The display resolution of a digital television or computer display typically refers to the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution is controlled by all different factors in cathode ray tube (CRT) and flat panel or projection displays using fixed picture-element (pixel) arrays.
One use of the term "display resolution" applies to fixed-pixel-array displays such as plasma display panels (PDPs), liquid crystal displays (LCDs), digital light processing (DLP) projectors, or similar technologies, and is simply the physical number of columns and rows of pixels creating the display (e.g., 1280×1024). A consequence of having a fixed grid display is that for multiformat video inputs all displays need a "scaling-engine" (a digital video processor that includes a memory array) to match the incoming picture format to the display.
Note that the use of the word resolution here is misleading. The term "display resolution" is usually used to mean pixel dimensions (e.g., 1280×1024), which does not tell you anything about the resolution of the display on which the image is actually formed (which would typically be given in pixels per inch (digital) or number of lines measured horizontally, per picture height (analog)).
The eye's perception of "display resolution" can be affected by a number of factors—see Image resolution and Optical resolution. One factor is the display screen's rectangular shape, which is expressed as the ratio of the physical picture width to the picture height. This is known as the aspect ratio. A screen's physical aspect ratio and the individual pixels' aspect ratio may not necessarily be the same. An array of 1280×720 on a 16:9 display has square pixels. An array of 1024×768 on a 16:9 display has rectangular pixels.
An example of pixel shape affecting "resolution" or perceived sharpness: displaying more information in a smaller area using a higher resolution makes the image much clearer. However, newer LCD displays and such are fixed at a certain resolution; making the resolution lower on these kinds of screens will greatly decrease sharpness, as an interpolation process is used to "fix" the non-native resolution input into the displays native resolution output.
While some CRT-based displays may use digital video processing that involves image scaling using memory arrays, ultimately "display resolution" in CRT-type displays is affected by different parameters such as spot size and focus, astigmatic effects in the display corners, the color phosphor pitch shadow mask (such as Trinitron) in color displays, and the video bandwidth.
Fixed pixel array displays such as LCDs, plasmas, DLPs, LCoS, etc. need a "scaling" processor with frame memory, which, depending on the processing system, effectively converts an incoming interlaced picture into progressive. A similar process occurs in a PC and its display with interlaced video (e.g., from a TV tuner card). The downside is that interlace motion artifacts are almost impossible to remove resulting in horizontal "toothed" edges on moving objects.
Also in analog connected picture displays such as CRT TV sets, the horizontal scanlines are not divided into pixels, and therefore the horizontal resolution is related to the bandwidth of the luminance and chroma signals. For television, the analog bandwidth for luminance in standard definition can vary from 3 MHz (approximately 330 lines edge-to-edge; VHS) to 4.2 MHz (440 lines; live analog tv) up to 7 MHz (660 lines; DVD). In high definition the bandwidth is 37 MHz (720p/1080i) or 74 MHz (1080p/60).
Televisions are of the following resolutions:
SDTV: 480i (NTSC, 720×480 split into two 240-line fields) SDTV: 576i (PAL, 720×576 split into two 288-line fields) EDTV: 480p (NTSC, 720×480) HDTV: 720p (1280×720) HDTV: 1080i (1280×1080, 1440×1080, or 1920×1080 split into two 540-line fields) HDTV: 1080p (1920*1080 progressive scan)
Computers have higher resolutions:
Currently, 1024x768 is regarded as an acceptable default. As of July, 2002, 1024×768 Extended Graphics Array was the most common display resolution. Many web sites and multimedia products were re-designed from the previous 800×600 format to the higher 1024×768-optimized layout. The validity of this method of gathering statistics is diminishing, however, as LCD monitors have only one native display resolution - the highest available on that particular monitor. When users select a lower resolution, the lower resolution is reported to the statistics gathering website. Nevertheless, the actual number of pixels in front of the user has not changed. Instead, interpolation in the monitor causes the picture to become fuzzy as it attempts to display an image of the wrong resolution by scaling it.
The availability of inexpensive LCD monitors has made the 5:4 aspect ratio resolution of 1280×1024 more popular for desktop usage. Many computer users including CAD users, graphic artists and video game players run their computers at 1600×1200 resolution (UXGA, Ultra-eXtended) or higher if they have the necessary equipment. Other recently available resolutions include oversize aspects like 1400×1050 SXGA+ and wide aspects like 1280×720 WXGA, 1680×1050 WSXGA+, and 1920×1200 WUXGA. The most common computer display resolutions are as follows: A new HD resolution has been released mainly in 30" LCD monitors. The new 2560x1600 is the current max resolution WQXGA.
| Resolution | % of Internet Users |
|---|---|
| Higher than 1024×768 | 38% |
| 1024×768 | 48% |
| 800×600 | 8% |
| Lower than 800×600 | < 1% |
| Unknown | 6% |
When a computer display resolution is set higher than the physical screen resolution, some video drivers make the virtual screen scrollable over the physical screen. Most LCD manufacturers do make note of the panel's native resolution as working in a non-native resolution on LCDs will result in a poorer image, due to dropping of pixels to make the image fit (when using DVI) or insufficient sampling of the analog signal (when using VGA connector). Few CRT manufacturers will quote the true native resolution since CRTs are analog in nature and can vary their display from as low as 320×200 (emulation of older computers or game consoles) to as high as the internal board will allow, or the image becomes too detailed for the vacuum tube to recreate (i.e. analog blur). Thus CRTs provide a variability in resolution that LCDs can not provide (LCDs have fixed resolution).
Most television display manufacturers "overscan" the pictures on their displays (CRTs and PDPs, LCDs etc.), so that the effective on-screen picture may be reduced from 720×576(480) to 680×550(450), for example. The size of the invisible area somewhat depends on the display device. HD televisions do this as well to a similar extent.
Computer displays including projectors generally do not overscan although many models (particularly CRT displays) allow it. In computer displays, overscan and underscan can be altered by adjusting vertical blanking interval. CRT displays tend to be underscanned in stock configurations, to compensate the increasing distortions at the corners. On LCD and other flat panel displays, VBI can be lowered to support higher resolutions and refresh rate for the same bandwidth.
Many personal computers introduced in the late 1970s and the 1980s were designed to use television sets as their display devices, making the resolutions dependent on the television standards in use, including PAL and NTSC. Picture sizes were usually limited in order to ensure the visibility of all the pixels in the major television standards and the broad range of television sets with varying amounts of overscan. The actual drawable picture area was therefore somewhat smaller than the whole screen, and was usually surrounded by a static-colored border (see image to right). Also, the interlace scanning was usually omitted in order to provide more stability to the picture, effectively halving the vertical resolution in progress. 160×200, 320×200 and 640×200 on NTSC were relatively common resolutions in the era (224, 240 or 256 scanlines were also common). In the IBM PC world, these resolutions came to be used by 16-color CGA video cards.
One of the drawbacks of using a classic television is that the computer display resolution is higher than the TV could decode. Chroma resolution for NTSC/PAL televisions are bandwidth-limited to a maximum 1.5 megahertz, or approximately 160 pixels wide, which led to blurring of the color for 320 or 640-wide signals, and made text difficult to read (see second image to right). Many users upgraded to higher-quality televisions with S-Video or RGBI inputs that helped eliminate chroma blur & produce more legible displays. The earliest, lowest cost solution to the chroma problem was offered in the Atari 2600 Video Computer System and the Apple II+, both of which offered the option to disable the color and view a legacy black-and-white signal. On the Commodore 64, the GEOS mirrored the Macintosh OS method of using black-and-white to improve readability.
The 640×400i resolution (720x480i with borders disabled) was first introduced by home computers such as the Commodore Amiga and (later) Atari Falcon. These computers used interlace to boost the maximum vertical resolution. These modes were only suited to graphics or gaming, as the flickering interlace made reading text in word processor, database, or spreadsheet software difficult. (Modern game consoles solve this problem by pre-filtering the 480i video to a lower resolution. For example Final Fantasy 12 suffers from flicker when the filter is turned off, but stabilizes once filtering is restored. The computers of the 1980s lacked sufficient power to run similar filtering software.)
The advantage of a 720×480i overscanned computer was an easy interface with interlaced TV production, leading to the development of Newtek's Video Toaster. This device allowed Amigas to be used for CGI creation in various news departments (example: weather overlays), drama programs such as NBC's seaQuest, WB's Babylon 5, and early computer-generated animation by Disney for the Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin.
In the PC world, the IBM PS/2 VGA and MCGA (multi-color) on-board graphics chips used a non-interlaced (progressive) 640×480p resolution that was easier to read and thus more-useful for office work. It was the standard resolution from 1990 to around 1996. The standard resolution was 800×600 until around 2000. Today most web browsers are set to 1280x1024. Microsoft Windows XP is designed to run at 800×600 minimum although it is possible to select the original 640×480 in the Advanced Settings Window. Linux, FreeBSD, and most Unix variants use the X Window System and can run at any desired resolution as long as the display and video card support it.
Programs designed to mimic older hardware such as Atari, Sega, or Nintendo game consoles (emulators) when attached to multiscan CRTs, routinely use much lower resolutions such as 160x200 or 320x400 for greater authenticity.
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