Overview of Graphics Systems Part I
Type of Video Display Cathode-Ray Tubes (CRTs) Flat-Panel Displays TV RGB Monitor Oscilloscope Flat-Panel Displays PDA Handphone Laptop Calculator Digital Watch
CRT Electrons are fired from a filament, focused, accelerated, then deflected to a point on the phosphor coating on the inside of the display screen.
Random-Scan CRT Electron beam is scanned along each line segment. Capable of displaying continuous lines and very high resolution curves. High-end displays capable of 100k lines per refresh.
Random-Scan CRT (cont.) Advantages: Excellent for line drawings Generally high resolution Disadvantages: Cannot display realistic shaded images Not capable of color Example: Oscilloscopes
Raster-Scan CRT Electron beam is scanned from left-to-right, top-to-bottom. Beam retraces to top-left after reaching bottom-right (vertical retrace). Capable of displaying continuous range of intensities at discrete positions. High-end displays capable of 4k x 4k @ 120 Hz
Raster-Scan CRT (cont.) 3 electron guns are used, one for each color. The gun are aimed through a mask and onto colored phosphors. Colored phosphors are arranged in RGB triples. Dot (delta) – RGB monitors Stripes (inline) – TVs, Sony Trinitron
Raster-Scan CRT (cont.) Advantages: Excellent for varying intensity Can display shaded images Color Disadvantages: “Jaggies” Example: TVs
Liquid-Crystal Display (LCD)
Plasma-Panel Display
LCD vs. Plasma Price? Size? Viewing angle? Burn-In Effect? Watching Motion? Pixel? Life Span? Color? Brightness?
Virtual Reality Devices Head-Mounted Display (HMD) Stereoscopic Glass