Types of monitors CRT Cathode Ray Tube LCD Liquid Crystal Display

CRT The filaments at the back of the cathode tube shoot a beam of electrons to the screen at the front of the tube This screen is coated with phosphor that glows when struck by the electron beam.

LCD An LCD panel produces an image using a liquid crystal material made of large, easily polarized molecules

Features of a monitor

Video cards Interface between the monitor and the computer. Also called graphic adapters, video boards, graphics cards, or display cards. Sometimes the video controller with a video port is integrated into the motherboard.

Video card

Methods of data transfer RGB video port standard method of passing three separate signals for red, green, and blue which most video cards and CRT monitors use. uses a regular 15-pin Super VGA port

Methods of data transfer DVI port - Digital Visual Interface port digital interface standard used by digital monitor such as a digital flat panel monitor, and digital TVs (HDTV). for a video card that only has a DVI port, you can purchase a VGA converter so you can connect a standard VGA cable to use a regular analog monitor.

Methods of data transfer S-Video – Super Video this method sends two signals over the cable, one for color and the other for brightness, and is used by some high end TVs and video equipments. it uses a 4-pin round port

Flat Screen Monitors LCD - Plasma Picture Quality Normal computing, both LCD and plasma screens will provide sharp and clear display Watching Blu-Ray movies or playing high-definition games, Plasma screens have less picture lag and sharper color resolution than LCD displays.

LCD - Plasma Power Usage Screen Burn-In LCDs use considerably less power than plasma displays, which use self-lighting pixels Screen Burn-In Plasma screens are more likely to experience screen burn-in (the screen becomes permanently discolored where the unchanging image was)

LCD - Plasma Pixel Levels Size LCD screens generally have more pixels per square inch than plasma makes them ideal if you are working with complex spreadsheet programs or editing software Size Plasma monitors are usually ahead of the curve regarding their maximum size the biggest monitors are plasma