first lcd display pricelist

But while 15-inch LCDs have become more affordable in the last year or two, very large flat-screen displays--whether for a desktop, a boardroom, a reception area, or a state-of-the-art home theater--have continued to command astronomically high prices that leave them out of reach for all but businesses with specialized needs, or the super rich.

LCD monitors won"t compete in price with their CRT counterparts anytime soon. But the same price drops that have already brought many 15-inch displays under the $1000 mark are beginning to make larger LCDs more affordable--less than $1500 in the case of two 17-inchers we review here.

There"s good news about the really big screens used for so-called digital signage (such as gate information at airports), presentations in large boardrooms, and dramatic-looking wall TVs, too. Once priced at $20,000 and up, more and more superlarge, 40-inch-plus plasma displays are dipping below the $10,000 mark. No, they won"t replace standard TVs--or rear-projection systems--in the near future, but upscale consumers who love home theater are already taking them seriously. According to industry observers, plasma"s audience should broaden by 2005, when prices could sink to $4000 or less.

By then, we will probably have new display choices that solve problems today"s offerings don"t even address. Technologies such as organic light-emitting diodes promise to unite energy savings and a CRT-quality display in a superthin--possibly even flexible--panel. Meanwhile, advances in ultra-high-resolution screens and microdisplays may offer eye-soothing performance and render extremely clear text in a way that today"s monitors can"t even approximate.

So who needs to go larger? Anyone who"s ever tried to write a report in a word processor while doing research in a browser, running a spreadsheet, and keeping an eye on e-mail will appreciate a roomier screen. We looked at four of the latest large LCD models from Eizo, NEC-Mitsubishi, and Samsung, all offering terrific-looking displays and good value. Text looks so sharp and crisp that most people will feel no eyestrain at these models" 1280 by 1024 native resolution--although 17-inch LCDs benefit from a larger font size.

The chief strength of NEC-Mitsubishi"s MultiSync LCD1700M ($1499) is its exceptionally wide viewing angle--160 degrees horizontally and vertically--coupled with decent built-in speakers. Samsung"s new $1199 SyncMaster 170T has both an analog interface and a newer DVI digital interface; the latter will become useful as more graphics adapters that support digital video output (which offers superior quality for LCDs) appear. Both of the units carry 17-inch screens.

Once the screen sizes exceed 17 inches, prices rise steeply: Some 17-inch monitors are half the price of their 18-inch counterparts. (Blame lower yields for 18-inch screens for this disproportionate price differential.) For example, Eizo"s 18-inch FlexScan L675 screen costs $2900--which is still an improvement over the $3000-plus prices 18-inch LCDs used to command. In the Eizo"s case, you"re also paying for such high-end features as an ultrathin bezel and a screen that can be rotated for landscape or portrait-style viewing.

Even some of the largest screens cost less than they used to. We were impressed by NEC-Mitsubishi"s 20-inch MultiSync LCD2010X, which goes for $3899--not cheap, but far better than the $8000-plus price tags on comparable-size displays of the last few years. And the LCD2010X can handle both analog and DVI digital hookups.

Rhoda Alexander, an analyst with display market research firm Stanford Resources, expects prices to continue falling through the rest of 2001. By year"s end, some 17-inch displays will likely sell for less than $1000, with average prices resting at that mark or slightly higher. But don"t wait beyond then if you"re serious about buying: By early 2002, supply is expected to get tight again, and then prices will stabilize or rise once more.

There"s no getting around it: Plasma displays have an undeniable wow factor. Match a high-resolution, 50-inch plasma display with a DVD like Toy Story 2, and suddenly you"re in home entertainment heaven. The on-screen colors are pure, the detail is breathtaking, and the visual impact is jaw-droppingly spectacular.

But plasma screens aren"t just for fun. Scott Evans, product manager for the NEC-Mitsubishi plasma monitor line, estimates that only about 20 percent of the 50,000 to 60,000 plasma displays sold last year went into the homes of the wealthy. Most are used for public displays and corporate multimedia presentations in such high-traffic places as airports, corporate office lobbies, and trade show exhibits.

Plasma is subject to image burn-in, however, much as early CRTs were (remember the days when screen savers were more than a personal statement?), and it does lose brightness over time. Display manufacturers have been hard at work on that problem. Craig McManis, vice president of sales and marketing for the industrial displays division of Pioneer New Media Technologies, says that it takes 30,000 hours for his company"s plasma displays to lose half their brightness. An always-on display in an airport might need replacement every three years or so, but that translates into a lot of TV viewing at home.

Plasma screens remain very expensive for mainstream home theater use, but vendors like Panasonic, Pioneer, Samsung, and Sony all now offer sub-$10,000 panels. Most of these displays work at a resolution of 640 by 480, however, and may not satisfy your image-quality standards.

Few of us have that kind of money for home entertainment, however. So while you wait for the prices of plasma screens to come down, Stanford Resources analyst Paul Semenza suggests a good alternative: a $2000 rear-projection TV with a large 50- to 60-inch display.

If you want to purchase a plasma display now, note both the resolution and size: A 40-inch panel might be fine in a boardroom or reception area, but larger rooms will probably need to have a bigger screen. An on-site service warranty is a definite plus. Plasma displays, though thin, weigh more than you might expect and are no fun to cart around. And finally, McManis says that users who want to display data should confirm the screen is Windows Hardware Quality Lab-compliant.

If your budget can"t accommodate a big, flat PC monitor or wall display now, take heart: Prices should continue to slide in coming months and years. That picture on the wall may someday be a Windows app--or your latest DVD movie.

That might soon change as a glut of liquid crystal display flat-panel televisions, called LCDs, enter the market, a result of a boom in new factories. According to several manufacturers and analysts, the prices for LCD flat-panel TVs will drop in the new year, falling by as much as 30 percent by the end of 2005. The prices of plasma flat-panel TVs are also expected to fall significantly.

Flat-panel TVs represent less than 10 percent of the 29-million TV sets to be sold to dealers in 2004. Of the flat-panel sales, 73 percent are LCD sets and 27 percent are the larger plasma models.

Manufacturers, like the makers of other consumer electronics, are investing heavily to expand their production capacity, hoping to capture market share. Earnings, they reason, will come later, although until recently, these sets had proved highly profitable. In the first three quarters of 2004, the LG.Philips LCD Co. made $1.4-billion in profits from LCD televisions, although the company reported a drop in earnings in the third quarter from the year-earlier period. Another manufacturer, AU Optronics, made $900-million in the three quarters, according to DisplaySearch, a technology research company.

This windfall has given them the cash to build next-generation plants capable of creating larger screens at lower per-unit costs. Each new generation LCD plant costs $1-billion to $3-billion.

Next year, AU Optronics and another LCD maker, CPT, both based in Taiwan, will complete new plants for making 32- and 37-inch displays. To cut construction costs, Sony and Samsung are in a $2-billion joint venture to build the world"s first LCD plant designed to produce eight 40-inch or six 46-inch displays cut from one large piece of glass.

"The plant building boom is due to a herd mentality as big sales numbers have been forecast," said Chris Chinnock, president of Insight Media and editor of the Microdisplay Report, an industry newsletter. "We"ve seen this cycle of shortfall, investment and oversupply for 10 years. Everyone sees the opportunity at the bottom of the trough and thinks they can do better than their competitors."

Bharath Rajagopalan, general manager for TCL-Thomson Electronics, owner of the RCA brand, said: "LCD production is becoming a commodity game. There is an inordinate amount of competition and price erosion."

Ross Young, president of DisplaySearch, predicts there will be a 53 percent increase in capacity during 2005, and he says that will put a lot of pressure on pricing. A 42-inch LCD set that costs close to $4,500 today will be $3,100 next year and $2,250 in 2006, he says.

Tasso Koken, vice president and general merchandise manager for Sears home electronics, predicts that in 18 months, a 20-inch LCD TV from a well-known manufacturer will be less than $299, down from $700 to $800 today. "The 2005 price drops in LCD will make the 2004 reductions look like a walk in the park," he said.

Average consumers do not seem to care which technology they are buying. "Generally speaking, the consumer has no understanding of the differences between LCD and plasma technology," Koken of Sears said.

Many industry executives expect that later this decade, LCD units, which are typically 3 to 5 inches deep, will completely replace smaller-size picture-tube sets. Next year, Sony expects to double the number of flat-panel TVs it sells in the United States, while decreasing its picture-tube offerings by 20 percent, said Mike Fidler, a Sony senior vice president. The picture-tube business is expected to remain profitable for the company for the next three years, but then decline as the price of LCD TVs falls below $500, Fidler said.

Falling prices for larger screen sizes might force plasma sets to be sold only in sizes around 60 inches, where they maintain their price edge over LCD screens. Plasma panels contain only electrodes and phosphors, so they can be made in larger sizes without a proportionate increase in price, according to Ed Wolff, a vice president at Panasonic.

But some are not so sanguine about the future of plasma. Fidler of Sony says that LCD TVs will drop so much in price that plasma will go away in three to five years.

Given the uncertainty of whether customers will take to mounting their TVs on a wall, some companies like RCA are hoping that a less-expensive large-screen projection TV will remain a viable alternative to LCD or plasma sets. A harbinger of that trend, the company"s recently introduced Projects, a 61-inch projection set, is just 7 inches deep.

Electrically operated display devices have developed from electromechanical systems for display of text, up to all-electronic devices capable of full-motion 3D color graphic displays. Electromagnetic devices, using a solenoid coil to control a visible flag or flap, were the earliest type, and were used for text displays such as stock market prices and arrival/departure display times. The cathode ray tube was the workhorse of text and video display technology for several decades until being displaced by plasma, liquid crystal (LCD), and solid-state devices such as thin-film transistors (TFTs), LEDs and OLEDs. With the advent of metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs), integrated circuit (IC) chips, microprocessors, and microelectronic devices, many more individual picture elements ("pixels") could be incorporated into one display device, allowing graphic displays and video.

One of the earliest electronic displays is the cathode ray tube (CRT), which was first demonstrated in 1897 and made commercial in 1922.electron gun that forms images by firing electrons onto a phosphor-coated screen. The earliest CRTs were monochrome and were used primarily in oscilloscopes and black and white televisions. The first commercial colour CRT was produced in 1954. CRTs were the single most popular display technology used in television sets and computer monitors for over half a century; it was not until the 2000s that LCDs began to gradually replace them.

A derivative of CRTs were storage tubes, which had the ability to retain information displayed on them, unlike standard CRTs which need to be refreshed periodically. In 1968, Tektronix introduced the Direct-View Bistable Storage Tube, which went on to be widely used in oscilloscopes and computer terminals.

1968Direct-View Bistable Storage Tube CRT retains static information displayed upon it, written using a steerable electron beam that can be turned off. The DVBST was used in vector displays of early computers and in oscilloscopes.

1984 Super-twisted nematic display (STN LCD) to improve passive-matrix LCDs, allowing for the first time higher resolution panels with 540x270 pixels.

1987 optical micro-electro-mechanical technology that uses a digital micromirror device. While the Digital Light Processing (DLP) imaging device was invented by Texas Instruments, the first DLP-based projector was introduced by Digital Projection Ltd in 1997.

Liquid-crystal-display televisions (LCD TVs) are television sets that use liquid-crystal displays to produce images. They are, by far, the most widely produced and sold television display type. LCD TVs are thin and light, but have some disadvantages compared to other display types such as high power consumption, poorer contrast ratio, and inferior color gamut.

LCD TVs rose in popularity in the early years of the 21st century, surpassing sales of cathode ray tube televisions worldwide in 2007.plasma display panels and rear-projection television.

Passive matrix LCDs first became common as portable computer displays in the 1980s, competing for market share with plasma displays. The LCDs had very slow refresh rates that blurred the screen even with scrolling text, but their light weight and low cost were major benefits. Screens using reflective LCDs required no internal light source, making them particularly well suited to laptop computers. Refresh rates of early devices were too slow to be useful for television.

Portable televisions were a target application for LCDs. LCDs consumed far less battery power than even the miniature tubes used in portable televisions of the era. In 1980, Hattori Seiko"s R&D group began development on color LCD pocket televisions. In 1982, Seiko Epson released the first LCD television, the Epson TV Watch, a small wrist-worn active-matrix LCD television. Sharp Corporation introduced the dot matrix TN-LCD in 1983, and Casio introduced its TV-10 portable TV.Citizen Watch introduced the Citizen Pocket TV, a 2.7-inch color LCD TV, with the first commercial TFT LCD display.

Throughout this period, screen sizes over 30" were rare as these formats would start to appear blocky at normal seating distances when viewed on larger screens. LCD projection systems were generally limited to situations where the image had to be viewed by a larger audience. At the same time, plasma displays could easily offer the performance needed to make a high quality display, but suffered from low brightness and very high power consumption. Still, some experimentation with LCD televisions took place during this period. In 1988, Sharp introduced a 14-inch active-matrix full-color full-motion TFT-LCD. These were offered primarily as high-end items, and were not aimed at the general market. This led to Japan launching an LCD industry, which developed larger-size LCDs, including TFT computer monitors and LCD televisions. Epson developed the 3LCD projection technology in the 1980s, and licensed it for use in projectors in 1988. Epson"s VPJ-700, released in January 1989, was the world"s first compact, full-color LCD projector.

In 2006, LCD prices started to fall rapidly and their screen sizes increased, although plasma televisions maintained a slight edge in picture quality and a price advantage for sets at the critical 42" size and larger. By late 2006, several vendors were offering 42" LCDs, albeit at a premium price, encroaching upon plasma"s only stronghold. More decisively, LCDs offered higher resolutions and true 1080p support, while plasmas were stuck at 720p, which made up for the price difference.

Predictions that prices for LCDs would rapidly drop through 2007 led to a "wait and see" attitude in the market, and sales of all large-screen televisions stagnated while customers watched to see if this would happen.Christmas sales season.

When the sales figures for the 2007 Christmas season were finally tallied, analysts were surprised to find that not only had LCD outsold plasma, but CRTs as well, during the same period.Pioneer Electronics was ending production of the plasma screens was widely considered the tipping point in that technology"s history as well.

In spite of LCD"s dominance of the television field, other technologies continued to be developed to address its shortcomings. Whereas LCDs produce an image by selectively blocking a backlight, organic LED, microLED, field-emission display and surface-conduction electron-emitter display technologies all produce an illuminated image directly. In comparison to LCDs all of these technologies offer better viewing angles, much higher brightness and contrast ratio (as much as 5,000,000:1), and better color saturation and accuracy. They also use less power, and in theory they are less complex and less expensive to build.

Manufacturing these screens proved to be more difficult than originally thought, however. Sony abandoned their field-emission display project in March 2009,

And thanks to supply finally starting to catch up with demand, combined with the slump in PC sales growth, LCD monitors prices look set to continue to fall.

The steepest price erosion for LCDs is in the 15-inch monitor market, where prices dropped around 30 per cent in 2000, according to IDC. During the year they also grabbed around 30 per cent market share.

A year ago, it seemed LCD manufacturers couldn"t churn the products out fast enough - and most of the supply was gobbled up for laptops, meaning desktop LCD monitors stayed expensive. Now, not only are more countries, such as Taiwan, making them in volume, but overall demand for computers has also fallen.

Prices have been basically stalled since the retail wars of the 2006 holidays, when LCD TVs, once luxury items, went almost mainstream. But prices will probably plunge again by the end of the year.

A 42-inch set selling right now for an average of $1,877 could be going for $1,175 -- a drop of more than 35% -- just in time for the winter holidays, the ISuppli industry analyst group said Tuesday. Already, at some discount and membership stores, you can find an off-brand 42-inch LCD set for under $1,000.

“I have a 20-inch LCD set across from me that was $1,500 just four years ago. Now, I could get it for $149,” said analyst Richard Doherty at Envisioneering Group. “The prices have fallen faster than any consumer electronics item in years, with the exception of DVD players.”

If the price falls as much as expected this year, the average 42-inch LCD set will cost only about $80 more than a plasma flat-screen of the same size. For years, plasma was the undisputed flat-screen king, largely because the technology was far cheaper. But now LCDs could rule -- especially among the environmentally and weight-conscious.

“LCD TVs use a lot less electricity,” Doherty said. “People who consider themselves green tend to buy LCD. And the weight of two 37-inch LCD TVs are about equal to that of one plasma set the same size.”

This year, the number of LCD screens -- each of which contains a liquid crystal gel divided into hundreds of thousands of individual pixels -- shipping from factories will reach 75.2 million, up from 52.7 million in 2006, ISuppli said. And the price of the screens to TV manufacturers is forecast to fall 17% in just the first half of the year.

“At the beginning of 2006, we were seeing 42-inch LCDs at about $3,500 or $4,000,” said Ross Rubin, an analyst at NPD Group. “But they were from just a handful of manufacturers. By the end of the year, many more manufacturers were offering LCDs and there was very aggressive retail discounting during the holidays.”

We all remember the day we bought our first TV. It could have been to have our own set in our bedrooms. For others, it could have been for their first home, but a rare few of us will still remember a world where TVs were just too expensive to have one in the family home. Do you remember the price of your first TV?

Even in 2007, a 19-inch flatscreen TV with a built-in DVD player cost around £169.99, brand new. You could buy a cheap smart LED TV with a 32-inch display from our range online for approximately that price today.

This amount of money was not as disposable in the 1940s, and even as the prices dropped over the years, many relied on discount stores and ex-display models to afford televisions for their own homes, but this was only common in the late 70s and 80s when updated models came onto the market.

Even in 1972, the price of a colour TV was £225 (£3,158.93 in 2022 costs), a slight reduction from the late 60s of £304 (£5,610.01). However, with the introduction of colour TV, the price of black and white displays remained somewhat expensive at £186.40 (£4390) in 1960.

The first LCD screen for viewing TV was introduced in 1982 and featured on the Seiko Epson TV Watch and cost £1226.80 (£4604) to purchase and watch TV “on the go.” Since this invention, the LCD screen has made TVs much more advanced, and because of this, we saw the growth of the flatscreen TV.

As the slimline designs of flatscreens became popular, the demand for the latest technology grew. In 2004, a 25.4-inch display TV cost £420.35 (£660.49). However, in comparison and continuing on the trend of TV prices dropping with technological advances, a 47-inch flatscreen in 2019 would total around £336.

Toshiba is another well-known brand whose prices have also fallen. In 2012 it cost around £895 for a 49.1-inch display TV, but we offer cheap Toshiba LED TVs for as little as £269.99 for a similar size, adding the smart feature that most of our TVs come with.

Technology Advances –Each year, technology advances to bring consumers TVs with more features and updated components. We have seen the introduction of 3D technology, smart devices and even slimmer and larger displays. Each advancement makes older models and series less desirable, allowing for price drops in the TVs. Of course, the quicker companies improve TVs, the more available older models remain with the latest technologies.

The Xerox Alto computer, released on March 1, 1973, included the first computer monitor. The monitor used CRT technology and had a monochrome display.

LED display technology was developed by James P. Mitchell in 1977, but LED monitors were not readily available for purchase on the consumer market until about 30 years later.

LCD monitors outsold CRT monitors for the first time in 2003. By 2007, LCD monitors consistently outsold CRT monitors, and became the most prominent type of computer monitor.

NEC was one of the first companies to manufacture LED monitors for desktop computers. Their first LED monitor, the MultiSync EA222WMe, was released in late 2009.

Touch screen LCD monitors started to become cheaper, more affordable for the average consumer in 2017. Prices for 20 to 22-inch touch screen monitors dropped below $500.

It"s a little misleading, though, because plasmas always had a fantastic price-to-performance ratio. The similarly priced LCDs didn"t look as good and weren"t as well reviewed. The great LCD of 2012 that did look amazing was the slightly larger Sharp Elite PRO-60X5FD, which retailed for a brutal $6,000 ($3.91 PPSI). Think about that: you can get a 65-inch OLED today that"s larger and HDR/WCG for a fraction of the price of that TV. That"s progress.

1997 was the year the first flat-panel TVs really hit the consumer market (Fujitsu having started plasma production in late 1996). This TV was flat. It was the future. It was expensive. It… looked terrible. This was an ugly, ugly TV.

The biggest disruptions come at the lower end of the market, something far harder to track. In the "50s, Westinghouse and RCA were some of the only manufacturers of this new technology. Now there are dozens of companies making TVs. You can get a great TV now for less than $0.50-per-square-inch of screen. That"s an old trend, too. As new manufacturing powerhouses come in, they aim for the bottom of the market. They first offer something inexpensive, then later, something inexpensive and good, then eventually something good and expensive. It happened with Japan in the "70s and "80s, it happened with Korea in the "90s and 2000s, and it"s happening now with China.

Got a question for Geoff? First, check out all the other articles he"s written on topics like why all HDMI cables are the same, TV resolutions explained, LED LCD vs. OLED and more. Still have a question? Tweet at him @TechWriterGeoff then check out his travel photography on Instagram. He also thinks you should check out his best-selling sci-fi novel and its sequel.

Prices for all TV panel sizes fluctuated and are forecast to fluctuate between 2020 and 2022. The period from March 2020 to July 2021 saw the biggest price increases, when a 65" UHD panel cost between 171 and 288 U.S. dollars. In the fourth quarter of 2021, such prices fell and are expected to drop to an even lower amount by March 2022.Read moreLCD TV panel prices worldwide from January 2020 to March 2022, by size(in U.S. dollars)Characteristic32" HD43" FHD49"/50" UHD55" UHD65" UHD------

DSCC. (January 10, 2022). LCD TV panel prices worldwide from January 2020 to March 2022, by size (in U.S. dollars) [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved February 12, 2023, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1288400/lcd-tv-panel-price-by-size/

DSCC. "LCD TV panel prices worldwide from January 2020 to March 2022, by size (in U.S. dollars)." Chart. January 10, 2022. Statista. Accessed February 12, 2023. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1288400/lcd-tv-panel-price-by-size/

DSCC. (2022). LCD TV panel prices worldwide from January 2020 to March 2022, by size (in U.S. dollars). Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: February 12, 2023. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1288400/lcd-tv-panel-price-by-size/

DSCC. "Lcd Tv Panel Prices Worldwide from January 2020 to March 2022, by Size (in U.S. Dollars)." Statista, Statista Inc., 10 Jan 2022, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1288400/lcd-tv-panel-price-by-size/

DSCC, LCD TV panel prices worldwide from January 2020 to March 2022, by size (in U.S. dollars) Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1288400/lcd-tv-panel-price-by-size/ (last visited February 12, 2023)

LCD TV panel prices worldwide from January 2020 to March 2022, by size (in U.S. dollars) [Graph], DSCC, January 10, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1288400/lcd-tv-panel-price-by-size/

LCD displays use a relatively new technology, but all of the early teething problems have long been worked out and the prices of LCD displays have fallen to the point that they are now mainstream products. A good LCD display, such as the ViewSonic VP191 19" model shown in Figure 11-2, provides top-notch image quality in a compact package. Although traditional CRTs have advantages of their own, most people who experience the bright, contrasty image of a good LCD display will never return to using a CRT monitor.

If you convert from a standard CRT display to a flat-screen CRT display or (particularly) an LCD display, you may notice an odd effect. Your eye and brain become used to seeing the curved surface of the old display as flat. The new display, which truly is flat, looks concave! Straight lines appear to bow inward, particularly if you work close to the display. The effect is so convincing that Robert actually held a straight-edge up to his new LCD display. Sure enough, the "bent" lines were straight. Don"t worry, though. The optical illusion disappears after only a couple hours" use.

CRT monitors were the dominant PC display technology until recently, but that has changed. For displays bundled with new PCs, LCDs exceeded CRTs in popularity by late 2002. By 2005, LCDs had also begun to outsell CRTs in retail channels. Lower cost and other advantages of CRTs ensure that they"ll remain available for years to come, but the emphasis has definitely shifted to LCDs.

Unlike CRT monitors, which have a maximum resolution but can easily be run at lower resolutions, LCDs are designed to operate at one resolution, called the native resolution. You can run an LCD at lower than native resolution, but that results in either the image occupying only part of the screen at full image quality or, via pixel extrapolation, the image occupying the full screen area but with greatly reduced image quality.

LCDs are available in analog-only, digital/analog hybrid, and digital-only interfaces. Using an analog interface requires converting the video signal from digital to analog inside the PC and then from analog to digital inside the monitor, which reduces image quality, particularly at higher resolutions. Synchronization problems occur frequently with analog interfaces, and can cause various undesirable display problems. Finally, analog interfaces are inherently noisier than digital interfaces, which causes subtle variations in display quality that can be quite disconcerting.

Whereas CRT monitors require high vertical refresh rates to ensure stable images, LCDs, because of their differing display technology, can use much lower refresh rates. For example, at 1280x1024 resolution on a CRT monitor, you"ll probably want to use an 85 Hz or higher refresh rate for good image quality. At the same resolution on an LCD, 60 Hz is a perfectly adequate refresh rate. In fact, on LCDs, a lower refresh rate often provides a better image than a higher refresh rate.

Unlike CRT monitors, whose phosphor-based pixels respond essentially instantaneously to the electron beam, LCD panels use transistors, which require time to turn on or turn off. That means there is a measurable lag between when a transistor is switched on or off and when the associated pixel changes to the proper state. That lag, called rise time for when the transistor is switched on and fall time for when it is switched off, results in a corresponding lag in image display.

Fast LCD response time is a Good Thing. Fast response means smoother scrolling and no ghosting or smearing, even when you view fast-motion video. Unfortunately, there"s no standard way to measure or specify response time, so different LCD makers use different methods. That means you can"t necessarily compare the response time specified by one LCD maker directly with that specified by another. (Actually, it"s worse than that; you can"t necessarily compare response times for two different models made by the same company.)

When LCDs first appeared, most makers specified rise-and-fall response in milliseconds (ms), the time required for a pixel to change from black to white (rise time) and then from white to black (fall time), also called the black-white-black (bwb) response. Nowadays, in addition to or instead of bwb, many LCD makers specify white-black-white (wbw) response and/or gray-to-gray (gtg) response, the time required to go from one level of gray to another.

Some makers also specify the rise time separately. For example, we found one display that was advertised as having a 4 ms response time, but the product data sheet on the maker"s web site listed that display as having an 8 ms response time. Both numbers were accurate, as far as they went. The 4 ms time quoted in the ad referred to rise time (black to white). The 8 ms time quoted in the technical documents referred to bwb response.

It is not safe to make assumptions about one type of response time based on another type. For example, one LCD may have response times of 20 ms bwb and 8 ms gtg, while another model from the same manufacturer may have response times of 16 ms bwb and 12 ms gtg. So, is the second LCD slower or faster than the first? It depends on which numbers you decide to use. Advertisers use the fastest numbers available. Count on it.

LCDs are brighter than CRTs. A typical CRT has brightness of about 100 candelas/square meter, a unit of measurement called a nit. (Some displays are rated in foot Lamberts (fL); one fL equals about 3.43 nits). A typical LCD is rated at 250 to 350 nits, roughly three times as bright as a typical CRT. CRTs dim as they age, although a brightness control with enough range at the upper end can often be used to set an old CRT to near original brightness. The CCRTs used to backlight LCDs also dim as they age, but generally fail completely before reduced brightness becomes a major issue.

Contrast measures the difference in luminance between the brightest and dimmest portions of an image, and is expressed as a ratio. The ability to display a high-contrast image is an important aspect of image quality, particularly for text. An average CRT may have a contrast ratio of 200:1, and a superb CRT 250:1. An inexpensive LCD may have a contrast ratio of 400:1, and a superb LCD 1,000:1. In other words, even an inexpensive LCD may have higher contrast than an excellent CRT.

Even good flat-screen CRTs are subject to objectionable reflections when used in bright environments, such as having the screen facing a window. Good LCDs are much superior in this respect. Short of direct sunlight impinging on the screen, a good LCD provides excellent images under any lighting conditions.

A typical CRT is about as deep as its nominal screen size. For example, a 19" CRT may be 19" from front to back. Large CRTs may be difficult to fit physically in the available space. Conversely, LCDs are quite shallow. The panel itself typically ranges from 1.5" to 3" deep, and even with the base most LCDs are no more than 7" to 8" deep. Also, where a large CRT may weigh 50 to 100 pounds or more, even large LCDs are quite light. A typical 17" LCD might weigh 10 pounds, and even a 23" unit may weigh less than 20 pounds. That small size and weight means that it"s possible to desk- or wall-mount an LCD with relatively inexpensive mounting hardware, compared to the large, heavy, expensive mounting hardware needed for CRTs.

Stated LCD display sizes are accurate. For example, a 19" LCD has a display area that actually measures 19" diagonally. CRT sizes, on the other hand, are nominal because they specify the diagonal measurement of the entire CRT, part of which is covered by the bezel. For example, a nominal 19" CRT might have a display area that actually measures 18.1" diagonally. A couple of lawsuits several years ago convinced CRT makers to begin stating the usable size of their CRTs. This is stated as VIS (viewable image size or visible image size), and is invariably an inch or so smaller than the nominal size.

This VIS issue has given rise to the belief that a 15" LCD is equivalent to a 17" CRT, a 17" LCD to a 19" CRT, and so on. In fact, that"s not true. The image size of a typical 17" CRT is an inch or so larger than that of a 15" LCD, as is the image size of a 19" CRT relative to a 17" LCD.

Depending on size and other factors, a typical CRT consumes 100 to 160 watts while operating, while an LCD consumes only a quarter to a half as much power. Using an LCD reduces your electricity bill directly by consuming less power and indirectly by reducing the heating load on your air conditioning during hot weather.

Current LCDs are available in analog-only, digital-only, and models with both analog and digital inputs. Analog input is acceptable for 15" (1024x768) models, but for 17" (1280x1024) models analog video noise becomes an issue. At that screen size and resolution, analog noise isn"t immediately obvious to most people, but if you use the display for long periods the difference between using a display with a clean digital signal and one with a noisy analog signal will affect you on almost a subconscious level. For a 19" (1280x1024) LCD, we regard a digital signal as extremely desirable but not absolutely essential. For a larger display or above 1280x1024, we wouldn"t consider using analog signaling.

Insist on true 24-bit color support, which may be described as support for 16.7 million colors. Most current LCDs support 24-bit color, allocating one full byte to each of the three primary colors, which allows 256 shades of each color and a total of 16.7 million colors to be displayed. Many early LCDs and some inexpensive current models support only six bits per color, for a total of 18-bit color. These models use extrapolation to simulate full 24-bit color support, which results in poor color quality. If an LCD is advertised as "24-bit compatible," that"s good reason to look elsewhere. Oddly, many LCDs that do support true 24-bit color don"t bother to mention it in their spec sheets, while many that support only 18-bit color trumpet the fact that they are "24-bit compatible."

Most LCD makers produce three or more series of LCDs. Entry-level models are often analog-only, even in 19" and 21" sizes, and have slow response times. Midrange models usually accept analog or digital inputs, and generally have response times fast enough for anything except 3D gaming and similarly demanding uses. The best models may be analog/digital hybrids or digital-only, and have very fast response times. Choose an entry-level model only if you are certain that you will never use the display for anything more than word processing, web browsing, and similarly undemanding tasks. If you need a true CRT-replacement display, choose a midrange or higher model with a digital interface and the fastest response time you are willing to pay for.

Decide what panel size and resolution is right for you. Keep in mind that when you choose a specific LCD model, you are also effectively choosing the resolution that you will always use on that display.

Buy the LCD locally if possible. Whether or not you buy locally, insist on a no-questions-asked return policy. LCDs are more variable than CRT monitors, both in terms of unit-to-unit variation and in terms of usability with a particular graphics adapter. This is particularly important if you are using an analog interface. Some analog LCDs simply don"t play nice with some analog graphics adapters. Also, LCDs vary from unit to unit in how many defective pixels they have and where those are located. You might prefer a unit with five defective pixels near the edges and corners rather than a unit with only one or two defective pixels located near the center of the screen.

If you buy locally, ask the store to endorse the manufacturer"s warranty that is, to agree that if the LCD fails you can bring it back to the store for a replacement rather than dealing with the hassles of returning the LCD to the maker.

If possible, test the exact LCD you plan to buy (not a floor sample) before you buy it. Ideally, and particularly if you will use the analog interface, you should test the LCD with your own system, or at least with a system that has a graphics adapter identical to the one you plan to use. We"d go to some extremes to do this, including carrying our desktop system down to the local store. But if that isn"t possible for some reason, still insist on seeing the actual LCD you plan to buy running. That way, you can at least determine if there are defective pixels in locations that bother you. Also, use a neutral gray screen with no image to verify that the backlight evenly illuminates the entire screen. Some variation is unavoidable, but one or more corners should not be especially darker than the rest of the display, nor should there be any obvious "hot" spots.

Recommended Brands: Our opinion, confirmed by our readers and colleagues, is that NEC-Mitsubishi, Samsung, Sony, and ViewSonic make the best LCDs available. Their LCDs particularly their midrange and better models provide excellent image quality and are quite reliable. You"re likely to be happy with an LCD from any of these manufacturers.

Stick with good name brands and buy a midrange or higher model from within that name brand. That doesn"t guarantee that you"ll get a good LCD, but it does greatly increase your chances. The LCD market is extremely competitive. If two similar models differ greatly in price, the cheaper one likely has significantly worse specs. If the specs appear similar, the maker of the cheaper model has cut corners somewhere, whether in component quality, construction quality, or warranty policies.

To create an LCD, you take two pieces ofpolarized glass. A special polymer that creates microscopic grooves in the surface is rubbed on the side of the glass that does not have the polarizing film on it. The grooves must be in the same direction as the polarizing film. You then add a coating of nematic liquid crystals to one of the filters. The grooves will cause the first layer of molecules to align with the filter"s orientation. Then add the second piece of glass with the polarizing film at a right angle to the first piece. Each successive layer of TN molecules will gradually twist until the uppermost layer is at a 90-degree angle to the bottom, matching the polarized glass filters.

As light strikes the first filter, it is polarized. The molecules in each layer then guide the light they receive to the next layer. As the light passes through the liquid crystal layers, the molecules also change the light"s plane of vibration to match their own angle. When the light reaches the far side of the liquid crystal substance, it vibrates at the same angle as the final layer of molecules. If the final layer is matched up with the second polarized glass filter, then the light will pass through.

If we apply an electric charge to liquid crystal molecules, they untwist. When they straighten out, they change the angle of the light passing through them so that it no longer matches the angle of the top polarizing filter. Consequently, no light can pass through that area of the LCD, which makes that area darker than the surrounding areas.

Building a simple LCD is easier than you think. Your start with the sandwich of glass and liquid crystals described above and add two transparent electrodes to it. For example, imagine that you want to create the simplest possible LCD with just a single rectangular electrode on it. The layers would look like this:

The LCD needed to do this job is very basic. It has a mirror (A) in back, which makes it reflective. Then, we add a piece of glass (B) with a polarizing film on the bottom side, and a common electrode plane (C) made of indium-tin oxide on top. A common electrode plane covers the entire area of the LCD. Above that is the layer of liquid crystal substance (D). Next comes another piece of glass (E) with an electrode in the shape of the rectangle on the bottom and, on top, another polarizing film (F), at a right angle to the first one.

The electrode is hooked up to a power source like a battery. When there is no current, light entering through the front of the LCD will simply hit the mirror and bounce right back out. But when the battery supplies current to the electrodes, the liquid crystals between the common-plane electrode and the electrode shaped like a rectangle untwist and block the light in that region from passing through. That makes the LCD show the rectangle as a black area.

It may seem odd in the face of stalled economies and stalled AV projects, but the costs of LCD display products are on the rise, according to a report from Digital Supply Chain Consulting, or DSCC.

Demand for LCD products remains strong , says DSCC, at the same time as shortages are deepening for glass substrates and driver integrated circuits. Announcements by the Korean panel makers that they will maintain production of LCDs and delay their planned shutdown of LCD lines has not prevented prices from continuing to rise.

I assume, but absolutely don’t know for sure, that panel pricing that affects the much larger consumer market must have a similar impact on commercial displays, or what researchers seem to term public information displays.

Panel prices increased more than 20% for selected TV sizes in Q3 2020 compared to Q2, and by 27% in Q4 2020 compared to Q3, we now expect that average LCD TV panel prices in Q1 2021 will increase by another 12%.

The first chart shows our latest TV panel price update, with prices increasing across the board from a low in May 2020 to an expected peak in May/June of this year. Last month’s update predicted a peak in February/March. However, our forecast for the peak has been increased and pushed out after AGC reported a major accident at a glass plant in Korea and amid continuing problems with driver IC shortages.

All that said, LCD panels are way less costly, way lighter and slimmer, and generally look way better than the ones being used 10 years ago, so prices is a relative problem.

Two professors named Donald Bitzer and Gene Slottow and their graduate student, Robert Wilson, came up with the prototype invention for the first flat-screen in 1964. Although a considerable invention for its time, the first flat-screen TV created by these professors was more of a prototype.

The first flat-screen TV invented by Donald, Gene, and Robert consisted of plasma technology.It was cheaper to utilize and was used to try to solve graphics problems with computer monitors at their university. The TV had a monochrome orange glow and had memory and bitmapped graphics.

The first functional flat-screen TV to go on sale came years later, in 1997 by Fujitsu. This TV invention would pave the way for flat-screen TV sales and truly jump-start its popularity in the retail world.

In 1997, technology company Fujitsu released the first-ever flat-screen TV to the public, which had a 42-inch screen, and weighed 40 pounds. For the TV fans of the world, this invention was futuristic and exciting. Being only 3-inches thick, the TV was the thinnest on the market.

The first flat-screen TV to be sold went for a whopping $15,000 due to its innovative design and specialty graphics. It brought on a true challenge to the regular CRT TVs of the time, which were bulky, heavy, and often had poor resolution. Fujitsu’s flat-screen TV was well-waited and appreciated.

Since the majority of people couldn’t afford to purchase the first flat-screen TV, the initial design was not a hit. It was not affordable for the regular American household. It wasn’t until 2005, when Toshiba released a 42-inch flat-screen TV for $4,500, that the flat-screen TV started to decrease in price.

With more and more companies taking on the modern innovation of this TV design, more and more households could afford them. Soon after, in 2006, 80-inch flat-screen TVs came to the market, and Panasonic created the first 103-inch prototype flat-screen, which they would later sell on the market.

With time, these companies drifted away from plasma technology and started to aim towards liquid crystal displays (LCD), which were much clearer, and could make TVs lighter and thinner. This design is the type of display utilized by most flat-screen TVs today, although some newer models use LED, QLED, and OLED displays instead.

The style of TVs before the flat-screen was called Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) and were bulky, heavy objects with a small display. They started in black and white and later utilized plasma color to bring color TV to the household.

Invented in the 1930s, these TVs were a fantastic invention to most families. They allowed people to “see films” at home, without leaving your sofa. It wasn’t until 1954 that the first color TV was invented. These TVs started at around 20-inches and hit 40-inches in the 1980s.

In the 80s, these TVs started to be used for video gaming and computer monitors as well. In the 90s, Sony released the first HD CRT TV, which was widely more popular than the competing new flat-screen TVs on the market, which cost over ten times the price.

The liquid crystals used to make LCD technology were accidentally discovered by a man named Friedrich Reinitzer in 1888. That’s80 years before the first LCD TV!

TV companies first introduced TV to the public at the World’s Fair in 1939. They broadcast the president across the fairgrounds and used this as the first advertising for the TV products.

Unlike the CRT TV, LCD flat-screens don’t experience burn-out. If you’ve ever owned a CRT, you know that keeping it turned on for an extended period can cause the image to “burn” into the screen. LCD technology doesn’t do this.

Flat-screen TVs first became popular in the late 1990s. Although they weren’t fancy HDTV models, they were still a massive hit on the market because they offered better picture quality than CRTs. They were also lighter and thinner, although not very affordable.

By the early 2000s, flat-screen TVs were extremely popular. 2003 and 2004 saw considerable rises in flat-screen TV sales. LCD and plasma TVs became available with more color and had bigger screens. Their cost went down as well. Sales skyrocketed.

As more manufacturers discover new technology, the prices will continue to fall. You can purchase the 30-inch flat-screen plasma or LCD for around $800, and in some sales, as little as $300. On Black Friday sales, prices are probably even lower.

When the first TV brands released the first flat-screen TV models, Samsung and LG were the last to lean into the trend and are now at the top of the market. How interesting is that?

Fujitsu Announces World’s First Commercial 42-inch-diagonal Wide-Screen Color Plasma Display. Retrieved from https://pr.fujitsu.com/jp/news/1995/Aug/24-e.html.