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LG Electronics Flatron L1730S
Stylish monitor has a regal bearing, but getting graphics to display properly takes some tinkering.

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Monday, January 24, 2005 CHECK LATEST PRICES LG L1730S
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On the Flatron L17030S, LG included LightSurf Colorific color-adjusting software, which does a nice job of helping you fine-tune the image for ambient light conditions. Likewise, LG's F-Engine settings technology lets you choose presets of brightness, clarity, and color. Though we like F-Engine's real-word names--"green enhance" and "flesh tone," for instance, control what their names imply--these presets are no more compelling than the usual array found in most competing displays. Given the L1730's image quality scores at default settings, users will want to use the screen adjustments. When the screen was set to default, our jurors gave the L1730S a score of Very Good on text; the only consistent complaint was some difficulty reading white text on a black background in a Microsoft Word document; still, most of the 17inch LCDs we've recently reviewed earned text scores of Very Good, and the L1730S placed in the lower end of that

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group. On our photo test screen, the LG had trouble reproducing detail in dark areas. The L1730S earned so-so a rating of Good for graphics. For overall image quality, it finished in the middle of the pack. Many screens looked distinctly better after we ran Colorific and selected the appropriate F-Engine settings. Imposing and attractive, LG Electronics Flatron L1730S uses the same curved back cover found on other recent LG models, so it has a tidy and composed appearance from the back as well as from the front. Unfortunately, the L1730S doesn't offer a swivel adjustment or a height adjustment.
Upshot: LG's Flatron L1730S is a good text-only monitor for workplaces with two-
sided desks or tables. -- Laura Blackwell
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Photograph by: Rick Rizner
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Photo:LGe

Hewlett Packard HP f2304 23" High Definition LCD Flat Panel Monitor Design by: Lunar Design www.hp.com
Offering incredible visual quality and performance in a slender, versatile display, the P f2304 23-inch High Definition LCD Monitor is ideal for consumers using their PC while juggling multiple applications, editing photos and video, playing games, surfing the Internet and watching DVD movies and television. The monitors large 23-inch screen boasts a blazing16 millisecond response rate, making PC play more enjoyable and delivering motion images free from ghosting for action-packed gaming and for watching exciting digital videos and movies. The HP f2304 23-inch High Definition LCD Monitor allows users to enjoy razor-sharp images. Its 1,920 x 1,200 native resolution is 175 percent greater than a typical 19- inch LCD monitor or 23-inch high-definition TV.(3) With 250 nits of brightness, 500:1 contrast ratio and 176 degrees wide viewing angle, the monitor yields a brilliantly rich display. The monitor also includes a range of video inputs, such as DVI, VGA, component video and S-video. www.cleverdis.com New Visual Solutions January 2005

Photo: HP

Photo: Benq
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SELECTING THE RIGHT

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WHATS GOOD FOR WHAT? HOW TO CHOOSE?
20>The Flat Screen Revolution 22 >Selecting a Flat TV (LCD & Plasma TV) 25>Feature Interview - Yves Faroudja - Display Quality Criteria 26>Rear Projection Tv - The Bigger Brother for a Smaller Price 28>What you need to know about Front Projectors 30>Projection Applications 32>iMatte - Inhibition is good 33>Microsoft Windows Xp Media Center 2005 34>How to choose a PC Monitor
FAREWELL TO THE BIG FAT PICTURE BOX HELLO SLIM-LINE SCREENS THAT CAN BE HUNG ON THE WALL
> THE FLAT SCREEN REVOLUTION

Photo: Sony

The arrival of plasma and LCD screens has transformed the TV world. Henceforth, a modern TV screen is flat and design conscious. Bid farewell to the cumbersome old box: not really something that brought a touch of esthetic to our lives. The flat TV market is exploding, as evidenced by the major space dedicated to flat TVs in virtually all major retail outlets. Beyond the technologies, for the consumer, the main points of interest are firstly the form factor and secondly the image quality. The latest innovations in LCD and plasma technologies have meant that both are now perfectly adapted for all kinds of use, not only in the

PRICES

Prices continue to descend, and will continue to do so for a number of years, as more large scale factories are opened (both plasma and LCD) and economies of scale combine with heavy competition to drive prices down.For less than $600, one can now obtain a 20 LCD TV with a highly respected brand name. For a 32 model, prices start around $3000. By the same token, plasma prices continue to plunge, with 42 screens now available under $2000. Just a few years ago, the same plasma screen would have set you back more than $10,000.
16:9 FORMAT BETTER ADAPTED TO WATCHING MOVIES
The onset not only of HDTV, but especially of the 16:9 (widescreen) form factor is being pushed along by the fact that this format is much better adapted to watching DVD movies.

& PLASMA TV

> SELECTING A FLAT TV
THE FLAT TV SET CONSTITUTES ONE OF THE ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS OF A MODERN HOME MULTI-MEDIA SYSTEM. DESPITE A MAJOR DROP IN PRICES, ITS PURCHASE STILL REPRESENTS A CONSIDERABLE INVESTMENT FOR CONSUMERS, ESPECIALLY WHEN THEYRE LOOKING AT RENEWING THE PRINCIPAL TELEVISION SET IN THE HOME.

IMAGE SIZE

From where the viewer is seated, a distance of 3 to 5 times the width of the screen base is necessary for good visual comfort. In fact, its better to be too far away from the screen than too close. It should be noted however that you can sit closer to a high definition screen without eye strain than one with standard resolution. So according to the size of the room and the place in which the viewers will be seated, one can define the maximum size of the screen. For example, a room where the distance between Expressed as a number of pixels - horizontal and vertical - the resolution defines the quality of the image thats displayed. The more you raise the resolution, the more dots there are on the screen and consequently the definition of the image on the screen is better. What many are now claiming is true High the settee and the screen is ten feet should not generally be equipped with a TV set of more than 42 inches. Definition TV is that which has 1920 X 1080 pixels on the screen (1080p). But there is nevertheless another intermediate HD format: 1280 X 720. Screens offering these resolutions are ideal for watching HDTV, but beware, because some manufacturers announce their screens are "HDTV compatible" which does not mean the set is HDTV, but means it has standard or enhanced resolution, and while able to receive HDTV channels, effectively down-grades the HDTV signal.

RESOLUTION

22 I New Visual Solutions January 2005

LUMINOSITY AND CONTRAST

A combination of luminosity and contrast influences the visual impact of the screen. Associated with the clarity of the image, good contrast makes it possible to better distinguish details. However, beware of the spec sheets! Whats published by the manufacturers only corresponds to contrast levels in ideal situations (i.e. a pitch-black room). Thus, while Plasma screens tend to dominate in terms of published specs compared to LCD, the contrast of plasma falls faster than LCD as the ambient light increases. This means that in a room with normal daylight conditions, an LCD screen will often have better real contrast than the Plasma.

also article): - Fast moving images (eradicating trailing effect) - Homogeneous colors (absence of swarming), - Respect of curved lines (absence of staircase effect). In addition, video processors known as scalers (see also specific interviews on this subject) make it possible to adapt the resolution of the signal to that of the screen. This is extremely important in screens where the incoming signal does not have the same number of pixels as the screen. When there are around 400 lines arriving and 1080 on the screen, simple math says you cant make a simple conversion. To make a nice, smooth picture, there is a hell of a lot of calculation involved. Multiply that a hundred times a second and you get an idea of the processing power needed. Integrated processors are therefore often inadequate. This also explains why, when you have a great picture in the shop, you get home and the standard TV picture looks trashy. Ask the people in the shop if they can advise on scalers. If not, read this guide attentively!
CHALK AND CHEESE PLASMA AND LCD REFRESH RATE
A certain minimum response time is required for the viewer not to get visual fatigue, and in LCD screens, its important in order not to get trailing effects. The criteria are indeed different when comparing LCD screens with Plasma or Cathode Ray TVs. The refresh rate is expressed as the time it takes for a displays image to be refreshed per second. This rate is expressed in hertz, so a refresh rate of 75 Hz means the image is refreshed 75 times per second. It is believed that 70 Hz or higher is necessary for the human eye not to perceive a flicker effect. When purchasing a monitor or TV, the minimum refresh rate is therefore 75 to 85 Hz. New technology CRT TV screens run at 100 Hz, ensuring even more visual comfort, and much smoother transitions for fast moving pictures on the screen. While 75 Hz is a minimum for CRT, an acceptable refresh rate for LCD is perceived as being 16 milliseconds (why did they go and confuse things by

VIDEO PROCESSING

The quality of the LCD or Plasma panel only assures the final quality of the image, but does not guarantee its overall quality. The signal processing is indeed paramount, because it allows for the provision of an optimized digital signal to the screen. Video processing makes it possible to improve the following characteristics of the image (see
changing measuring standards?). In terms of Hertz, that only makes around 62 Hz so wheres the catch? The thing is that in technical terms, an LCD pixel doesnt turn off and on it just changes state whereas on a Plasma or CRT screen (as will also be the case with SED screens), each impulse is like a light switching on and off, then on again and so on. In other words, in CRT and Plasma, the individual pixel unit, made up of red, green and blue dots, has a discharge, followed by a lapse, followed by another discharge, etc., whereas the LCD screen has a flow of digital information arriving at its pixels, meaning it can change from one shade of blue to another without the pixel turning off in between. This is why theres no flicker effect on LCD.

ARE SEVERAL

CRITERIA THAT SHOULD BE CONSIDERED WHEN LOOKING TO PURCHASE A NEW PROJECTOR.
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FOLLOWING INFORMATION SHOULD HELP YOU DETERMINE THE PROJECTOR THAT WILL BE THE PERFECT FIT.
VARIOUS CATEGORIES OF VIDEO-PROJECTORS AND THEIR WEIGHT
There are three main categories of videoprojectors: Pico portables, Micro portables and Ultra Portables. Choosing the correct category should be your first consideration when selecting the right projector for your needs.

MICRO PORTABLES

Micro Portables are projectors used for environments which may only require occasional movement of the projector from place to place. They typically weigh between 4 and 6 lbs. Their portability refers more to the simplicity of set-up (primarily in the simplicity of adjustments etc.), which makes it easier to move them from one room to another, depending on the user's needs.

PICO PORTABLES

Pico Portables are projectors which are generally less than 4 pounds in weight. The efficient design of DLP Technology has created this category and, in fact, it is the only technology found in projectors under 3 lbs. These projectors are intended primarily for those needing portability such as professionals who travel frequently for whom weight and bulk are essential buying factors.

ULTRA PORTABLES

Lastly, Ultra Portables, while still mobile, typically range from 6 to 11 lbs. and are generally more powerful and of a larger size. They are usually intended to remain in a single room: in this case, compactness is not necessary, nor is total simplicity of controls. These projectors are characterized by their image quality much more than their portability. www.cleverdis.com

Photo: Epson

28 I New Visual Solutions January 2005

BRIGHTNESS

The brightness of a projector is measured in ANSI Lumens. This refers to the brightness of the projector. As the brightness of the lamp increases, oftentimes, cost does as well. Brighter projectors may also consume slightly more energy and release more heat (and thus, creating an increasing need for cooling which could increase the fan noise). Essentially, the brightness necessary for the projector's operation is proportionally a function of the ambient light in the room it will be used. In a situation of half-light or in the dark, 500 to 800 ANSI Lumens can be sufficient. A brightness level of between 800 and 1500 ANSI Lumens constitutes an acceptable average in the case of using a projector in normal ambient light for rooms of average size. For rooms of a larger size, the longer projection distance increases the need for higher lumens, since it's necessary to obtain a more significant image size. This is why ultra portable projectors generally have an output beginning at 2000 ANSI Lumens, with the most powerful of them exceeding 6 7,000 ANSI Lumens.

Photo: Akimbo

HEY THIS IS EASY!
The Media Center is simple to use. The whole thing is run via remote control, navigating through various menus allowing the user to select the type of content required

ABOUT PC MONITORS

> HOW TO CHOOSE A PC MONITOR ?
MONITORS HAVE EVOLVED INCREDIBLY
OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS. COURSE NO LONGER JUST OTHER STATIC FILES.

THEYRE OF A VISUAL

IN FACT
INTERFACE FOR WORD-PROCESSING AND

THEYVE

EVOLVED TO THE POINT WHERE THE SCREEN IS NOW BY FAR THE MOST PROMINENT ASPECT OF A
PC AND IS CROSSING-OVER WITH TV-LIKE FUNCTIONS, WITH MANY PEOPLE NOW WATCHING VIDEO (DVD, DIVX, ETC.) ON THEIR COMPUTER. SO
COMPUTER SCREENS NOW HAVE TO
SUPPORT HIGH-COLOR IMAGES
STILL AND VIDEO. AND THATS WHERE WE START TO SEE SOME DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BRANDS.

TECHNOLOGY

Sales of bulky old CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) Monitors have now been overtaken in by TFTLCD screens. While CRT remains cheaper with comparable image size (a 15 LCD is equivalent to a 17 CRT), CRTs are on the other hand three or four times more cumbersome on average than LCD and consume approximately three times more energy.
the standard of monitors LCD is thus now 17", which gives a usable real screen size to a 19 CRT.
this in fact will only result in a degradation of image quality).
SCREEN FORM-FACTOR SUPPORTED RESOLUTIONS
The size of screen corresponds only to the size of the image, not to the quantity of information (in dots, or pixels) able to be displayed: thus, with equivalent resolution, two screens of different size will display exactly the same number of pixels and thus the same quantity of information. In addition, while it is possible "to push-up" the resolution of a CRT (by increasing the refresh rate to avoid a phenomenon of flutter), an LCD should be used only in its native resolution, i.e. that corresponding to the real number of pixels present on the panel (there is no point increasing the resolution of the signal beyond what the screen is able to display Most computer monitors have until now been produced in a 4:3 format, but we are seeing an increasing number of models on the market in a 16:9 format. These monitors (exclusively using LCD technology) offer the advantage of being compatible with DVD images, but in addition to this, within the framework of office applications, they make it possible to post the Office bar developed by Microsoft, without reducing the usable working surface of the screen. Another feature which has come with the LCD monitor is that of pivoting which makes it possible to swivel the screen through 90 degrees to put it into portrait mode and thus display a full size, upright US-Letter size document. www.cleverdis.com

Another compression technology thats making itself felt in the HD world is Div-X, which also has an HD format, and has very high compression rates.

NOT JUST IN THE HOME

PRN (Premier Retail Networks) is (according to them) the most watched HDTV network in the country, with over 60M monthly viewers (Survey Nielsen). The use of HDTV as a visual medium in the retail environment greatly enhances the visual experience of the potential buyer.From being a simple purveyor of sales messages, the in-store HDTV becomes an entertainment center, enticing the customer to stay longer, and to perceive shopping as an even more enjoyable experience. At trade shows, the use of larger HDTV screens is also now becoming a major differentiator for those taking the extra step of using HD instead of standard definition screens. New Visual Solutions January 2005
NEW TECHNOLOGIES BOOST POSSIBILITIES
As you may know, broadcasting HDTV resolution means more data and higher bitrates, thus more bandwidth but the number of channels and bandwidth is limited. The introduction of new compression
technologies is one of the ways of solving this

CHALLENGES

Major advances have been made. For example, four congressional committees have passed legislation which allows satellite service providers to offer local HD broadcasts to regions where local HD broadcasts are not www.cleverdis.com
problem. Until now, broadcasts have generally been in MPEG-2 format. The introduction of a new algorithm, known as MPEG-4, allows for a much higher compression with similar picture quality, meaning more channels and lower delivery costs. Microsofts WMV-HD does the same thing.

Photo: Cleverdis

BUYING AN HD TV
THIS SECTION, WE ADDRESS MANY OF THE QUESTIONS AND AND
ISSUES THAT HAVE TO BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT WHEN BUYING AN
HDTV. SOME OTHER STUFF, SUCH AS WEIRD TERMINOLOGY SO-ON, CAN ALSO BE FOUND IN THE GLOSSARY SECTION

LGe FLATRON L4600T

DO I NEED ONE?
As weve seen over the Christmas period, HDTVs have become a must have item, offering picture quality many times that of plain old analog TV. On the other hand, in some areas, sources of HDTV broadcasts are still very limited, so you have to take that into account. That being said, as a TV will no doubt last you a number of years, youll be kicking yourself in 2007, when all broadcasters will be required at least to be able to broadcast in HDTV.

stunningly realistic images. By managing the entire image delivery system, we can ensure that each component in our HDTVs is optimized for our Gen II LCoS technology and that no compromises are made in delivering the absolute best possible onscreen image, said Vincent F. Sollitto, Brillians president and CEO. This gives our OEM customers a decided advantage in a market where image quality is critical.

HDTV PRODUCT STRATEGY

Brillian markets its 720p and 1080p HDTV monitors to OEMs, retailers, and ProAV/ Home Theatre customers. The 1080p is aimed at the true videophile and is designed to be customizable and upgradeable to meet the demands of the most discriminating viewer now and in the future.
TECHNOLOGY DIFFERENTIATION
The Brillian 1080p light engine uses three twomegapixel UltraContrast Gen II LCoS microdisplays that meet the 1920 x 1080
43 I New Visual Solutions January 2005

Photo: Brillian

RECORDING HD
> HIGH DEFINITION RECORDING FORMATS
Photo courtesy @ blueray.com
For the moment, it looks like the price of the two formats will be somewhat on a par, however market trends will no doubt be the governing factor as production costs are directly related to volume.
A single-layer Blu-ray Disc can be used to record over 2 hours of HDTV or more than 13 hours of standard-definition TV. HD-DVD was developed under the auspices of the DVD Forum and draws heavily on technology from both Toshiba and NEC. Double-sided HD-DVDs will also be able to store around 30 GB.

BATTLE OF THE TITANS

Memory Tech, Toshiba, along with NEC and Sanyo Electric are promoting HD DVD, while the likes of Dell, Hitachi, HP, JVC, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK and Thomson are backing Blu-ray. Blu-ray recorders from Sony, Panasonic and a number of other manufacturers are already available in Japan. In any case, movie titles and players based on Blu-ray may not arrive in large quantities (and at reasonable prices) until the end of next year or early 2006 in the US. Both formats, HD DVD and Blu-ray, use a blue laser rather then a red laser to record discs. The problem is that while the two formats use blue lasers, they are not compatible.

BLU-RAY OR HD DVD?

An "information battle" is raging between the companies supporting the high-density digital videodisk (HD DVD) and the Blu-ray Disk group as they jostle for a position in the HDTV recorder market. As an increasing number of HDTVs are sold, the market for High Definition recorders is becoming increasingly pressing, as standard DVDs cant support HD (unless theyre DivX but thats a whole other story). What is at stake is the fact that the US film industry and other major content providers will have to select a medium to be used to package HDTV releases. One of the main criteria cited by Hollywood pundits is that manufacturing costs should be on a par with DVD-ROM. For both Blu-ray and HD DVD backers, this is therefore the top priority.

MARKET ANALYSIS

> MICRODISPLAY-BASED RPTV MAY DOMINATE 46 TV SALES
plasma or direct-view LCD TV. And the opportunity for future sales is significant, according to a new study called Home Enter tainment: Opportunity Analysis and Forecast 2004. Sales of microdisplay-based RPTVs could reach as high as 22M units in 2008 depending on consumer preference for larger screens. This would mean a 33% share of TVs over 30 would go to microdisplay-based RPTVs. And microdisplay-based RPTVs would dominate sales of TVs over 46. Right now the big unknown for big-screen TV is whether consumers will prefer smaller, flatter screen TVs such as plasma and LCD, or the larger, thicker microdisplay-based RPTVs. Plasma and LCD TVs are typically 30-46 diagonal and only 4 inches thick. For the same money a consumer can buy a 46-66 microdisplay-based (MD) RPTV, but it will be 716 inches thick. Will consumers want smaller, sleek screens or bigger, bulkier screens, when the prices are equal? The Home Entertainment study evaluates both scenarios. In the bigger is better case, where consumers prefer the bigger-screen MD-RPTVs, sales reach 22M units. In the flatter is better
case, where consumers prefer the flat-screen LCD and plasma technologies, MD-RPTV still sells 11M units, significantly higher than previously forecasts. MD-RPTV is interesting as a technology because designs can be adjusted to provide a flatter screen (more toward 7) if consumers really do prefer flatness. Consumer demand and the supply chain are both creating the foundation for high growth in MD-RPTV sales, reports Steve Marsland, principal researcher and author of the study. The Home Entertainment study is the first to pay really close attention to TV sales over 40 in diagonal. And the study also segments the big-screen market differently based on technology battlegrounds. Right now there are three established
With LCD, plasma and projection technologies all vying for dominance in the rapidly changing TV market, which technologies will win? How will the market segment for these technologies? Will consumers buy all the new TVs? These and many more questions are exactly what TV makers, retailers and buyers want to know. A new report from McLaughlin Consulting Group, in partnership with Insight Media, seeks to answer these and other questions. LCD and plasma TV have captured consumer awareness already, but the newest technology to arrive in home entertainment is the microdisplay-based rear-projection television. Based on either liquid crystal or micromirror technology, these TVs offer bright, highdefinition images at half the price of plasma TV. And this new technology scales to larger sizes very inexpensively much cheaper than

DISPLAYSEARCH AWARD LG.Philips LCD is the only TFT-LCD supplier to have won the DisplaySearch Customer Satisfaction Award for three consecutive years, taking the prize home in the spring of 2002, 2003, and 2004. This award recognizes the companys achievements as a preferred TFT-LCD supplier. According to Bruce Berkoff, EVP of Marketing at LG.Philips LCD, the company is committed to maintaining the focus on customer and product excellence that the DisplaySearch Customer Satisfaction Award recognizes.

LCD VS PDP

> WHY LCD?
full HD resolution (1920 X 1080), which will be much more important in the near future as HD content becomes more widespread. In contrast, most PDPs today are actually lower resolution VGA or enhanced definition (ED) models. In terms of form factor, LCDs are often much lighter, meaning the average person can easily carry an LCD TV or monitor from one room to another, depending on the size. This is not the case with most plasma products, as they are almost all big and heavy. In this day and age of environmental consciousness, LCD also often has a potential advantage over PDP due to its usually lower power consumption, longer life span (>60,000 hours) and lower heat emission, which means no fan is needed and an LCD could even help save on air conditioning costs. Also, when considering real-life performance, if you want to use a TV or monitor in conditions with ambient light, meaning a normal room in the daytime or any room with even one light on in the evening, LCD is far and away the best choice. Theres higher real-life contrast, as LCD displays are less affected by ambient light than plasma displaysin normal living room viewing conditions (ambient light at 100~300 nits or lux), an LCD rated at 500~1000:1 may attain a CR (contrast ratio) of 300~400:1, while a PDP that is rated at 5000:1 or higher may really achieve less than 100:1 in these normal light conditions. In addition, in regular lighting conditions, LCDs boast a lower reflection ratio than PDPs. On a more technical note, recent independent comparison testing found that LCD also excelled over PDP in many relevant specs such as actual peak brightness and dynamic range (see Raymond Soneira, Display Technology Shoot-Out, Widescreen Review, Sept 2004). Overall, LCD is the only
current technology well suited for large-scale production of flat displays for HDTVs for the 37 and below class of products, and soon will be the best for all true HD solutions at 42 and below.

Disadvantages of LCD

LCD technology is currently not well suited for large displays in the 55~60 and above class, meaning that LCD and PDP should not be considered to be in true direct competition with each other, as each serves a relatively distinct flat TV market by size, with LCD having more sizes and higher resolutions and PDP being the only true flat TV above 55 available today. However, advances such as our copper bus technology are now paving the way for better large LCD displays, though this will help first and foremost in our 23, 26, 32, 37, 42, and 47 wide family of panels. Although LCD has lower lab specs in certain theoretical brightness and contrast measurements vs PDP, these tests are usually done in darkroom laboratory test conditions with one white spot on a dark screen rather than in real-world conditions or with real image content. In most jury tests today, the majority of respondents often judge LCD to outperform PDP in many real-life conditions with actual video content. In terms of response time, PDP is measured in nanoseconds while LCD is measured in milliseconds, meaning that LCDs do have slower response time. However, technology such as overdrive circuitry and scanning backlights already allow LCD response time to reach very acceptable levels of video performance (and future improvements will make this even less of an issue). In most cases, with realistic images and content, this is already not as big an issue as it is made to seem by certain specmanship games, and, again, we put our faith in real-world tests with real-world content www.cleverdis.com

68 I New Visual Solutions January 2005
But thats a one-off flex. For something that flexes multiple times, unless you can get to a display that you can roll tightly and stick in your pocket, I really dont see the benefit. It could be useful for very large displays that you could roll up like a carpet for transportation. Cl.: Obviously Samsung has a reason for having you doing what youre doing. Whats Samsungs philosophy when it comes to trying to be at the forefront of technology and developing technology? IM: Its twofold. Firstly its a recognition that we cant do everything ourselves. We cant invent everything. Samsung has a lot of very good technologists but youre never going to invent everything across the breadth of the industry. And thats why we have a group of which I form part, looking for technology that comes from elsewhere; particularly smaller start-ups that we can licence in some shape or form. We tend to have a pragmatic approach to technology. If we can invent it ourselves, thats great, and if we cant, well find it. Cl.: People are talking a lot about convergence and the fact that this, combined with Digital TV and HD will all change the world. What are your thoughts about all that? IM: Theres a big gap. I have to laugh because just a few minutes ago I was writing a report and the paragraph I was writing was about digital convergence with a big question mark. There is a big gap that resides around interfaces, when you look at the whole spectrum of displays. In the computer industry you basically have VGA and DVI as the supported interfaces. Go over into the TV space, and you have an assortment of interfaces with component video, Scart, HDMi and a whole host of other legacy things that vary somewhat from continent to continent. At one level you have convergence if youre prepared to do all the cabling and switching yourself. But convergence is inhibited by the lack of a common interface. Cl.: What about the education of the industry about new display technologies. Is part of the problem perhaps coming from the fact that www.cleverdis.com
even people within the industry itself should be educated and informed? IM: Thats an interesting question Within the industries there is undoubtedly ignorance about where were going and what the stepping stones are along that path. For the end user, why should technology matter? Its function that matters, not technology. If they can have the functionality they want in a package they can afford, technology is just the technology that makes it happen. Whether its LCD or Plasma or OLED, I dont think the industry serves the customer very well by hyping specific technologies. Cl.: But is this perhaps because there is a lack of adherence to standards, especially when it comes to specifications for things like brightness and contrast so people have to rely on any other information they can get. IM: The answer to that is that there are plenty of standards. Theyre not being used. There are even many standards for contrast ratios. Pick any one of those standards and all the spec sheets in the industry would be much more meaningful. Its really a question of usage. The spec sheets and documents the end user normally gets to read are usually written by marketing departments who, in most cases dont understand what theyre writing and have a perception that a big number is better by definition. In many cases the engineering groups that are behind them are arguing saying no, thats not true! You have to qualify that, etc and the response is, Yes, but company X doesnt do that, so we cant do that. We cant be technically accurate and disadvantage ourselves! There is discussion about this kind of problem within the Video Electronics Standards Association of which Im the Chairman. One of our work-groups covers metrology - the measurement of image quality - particularly of flat panels. They have written a set of measurement criteria which are used within the technical community essentially as the bible for measuring LCDs in particular but flat panels in general. It doesnt tell you whats good or bad; it tells you how to measure things correctly. One of the activities we have under consideration there is whether its worth it, in the sense of would anyone ever use it, to

generate a standard display specification template, which would essentially serve to level the playing field and get away from exaggerations, sometimes downright lies, and certainly misleading statements about the performance characteristics of displays, because it would tie them back to specific measurement standards. If Samsung says this display is 1000:1 using method XYZ and NEC says theirs is 1200:1 using the same method, now you have a comparison. At the moment though, you can look at numbers and they dont actually mean anything. Cl.: Its sure that if everyone used different methods to measure car engine power, everyone would be up in arms. Surely this is something that will have to happen in this industry IM: Personally Id love to see that. I think it would stop a lot of the confusion that goes on at the end user level, and it would allow displays to be judged on their real merits. Thered be a turbulent transition no doubt. Therell be some winners and therell be some losers, but it would be a fair comparison. Cl.: So when people look at a spec sheet now, they should take it with a pinch of salt? IM: Quite honestly I would actually say they should throw it away!!! I look at specs a lot of the time. If you know enough, you can infer and take an educated guess what they mean, but you never know for sure. And its even worse than that, because if you look at different segments of the industry. Compare LCD and Plasma for example. They never specify how they get the results, and the test methods behind the scenes used are different. They will always choose test methods that advantage their own screens. A good example is contrast ratio with some plasma manufacturers claiming 3000:1 contrast. How do you achieve that? How does it relate to a real user environment? They dont tell you. But you can be certain that its very different to an LCD number, which are typically in the few hundred to a thousand-to-one area these days. New Visual Solutions January 2005

GLOSSARY

Active Matrix Display: a technology used in flat panel liquid crystal displays. Active matrix displays provide a more responsive image at a wider range of viewing angle than dual scan (passive matrix) displays. Also known as thin film transistor (TFT) display. AMLCD: active matrix liquid crystal display ANSI Lumen: An ANSI Lumen is a standard unit of brightness as defined by the American National Standards Institute. Anamorphic: The process of compressing wide screen images that are in wide-screen (16:9) format into the framework of a standard 4:3 television display. The images are expanded back to their original format on a wide-screen display device. Aspect Ratio: The ratio of image width to image height. CGA: Color Graphics Adapter, a display mode introduced by IBM in 1981 that provided four colors and a maximum resolution of 320 pixels horizontally by 200 pixels vertically. Chroma noise: Bleeding, or smearing of strong colors, an effect common to VHS videocassettes and laser-discs, but absent from DVDs. Chrominance: The color mask that is superimposed on the luminance to create a color image. Cinch: Type of standard one pin plug generally used to transport both video and audio signals. This interface is also known as RCA. CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black): a scheme for combining primary pigments. The C stands for cyan (aqua), M stands for magenta (pink), Y is yellow, and K stands for black. Coaxial cable: A cable in which one conductor is accurately centered inside another, with both conductors carrying

present,

transporting

synchronization

information. The RGB signal thus utilizes four separate cables with a BNC interface. Saturation: along with brightness and hue, one of the three aspects of color in the red, green, and blue (RGB) scheme. All possible colors can be specified according to hew, saturation, and brightness (also called brilliance), just as colors can be represented in terms of the R, G, and B components. As saturation increases, colors appear out." S-Video: Term generally used when speaking of S-VHS or Y/C TFT: Thin Film Transistor. See Active Matrix VESA: Video Electronics Standards more "pure." As saturation decreases, colors appear more "washed-
Association VDT: Video Display Terminal VDU: Video Display Unit VGA: Video Graphics Array a display mode introduced by IBM in 1987 that allowed a choice between 16 colors at 640 x 480 pixels or 256 colors at 320 x 200 pixels. All IBM-compatible computers support the VGA standard. Widescreen: A television with an aspect ratio of 16:9. Y/C: Term generally used when speaking of a video standard in which the luminance (Y) and the chrominance (C) are separated. YUV: Another name for a Component signal. YpbPr: Another term for Component video.
72 I New Visual Solutions January 2005

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