| General > General Technical Chat |
| Poll: Favorite Display Technology |
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| james_s:
--- Quote from: IDEngineer on February 20, 2021, 05:20:34 pm ---I have an emotional fondness for a traditional CRT but let's be honest, it's inferior to at least one other modern display technology in every parameter. --- End quote --- There is one parameter that no other display technology has matched, at least to my knowledge - dynamic range. The best example I can think of is the vector arcade game Asteroids, blinding white missiles flying across an inky black background, it's impossible to emulate properly on any modern display technology. The only possible exception I can think of would be laser projection but a laser projector relies on mechanical galvos to scan the beam and even the best hardware can't match the write speed possible with even a magnetic deflection CRT. Technically perhaps OLED could be made to allow very high dynamic range like this but I don't think anything currently on the market can do it. There is another advantage that CRTs have that is unique to them, they are inherently analog without fixed pixels so they can natively display a wide range of resolutions without scaling. This is especially true of monochrome CRTs which lack a shadow mask or aperture grill, they are just painting a picture in real time on a phosphor screen. The resolution is limited only by spot size, maximum beam current and the speed of the deflection. |
| IDEngineer:
--- Quote from: james_s on February 20, 2021, 07:12:46 pm ---There is one parameter that no other display technology has matched, at least to my knowledge - dynamic range. The only possible exception I can think of would be laser projection but a laser projector relies on mechanical galvos to scan the beam and even the best hardware can't match the write speed possible with even a magnetic deflection CRT. --- End quote --- Good point and I agree. On both counts. To your second point, I've worked on and off with galvo-scanned lasers since the 70's and it's not even a fair comparison, if only due to the masses involved! Electrons vs. shaft + mirror mass, hmm. --- Quote ---There is another advantage that CRTs have that is unique to them, they are inherently analog without fixed pixels so they can natively display a wide range of resolutions without scaling. This is especially true of monochrome CRTs which lack a shadow mask or aperture grill, they are just painting a picture in real time on a phosphor screen. The resolution is limited only by spot size, maximum beam current and the speed of the deflection. --- End quote --- Agreed again. Particularly monochrome screens. It's going to be hard to match the theoretical minimum spot size, though phosphor blooming will get in the way at any useful brightness level. |
| IDEngineer:
--- Quote from: Alex Eisenhut on February 20, 2021, 05:25:31 pm --- --- Quote from: IDEngineer on February 20, 2021, 05:20:34 pm --- those electron gun assemblies were simultaneously the most precision and the least appreciated devices most people would encounter in their lives. --- End quote --- I'd go for VCR head drum for that title, with hard disk and floppy disk heads as runners up, and honorable mentions to reel to reel heads. --- End quote --- I'll admit those are good runners-up, but while they're very finely machined (smooth) and have incredible tolerances (photolithography?), the electron gun is an assortment of gossamer components held in purely mechanical alignment. They couldn't be photolithographically replicated in mass volume, each one was almost hand assembled and tweaked. No matter which one is the "winner" the electron gun, in mass production, was an amazing accomplishment. |
| Cyberdragon:
--- Quote ---Overall winner: LCD. Can be made visible in any amount of light from absolute darkness to intense sunlight. --- End quote --- Except prolonged exposer to heat and sun destroys monochrome LCDs. My dad had a '89 truck often used in the hot desert sun while prospecting and the radio LCD got absolutely cooked black. |
| gnuarm:
--- Quote from: Cyberdragon on February 20, 2021, 08:56:29 pm --- --- Quote ---Overall winner: LCD. Can be made visible in any amount of light from absolute darkness to intense sunlight. --- End quote --- Except prolonged exposer to heat and sun destroys monochrome LCDs. My dad had a '89 truck often used in the hot desert sun while prospecting and the radio LCD got absolutely cooked black. --- End quote --- The claim of viewability in sunlight is a bit overstated. While there are displays that work outdoors, they are not the same displays that are used indoors. It requires MASSIVE backlighting to view an LCD outdoors making them rather expensive and power hungry. So while the technology allows for outdoor viewing, LCDs can not be considered to be suitable for *all* environments. Most LCDs are marginally viewable even in many indoor environments. To view passive LCDs under a wide range of indoor lighting a compromise is used where there is a slightly reflective backing that reflects some light but also allows for a backlight. The key word there is "compromise". The result does not work well under any lighting condition and is particularly bad in the mid range where neither the backlight on or off helps. A stronger backlight helps, but then uses more power, which may or may not matter. The point is LCD is not a universal solution to all display problems. |
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