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Computer Graphics
Computer graphics deals with all aspects
of creating images with a computer
Hardware
Software
Applications
Displays


Emissive display -- convert electrical energy into light
- Cathode ray tube (CRT)
- Flat panel CRT
- Plasma panels (gas-discharge display)
- Thin-film electroluminescent (EL) display
- Light-emitting diodes

Non-Emissive display -- optical effect: convert sunlight or
light from other source into graphic patterns.
- Liquid-crystal device (LCD) flat panel
- Passive-matrix LCD
- Active-matrix LCD


Monochrome Cathode Ray Tube
(CRT)


Cathode Ray beam of electrons
- emitted by an electron gun
- accelerated by a high positive voltage near the face of the tube
- forced into a narrow stream by a focusing system
- directed toward a point on the screen by the magnetic field generated
by the deflection coils
- hit onto the the phosphor-coated screen
- phosphor emits visible light, whose intensity depends on the number of
electrons striking on the screen

Cathode
Focusing
system
Horizontal
& vertical
deflection
Electron gun
Basic Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)
Fire an electron beam at a phosphor
coated screen
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Fundamentals of Computer
Graphics 5
Output Devices
The cathode-ray tube CRT
Electron gun
Contains a filament that, when heated, emits a
stream of electrons
Electrons are focused with an electromagnet
into a sharp beam and directed to a specific
point of the face of the picture tube
The front surface of the picture tube is coated
with small phospher dots
When the beam hits a phospher dot it glows
with a brightness proportional to the strength of
the beam and how long it is hit
Phosphors
Once struck by the electron beam most
phosphors relax back to the ground state
by emitting a photon of light
This light is called fluorescence, which
normally decays in under a millisecond
Some molecules may be further excited,
and emit a light call phosphorescence,
which decays slower, but still rapidly (15-
20 milliseconds)
Therefore, the screen must be refreshed
by redrawing the image
Phosphors
So phosphors may be characterised by
their persistence
(time to decay of emitted light)

High persistence cheap and good for text,
bad for animation (original IBM PC
monitor)
Low persistence, good for animation, but
needs a high refresh rate or flicker can be
observed
50-60 Hz is usually sufficient to avoid
flicker
CRT
Display Technologies: CRTs
Refresh
Frame must be refreshed to draw new images
As new pixels are struck by electron beam, others are
decaying
Electron beam must hit all pixels frequently to
eliminate flicker
Critical fusion frequency
Typically 60 times/sec
Varies with intensity, individuals, phospher
persistence, lighting...
Raster Scan Systems
Draw one line at a time
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Properties of the CRT

Phosphor Persistence (PP)
- the light output decays exponentially with time.
- a phosphors persistence is defined as the time from the removal of
excitation to the moment of decaying the light to one-tenth of its
original intensity
- low persistence -> good for animation
- high persistence -> good for static picture with high complexity
- typical range: 10ms 60ms


Refresh rate (RR)
- number of times per second the image is redrawn (e.g., 60 or higher)

Critical fusion frequency (CFF)
- the refresh rate above which a picture stops flickering and becomes
steady

longer PP -> lower CFF required

Display Technologies: CRTs
Phosphers
Flourescence: Light emitted while the
phospher is being struck by electrons
Phospherescence: Light emitted once the
electron beam is removed
Persistence: The time from the removal of
the excitation to the moment when
phospherescence has decayed to 10% of
the initial light output
Properties of the CRT


Resolution
- the maximum number of points that can be displayed without overlap on
a CRT
- high-definition system, e.g. 1280 * 1024 pixels
- resolution depends on the type of phosphor, the intensity to be
displayed, focusing and deflection systems, size of video memory

Horizontal scan rate
- the number of scan lines per second that the CRT is able to display
- refresh rate * number of scan lines per frame

Display Technologies: CRTs
Interlaced Scanning
Assume we can only scan all pixels of
entire screen
30 times / second
To reduce flicker, divide frame into two
fields of odd and even lines
1/30 Sec 1/30 Sec
1/60 Sec 1/60 Sec 1/60 Sec
1/60 Sec
Field 1
Field 1
Field 2 Field 2
Frame
Frame
Display Technologies: CRTs
CRT timing
Scanning (left to right, top to bottom)
Vertical Sync Pulse: Signals the start of the next
field
Vertical Retrace time: Time needed to get from the
bottom of the current field to the top of the next
field
Horizontal Sync Pulse: Signals the start of the new
scan line
Horizontal Retrace time: The time needed to get
from the end of the current scan line to the start of
the next scan line
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Persistence
How long small spots continue to emit light
after the beam is moved. How long it takes
for the emitted light from the screen to
decay to one-tenth of its original intensity.
Lower persistence requires high refresh rate
& it is good for animation.
High persistence is useful for displaying
highly complex static pictures.
Graphics monitors are usually constructed
with 10 to 60 microseconds.
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Resolution
The maximum number of points that can be displayed
without an overlap on a CRT is referred to as the resolution.
The smaller the spot size, the higher the resolution.
The higher the resolution, the better is the graphics system
High quality resolution is 1280x1024
The intensity distribution of spots on the screen have
Gaussian shape.
Adjacent points will appear distinct as long as their
separation is greater than the diameter at which each spot
has intensity of about 60% of that at the center of the spot.
Intensity
distribution
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Addressability
Addressability is the number of individual dots per
inch (d.p.i.) that can be created. If the address of the
current dot is (x, y) then the next dot will be (x + y),
(x + y + 1)
The picture on a screen consists of intensified
points.
The smallest addressable point on the screen is
called pixel or picture element
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Aspect ratio
This number gives the ratio between
vertical points and horizontal points
necessary to produce equal length lines in
both directions on the screen. Aspect ratio
= means that a vertical line plotted with
3 points is equal in length to a horizontal
line plotted with 4 points.
Display Technology: Color
CRTs
Color CRTs are much more complicated
Requires manufacturing very precise geometry
Uses a pattern of color phosphors on the screen:





Why red, green, and blue phosphors?
Delta electron gun arrangement In-line electron gun arrangement
CRT Color Monitor
Electron Guns
Red Input
Green
Input
Blue Input
Deflection
Yoke
Shadow Mask
Red, Blue,
and Green
Phosphor Dots
CRT
Shadow Mask
SHADOW MASK
Red
Green
Blue
Convergence
Point
Phosphor Dot
Screen
Shadow mask has one small hole for each phosphor triad.
Holes are precisely aligned with respect to both the triads and the
electron guns, so that each dot is exposed to electrons from only
one gun.
The number of electrons in each beam controls the amount of red,
blue and green light generated by the triad.
Display Technology: Color
CRTs
Color CRTs have
Three electron guns
A metal shadow mask to differentiate the
beams
Properties of the CRT
Dot Pitch the spacing between same
color adjacent pixels on a CRT, measured
in millimeters. Generally, the lower the
number, the more detailed the image.

Output Scan Technology


Vector display

- line drawing and stroke drawing in a random order



Raster display

- horizontal scan line order
Vector Display


Vector display (1960s)

- vector system consists of:
display processor (controller),
display buffer memory
CRT

- The buffer stores the computer-produced display list or display program
- Display program contains point- and point-plotting commands with (x, y, z)
endpoint coordinates
- The commands for plotting are interpreted by the display processor

- The principle of vector system is random scan
The beam is deflected from endpoint to endpoint, as dictated by the order of the
display command

- display list needed to be refreshed (e.g., 30Hz)

Vector Display


Vector display (1960s)


:
:
Move
10
15
LINE
300
400
CHAR
Lu
cy
LINE
:
:
JMP
Display Controller (DC)
Monitor
Lucy
Host Computer
display buffer
Raster Display


Raster display (since 1970s)

- Raster system consists of:
display processor (input, refreshing, scan converting)
video controller
buffer memory (frame buffer)
CRT

- The buffer stores the primitive pixels, rather than display list or display program
- Video controller reads the pixel contents to produce the actual image on the
screen
- The image is represented as a set of raster scan lines, and forms a matrix of pixels.

- need refresh the raster display (e.g., 60Hz)

Common Raster Display System
CPU
System
Memory
Peripheral
Devices
Frame
Buffer
Display
System bus
Display
Processor
Memory
Display Processor
Video
Controller
Raster Display


Raster display

Display Processor
Monitor
Lucy
Host Computer
Frame buffer
Video Controller
Lucy
BASIC DEFINITIONS
RASTER: A rectangular array of points or dots.

PIXEL (Pel): One dot or picture element of the raster

SCAN LINE: A row of pixels
Video raster devices
display an image by
sequentially drawing
out the pixels of the
scan lines that form
the raster.
Raster Display


Raster scan with blanked retrace

Scan line
Vertical retrace
Horizontal retrace
Scanning An Image
Frame: The image to be scanned out on the CRT.
Some minimum number of frames must be redisplayed (or refreshed)
each second to eliminate flicker in the image.

Critical Fusion Frequency --The
refresh rate above which a picture
stops flickering and fuses into a
steady image is called the critical
fusion frequency.
Typically 60 times per second for
raster displays.
Varies with intensity, individuals,
phosphor persistence, room lighting.
Video Controller

Access the frame buffer to refresh the screen

Control the operation for display

Color look-up table

Linear
address
X
address
Y
address
Raster-scan
generator
Frame
buffer
Pixel
values
Horizontal
& vertical
Deflection signal
Data
Intensity
or color
Video Controller

Types of refresh

Interlaced (mostly for TV for reducing flickering effect -- NTSC)
- two fields for one frame
- odd-field: odd-numbered scan lines
- even-field: even-numbered scan lines
- refresh rate: e.g., NTSC: 60Hz (60 fields per second); 30 frame/s.
PAL: 50Hz

Non-interlaced (mostly for monitor)
- refresh rate: e.g., 60Hz or more





Odd-field
Even-field
Display Processor
Also called either a Graphics Controller or Display CoProcessor
Specialized hardware to assist in scan converting output
primitives into the frame buffer.

Fundamental difference among display systems is how much the
display processor does versus how much must be done by the
graphics subroutine package executing on the general-
purpose CPU.
Frame Buffer
A frame buffer may be thought of as computer memory organized as a
two-dimensional array with each (x,y) addressable location
corresponding to one pixel.
Bit Depth is the number of bits corresponding to each pixel.
A typical frame buffer resolution might be
640 x 480 x 8
1280 x 1024 x 8
1280 x 1024 x 24
1-Bit Memory. Monochrome Display
(Bit-map Display)
Electron
Gun
1 bit
2 levels
3-Bit Color Display
3
red
green
blue
COLOR: black red green blue yellow cyan magenta white
R
G
B
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
1
1
0
0
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
True Color Display
24 bitplanes, 8 bits per color gun.
2
24
= 16,777,216 colors
Green
Red
Blue
8
8
8
Color Look-up Table

LUT (Look-Up Table)

LUT has as many entries as there are pixel values, the values in the bit planes are used as
indices into one or more LUT.

A pixel value is used not to control the beam directly, but rather as an index into the look-up
table.

The table entrys value is used to control the intensity or color of the CRT.
for example:
If each pixel consists of 8 bits in the frame buffer the LUT requires a table with 256 entries.
Pixel value 67 access the content in the entry 67 of the table use the color
content to control the CRT beam
The total number of bits in each table entry is called the width of the LUT,
which is the capability for providing all possible colors

The look-up operation is done for each pixel on each display cycle, fast access of the table is
required.

LUT can be loaded on program command.

Color Map Look-Up Tables

Extends the number of colors that can be displayed by a given
number of bit-planes.
Fig. 4.LUT Video look-up table organization. A pixel with value 67
(binary 01000011) is displayed on the screen with the red electron
gun at 9/15 of maximum, green at 10/15, and blue at 1/15. This look-up
table is shown with 12 bits per entry. Up to 24 bits per entry are
common.
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
1
67
100110100001
0
67
255
1001 1010 0001
R G B
RED
GREEN
BLUE
Pixel displayed
at x', y'
Pixel in
bit map
at x', y'
0 x
0
y
x
max
max
y
Frame Buffer Look-up table Display
Pseudo Color: 2
8
x 24 Color Map LUT

0
1
2
3
254
255
RED GREEN BLUE
256 colors chosen from a
palette of 16,777,216.


Each entry in the color map
LUT can be user defined.
Could be used to define 256 shades of green or
64 shades each of red, blue, green and white,
etc.
Color Look-up Table


The number of the bit planes in the frame buffer determines the number
of colors displayable on the screen simultaneously

The width of the LUT determines the number of possible colors that we
can choose from (also called the color palette)

Example:
8 bit planes 2
8
or 256 colors can be displayed simultaneously
A LUT width of 12 bits color palette consists of 2
12
colors in all


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Raster Scan Displays (1)
Raster: A rectangular array of points or dots
Pixel: One dot or picture element of the raster.
Its intensity range for pixels depends on
capability of the system
Scan line: A row of pixels
Picture elements are stored in a memory called
frame buffer
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Raster Scan Displays (2)
Frame must be refreshed to draw new
images
As new pixels are struck by electron beam,
others are decaying
Electron beam must hit all pixels
frequently to eliminate flicker
Critical fusion frequency
Typically 60 times/sec
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Raster Scan Displays (3)
Intensity of pixels depends on the system for
example black and white screens each point can
be on or off thus it needs one bit of memory to
represent each pixel.
To paint color screen additional bits are needed.
If three bits are used, then number of different
colors are 2*2*2.
A special memory is used to store the image with
scan-out synchronous to the raster. We call this
the frame buffer.
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Raster Scan Displays (6)
Raster CRT pros:
Allows solids, not just wire frames
Leverages low-cost CRT technology (i.e.,
TVs)
Bright! Display emits light
Cons:
Requires screen-size memory array
Discrete sampling (pixels)
Practical limit on size
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Frame Buffers
A frame buffer may be thought of as computer memory
organized as a two-dimensional array with each (x,y)
addressable location corresponding to one pixel.
Bit Planes or Bit Depth is the number of bits corresponding to
each pixel.
A typical frame buffer resolution might be
640 x 480 x 8
1280 x 1024 x 8
1280 x 1024 x 24
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Monochrome Display
(Bit-map Display)
Electron
Gun
1 bit
2 levels
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3-Bit Color Display
3
red
green
blue
COLOR: black red green blue yellow cyan magenta white
R
G
B
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
1
1
0
0
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
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True Color Display
24 bit planes, 8 bits per color gun.
2
24
= 16,777,216
Green
Red
Blue
N
N
N
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Color Map Look-Up Tables
Extends the number of colors that can be displayed by a given number of bit-planes.
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
1
67
100110100001
0
67
255
1001 1010 0001
R G B
RED
GREEN
BLUE
Pixel displayed
at x', y'
Pixel in
bit map
at x', y'
0 x
0
y
x
max
max
y
Bit map Look-up table Display
Video look-up table organization: each table entry is a 12 bit
per entry.
A pixel with value 67 is displayed on the screen with the red
electron gun at 9/15 (binary 1001) of maximum, green at
10/15, and the blue is 1/15.
2 Basic Techniques for Color Display
Beam-Penetration
Method
Shadow-Mask
Method
56
Beam-Penetration Method
Used with random scan monitors
The screen has two layers of phosphor: usually red
and green
The displayed color depends on how far the electron
beam penetrates through the two layers.
A beam of slow electrons excites only the outer of the
red layer, a beam of fast electrons penetrates through
the red layer and excites the inner green layer, and at
intermediate beam speeds, combinations of the two
colors are emitted to show other colors (yellow &
orange)
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Shadow-Mask Method
Color CRTs have
Three electron guns
A metal shadow mask to differentiate the
beams
The Shadow mask in the previous image
is known as the delta-delta shadow-mask.

The 3 electron beams are deflected and
focused as a group onto the shadow
mask, which contains a series of holes
aligned with the phosphor-dot patterns.

The 3 beams pass through a hole in the
shadow mask and activate a dot triangle,
which appears as a small color spot on the
screen.

A second arrangement of the 3 electron
guns is in-line
Where the corresponding red-green-blue
color dots on the screen are aligned along
one scan line instead of a triangular
pattern.
Controlling Colors in shadow mask
Different colors can be obtained by varying the intensity levels of the
three electron beams.

Example: Simply turning off the red and green guns, we get only the
color coming from the blue phosphor.

Yellow = Green + Red
Magenta = Blue + Red
Cyan = Blue + Green

White is produced when all the 3 guns possess equal amount of
intensity.
Application:
Color CRTs in graphics systems are
designed as RGB monitors, which
employ the shadow mask technique.

The color CRT takes the intensity level for
each electron gun ( red, green and blue)
directly from the computer system without
any intermediate processing.

An RGB color system with 24 bits of
storage per pixel is generally referred to
as full-color system or a true-color
system. It allows 256 voltage settings for
each electron gun and nearly 17 million
colors.
Vector Display vs. Raster Display

Vector display

Accurate (high resolution) for line drawings
Requires display processor (controller) to interpret display commands
High-cost
Flickering when the number of primitives in the buffer becomes too large

Raster display

Low-cost
Requires frame buffer
Fresh rate is independent of complexity of the display contents
Easy to fill a region
Line or polygon must be scan-converted into the component pixels in the
frame buffer, which is computationally expensive.
Less accurate: lines are approximated with pixels on the raster grid.
This visual effect (I.e., jaggies or stair-casing) due to a sampling error is
called aliasing

Flat-Panel Displays
Although CRT monitors are still in use and
form 70% of the users, still other
technologies are emerging in the market
to replace the classic CRT model.

So What does Flat-Panel mean?
It refers to a class of video devices
that have a:-
reduced volume,
reduced weight and
reduced power requirements
compared to a standard CRT
In existence since 1964s,Flat
panel displays are much
thinner and flatter than
traditional TVs
Very Light in weight
Thinner than CRTs and can be hung on
walls.
Also available as pocket notepads on
which notes can be scribbled and can be
carried around easily.
Current usage:
Small and big TV monitors
Calculators
Pocket video games
Laptop computers
Advertisement boards in elevators and
showrooms.
Portable monitors.

Emissive and Non-Emissive
Emissive displays (also called emitters) are devices that convert
electrical energy into light.

Example:
Plasma panels,
thinfilm electroluminescent displays,
LEDs (Light emitting diodes)

Flat CRTs have also been tried to be devised where the electron
beams are accelerated parallel to the screen and then deflected
90
0.

Sadly the above was not successful at all.

Non Emissive Flat-Panel Displays
Non-emissive displays or non-emitters use
optical effects to convert sunlight or light
from some other source into graphics
patterns.

Example:
LCD (Liquid crystal device)

Plasma Panels
It is an example of an emissive
flat panel display.
Also called as a gas-discharge display.
Can be wall mounted.

Working:
A plasma display is comprised of two
parallel sheets of glass, which enclose a
gas mixture usually composed of neon
and xenon (some manufacturers also use
helium in the mix) that is contained in
millions of tiny cells sandwiched in
between the glass.

Working of Plasma Panel
Electricity, sent through an array of
electrodes that are in close proximity to
the cells, excites the gas, resulting in a
discharge of ultraviolet light.

The light then strikes a phosphor coating
on the inside of the glass, which causes
the emission of red, blue or green visible
light. (Each cell, or pixel, actually consists
of one red, one blue and one green sub-
pixel). The three colors in each pixel
combine according to the amount of
electric pulses fed to each sub-pixel,
(which varies according to the signals sent
to the electrodes by the plasma displays
internal electronics), to create visible
images.
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Working of Plasma Panel (pic)

68
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Plasma Panel
Plasma display panels
Similar in principle to
fluorescent light tubes
Small gas-filled capsules
are excited by electric field,
emits UV light
UV excites phosphor
Phosphor relaxes, emits
some other color
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Plasma Panel (2)
Plasma Display Panel Pros
Large viewing angle
Good for large-format displays
Fairly bright
Cons
Expensive
Large pixels (~1 mm versus ~0.2 mm)
Phosphors gradually deplete
Less bright than CRTs, using more power
to some extent in order to make up for the
less illumination.
Backlight
A backlight is a form of illumination used in liquid crystal displays
(LCDs).

As LCDs do not produce light themselves (unlike for example
Cathode ray tube (CRT) displays), they need illumination (ambient
light or a special light source) to produce a visible image.

Backlights illuminate the LCD from the side or back of the display
panel, unlike front lights, which are placed in front of the LCD.

Backlights are used in small displays to increase readability in low
light conditions, and in computer displays and LCD televisions to
produce light in a manner similar to that of a CRT display.

71
Liquid & A crystal?????
How many states exist in science?

What are these things called liquid
crystals?

The name "liquid crystal" sounds like a
contradiction. We think of a crystal as a
solid material like quartz, usually as hard
as rock, and a liquid is obviously different.
How could any material combine the two?
72
73
Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs)
LCDs: organic molecules, naturally in
crystalline state, that liquefy when excited
by heat or E field
Crystalline state twists polarized light 90.
74
Display Technology: LCDs
Transmissive & reflective LCDs:
LCDs act as light valves, not light emitters,
and thus rely on an external light source.
Laptop screen: backlit, transmissive
display
Palm Pilot/Game Boy: reflective display
Working of LCD
An LCD works entirely differently
compared to Plasma Panel.
An active matrix LCDs light source is
generated by small
fluorescent bulbs. The white light from
these bulbs is diffused to create a uniform
light source by shining it through a
polarizer located in the back of the display,
which allows light to go through in only
one direction.
Individual LCD cells in the panel are then
turned on and off by applying a small
electric charge to the thin film transistors
(TFT), located in each sub-pixel.
This charge causes the liquid crystals to
twist, allowing white light to be passed
through red, green and blue color filters
and a front polarizer in front of the LCD
cells. The image is formed according to
which crystals twist to let light through or
block it.
75
Working of LCD (pic)

76
Applying voltages
to crossing pairs
of conductors
causes the gas
(usually a mixture
including neon) to
break down into a
glowing plasma of
electrons and ions
Plasma-Panel Displays
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Active Display Passive Display
Active VS. Passive Display
TFT (Thin Film Transistor)
Liquid Crystal Displays
Light passing
through the
liquid crystal is
twisted so it gets
through the
polarizer
A voltage is
applied using
the crisscrossing
conductors to
stop the twisting
and turn pixels
off
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Display Technology: LCDs
Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs)
LCDs: organic molecules, naturally in
crystalline state, that liquefy when excited
by heat or E field
Crystalline state twists polarized light 90
Display Technology: LCDs
Transmissive & reflective LCDs:
LCDs act as light valves, not light emitters, and thus
rely on an external light source.
Laptop screen
backlit
transmissive display
Palm Pilot/Game Boy
reflective display
LCD Display
Liquid Crystal Display is used in laptop computers and
flat-panel displays
Flat-panel displays are commonly of two types:
Plasma displays
LCD displays
Uses small amount of power, so is good for battery-
operated devices
How does it work?
Each pixel has two perpendicular polarized filters
Liquid crystals are placed between the filters
Voltage controls the alignment of the crystals
The alignment of crystals twist the polarized light so that it
passes through the second filter
LCD Display
Different intensities
Voltage controls amount of twist, and therefore the amount of
light passing through.
Color displays
Each pixel has three sub-pixels: Red, Green and Blue
Different intensities of the sub-pixels give perception of whole
spectrum of colors
Transmissive and reflective displays
Transmissive display: light source is from a backlight, and
viewed from the front. Example: Computer display
Reflective display: Use external light reflected by a reflector
behind the display. Example: watch, calculator
Transmissive displays are brighter
LCD Display
Passive and active matrix
Passive matrix:
Pixels are addressed one at a time by row and column matrix
Pixels must maintain state between refresh without steady electric charge
Only used in low-resolution displays (such as watch, calculator)
Slow response time, poor contrast
Active matrix:
Each pixel has its own transistor
Each row line is activated sequentially
When one row line is activated, all column lines are connected to this row
Used in computer displays
Disadvantages of LCD
Lower contrast ratio than plasma or CRT
Only crisp images in native resolution or whole fraction
Small viewing angle
Display Technology: Plasma
Plasma display panels
Similar in principle to
fluorescent light tubes
Small gas-filled capsules
are excited by electric field,
emits UV light
UV excites phosphor
Phosphor relaxes, emits
some other color
Display Technology
Plasma Display Panel Pros
Large viewing angle
Good for large-format displays
Fairly bright
Cons
Expensive
Large pixels (~1 mm versus ~0.2 mm)
Phosphors gradually deplete
Less bright than CRTs, using more power
Physical Size
Compact and Lightweight
Space saving
Can be mounted on a wall or panel

Advantages of LCDs
Physical Size
Compact and Lightweight
Space saving
Can be mounted on a wall or panel
Advantages of LCDs
Display Size
Available at comparable in screen size as
traditional CRT
Shown on the next slide, a 12.1" LCD display
(left) has only a slightly smaller viewing area than
a typical 14" CRT monitor. Newer, larger LCD
monitors are also appearing that have 15", 17",
and even larger screen sizes that are comparable
to the largest CRT monitors. (One thing to note is
that LCD monitors are typically sized by their
actual viewable diagonal measurement, but CRTs
typically are not.)
Advantages of LCDs
Advantages of LCDs
Power Consumption and Radiation Emission
Consume less energy and more durable
A typical CRT losses approximately 50% of its
brightness after 10,000 hours. An LCD bulb will
maintain its brightness anywhere from 25,000 to 50,000
hours.
LCD consumes fewer watts than a CRT. LCD will use
an average 30 watts compared to 120 watts for the
CRT.
Can reduce electric bill by 40-85%.
Uses a combination of fluorescent-based backlight, color
filters, transistors, and liquid crystal to create and
illuminate images. It blocks light rather emit light
Advantages of LCDs
Power Consumption and Radiation Emission
Doest not emit Radiation
Not subject to Electromagnetic Interference

Advantages of LCDs
Viewing
Cause less eyestrain
Does not flicker or glare

(Source: Dailey News J une 2, 2002, TouchScreens.com, unicomplabs.com,
TheVisualLink.com)
Advantages of CRT
Color
Most are capable of displaying unlimited
colors.
Resolution
Multiple video Resolutions.

Advantages of CRT
Response Time
Faster response time. Critical to people
who watch videos or play games on their
PCs.
The fastest LCDs offer a response time of
about 25 milliseconds as apposed to
CRTs that have a response time of about
13 milliseconds.

Advantages of CRT
Viewing Angle
Look @ a very wide angle
(Source: PCWorld.com, TouchScreens.com)
Disadvantages of LCDs
Resolution
Displays Native Resolutions (Resolution that it
displays best)
Viewing Angle
Smaller, needed to be viewed more directly
from the front.
From the side the images on an LCD screen
can seem to disappear, or invert colors.
Newer displays that are coming out have a
wider viewing angle so this is not as much of
an issue as it has been in the past.
Disadvantages of LCDs
Price
Upfront cost it is more costly but long-term
cost but will conserve energy in the long
run.
The energy savings may not be much for
an individual use, but for a corporate office
where 50 displays or more are in use, the
energy savings might be more of an issue.
Disadvantages of LCDs
Installation
Need a plug interface to connect to the
computer.
Some require a special digital plug-
interface in order to work .
Problem: is that this plug is not available
on most computers, so another video card
or adapter must be purchased to plug
these LCD monitors into the computer.
Disadvantages of LCDs
Response Time
It is much slower. The delay can cause a
ghosting effect on images it displays.
(Source: TechRepublic.com, PCWorld.com, TouchScreens.com)
Disadvantages of CRTs
Physical size
Takes more desktop space.
(Source: TechRepublic.com)
Disadvantages of CRTs
Power Consumption and Radiation Emission
Consumes more energy
Emits harmful radiation. The metal shield behind
the glass of your monitor protects your body from
a flood of radiation.
It holds a dangerous electrical charge even after
turned off and can last up to several years and be
hazardous and even deadly to anyone who opens
a CRT monitor casing.
Know to cause fires due to electrical malfunctions
and excessive heat if the ventilation holes are
accidentally covered up.
(Source: TechRepublic.com)