disadvantages of tft lcd monitors brands

TFT (Thin Film Transistor) LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) we are talking here is TN (Twisted Nematic) type TFT displays which is align with the term in the TV and computer market. Now, TFT displays have taken over the majority of low-end color display market. They have wide applications in TV, computer monitors, medical, appliance, automotive, kiosk, POS terminals, low end mobile phones, marine, aerospace, industrial meters, smart homes, consumer electronic products etc. For more information about TFT displays, please visit our knowledge base.

Talking about Pros and Cons of TFT displays, we need to clarify which display they are compared to. To some displays, TFT displays might have advantages, but compared with another display, the same character might become the disadvantages of TFT displays. We will try our best to make clear as below.

Excellent physical design. TFT displays are very easy to design and integrated with other components, such as resistive and capacitive touch panels (RTP, CTP, PCAP) etc.

Minimum Eye Strain: Because TFT panel itself doesn’t emit light itself like CRT, LED, VFD. The light source is LED backlight which is filtered well with the TFT glass in front for the blue light.

More Energy Consumption: Compared with monochrome displays and OLED (PMOLED and AMOLED) display, which makes TFT displays less attractive in wearable device.

Poor response time and viewing angle: Compared with IPS LCD displays, AMOLED displays and recent micro-LED display. TFT displays still need to note viewing angle of 6 o’clock or 12 o’clock in the datasheet and still have the gray scale inversion issue.

High tooling cost: Depending on which generation production line to produce and also depending on its size. Building a TFT display fab normally need billions of dollars. For a big size display which needs high generation production line to produce. The NRE cost can be millions dollars.

Sunlight Readability: Because it is very expensive to produce transflective TFT LCD displays, in order to be readable under the sunlight, very bright LED backlight (> 1,000 nits) has to be used. The power needed is high and also need to deal with heat management. If used together with touch panel, expensive optical bonding (OCA or OCR) and surface treatment (AR, AF) technologies have to be used.

TFT stands for thin-film transistor, which means that each pixel in the device has a thin-film transistor attached to it. Transistors are activated by electrical currents that make contact with the pixels to produce impeccable image quality on the screen. Here are some important features of TFT displays.Excellent Colour Display.Top notch colour contrast, clarity, and brightness settings that can be adjusted to accommodate specific application requirements.Extended Half-Life.TFT displays boast a much higher half-life than their LED counterparts and they also come in a variety of size configurations that can impact the device’s half-life depending on usage and other factors.TFT displays can have either resistive or capacitive touch panels.Resistive is usually the standard because it comes at a lower price point, but you can also opt for capacitive which is compatible with most modern smartphones and other devices.TFT displays offer exceptional aspect ratio control.Aspect ratio control contributes to better image clarity and quality by mapping out the number of pixels that are in the source image compared to the resolution pixels on the screen.Monitor ghosting doesn’t occur on TFT displays.This is when a moving image or object has blurry pixels following it across the screen, resembling a ghost.

TFT displays are incredibly versatile.The offer a number of different interface options that are compatible with various devices and accommodate the technical capabilities of all users.

There are two main types of TFT LCD displays:· Twisted nematic TFT LCDs are an older model. They have limited colour options and use 6 bits per each blue, red, and green channel.

In-plane switching TFT LCDs are a newer model. Originally introduced in the 1990s by Hitachi, in-plane switching TFT LCDs consist of moving liquid pixels that move in contrast or opposite the plane of the display, rather than alongside it.

The type of TFT LCD monitor or industrial display you choose to purchase will depend on the specifications of your application or project. Here are a few important factors to consider when selecting an appropriate TFT LCD display technology:Life expectancy/battery life.Depending on the length of ongoing use and the duration of your project, you’re going to want to choose a device that can last a long time while maintaining quality usage.

Touch type and accuracy.What type of activities are you planning on using your device for? If it’s for extended outdoor use, then you should go with projected capacitive touch as this is more precise and accurate. Touch accuracy is important for industrial and commercial applications.

Image clarity.Some TFT displays feature infrared touchscreens, while others are layered. The former is preferable, especially in poor lighting conditions or for outdoor and industrial applications, because there’s no overlay and therefore no obstructions to light emittance.

The environmental conditions make a difference in operation and image clarity. When choosing a TFT for outdoor or industrial applications, be sure to choose one that can withstand various environmental elements like dust, wind, moisture, dirt, and even sunlight.

As a leading manufacturer and distributor of high-quality digital displays in North America, Nauticomp Inc. can provide custom TFT LCD monitor solutions that are suitable for a multitude of industrial and commercial indoor and outdoor applications. Contact us today to learn more.

The worlds of high-end Color LCD Modules are taken over. As our world evolved and embedded devices becoming more, and more sophisticated and prevalent, we tend to look at the art of design. Steve Jobs sums it up just right. “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” TFT LCD modules are a type of variant of an LCD which uses thin film, appliances such as: TV, computer monitors, kindles, mobile phone, and navigation system. The construction of a color LCD module or TFT LCD is quite extraordinary because of the circuit layout process; this form of layout is similar to the layout of a semiconductor product. Even though as we observe the TFT LCD display we came across few pros and cons which are most needed for this discussion. The advantages of TFT LCD are as follows: less energy consumption, visibility is sharper in other words has superb quality, physical design, response time, and less eye strain etc… With every great product there are few disadvantages associated, such as, cost and viewing angles.

TFT LCD displays are very convenient because of the energy consumption associate with this display, knowingly in today’s society saving energy is a number one priority to reduce greenhouse gas and ensure a better future generations. Due to the construction of TFT structures Pixel like materials does not consume much energy to begin with except this material consume far less power than a comparable CRT monitor. The images of a TFT display does not rely on the scanning of electron beams instead they are free from flicker and has a crisp image, with no geometric distortion. The physical design of TFT display are space savors which can be position anywhere in ones office, or house with a rotations mechanism in place for less constrains on space.

As mention before TFT LCD has few disadvantages, due to the nature of the design TFT LCD display may cost a little more than a regular monochrome display. Other disadvantages may arise when the viewing the display at the 6 0’clock direction but in fact the optimal viewing is at the 12’oclock direction this may also lead to inversion which or common in situation like this; however TFT displays are superior and will be in production for years to come.

Responsible for performing installations and repairs (motors, starters, fuses, electrical power to machine etc.) for industrial equipment and machines in order to support the achievement of Nelson-Miller’s business goals and objectives:

• Provide electrical emergency/unscheduled diagnostics, repairs of production equipment during production and performs scheduled electrical maintenance repairs of production equipment during machine service.

Julia Nielsen is a jack-of-all-trades writer, having written for newspapers, magazines, websites, and blogs for the last 15 years. When she"s not dabbling in the written world, she"s spending time with her beautiful granddaughter. She loves to hear from readers, especially when they offer chocolate.

The two buzzwords the tech world has been chatting about for a number of years now is IPS, (In-Plane Switching) screen technology used for liquid crystal displays or LCD’s for short, and TFT (Thin-Film-Transistor) an active matrix screen technology, which is more expensive, but a sharper image.

Designed in the 1980’s, but not introduced until nearly a decade later, in 1996, by Hitachi, IPS technology is nothing new, and a type of LCD design that affords greater viewing angles and higher-quality color reproduction than the traditional TN or Twisted Nematic LCDs.

When Apple brought it to the public’s attention, it took off, and as they say, the rest is history; but, it really didn’t become widespread or worldwide until just the late 1990’s. Since then, IPS screens have been implemented in homes all over the world, with variations to suit one’s electronic needs.

TFT (Thin-Film-Transistor) Liquid Crystal Display is a thin display type, where a transistor embedded into each crystal gate; these transistors are then printed on thin-transparent film. The technology was designed to improve image qualities, such as contrast and addressability.

Also designed in the late 1980’s, TFT display technologies is just another variation of LCD displays that offer greater color, contrast, and response times as opposed to available passive matrix LCD’s. One of the primary differences between IPS and TFT display technologies is the cost. IPS is more expensive than TN technology. However, there are some key differences between the two that should be noted.

Before we go into the differences, let’s talk about features of each technology. Note that we’re not talking TVs, computer, or tablets, but screens on a much smaller scale, (think 7” or smaller) which uses different rules to fit that scale. First, it’s interesting to discover that the TFT display technologies is the most common type of color display technology; more monochrome displays still out-sell color, due to lower cost and lower power consumption, however, the narrow poor visibility of TFTs in direct sunlight is their downside; but I’m getting ahead of myself here.

IPS technology has come a long way in regards to cell phones and other LCD screens that are even much smaller. (Picture digital clocks on a radio, microwave, and hand-held games) Some of the features of an IPS screen include:Wider viewing angles – crystals are aligned horizontally rather than vertically, so it allows for better angled viewing, perfect for smaller screens, where you need to rotate the screen for better viewing

Variations to help with user’s viewing requirements or desires – there are several different forms of IPS technology: Super-IPS, (S-IPS) Advanced Super IPS, Advanced S-IPS, where the liquid crystal molecules stay parallel to the front and back panels, instead of perpendicular when a voltage is applied

TFT display technologies have developed over the years and have become quite popular in tech circles. The features offered with this advancing technology are:Superior color display – for technology that requires it or for consumers that desire color screens

Features a longer half-life, (half-life is the amount of time in hours before the display is 50% as bright as when it was first turned on), than OLEDs and comes in varying sizes, from under an inch up to over 15 inches

Capacitive Touchscreen or touch panel, which is in the majority of Smartphones and allows for additional functionality, specifically for zooming and scrolling

Aspect ratio control, which refers to a screen’s ability to maintain an aspect ratio of a source image at the hardware level, and 1:1 pixel mapping, used to literally “map” the exact number of pixels specifically in the source resolution to pixels on the screen

Variety of displays, which can be interfaced through a variety of bus types, including 18 and 24 bit for red/green/blue, LVDS, and 8 bit and 16 bit for a CPU – many controllers allow for two or more different types of interfaces on the same TFT screen

Okay, now that we’ve covered the features of both technologies, let’s look at the differences between the two. Before we get into the spec differences, let’s first address the main difference: the arrangement of transistors and liquid crystal. Seems vague, doesn’t it?

Let me explain. As you can see, both have excellent color display and clarity; however, IPS screens offer greater color reproduction and viewing angles because of the way crystal orientation and polarizers are arranged. In a TFT screen, the structure of the crystals results in angular retardation in the light. The IPS screens thus offer less distortion properties. Other differences include power consumption and cost. With IPS screens, it takes more power (up to 15% more) than with a TFT screen. If you’re on a monitor, such as a computer screen that’s bigger than 7 inches, it will drain your battery faster than if you’re on a 3.5” screen. Regarding cost, IPS panels are more expensive to produce than TFT panels.

Here’s why:IPS screens are popular and in high demand with professionals including surgeons and photographers or pretty much any profession that requires color reproduction, therefore, because the demand is high, the price goes up. (way to love economics) Also, less manufactures are building IPS at this time.

The color channels increase from 6 bits (TN displays) to 8 bits (IPS displays) to ensure the precision of shades per color channel, thus increasing manufacturing costs

If you want the benefits of having a Smartphone without a huge price tag, then TFT devices are your best bet. Another difference is that IPS screens have longer response times than TFT screens, so the lag output is greater. A few other key differences to be aware of are that with IPS panels, you get a bigger variety of panels, as was discussed above, with their super, advanced, and so forth developments, giving the consumer options, and IPS screens that can display 24-bit TrueColor; they also stay color-accurate and remain stable.

So, are you ready to delve into the pros and cons of these two technologies? Granted, we’ve touched on their features and differences, but now it’s time to ask yourself, which one is better for me or my business?

Because of their superior color and clarity of images, devices using an IPS screens are easy to install on walls, due to their compact form and low-depth. The Super IPS screens offer a higher angle of 170˚ for better clarity and wider viewing, particularly at night. Images remain stable and clear and not sparkly, shiny, like other screens; they also have a longer battery life and screen life, (on smaller screens of course) because of the lower electrical output. The release of heat is lower, again because of the reduced electrical consumption. The colors are also more vibrant and clear, not pixelated like other lower quality-type devices. As mentioned earlier, there are also many variations of IPS technology to suit your needs and desires.

Now we will go over the downside of IPS screens, which we briefly touched on above, which includes a major disadvantage: cost. If you’re just looking for an average Smartphone or don’t need all the fancy coloring and clarity for LCD displays, then cost may not be a big factor; however, this is the main reason why IPS technology is beginning to come down. As with every new invention, discovery or technology, demand is everything. Another disadvantage is that colors may not always transcribe correctly or accurately, which may or may not be a deterrent. Also, high resolutions are not always readily available for personal applications. In certain circumstances, the brightness may not be enough, especially in darkness.

Steve Jobs said it best: “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” I tend to agree with him. With TFT display technologies, less energy consumption is a big deal, especially when dealing with bigger screens, and of course less electricity means lower cost, overall. The visibility is sharper, meaning no geometric distortion, which is great for these tired, old eyes. The response time and physical design of the screens are also appealing. TFT displays can also save space and be placed virtually anywhere in an office or home, because of the brightly lit feature and crisp clear images.

Some cons of TFT screens deal with the viewing angle, which create distortion, resulting in a less-than-perfect image. Static resolution, meaning the resolution can’t be changed, may also cause a problem, but newer models seem to have tackled that issue. The accuracy of the display of colors is not perfect, specifically strong blacks and bright whites, so when printing an image, it may not display the spectrum of colors.

And there you have it. In the future, even this superb technology will change and new, more exciting technology will take its place. But until then, IPS & TFT screens are forging ahead with their own advances and improvements, so stayed tune. You don’t want to miss it.

Focus Display Solutions (www.FocusLCDs.com) offers off-the-shelf Color TFT display technologies in both TN and IPS. Many of the color modules contain built in touch panels.

Before you get a new monition for your organization, comparing the TFT display vs IPS display is something that you should do. You would want to buy the monitor which is the most advanced in technology. Therefore, understanding which technology is good for your organization is a must. click to view the 7 Best Types Of Display Screens Technology.

Technology is changing and becoming advanced day by day. Therefore, when you are looking to get a new monitor for your organization, LCD advantages, and disadvantage,  you have to be aware of the pros and cons of that monitor. Moreover, you need to understand the type of monitor you are looking to buy.

Now, understanding the technology from the perspective of a tech-savvy person may not be the ideal thing to do unless you are that tech-savvy person. If you struggle to understand technology, then understanding it in a layman’s language would be the ideal thing to do.

That is why it is important to break it down and discuss point by point so that you can understand it in a layman’s language devoid of any technical jargon. Therefore, in this very article, let’s discuss what exactly TFT LCDs and IPS LCDs are, and what are their differences? You will also find out about their pros and cons for your organization.

The word TFT means Thin-Film-Translator. It is the technology that is used in LCD or Liquid Crystal Display. Here you should know that this type of LCD is also categorically referred to as active-matrix LCDs. It tells that these LCDs can hold back some pixels while using other pixels. So, the LCD will be using a very minimum amount of energy to function. TFT LCDs have capacitors and transistors. These are the two elements that play a key part in ensuring that the display monitor functions by using a very small amount of energy without running out of operation.

Now, it is time to take a look at its features that are tailored to improve the experience of the monitor users significantly. Here are some of the features of the TFT monitor;

The display range covers the application range of all displays from 1 inch to 40 inches as well as the large projection plane and is a full-size display terminal.

Display quality from the simplest monochrome character graphics to high resolution, high color fidelity, high brightness, high contrast, the high response speed of a variety of specifications of the video display models.

No radiation, no scintillation, no harm to the user’s health. In particular, the emergence of TFT LCD electronic books and periodicals will bring humans into the era of a paperless office and paperless printing, triggering a revolution in the civilized way of human learning, dissemination, and recording.

It can be normally used in the temperature range from -20℃ to +50℃, and the temperature-hardened TFT LCD can operate at low temperatures up to -80 ℃. It can not only be used as a mobile terminal display, or desktop terminal display but also can be used as a large screen projection TV, which is a full-size video display terminal with excellent performance.

The manufacturing technology has a high degree of automation and good characteristics of large-scale industrial production. TFT LCD industry technology is mature, a mass production rate of more than 90%.

It is a perfect combination of large-scale semiconductor integrated circuit technology and light source technology and has great potential for further development.

TFT LCD screen from the beginning of the use of flat glass plate, its display effect is flat right angles, let a person have a refreshing feeling. And LCDs are easier to achieve high resolution on small screens.

The word IPS refers to In-Plane-Switching which is a technology used to improve the viewing experience of the usual TFT displays. You can say that the IPS display is a more advanced version of the traditional TFT LCD module. However, the features of IPS displays are much more advanced and their applications are very much widespread. You should also know that the basic structure of the IPS LCD is the same as TFT LCD if you compare TFT LCD vs IPS.

As you already know, TFT displays do have a very quick response time which is a plus point for it. But, that does not mean IPS displays a lack of response time. In fact, the response time of an IPS LCD is much more consistent, stable, and quick than the TFT display that everyone used to use in the past. However, you will not be able to gauge the difference apparently by watching TFT and IPS displays separately. But, once you watch the screen side-by-side, the difference will become quite clear to you.

The main drawback of the TFT displays as figured above is the narrow-angle viewing experience. The monitor you buy for your organization should give you an experience of wide-angle viewing. It is very much true if you have to use the screen by staying in motion.

So, as IPS displays are an improved version of TFT displays the viewing angle of IPS LCDs is very much wide. It is a plus point in favor of IPS LCDs when you compare TFT vs IPS. With a TFT screen, you cannot watch an image from various angles without encountering halo effects, blurriness, or grayscale that will cause problems for your viewing.

It is one of the major and remarkable differences between IPS and TFT displays. So, if you don’t want to comprise on the viewing angles and want to have the best experience of viewing the screen from wide angles, the IPS display is what you want. The main reason for such a versatile and wonderful viewing angle of IPS display is the screen configuration which is widely set.

Now, when you want to achieve wide-angle viewing with your display screen, you need to make sure it has a faster level of frequency transmittance. It is where IPS displays overtake TFT displays easily in the comparison because the IPS displays have a much faster and speedier transmittance of frequencies than the TFT displays.

Now the transmittance difference between TFT displays and IPS displays would be around 1ms vs. 25ms. Now, you might think that the difference in milliseconds should not create much of a difference as far as the viewing experience is concerned. Yes, this difference cannot be gauged with a naked eye and you will find it difficult to decipher the difference.

However, when you view and an IPS display from a side-by-side angle and a TFT display from a similar angle, the difference will be quite evident in front of you. That is why those who want to avoid lagging in the screen during information sharing at a high speed; generally go for IPS displays. So, if you are someone who is looking to perform advanced applications on the monitor and want to have a wider viewing angle, then an IPS display is the perfect choice for you.

As you know, the basic structure of the IPS display and TFT displays are the same. So, it is quite obvious that an IPS display would use the same basic colors to create various shades with the pixels. However, there is a big difference with the way a TFT display would produce the colors and shade to an IPS display.

The major difference is in the way pixels get placed and the way they operate with electrodes. If you take the perspective of the TFT display, its pixels function perpendicularly once the pixels get activated with the help of the electrodes. It does help in creating sharp images.

But the images that IPS displays create are much more pristine and original than that of the TFT screen. IPS displays do this by making the pixels function in a parallel way. Because of such placing, the pixels can reflect light in a better way, and because of that, you get a better image within the display.

As the display screen made with IPS technology is mostly wide-set, it ensures that the aspect ratio of the screen would be wider. This ensures better visibility and a more realistic viewing experience with a stable effect.

As you already know the features of both TFT and IPS displays, it would be easier for you to understand the difference between the two screen-types. Now, let’s divide the matters into three sections and try to understand the basic differences so that you understand the two technologies in a compressive way. So, here are the difference between an IPS display and a TFT display;

Now, before starting the comparison, it is quite fair to say that both IPS and TFT displays have a wonderful and clear color display. You just cannot say that any of these two displays lag significantly when it comes to color clarity.

However, when it comes to choosing the better display on the parameter of clarity of color, then it has to be the IPS display. The reason why IPS displays tend to have better clarity of color than TFT displays is a better crystal oriental arrangement which is an important part.

That is why when you compare the IPS LCD with TFT LCD for the clarity of color, IPS LCD will get the nod because of the better and advanced technology and structure.

IPS displays have a wider aspect ratio because of the wide-set configuration. That is why it will give you a better wide-angle view when it comes to comparison between IPS and TFT displays. After a certain angle, with a TFT display, the colors will start to get a bit distorted.

But, this distortion of color is very much limited in an IPS display and you may see it very seldom after a much wider angle than the TFT displays. That is why for wide-angle viewing, TFT displays will be more preferable.

When you are comparing TFT LCD vs. IPS, energy consumption also becomes an important part of that comparison. Now, IPS technology is a much advanced technology than TFT technology. So, it is quite obvious that IPS takes a bit more energy to function than TFT.

Also, when you are using an IPS monitor, the screen will be much larger. So, as there is a need for much more energy for the IPS display to function, the battery of the device will drain faster. Furthermore, IPS panels cost way more than TFT display panels.

1. The best thing about TFT technology is it uses much less energy to function when it is used from a bigger screen. It ensures that the cost of electricity is reduced which is a wonderful plus point.

2. When it comes to visibility, the TFT technology enhances your experience wonderfully. It creates sharp images that will have no problems for older and tired eyes.

1. One of the major problems of TFT technology is that it fails to create a wider angle of view. As a result, after a certain angle, the images in a TFT screen will distort marring the overall experience of the user.

Although IPS screen technology is very good, it is still a technology based on TFT, the essence of the TFT screen. Whatever the strength of the IPS, it is a TFT-based derivative.

Finally, as you now have a proper understanding of the TFT displays vs IPS displays, it is now easier for you when it comes to choose one for your organization. Technology is advancing at a rapid pace. You should not be surprised if you see more advanced display screens in the near future. However, so far, TFT vs IPS are the two technologies that are marching ahead when it comes to making display screens.

STONE provides a full range of 3.5 inches to 15.1 inches of small and medium-size standard quasi TFT LCD module, LCD display, TFT display module, display industry, industrial LCD screen, under the sunlight visually highlight TFT LCD display, industrial custom TFT screen, TFT LCD screen-wide temperature, industrial TFT LCD screen, touch screen industry. The LCD module is very suitable for industrial control equipment, medical instruments, POS system, electronic consumer products, vehicles, and other products.

IPS (In-Plane Switching) lcd is still a type of TFT LCD, IPS TFT is also called SFT LCD (supper fine tft ),different to regular tft in TN (Twisted Nematic) mode, theIPS LCD liquid crystal elements inside the tft lcd cell, they are arrayed in plane inside the lcd cell when power off, so the light can not transmit it via theIPS lcdwhen power off, When power on, the liquid crystal elements inside the IPS tft would switch in a small angle, then the light would go through the IPS lcd display, then the display on since light go through the IPS display, the switching angle is related to the input power, the switch angle is related to the input power value of IPS LCD, the more switch angle, the more light would transmit the IPS LCD, we call it negative display mode.

The regular tft lcd, it is a-si TN (Twisted Nematic) tft lcd, its liquid crystal elements are arrayed in vertical type, the light could transmit the regularTFT LCDwhen power off. When power on, the liquid crystal twist in some angle, then it block the light transmit the tft lcd, then make the display elements display on by this way, the liquid crystal twist angle is also related to the input power, the more twist angle, the more light would be blocked by the tft lcd, it is tft lcd working mode.

A TFT lcd display is vivid and colorful than a common monochrome lcd display. TFT refreshes more quickly response than a monochrome LCD display and shows motion more smoothly. TFT displays use more electricity in driving than monochrome LCD screens, so they not only cost more in the first place, but they are also more expensive to drive tft lcd screen.The two most common types of TFT LCDs are IPS and TN displays.

The display in modern monitors is typically an LCD with LED backlight, having by the 2010s replaced CCFL backlit LCDs. Before the mid-2000s,CRT. Monitors are connected to the computer via DisplayPort, HDMI, USB-C, DVI, VGA, or other proprietary connectors and signals.

Originally, computer monitors were used for data processing while television sets were used for video. From the 1980s onward, computers (and their monitors) have been used for both data processing and video, while televisions have implemented some computer functionality. In the 2000s, the typical display aspect ratio of both televisions and computer monitors has changed from 4:3 to 16:9.

Modern computer monitors are mostly interchangeable with television sets and vice versa. As most computer monitors do not include integrated speakers, TV tuners, nor remote controls, external components such as a DTA box may be needed to use a computer monitor as a TV set.

Early electronic computer front panels were fitted with an array of light bulbs where the state of each particular bulb would indicate the on/off state of a particular register bit inside the computer. This allowed the engineers operating the computer to monitor the internal state of the machine, so this panel of lights came to be known as the "monitor". As early monitors were only capable of displaying a very limited amount of information and were very transient, they were rarely considered for program output. Instead, a line printer was the primary output device, while the monitor was limited to keeping track of the program"s operation.

Multiple technologies have been used for computer monitors. Until the 21st century most used cathode-ray tubes but they have largely been superseded by LCD monitors.

The first computer monitors used cathode-ray tubes (CRTs). Prior to the advent of home computers in the late 1970s, it was common for a video display terminal (VDT) using a CRT to be physically integrated with a keyboard and other components of the workstation in a single large chassis, typically limiting them to emulation of a paper teletypewriter, thus the early epithet of "glass TTY". The display was monochromatic and far less sharp and detailed than on a modern monitor, necessitating the use of relatively large text and severely limiting the amount of information that could be displayed at one time. High-resolution CRT displays were developed for specialized military, industrial and scientific applications but they were far too costly for general use; wider commercial use became possible after the release of a slow, but affordable Tektronix 4010 terminal in 1972.

Some of the earliest home computers (such as the TRS-80 and Commodore PET) were limited to monochrome CRT displays, but color display capability was already a possible feature for a few MOS 6500 series-based machines (such as introduced in 1977 Apple II computer or Atari 2600 console), and the color output was a speciality of the more graphically sophisticated Atari 800 computer, introduced in 1979. Either computer could be connected to the antenna terminals of an ordinary color TV set or used with a purpose-made CRT color monitor for optimum resolution and color quality. Lagging several years behind, in 1981 IBM introduced the Color Graphics Adapter, which could display four colors with a resolution of 320 × 200 pixels, or it could produce 640 × 200 pixels with two colors. In 1984 IBM introduced the Enhanced Graphics Adapter which was capable of producing 16 colors and had a resolution of 640 × 350.

By the end of the 1980s color progressive scan CRT monitors were widely available and increasingly affordable, while the sharpest prosumer monitors could clearly display high-definition video, against the backdrop of efforts at HDTV standardization from the 1970s to the 1980s failing continuously, leaving consumer SDTVs to stagnate increasingly far behind the capabilities of computer CRT monitors well into the 2000s. During the following decade, maximum display resolutions gradually increased and prices continued to fall as CRT technology remained dominant in the PC monitor market into the new millennium, partly because it remained cheaper to produce.

There are multiple technologies that have been used to implement liquid-crystal displays (LCD). Throughout the 1990s, the primary use of LCD technology as computer monitors was in laptops where the lower power consumption, lighter weight, and smaller physical size of LCDs justified the higher price versus a CRT. Commonly, the same laptop would be offered with an assortment of display options at increasing price points: (active or passive) monochrome, passive color, or active matrix color (TFT). As volume and manufacturing capability have improved, the monochrome and passive color technologies were dropped from most product lines.

The first standalone LCDs appeared in the mid-1990s selling for high prices. As prices declined they became more popular, and by 1997 were competing with CRT monitors. Among the first desktop LCD computer monitors was the Eizo FlexScan L66 in the mid-1990s, the SGI 1600SW, Apple Studio Display and the ViewSonic VP140vision science remain dependent on CRTs, the best LCD monitors having achieved moderate temporal accuracy, and so can be used only if their poor spatial accuracy is unimportant.

High dynamic range (HDR)television series, motion pictures and video games transitioning to widescreen, which makes squarer monitors unsuited to display them correctly.

Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) monitors provide most of the benefits of both LCD and CRT monitors with few of their drawbacks, though much like plasma panels or very early CRTs they suffer from burn-in, and remain very expensive.

Radius of curvature (for curved monitors) - is the radius that a circle would have if it had the same curvature as the display. This value is typically given in millimeters, but expressed with the letter "R" instead of a unit (for example, a display with "3800R curvature" has a 3800mm radius of curvature.

Display resolution is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed natively. For a given display size, maximum resolution is limited by dot pitch or DPI.

Dot pitch represents the distance between the primary elements of the display, typically averaged across it in nonuniform displays. A related unit is pixel pitch, In LCDs, pixel pitch is the distance between the center of two adjacent pixels. In CRTs, pixel pitch is defined as the distance between subpixels of the same color. Dot pitch is the reciprocal of pixel density.

Pixel density is a measure of how densely packed the pixels on a display are. In LCDs, pixel density is the number of pixels in one linear unit along the display, typically measured in pixels per inch (px/in or ppi).

Contrast ratio is the ratio of the luminosity of the brightest color (white) to that of the darkest color (black) that the monitor is capable of producing simultaneously. For example, a ratio of 20,000∶1 means that the brightest shade (white) is 20,000 times brighter than its darkest shade (black). Dynamic contrast ratio is measured with the LCD backlight turned off. ANSI contrast is with both black and white simultaneously adjacent onscreen.

Color depth - measured in bits per primary color or bits for all colors. Those with 10bpc (bits per channel) or more can display more shades of color (approximately 1 billion shades) than traditional 8bpc monitors (approximately 16.8 million shades or colors), and can do so more precisely without having to resort to dithering.

Color accuracy - measured in ΔE (delta-E); the lower the ΔE, the more accurate the color representation. A ΔE of below 1 is imperceptible to the human eye. A ΔE of 2–4 is considered good and requires a sensitive eye to spot the difference.

Refresh rate is (in CRTs) the number of times in a second that the display is illuminated (the number of times a second a raster scan is completed). In LCDs it is the number of times the image can be changed per second, expressed in hertz (Hz). Determines the maximum number of frames per second (FPS) a monitor is capable of showing. Maximum refresh rate is limited by response time.

On two-dimensional display devices such as computer monitors the display size or view able image size is the actual amount of screen space that is available to display a picture, video or working space, without obstruction from the bezel or other aspects of the unit"s design. The main measurements for display devices are: width, height, total area and the diagonal.

The size of a display is usually given by manufacturers diagonally, i.e. as the distance between two opposite screen corners. This method of measurement is inherited from the method used for the first generation of CRT television, when picture tubes with circular faces were in common use. Being circular, it was the external diameter of the glass envelope that described their size. Since these circular tubes were used to display rectangular images, the diagonal measurement of the rectangular image was smaller than the diameter of the tube"s face (due to the thickness of the glass). This method continued even when cathode-ray tubes were manufactured as rounded rectangles; it had the advantage of being a single number specifying the size, and was not confusing when the aspect ratio was universally 4:3.

With the introduction of flat panel technology, the diagonal measurement became the actual diagonal of the visible display. This meant that an eighteen-inch LCD had a larger viewable area than an eighteen-inch cathode-ray tube.

Estimation of monitor size by the distance between opposite corners does not take into account the display aspect ratio, so that for example a 16:9 21-inch (53 cm) widescreen display has less area, than a 21-inch (53 cm) 4:3 screen. The 4:3 screen has dimensions of 16.8 in × 12.6 in (43 cm × 32 cm) and area 211 sq in (1,360 cm2), while the widescreen is 18.3 in × 10.3 in (46 cm × 26 cm), 188 sq in (1,210 cm2).

Until about 2003, most computer monitors had a 4:3 aspect ratio and some had 5:4. Between 2003 and 2006, monitors with 16:9 and mostly 16:10 (8:5) aspect ratios became commonly available, first in laptops and later also in standalone monitors. Reasons for this transition included productive uses (i.e. besides Field of view in video games and movie viewing) such as the word processor display of two standard letter pages side by side, as well as CAD displays of large-size drawings and application menus at the same time.LCD monitors and the same year 16:10 was the mainstream standard for laptops and notebook computers.

In 2011, non-widescreen displays with 4:3 aspect ratios were only being manufactured in small quantities. According to Samsung, this was because the "Demand for the old "Square monitors" has decreased rapidly over the last couple of years," and "I predict that by the end of 2011, production on all 4:3 or similar panels will be halted due to a lack of demand."

The resolution for computer monitors has increased over time. From 280 × 192 during the late 1970s, to 1024 × 768 during the late 1990s. Since 2009, the most commonly sold resolution for computer monitors is 1920 × 1080, shared with the 1080p of HDTV.2560 × 1600 at 30 in (76 cm), excluding niche professional monitors. By 2015 most major display manufacturers had released 3840 × 2160 (4K UHD) displays, and the first 7680 × 4320 (8K) monitors had begun shipping.

Every RGB monitor has its own color gamut, bounded in chromaticity by a color triangle. Some of these triangles are smaller than the sRGB triangle, some are larger. Colors are typically encoded by 8 bits per primary color. The RGB value [255, 0, 0] represents red, but slightly different colors in different color spaces such as Adobe RGB and sRGB. Displaying sRGB-encoded data on wide-gamut devices can give an unrealistic result.Exif metadata in the picture. As long as the monitor gamut is wider than the color space gamut, correct display is possible, if the monitor is calibrated. A picture which uses colors that are outside the sRGB color space will display on an sRGB color space monitor with limitations.Color management is needed both in electronic publishing (via the Internet for display in browsers) and in desktop publishing targeted to print.

Most modern monitors will switch to a power-saving mode if no video-input signal is received. This allows modern operating systems to turn off a monitor after a specified period of inactivity. This also extends the monitor"s service life. Some monitors will also switch themselves off after a time period on standby.

Most modern laptops provide a method of screen dimming after periods of inactivity or when the battery is in use. This extends battery life and reduces wear.

Most modern monitors have two different indicator light colors wherein if video-input signal was detected, the indicator light is green and when the monitor is in power-saving mode, the screen is black and the indicator light is orange. Some monitors have different indicator light colors and some monitors have blinking indicator light when in power-saving mode.

Many monitors have other accessories (or connections for them) integrated. This places standard ports within easy reach and eliminates the need for another separate hub, camera, microphone, or set of speakers. These monitors have advanced microprocessors which contain codec information, Windows interface drivers and other small software which help in proper functioning of these functions.

Monitors that feature an aspect ratio greater than 2:1 (for instance, 21:9 or 32:9, as opposed to the more common 16:9, which resolves to 1.77:1).Monitors with an aspect ratio greater than 3:1 are marketed as super ultrawide monitors. These are typically massive curved screens intended to replace a multi-monitor deployment.

These monitors use touching of the screen as an input method. Items can be selected or moved with a finger, and finger gestures may be used to convey commands. The screen will need frequent cleaning due to image degradation from fingerprints.

Some displays, especially newer flat panel monitors, replace the traditional anti-glare matte finish with a glossy one. This increases color saturation and sharpness but reflections from lights and windows are more visible. Anti-reflective coatings are sometimes applied to help reduce reflections, although this only partly mitigates the problem.

Most often using nominally flat-panel display technology such as LCD or OLED, a concave rather than convex curve is imparted, reducing geometric distortion, especially in extremely large and wide seamless desktop monitors intended for close viewing range.

Newer monitors are able to display a different image for each eye, often with the help of special glasses and polarizers, giving the perception of depth. An autostereoscopic screen can generate 3D images without headgear.

A combination of a monitor with a graphics tablet. Such devices are typically unresponsive to touch without the use of one or more special tools" pressure. Newer models however are now able to detect touch from any pressure and often have the ability to detect tool tilt and rotation as well.

Raw monitors are raw framed LCD monitors, to install a monitor on a not so common place, ie, on the car door or you need it in the trunk. It is usually paired with a power adapter to have a versatile monitor for home or commercial use.

A desktop monitor is typically provided with a stand from the manufacturer which lifts the monitor up to a more ergonomic viewing height. The stand may be attached to the monitor using a proprietary method or may use, or be adaptable to, a VESA mount. A VESA standard mount allows the monitor to be used with more after-market stands if the original stand is removed. Stands may be fixed or offer a variety of features such as height adjustment, horizontal swivel, and landscape or portrait screen orientation.

The Flat Display Mounting Interface (FDMI), also known as VESA Mounting Interface Standard (MIS) or colloquially as a VESA mount, is a family of standards defined by the Video Electronics Standards Association for mounting flat panel displays to stands or wall mounts.

A fixed rack mount monitor is mounted directly to the rack with the flat-panel or CRT visible at all times. The height of the unit is measured in rack units (RU) and 8U or 9U are most common to fit 17-inch or 19-inch screens. The front sides of the unit are provided with flanges to mount to the rack, providing appropriately spaced holes or slots for the rack mounting screws. A 19-inch diagonal screen is the largest size that will fit within the rails of a 19-inch rack. Larger flat-panels may be accommodated but are "mount-on-rack" and extend forward of the rack. There are smaller display units, typically used in broadcast environments, which fit multiple smaller screens side by side into one rack mount.

A stowable rack mount monitor is 1U, 2U or 3U high and is mounted on rack slides allowing the display to be folded down and the unit slid into the rack for storage as a drawer. The flat display is visible only when pulled out of the rack and deployed. These units may include only a display or may be equipped with a keyboard creating a KVM (Keyboard Video Monitor). Most common are systems with a single LCD but there are systems providing two or three displays in a single rack mount system.

A panel mount computer monitor is intended for mounting into a flat surface with the front of the display unit protruding just slightly. They may also be mounted to the rear of the panel. A flange is provided around the screen, sides, top and bottom, to allow mounting. This contrasts with a rack mount display where the flanges are only on the sides. The flanges will be provided with holes for thru-bolts or may have studs welded to the rear surface to secure the unit in the hole in the panel. Often a gasket is provided to provide a water-tight seal to the panel and the front of the screen will be sealed to the back of the front panel to prevent water and dirt contamination.

An open frame monitor provides the display and enough supporting structure to hold associated electronics and to minimally support the display. Provision will be made for attaching the unit to some external structure for support and protection. Open frame monitors are intended to be built into some other piece of equipment providing its own case. An arcade video game would be a good example with the display mounted inside the cabinet. There is usually an open frame display inside all end-use displays with the end-use display simply providing an attractive protective enclosure. Some rack mount monitor manufacturers will purchase desktop displays, take them apart, and discard the outer plastic parts, keeping the inner open-frame display for inclusion into their product.

Van Eck phreaking is the process of remotely displaying the contents of a CRT or LCD by detecting its electromagnetic emissions. It is named after Dutch computer researcher Wim van Eck, who in 1985 published the first paper on it, including proof of concept. Phreaking more generally is the process of exploiting telephone networks.

Masoud Ghodrati, Adam P. Morris, and Nicholas Seow Chiang Price (2015) The (un)suitability of modern liquid crystal displays (LCDs) for vision research. Frontiers in Psychology, 6:303.

Koren, Norman. "Gamut mapping". Archived from the original on 2011-12-21. Retrieved 2018-12-10. The rendering intent determines how colors are handled that are present in the source but out of gamut in the destination

Definition of terms clarified and discussed in Aaron Schwabach, Internet and the Law: Technology, Society, and Compromises, 2nd Edition (Santa Barbara CA: ABC-CLIO, 2014), 192-3. ISBN 9781610693509

4K Technology (also known in parts of Asia as 4K2K) is the latest development in extra sharp displays, usually TFT LCDs. Its name is derived from the resolution: roughly 4,000 by 2,000 pixels. To put that into perspective, 4K crams the equivalent of four 1080p high resolution panels, or about a quarter of the pixel density of an IMAX movie, into one display.

By combining this ultra HD image with a standard 16:9 ratio, manufacturers are able to achieve a picture that looks clear, crisp and sharp, especially up close. 4K also offers improved color fidelity and the option to produce a higher rate of frames per second for extremely realistic image reproduction.

The advantages of 4K are especially evident in healthcare, CAD rendering, art, editing, surveillance, graphic design, architecture and consumer products. In addition to greatly improving the visual appeal of an application, 4K allows users to work with greater accuracy and attention to detail.

Many companies have adopted Thin Film Transistor (TFT) technology to improve colour screens. In a TFT screen, also known as active matrix, an extra matrix of transistors is connected to the LCD panel – one transistor for each colour (RGB) of each pixel. These transistors drive the pixels, eliminating at a stroke the problems of ghosting and slow response speed that afflict non-TFT LCDs.

When introduced, TFTs offered screen response times of the order of 25ms, contrast ratios in the region of 200:1 to 400:1 and brightness values between 200 and 250cd/m2 (candela per square metre). At time of writing an affordable 19 LCD TFT monitor should give response time sub 5ms and brightness in the region of 300cd/m2.

The liquid crystal elements of each pixel are arranged so that in their normal state (with no voltage applied) the light coming through the passive filter is polarised so as to pass through the screen. When a voltage is applied across the liquid crystal elements they twist by up to ninety degrees in proportion to the voltage, changing their polarisation and thereby blocking the light’s path. The transistors control the degree of twist and hence the intensity of the red, green and blue elements of each pixel forming the image on the display.

TFT screens can be made much thinner than LCDs, making them lighter, and refresh rates now approach those of CRTs as the current runs about ten times faster than on a DSTN screen. VGA screens need 921,000 transistors (640x480x3), while a resolution of 1024×768 needs 2,359,296 and each has to be perfect. The complete matrix of transistors has to be produced on a single, expensive silicon wafer and the presence of more than a couple of impurities means that the whole wafer must be discarded. This leads to a high wastage rate and is the main reason for the high price of TFT displays. It’s also the reason why in any TFT display there are liable to be a couple of defective pixels where the transistors have failed.

The former is the more common and is the result of a transistor occasionally shorting on, resulting in a permanently turned-on (red, green or blue) pixel. Unfortunately, fixing the transistor itself is not possible after assembly. It is possible to disable an offending transistor using a laser. However, this just creates black dots which would appear on a white background. Permanently turned on pixels are a fairly common occurrence in LCD manufacturing and LCD manufacturers set limits – based on user feedback and manufacturing cost data – as to how many defective pixels are acceptable for a given LCD panel. The goal in setting these limits is to maintain reasonable product pricing while minimising the degree of user distraction from defective pixels. For example, a 1024×768 native resolution panel – containing a total of 2,359,296 (1024x768x3) pixels – which has 20 defective pixels, would have a pixel defect rate of (20/2,359,296)*100 = 0.0008%.

Clearly, TFT panels have undergone significant evolution since the days of the early twisted nematic (TN) technology based panels. On the next few pages we’ll look at how IPS (In-Plane Switching), VA (Vertical Alignment) and MVA (Multi-domain Vertical Alignment) have been developed by manufacturers to enhance the performance of TFT LCD monitors.

Let us start with the basics first; refresh the knowledge about TN and LCD displays in general, later we will talk about TFTs (Thin Film Transistors), how they differ from regular monochrome LCD displays. Then we will go on to the ghosting effect, so we will not only discuss the technology behind the construction of the TFT, but also some phenomena, like the ghosting effect, or grayscale inversion, that are important to understand when using an LCD TFT display.

Next, we will look at different technologies of the TFT LCD displays like TN, IPS, VA, and of course about transmissive and transflective LCD displays, because TFT displays also can be transmissive and transflective. In the last part we will talk about backlight.

Let us start with a short review of the most basic liquid crystal cell, which is the TN (twisted nematic) display. On the picture above, we can see that the light can be transmit through the cell or blocked by the liquid crystal cell using voltage. If you want to learn more about monochrome LCD displays and the basics of LCD displays, follow this link.

What is a TFT LCD display and how it is different from a monochrome LCD display? TFT is called an active display. Active, means we have one or more transistors in every cell, in every pixel and in every subpixel. TFT stands for Thin Film Transistor, transistors that are very small and very thin and are built into the pixel, so they are not somewhere outside in a controller, but they are in the pixel itself. For example, in a 55-inch TV set, the TFT display contains millions of transistors in the pixels. We do not see them, because they are very small and hidden, if we zoom in, however, we can see them in every corner of each pixel, like on the picture below.

On the picture above we can see subpixels, that are basic RGB (Red, Green, Blue) colors and a black part, with the transistors and electronic circuits. We just need to know that we have pixels, and subpixels, and each subpixel has transistors. This makes the display active, and thus is called  the TFT display. TFT displays are usually color displays, but there are also monochrome TFT displays, that are active, and have transistors, but have no colors. The colors in the TFT LCD display are typically added by color filters on each subpixel. Usually the filters are RGB, but we also have RGBW (Red, Green, Blue, White) LCD displays with added subpixels without the filter (White) to make the display brighter.

What is interesting, the white part of the RGB and RGBW screen will look exactly the same from a distance, because the lights are mixed and generate white light, but when we come closer to the screen, we will not see white light at all.

Going a little bit deeper, into the TFT cell, there is a part inside well known to us from the monochrome LCD display Riverdi University lecture. We have a cell, liquid crystal, polarizers, an ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) layer for the electrodes, and additionally an electronic circuit. Usually, the electronic circuit consists of one transistor and some capacitors to sustain the pixel state when we switch the pixel OFF and ON. In a TFT LCD display the pixels are much more complicated because apart from building the liquid crystal part, we also need to build an electronic part.

That is why TFT LCD display technologies are very expensive to manufacture. If you are familiar with electronics, you know that the transistor is a kind of switch, and it allows us to switch the pixel ON and OFF. Because it is built into the pixel itself, it can be done very quickly and be very well controlled. We can control the exact state of every pixel not only the ON and OFF states, but also all the states in between. We can switch the light of the cells ON and OFF in several steps. Usually for TFT LCD displays it will be 8-bit steps per color, so we have 256 steps of brightness for every color, and every subpixel. Because we have three subpixels, we have a 24-bit color range, that means over 16 million combinations, we can, at least theoretically, show on our TFT LCD display over 16 million distinct colors using RGB pixels.

Now that we know how the TFT LCD display works, we can now learn some practical things one of which is LCD TFT ghosting. We know how the image is created, but what happens when we have the image on the screen for a prolonged time, and how to prevent it. In LCD displays we have something called LCD ghosting. We do not see it very often, but in some displays this phenomenon still exists.

If some elements of the picture i.e., your company logo is in the same place of the screen for a long period of time, for couple of weeks, months or a year, the crystals will memorize the state and later, when we change the image, we may see some ghosting of those elements. It really depends on many conditions like temperature and even the screen image that we display on the screen for longer periods of time. When you build your application, you can use some techniques to avoid it, like very rapid contrast change and of course to avoid the positioning the same image in the same position for a longer time.

You may have seen this phenomenon already as it is common in every display technology, and even companies like Apple put information on their websites, that users may encounter this phenomenon and how to fix it. It is called image ghosting or image persistence, and even Retina displays are not free of it.

Another issue present in TFT displays, especially TN LCD displays, is grayscale inversion. This is a phenomenon that changes the colors of the screen according to the viewing angle, and it is only one-sided. When buying a TFT LCD display, first we need to check what kind of technology it is. If it is an IPS display, like the Riverdi IPS display line, then we do not need to worry about the grayscale inversion because all the viewing angles will be the same and all of them will be very high, like 80, 85, or 89 degrees. But if you buy a more common or older display technology type, like the TN (twisted nematic) display, you need to think where it will be used, because one viewing angle will be out. It may be sometimes confusing, and you need to be careful as most factories define viewing direction of the screen and mistake this with the greyscale inversion side.

On the picture above, you can see further explanation of the grayscale inversion from Wikipedia. It says that some early panels and also nowadays TN displays, have grayscale inversion not necessary up-down, but it can be any angle, you need to check in the datasheet. The reason technologies like IPS (In-Plane Switching), used in the latest Riverdi displays, or VA, were developed, was to avoid this phenomenon. Also, we do not want to brag, but the