increased quality of passive‐matrix displays, but still not as good as active
matrix.
 Screen Filters
• A privacy filter is a panel that fits over the front of a display; it intentionally
limits the viewing angle of the monitor through polarization.

• Antiglare filters, brightening and clarifying the image appearing on the

monitor’s screen
 Backlight Sources
• FYI – LED displays are LCD panels with Light Emitting Diodes as opposed to
classic fluorescent bulbs. The name is good for marketing
• Backlight source is LED instead of fluorescent
• LED provide intelligent backlighting since there are many “controlled” LEDs in an
LED display
• Fluorescent bulbs require AC to power while LEDs work on DC power, therefore
laptops with LED displays do not require inverter board for DC-AC conversion
• LEDs have high contrast ratio rivaling plasma displays
 2. Plasma Displays
• plasma refers to a cloud of ionized (charged) particles—atoms and molecules
• Plasma display panels (PDPs) create this cloud from an inert gas, such as
neon – same technology in neon signs
• This process is similar to CRTs (cathode ray tubes) which use Phosphors
• Disadv - These chemicals can be used up resulting in reduced quality over
time
• Disadv – Heat generated can result in image burn on the screen
 Plasma contd..
• No backlight required in plasma displays because each pixel produces their own
light
• Plasma have fluid video motion at 600Hz refresh rate – this high rate on LCDs
causes the soap opera effect
• Soap opera effect (high refresh rates and intentional quality enhancement aka motion
smoothing that results in non-cinematic look but instead the crisp soap
opera/documentary look)
• More popular in larger-monitor market over LCD because of cost effectiveness
 3. Organic Light Emitting Diode
(OLED) Displays
• Unlike LED displays, the image producing parts of the display, not just the light
source are made up of organic light emitting compounds
• The compound is placed between an anode and a cathode
• When current is passed through the compound it emits light
• OLEDs create the image in an OLED display and supply light source, hence
no need for backlighting as LCDs do
• Higher contrast ration than LCD
 OLED continued..
• Can be classifies as AMOLED and PMOLED
• Active Matrix organic LED (AMOLED) have better quality that Passive
Matrix Organic LED (PMOLED)
• Materials used in OLED construction demonstrate shorter life-spans than
those in LCD and Plasma displays
 AMOLED enhancement
• Thanks to Samsung -1. Super AMOLED and 2. Super AMOLED Plus
display
• Super AMOLED replaces the standard touch sensor panel (TSP) found in
LCDs with a thinner flatter on-cell TSP resulting in more visible screen in all
lighting conditions and increased sensitivity in touch panels
• Super AMOLED uses the on-cell TSP with 1.5 times as many subpixels in
each pixel – crisper display and 18% more energy effecient
 3. Projection Systems
• Projectors projects the VDU’s image onto a screen or other flat surface for group
viewing

• Interactive allow presenters to project an image onto the board as they use virtual
markers to draw electronically on the displayed image

• Focus lens, keystone, image rotation and other features are included to allow
viewing in multiple angles
 Rear projection TVs
• Projector built into a TV cabinet with reverse image projection
 DLP Projectors
• Digital Light Processing (DLP) technology allows projectors to be extremely small
by using DLP chips called optical semiconductors

• DLP chips have as many rotatable mirrors on their surface as pixels in the display
resolution

• A colored filter wheel switches rapidly among primary and secondary colors
thousands of times per second
DLP Projection
 Brightness
• Measured in Lumens (lm)
• Lumen is the total amount of visible light that the projector gives off
• Based on what the human eyes can see and not visible wavelengths
• Lux – derivative of lumens is how much a projector lights up a surface it is
given. As you move the projector further away from a surface lux decreases
• Ambient light – Light in the room from other sources such as bulbs, windows
 Adjusting Display Settings
• Refresh rate
• Frame rate
• Resolution
• Multiple Displays
 Refresh Rate
• how many times in one second the image on the screen can be completely
redrawn, if necessary.
• Measured in screen draws per second, or hertz (Hz),
• It indicates how much effort is being put into checking for updates to the
displayed image.
• Refresh rate is selected for the monitor but must be supported by the
graphics card
 Refresh rate continued
• LCD TVs have a fixed refresh rate
• PC monitor refresh rates are adjustable
• As you increase the resolution higher refresh rates become unavailable
• Therefore to get the highest refresh rate you may have to settle for lower
resolution
 Frame Rate
• Measure of how many unique screens of content were recorded per second.
• Video recordings can be done in different frames per second (fps)
• Most common – 30fps, 24fps
• Refresh rate chosen on playback device must be compatible with the
recorded video frame rate
• 30fps video plays well at 60Hz refresh rate but not 24fps
 Resolution
• How many software picture elements (pixels) are used to draw the screen.
• Higher resolutions means more information can be displayed in the same
screen area.
• Higher resolution also means smaller and harder to see images
 Resolution continued
• Resolution describes visible image’s dimensions, i.e how many rows and
columns of pixels are used to draw the screen.
• Resolution of 1024×768 means 1024 pixels across (columns) and 768 pixels
down (rows) were used to draw the pixel matrix.
• 1024 × 768 =786,432 pixels to draw the screen.
 Multiple Displays
• Simultaneous use of 2 or more monitors (external displays)
• Dual view – Extended desktop option or desktop cloning
• Windows Vista’s Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) version 1
requires same driver to be used for all adapters in multiple monitor setup
 Practice Exercise
• perform Exercise 4.1 and 4.2
 Video Standards
5 Major Groups
• Monochrome
• CGA
• EGA
• VGA
• DVI, HDMI
Pre-VGA Technologies (Monochrome, CGA and EGA):
• Fixed memory meaning fixed resolution and number of supported colors

VGA and Current

• Have adapters with expandable memory, therefore selectable resolution and
color palettes such as 24 bit/True color with 17 million colors
 Monochrome

• Black and white – Latin mono (one) and Chroma (color)

• The first adapter, developed by IBM, was known as the Monochrome
Display Adapter (MDA).
• Hercules computer could display graphics (graphics mode) as well as text (text
mode) at 720 X 350 resolution
 CGA (Color Graphics Adapter)
• Added a splash of color – introduced by IBM

• Displays 16-color text at 320 X 200 and 640 X 200 res and graphics at 320 X
200 with 4-color per mode
 EGA (Enhanced Graphics Adapter)
• IBM response to demand for more color

• EGA – 16 colors at a higher resolution of 640 X 350

• Marks the end of classic digital-video technology, analog VGA sprung and
lasted until the advent of DVI and HDMI
 VGA (Video Graphics Array)

• Analog technology
• Starting point for computer video
• Initially had 256KB of video memory on board
• Displayed 16 colors at 640x480, 640x350 and 320x200 or
• 256 colors at 320x200 using VGA BIOS
Advanced Video Resolutions and Concepts
• These came up as a result of improvements of VGA adapter, both firmware
and memory.
 Aspect Ratio Calculation

Aspect Ratio Calculation Example 1 Example 2

4:3 4÷3 = 1.333333 1024÷768 = 1.33333 (1024÷4) x 3 =768
5:4 5÷4 = 1.25 1280÷1024 = 1.25 (1280÷5) x 4 = 1024
16:9 16÷9 = 1.77777 1920÷1080 = 1.77777 (1920÷16) x 9 = 1080
16:10 16÷10 = 1.6 1920÷1200 = 1.6 (1920÷16) x 10 = 1200
Video Standard Resolution Calculation/Notes
SVGA/XGA 800 x 600 and 1024 x 768 Same resolution but increased colors i.e.
16/256 and 65k/256 respectively.

WXGA 1280 x 800 W stands for increased

Horizontal(+200) and same or near
same Vertical (+32)
SXGA 1280 x 1024 Memorize this resolution!!!!!!!
QXGA 2048 x 1536 Q stands for double (X2) the Horiz.
and Vertical resulting in Quadruple the
(1024x2) x (768x2) = 2048 x 1536 resolution
WQXGA 2560 x 1600 W stands for increased
Horizontal(+512) and same or near
same Vertical (+64)
SXGA+ 1400 x 1050 The pluses (+) have x1050 vertical
WSXGA+ 1680 x 1050 resolutions
UXGA 1600 x 1200 The Us have resolution x1200 with
WUXGA 1920 x 1200 WUXGA being the closest to 1080
 High Definition (HD) Standards
Video Standard Resolution Calculation/Notes
ATSC 720p 1280 x 720 These resolutions are most common
ATSC 1080p, 1080i 1920 x 1080 with broadcast TVs especially 1080p.
Vertical correspond with the standard
x720 and x1080

UHD 4K (16:9) 3840 x 2160 4K standard is the new standard that’s

not yet mainstream. YouTube/Netflix
have some 4K content though
WQUXGA 4K 3840 x 2400 This resolution allows for 16:10 aspect
(16:10) ratio on 4K
WHUXGA 8K 7680 x 4800 8K has double the resolution of 4K
(16:10)
 Nonadjustable characteristics
• Native Resolution – LCD, Plasma, OLED have single fixed none adjustable
resolution. Avoid distortion when using these displays with a PC by sticking
to this native resolution
• Contrast Ratio – ratio of luminance of the brightest color to that of the
darkest color. It is not contrast. It is generally fixed, contrast on the other
hand is adjustable. There is no vendor neutral measurement, therefore one
vendor may use variables not used by another and claim higher contrast ratio