Percent Difference<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n <\/p>\n
Updated 11\/3\/2022<\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0 Fixed a couple of typos and made some minor wording changes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/span>Fruit Loop, Letter Soup<\/span><\/h2>\nThe first challenge to buying a new TV or monitor is the incredible number of acronyms you need to learn before you buy one.\u00a0 And, every time you buy one, somehow, there are yet even more acronyms.<\/p>\n
<\/span>K and P – Resolution<\/span><\/h3>\n“K” means “thousand”, just like in the metric system.<\/p>\n
In terms of television or monitor resolution, K is a generic term that means, “about 1,000 pixels across”<\/strong>.<\/p>\nThere are two sets of standards, which makes things even more confusing.<\/p>\n
\n- In the consumer space, monitors and televisions follow the ITU standards<\/li>\n
- In the cinema \/ motion picture space, equipment follows the DCI standards<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
“P” refers to “Progressive” scanning, which is a fancy way of saying non-interlaced.<\/p>\n
“Interlaced” means that odd and even scan lines are drawn in alternate frames.\u00a0 So if the first frame has only the odd scan lines drawn, the next frame will have only the even scan lines drawn.\u00a0 This interlaced format goes back to the early days of television, and there were only two interlaced formats used in North America:<\/p>\n
\n- 480i, which is NTSC “Standard Definition”, or 320 x 480 (interlaced).<\/li>\n
- 1080i, which was an early attempt to make 1080p (Full HD, or 1920 x 1080) compatible with the older, slower devices of that time that couldn’t handle the 60 frames per second frame rate.\u00a0 This was also a way to sell lower-end TVs at a higher price point by calling them “True HD” or something similar, with “1080i” somewhere next to it in a much smaller font.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Interlaced formats have long since faded in to obscurity, and all modern TVs and monitors are progressive, but we still use the “P” number to refer to the vertical resolution.\u00a0 “Progressive”, of course, only refers to TV resolution, since monitors\u00a0have never<\/em> been interlaced.<\/p>\nIn summary, “K” means the horizontal resolution, “P” means the vertical resolution<\/strong>, and both terms are generic.<\/p>\n\n\n\nGeneric Term<\/strong><\/td>\nITU Standard<\/strong><\/td>\nDCI Standard<\/strong><\/td>\nNo Standard<\/strong><\/td>\n“P” Number<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| 2K<\/td>\n | Full HD<\/p>\n 1920 x 1080<\/td>\n | DCI 2K<\/p>\n 2048 x 1080<\/td>\n | <\/td>\n | 1080p<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| <\/td>\n | <\/td>\n | <\/td>\n | QHD<\/p>\n 2560 x 1440<\/td>\n | 1440p<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| 4K<\/td>\n | 4K UHD, UHD<\/p>\n 3840 x 2160<\/td>\n | DCI 4K<\/p>\n 4096 x 2160<\/td>\n | <\/td>\n | 2160p<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| 5K<\/td>\n | <\/td>\n | <\/td>\n | 5120 x 2160<\/p>\n 5120 x 2880<\/td>\n | ???<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| 8K<\/td>\n | 8K UHD, UHD2<\/p>\n 680 x 4320<\/td>\n | DCI 8K<\/p>\n 8192 x 4320<\/td>\n | <\/td>\n | 4320p (??)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n <\/p>\n <\/span>W and UW – Widescreen<\/span><\/h3>\n“W” means “Widescreen”<\/strong><\/p>\n“U” and “UW” mean “Ultra Widescreen”<\/strong><\/p>\nBefore 16:9 was the mainstream standard, most TVs and monitors had an aspect ratio of 4:3, meaning, if the vertical resolution is y, the horizontal resolution is 4\/3 \u2022 y.\u00a0 Since standard definition (4:3) is more square, any 16:9 format was seen as “widescreen”.\u00a0 During the same era, anything in the much wider 21:9 format was therefore called “ultra” widescreen.<\/p>\n As 16:9 became “normal”, calling it “widescreen” didn’t really make sense, so companies began dropping this designation sometime in the 2010’s.\u00a0 However, there is still 21:9, which WAS called ultra widescreen, which then became normal widescreen.<\/p>\n \n\n\n| <\/td>\n | 4:3<\/strong><\/td>\n16:9<\/strong><\/td>\n21:9<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Before mid-2010’s<\/td>\n | “Normal”<\/td>\n | Widescreen<\/td>\n | Ultra Widescreen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| After mid-2010’s<\/td>\n | (Gone)<\/td>\n | “Normal”<\/td>\n | Widescreen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| Later 4:3 formats<\/td>\n | UXGA: 1600 x 1200<\/p>\n QXGA: 2048 x 1536<\/td>\n | <\/td>\n | <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| 1080p formats<\/td>\n | <\/td>\n | Full HD: 1920 x 1080<\/td>\n | UWHD: 2560 x 1080<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| 1440p formats<\/td>\n | <\/td>\n | QHD: 2560 x 1440<\/td>\n | UQHD: 3440 x 1440<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| 2160p formats<\/td>\n | <\/td>\n | UHD: 3840 x 2160<\/td>\n | 5K Wide: 5120 x 2160<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| 5K<\/td>\n | <\/td>\n | 5K: 5120 x 2880<\/td>\n | <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| 4320p<\/td>\n | <\/td>\n | 8K UHD: 7680 x 4320<\/td>\n | <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n <\/p>\n <\/span>D and Q – Double and Quad<\/span><\/h3>\n“D” means “Double” the WIDTH.<\/strong><\/p>\n“Q” means “Quad” or quadruple the RESOLUTION.<\/strong><\/p>\nIf “D” or “DW” appears in the letter soup next to a monitor’s specification, generally it means “Double Wide”<\/strong>.\u00a0 So if a normal UHD (4K) monitor is 3840 x 2160, a “DWUHD” or “D4K” would be twice the physical width, and twice the horizontal resolution at 7680 x 2160.<\/p>\n“Q” doesn’t really mean anything.\u00a0 If Q appears in the letter soup, it just means that the resolution of this particular monitor is 4 times the resolution of some other standard.\u00a0 For example, QHD is 2560 pixels wide, which is 4 times 640, and 640 x 480 is the original VGA resolution.<\/p>\n What’s confusing is that width and resolution are independent.\u00a0 “Double” affects the size of the monitor, and “Quad” affects the picture quality, but neither of these have standardized meanings.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/span>HD and UHD – High Definition<\/span><\/h3>\nOriginally, TV resolution was standardized at 320 x 480 (interlaced), also called 480i.<\/p>\n At that time, “HD” referred to anything greater in resolution to 480i.\u00a0 There were many semi-standard and non-standard video formats, such as 720 x 480p that were considered “HD”, but didn’t really conform to any industry-wide standard.<\/p>\n Eventually “HD” was standardized as 1280 x 720, also known as 720p, and “Full HD” was standardized as 1920 x 1080.<\/p>\n Nowadays, “HD”\u00a0generally<\/em> means 1080p, but you have to be careful.\u00a0 I got a good “Prime Day” deal a couple of years ago on an “HD” TV, only to find out that it was only 720p.\u00a0 I was going to return it, but I decided that since it was so inexpensive, I could keep it and use it to watch movies while I work in my office.\u00a0 And yes, it’s still in the box, sitting next to my desk, as of this writing.\u00a0 \u00a0:-\/<\/p>\nSo ALWAYS be sure to check the specs.\u00a0 Like I didn’t.<\/p>\n “UHD” is fairly standardized to mean 3840 x 2160, but ALWAYS check the specs.<\/p>\n QHD is a half-step between Full HD and UHD, at 2560 x 1440.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/span>VGA, DVI, and HDMI – Input Ports<\/span><\/h3>\nVGA is the older computer monitor standard used throughout the 90’s and early 2000’s.<\/p>\n VGA is an analog-only signal standard, and was eventually replaced with DVI, whose standard can include both analog and digital signals.<\/p>\n By the late 2000’s, DVI was replaced with HDMI, which supports digital video as well as audio on a single cable.<\/p>\n Generally speaking, you want more HDMI ports.\u00a0 You need one for each device you want to connect to your TV or monitor, so having just 1 or 2 can end up being quite limiting.\u00a0 For example, my TV has 4, and 3 of them are currently used.<\/p>\n Having a VGA or DVI port is a nice option to have, but not really necessary, because you can get conversion cables to convert between any of these connectors.\u00a0 For example, you can get a cable that’s VGA on one end and HDMI on the other end for about $10.<\/p>\n Pro Tip:<\/strong> If you have a device that you know isn’t really going to benefit from HDMI, using your TV’s VGA or DVI port is a clever way to keep from using up one of your precious HDMI ports.\u00a0 For example, if you have an older computer or game system, hook it up to the DVI port.<\/p>\nPro Tip:<\/strong> Some monitors have only one HDMI port, but have a VGA or DVI option for older equipment.\u00a0 If you have two computers, you can use both ports, and the monitor should have a button on the front to switch between them.\u00a0 This is a great way to use a monitor as a poor man’s “console switch” for equipment that you use infrequently, but have the occasional need for a monitor.<\/p>\n\n\n\nPort<\/strong><\/td>\nVideo<\/strong><\/td>\nAudio<\/strong><\/td>\nNotes<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| \n HDMI<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ports-HDMI-150x300.png\") <\/td>\n
Digital Only<\/td>\n | Yes<\/td>\n | HDMI provides the best option for connecting audio and video, even at the highest resolutions.<\/p>\n Most devices, televisions, and monitors have female HDMI ports, and most cables are male-to-male.<\/p>\n HDMI ports are only slightly wider than USB ports, and can often be mistaken for one.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| DVI<\/strong><\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ports-DVIv2.png\") <\/td>\n
Digital,
\nAnalog,
\nor both<\/td>\n | No.<\/td>\n | DVI was designed to carry the digital signals of newer devices, and also bridge the gap for older analog devices.\u00a0 For example, DVI can natively carry analog VGA signals.<\/p>\n Devices, monitors, and TVs usually have the female connector, and cables are usually male-to-male.<\/p>\n There are three types of DVI cables:<\/p>\n \n- DVI-D supports\u00a0only<\/em> the digital component<\/li>\n
- DVI-A supports\u00a0only<\/em> the analog component<\/li>\n
- DVI-I supports both components<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Some older devices might try to enforce the use of analog or digital by having missing pins or pinholes.\u00a0 For example, DVI-A uses many fewer pins than DVI-D or DVI-I, and if a device’s DVI port is missing pinholes for DVI-D, then\u00a0only<\/em> a DVI-A cable can be used.<\/p>\nPro Tip:<\/strong>\u00a0 As with VGA cables (see below) DO NOT over-tighten the thumb screws.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| VGA<\/strong><\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ports-VGAv2-290x600.png\") <\/td>\n
Analog Only<\/td>\n | No.<\/td>\n | Since VGA is analog-only, it can support a max resolution of about Full HD (1920 x 1080), but image quality at higher resolutions requires a much higher frequency, necessitating a higher-quality, better-shielded, shorter cable.<\/p>\n Most devices that have a VGA port have the female side, but this isn’t necessarily a requirement.\u00a0 Most televisions and monitors with a VGA port also have the female side, but some monitors can have a male connector.\u00a0 Most cables are male-to-male, but male monitors usually require a male-to-female cable.\u00a0 Having the male pins on the cable rather than on the monitor or device eventually became a standard convention, because a bent pin on a cable is much easier to fix than bent pin on a device – you simply replace the cable.<\/p>\n The VGA connector is a 15-pin, D-sub (“D” shaped, sub-miniature), also known as “HD15”, which is the same size and shape as a DB9, but has three rows of 5 pins, rather than two rows in a 5\/4 configuration.\u00a0 Like all D-sub connectors, it uses two thumb screws to hold it in place when connected.<\/p>\n Pro Tip:<\/strong>\u00a0 Don’t over-tighten the thumb screws.\u00a0 You just need to secure the connection from wiggling loose – it’s not load-bearing!\u00a0 Turn the screw until it just starts to tighten, and then STOP.\u00a0 That’s plenty of force.\u00a0 If you over-tighten D-sub connectors and then try to unscrew them later, you can end up destroying the connector or damaging the equipment trying to get the thumb screw loose.<\/p>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n <\/p>\n <\/span>LCD and OLED – Display Technology<\/span><\/h3>\nHere is a brief history of display technologies.<\/p>\n \n- Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)<\/strong> was the mainstream technology used from the dawn of television in the 1940’s through the 2000’s.\u00a0 The successor, LCD, first outsold CRT in 2008, and they were completely obsolete by 2010 when the last consumer CRTs were manufactured.\n
\n- Early CRTs were black and white – an electron beam sweeps the screen, from top to bottom, one line at a time, from left to right.\u00a0 As it sweeps, the beam’s intensity is controlled by the signal it’s receiving from the tuner or other device.\u00a0 The beam sweeps across a grid of phosphorus dots, arranged in a 320 x 480 grid, energizing each one with a brightness that corresponds to the signal’s intensity.\u00a0 Each phosphorus dot then glows more or less intensely for a couple of milliseconds, and by arranging the intensity of all of the dots, we have an image.\u00a0 By repeating the process 30 times per second, we have a moving<\/em> image.\u00a0 As mentioned, CRTs are interlaced, which means that only 240 lines are energized on each sweep, alternating odd and even scan lines, but this happens so fast that you can’t really see it.<\/li>\n
- Color CRTs work the same way, but there are\u00a0three<\/em> electron beams, corresponding to the three primary light colors, red, green, and blue.\u00a0 Instead of one phosphor dot at each location, there are three – one each of red, green, and blue.\u00a0 A grid mask controls which beam hits which dots, and by varying the intensity of each beam, we can now draw\u00a0color<\/em> images.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- There were a number of technologies related to CRTs during this time, as well.\n
\n- The cathode-ray oscilloscope was invented in the very late 1800’s.\u00a0 This produces a visual representation of an electronic signal by steering an electron beam around a screen coated in phosphor.\u00a0 Wherever the beam hits, the phosphor is energized, leaving a green trace.<\/li>\n
- Early radar CRTs was based on the oscilloscope, and similar to a television CRT, but swept in circles instead of line by line.<\/li>\n
- Early graphics displays used\u00a0vectors<\/em> instead of scan lines, allowing the electron beam to draw lines at any location on the screen.\u00a0 An image was produced by drawing a set of lines, and even text could be produced using a “line-draw” font.\u00a0 If you’ve ever played an old “Star Castle” or “Asteroids” arcade game, those used vector displays instead of raster displays.\u00a0 Because of the crisp graphics and high resolution, these were often used for early CAD solutions.<\/li>\n
- In 1966, Ralph Baer invented the first video game, “Ping Pong”, which fed a modified signal to an oscilloscope display.\u00a0 Later, this became the basis for Atari Pong, which basically started the arcade video game boom in the 1970’s.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- Plasma displays<\/strong> offer a high contrast ratio and a long useful life, but they are expensive and power-hungry.\u00a0 Initially, monochrome plasma displays were used in portable computer equipment, but by the late 1990’s, reasonably-priced plasma TVs were commercially-available, and they continued to be produced through the early 2010’s, at which point, plasma was no longer commercially competitive to LCD and OLED.\u00a0 In a plasma display, each pixel is a tiny neon light that gets energized by high voltage.\u00a0 In color plasma displays, each pixel has three sub-cells, one each for red, green, and blue, with the corresponding colored phosphor coating in front of the cell.\u00a0 When the neon is energized, it energizes the phosphor coating.\u00a0 Varying the voltage of each sub-cell varies the intensity of each color, which is how an image is drawn.<\/li>\n
- Originally used in calculators and watches because of its low power consumption, Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)<\/strong> has been available in commercial devices since the 1970’s.\u00a0 The first LCD displays were commercially available in the early 1980’s, in specialized products such as Sony’s wrist watch TV.\u00a0 By the late 1980’s, the first portable computers with LCD displays started to appear.\u00a0 By the late 1990’s, the first mainstream LCD televisions and computer monitors started to appear.\u00a0 LCD outsold CRT for the first time in 2008, and continues to be one of the market’s dominant technologies.\n
\n- At a high level, applying an external voltage to the liquid crystal causes it to change its orientation, blocking light from passing through.\u00a0 LCDs have a light that shines from behind the display, through a polarizing filter, then through the liquid crystal matrix.\u00a0 The resulting light is either aligned with the front polarizing filter, where it is allowed to pass, or its orientation is changed by the crystals, where it is blocked by the front polarizing filter.\u00a0 Monochrome LCDs have a matrix of “dots” that are either “on” or “off”.\u00a0 If a dot is “on”, it blocks the light at that point, and the dots are used to draw an image.<\/li>\n
- Grayscale LCD works the same, but the crystals are stacked in layers, and have differing configurations based on the voltage level of the input signal.\u00a0 Thus, a pixel at a lower voltage is lighter, and a higher voltage is darker.<\/li>\n
- Color LCDs work like graycale LCDs, but they have three sets of pixels – one for each of the three primary colors: red, green, and blue.\u00a0 Generally, all the pixels use a single backlight, but each pixel has an appropriate (red, green, or blue) filter in addition to the front polarizing filter, that only allows a specific light color to pass.<\/li>\n
- Modern LCDs are “Active Matrix”, which means that each pixel is individually-addressable via a network of embedded transistors – one for each pixel.\u00a0 This improves the response time and provides a sharper image.<\/li>\n
- Over the years, the technology of the backlight has changed.\u00a0 Early on, the LCD was back-lit by fluorescent bulbs, because they are more efficient than incandescent, and cover the full color spectrum.\u00a0 These were prone to having a relatively short lifespan, and were still quite power-hungry.\u00a0 By the 2010’s the fluorescent backlight was replaced by LED, which is far superior in both regards.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- Light Emitting Diode (LED)<\/strong> displays are really LED-LCD, because they use LCD technology to draw the pixels.\u00a0 The first LED-lit LCDs were edge-lit, like conventional LCDs.\u00a0 The first back-lit LED displays were criticized for not having a true black.\u00a0 The displays that followed use a matrix of white LEDs as the backlight, and the image processor constantly tunes the intensity of each LED based on the image luminescence of that particular region, known as “local dimming”.\u00a0 All modern LED displays use some form of local dimming.<\/li>\n
- Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED)<\/strong> displays first hit the market in the mid-2000’s, but the cost was very high, and the expected lifespan was relatively low.\u00a0 However, in the early 2010’s the smart phone market drove OLED innovation to the point where the cost of OLED displays are competitive, and the lifespans are reasonable.\u00a0 Along with LCD, OLED is one of the two current, mainstream display technologies.\n
\n- OLED operates by sending voltage through cells containing a biolumenescent compound.\u00a0 Cells are arranged in a pixel grid on a substrate (backing material) that’s usually glass or plastic.\u00a0 Each pixel has three cells which use red, green, and blue organic dyes to produce the corresponding color when energized.<\/li>\n
- OLED offers the best picture quality and the lowest power consumption, but the picture quality degrades over time because the organic compounds break down over time.<\/li>\n
- Because the substrate material can be plastic, this allows for curved, flexible, and even foldable displays.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Display-Technologies.png\") <\/p>\n
Why did we need to cover all of this?<\/strong>\u00a0 To demonstrate that, despite what display manufacturers want you to believe, there have been very few fundamental advancements in display technology<\/strong>.<\/p>\nThe real story is that every couple of years, all of the larger manufacturers come up with either a new manufacturing process, or they make the dots smaller, or they embed more LEDs or whatever in to their latest display, making the picture look\u00a0incrementally<\/em> better than the previous display.\u00a0 Then, they patent this “revolutionary” new design (which isn’t revolutionary) and slap a brand name on it.<\/p>\nThey do this, actually for a few reasons:<\/p>\n \n- If a competitor has an otherwise identical product without XYZ technology, it makes comparing the two products difficult.<\/li>\n
- NOW, with XYZ technology pushes consumers to the latest models, which retail at a higher price point<\/li>\n
- They can license XYZ technology to second-tier manufacturers<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
So brand names like “QDOT” or “Micro Quantum” or “Quantum Quantum” don’t mean anything.\u00a0 It means you get a\u00a0slightly<\/em> better picture than the same display from the same manufacturer\u00a0without<\/em> the brand names.<\/p>\nFor example, Samsung’s “Quantum Dot” QLED technology sounds impressive!\u00a0 But, it’s just another variation of LED-driven LCD, made possible by a new manufacturing process.\u00a0 But “quantum”\u00a0sounds<\/em> high-tech, right?\u00a0 And “QLED” – “Q” comes\u00a0after<\/em> “O” in the alphabet, so “QLED” must be some completely new display technology, right?\u00a0 No to both.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |