Lecture 5

Video Display System

 Introduction
• Output devices are used to inform the processed results
to the users
• Video display systems and printers are most common
output devices
 Video Display system
• It has two main components
• Monitor
• It displays text or graphics information on the screen
• Example: CRT, LCD and LED
• Video Adapter
• It provides necessary interface between the computer and
monitor
 CRT (Cathode Ray Tube)
• An electron gun at the backside of the tube generates a beam of
electrons
• The electron beam is directed towards the screen in front of the tube
using a high voltage
• The screen is coated with a phosphor substance, which emits light
when the electrons strike the substance
• The color of the emitted light is the characteristics of the phosphor
substance
• In color CRTs, each pixel contains a red, green and blue dot.
• These glow at varying intensities to produce color images
• Types of CRT
• Raster Scan Display
• Random Scan Display
Cathode-ray tube (CRT) Monitors

© 2005 Pearson Education

CRT (Cathode Ray Tube)
Raster Scan Display
Raster Scan Display
 Random Scan Display

Electron beam directed only to the parts of the screen where a

picture is to be drawn
 CRT Display
The applying voltage to
Heat is supplied to the the Horizontal Plates of
cathode by directing a the tube sweep the
current through a coil electron beam from left
called filament inside to right
the cylindrical structure
The applying voltage to
This causes electrons to the Vertical Plates of the
be “boiled off” the hot tube sweep the electron
cathode surface beam from top to bottom

The highly negatively Sweep Rate :

charged electrons are 1. in the horizontal
accelerated toward the Direction : 15600HZ
phosphor coating by a 2. in the vertical
high positive voltage Direction : 60 HZ

The intensity of the Display system

electron beam is generates three signals
controlled by setting to produce image :
negative voltage levels 1. Horizontal sweep
on the control grid signal
2. Vertical sweep
signal
3. Video signal
 CRT Display
CRT interface needs 3
input signals
1. Horizontal
A horizontal oscillator Synchronization
within the CRT monitor (HSYNC) to
generates the horizontal synchronize the
sweep signal horizontal oscillator
2. Vertical
A vertical oscillator Synchronization
within the CRT monitor (VSYNC) to
generates the vertical synchronize the
sweep signal vertical oscillator
3. Video signal
A video amplifier within modulates to
the CRT monitor intensify the
generates the video electron beam
signal that intensify the
beam
 Color CRT Monitors
• Operation of delta-delta, shadow mask CRT
– When the three beams pass through a hole in the shadow mask,
they active a dot triangle, which appears as a small color spot on
the screen
 Frame Buffer
• Picture definition is stored in a memory area called the
refresh buffer or frame buffer or Screen memory
• This memory area holds the set of intensity values for all
the screen points
• Stored intensity values are retrieved from the frame
buffer and painted on the screen one row at a time
• It is also called data buffer, screen buffer or display
memory
• Frame buffer is located in System memory
 LCD
• Liquid crystal display is a passive device
• It doesn’t produce any light to display characters, images, video and
animations
• It simply alters the light travelling through it
• The internal construction of LCD describes how the light altered
when it passes through it in order to produce any characters,
images, etc.
LCD
 LCD
Vertically polarized light should be rotated 90 degrees
This can be achieved by embedding liquid crystal layer between
two polarization filters

liquid crystal layer consists of rod shaped tiny molecules and

ordering of these molecules creates directional orientation property
If the Liquid crystal molecules are twisted 90 degrees more precisely,
then more light will pass through it.
 LCD
Two glass transparent electrodes are aligned front and back of the liquid crystal
It changes the orientation of the crystal molecules by applying voltage
between them
electrodes
is made
up of
Indium Tin
Oxide
(ITO)
which is
transpare
nt material

If there is no voltage applied between the electrodes, the orientation of molecules

will remain twist at 90 degrees and the light passes through the outer polarization
filter thus pixel appears as complete white
 LCD
LCD display is also called “twisted nematic LCD” because of twist and untwist of
molecules in liquid crystal layer

Gray level
is
controlled
by
controlling
the
applied
voltage

If the voltage is applied large enough the molecules in the liquid crystal layer
changes its orientation (untwist) so that light orientation also changes and then
blocked by the outer polarization filter thus the pixel appears black
 LCD
In order to produce color images, a color filter is placed in front of the outer
polarization plate
Color Filter

The red, green and blue are the three standard color filters are placed for every
three pixels to produce different color images by varying the intensity of each
color
 LCD
• Types of LCD
• Monochrome Character LCD or Segment LCD Displays:
• These display all alpha numeric values with some special characters
including currencies symbols of different countries
• These displays are mainly used in calculators, remote controllers, and
display panels
• These displays are not capable to produce any graphic animations or
images
• Graphical LCD displays:
• These can produce any monochrome graphical images and animations
by energizing set of pixels in the LCD display
• These can also produce characters, numbers and special symbols
• Color LCD displays:
• These LCD displays contains three sub pixels with primary colors Red,
Green and Blue
• Each color sub pixel can produce a range of 256 shades by varying the
voltage applied
 LCD vs LED
Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp (CCFL)
Light-Emitting Diode (LED)

LED’s are considerably smaller than CCFL

tubes, which means LED TV’s can be made
much thinner
LED’s also consume less power than their CCFL
counterparts
local dimming – a selective lighting technique that
allows for deeper blacks and better overall picture
 LCD vs LED

The problem with CCFL backlighting is that fluorescent tubes must light the entire
screen evenly, so designers have no way to vary the backlighting intensity in
different parts of the screen.
 LED vs OLED
LED stands for light-emitting diode OLED stands for organic light-emitting
diode
These are little solid-state devices that make light because of the movement of
electrons through a semi-conductor
LEDs are relatively small compared to compact fluorescent and incandescent
light bulbs, but they can get extremely bright
LEDs aren’t small enough to be used as the pixels of a television – they’re way
too big for that
That’s why LEDs are only used as the backlight for LCD televisions

An OLED is made with organic compounds that light up when fed electricity.

OLEDs can be made to be extremely thin, small and remarkably flexible

On an OLED TV, each pixel lights itself up independently of the others

LED vs OLED