Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Computer LCD Monitors

Every PC, unless it works as a server in some remote place, must have some kind of monitor to display data. Years ago we mainly used cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors, but today we are using LCD monitors exclusively. They are available for every possible resolutions and sizes. It is not uncommon to find monitor that supports higher resolutions than the graphics card in the PC.
LCD Monitors have many advantages. The first one is obvious. They need less space. It is very easy to put a LCD monitor on any table. Another advantage is picture quality. If the connection with the graphics card is digital (via DVI interface) there are no adjustments for size or position and no blurred edges.
Of course, there are also some disadvantages. Each pixel has to be physically implemented. This means that during the manufacturing process or later during operation some pixels may fail. This damage is represented as dots with fixed color. There are many types of pixel defects but the end effect is the same: wrong pixel color. Few dead pixels are not a problem and with usual work they are even not noticed. But if the number of defective pixels is high the monitor becomes annoying.
Many LCD monitors have some additional functionality like HDMI input, USB hub, TV tuner, etc. The later comes pretty handy when you would like to watch TV. Usually you also get remote control with such TV enabled monitor and you can convert a computer monitor into an ordinary TV set. Unfortunately, most such tuners only support analog TV--you still need a set-top-box for digital broadcasting.
Since television is changing aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9 similar transitions are happening in the monitor industry. 16:9 or 16:10 is a very common format also for computer flat monitors. In general, the larger the monitor is the higher resolutions it supports. Higher resolution also means larger desktop area and more comfortable work with any software. It is highly recommended that you choose as large monitor as you can afford. You will appreciate it.
In fact there is no significant difference between computer LCD monitor and LCD television--as far as the display is concerned. The difference is in peripheral interfaces and built-in tuner/decoder. Every digital TV that has HDMI or DVI input can be connected to a PC. DVI is, at least in general, compatible with the video part of the HDMI interface and there are interface cables which can be used to connect a PC with DVI output to a TV set with HDMI input.

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