Ushering in a New Age of Clarity by:Charuka Abhayawickrama
The current and most prominent display technology on the market
, LCD's have firmly overthrown that was once held by CRT technology for so long. With the production techniques being used improving and bringing subsequent cost reductions LCD's managed to achieve mainstream adoption.
LCD's bring one aspect that cannot be ignored by anyone and that is the alluring prospect of a slim profile. Being only a fraction of the size of CRT televisions that used to be the norm, LCD screens can be mounted on walls and placed in far narrower areas. This not only looks far more aesthetically pleasing but also serves the practical value of reducing the amount of space required especially when considering large screens in the 40 to 60 inch range.
Every LCD screen consists of hundreds or thousands of such little dots that when viewed collectively form a complete picture complete with different colours. It should be noted that the liquid crystal cannot generate light and it is for this reason that lcd's have a single 'backlight' at the rear that is passed through the entire front panel. Depending on the picture being displayed, the configuration of colours set to display is varied thereby generating different pictures.
At the rear of any LCD screen are a series of cold cathode fluorescent lamps or CCFL's that emit light towards the viewer. Some later generation LCD screens use white or coloured Light Emitting Diodes (LED) to generate the light instead. Every screen is comprised of millions of small LCD shutters that are arranged in a grid format. These are opened and closed in different configurations to control the amount of white light passing through and are also paired with a colour filter. This colour filter removes all but any of the three primary colours (red, blue and green). These combinations are known as sub pixels and are so small that several of them together blend together to appear as a single pixel even when viewed at close range.
It is this technology that has allowed for the creation high resolution displays at a fraction of the size that consume far less power. Mobile devices could not survive without LCD screens as the low power requirement of such devices makes them mandatory.
The LCD screen has also made the dream of a large screen TV and more recently the HDTV dream possible for more people. In 2008 LCD screens became the most sold type of television screen in the world. This is a trend that has no sign of trailing off in the immediate future.
Those looking to buy a LCD TV will find online electronics retailers to be an ideal starting point as they offer a range of large screens at bargain prices.
About the author
Charuka is the owner of his own web design firm that is based in both Australia and Sri Lanka. He has extensive industry experience both in other firms and in running his own. Charuka also holds a Master of Computing from the University of Western Sydney and is a Bachelor of Information Technology from Charles Stuart University.