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Surprising Facts about LCD Response Time and Motion Blur

Bart Salisbury — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:32:08 -0500

Buying an LCD HDTV just got a whole lot easier. According to Dr. Raymond M. Soneira, of DisplayMate, the quest for minimal response times is as foolish as comparing raw processor speeds. It’s the real world that matters, and for live video mid- to high-range LCDs perform just fine regardless of their rated response times.

Dr. Soneira compared the motion blur characteristics of eight LCDs and two Plasmas against a Sony Professional HD Trinitron Studio monitor, using a battery of motions tests from the proprietary DisplayMate Multimedia with Motion Bitmaps Edition software. His conclusion: “there was essentially no visually detectable motion blur on any of the LCD HDTVs in all of the extensive live video content that we assembled.” Motion blur is more likely a subjective rather than an objective phenomenon.

The good news from this report is it isn’t necessary to ‘buy up’ to 120 Hz or higher refresh rates, strobed LED backlighting, or advanced motion blur processing (which Dr. Soneira claims can introduce “ugly motion artifacts”). Stick with a reputable brand, in the mid- to high-range, without regard to response times, and you’ll be fine.

Image Credit: DisplayMate

Have an Extra 30 Grand to Blow? Buy an 85-Inch Plasma!

Paul Lilly — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 07:45:26 -0500

Excuse us while we clean up our morning coffee off of our keyboard and desk - Panasonic wants how much for its 85-inch plasma display? The answer is $30,000, but hey, if you wait long enough, maybe you can catch one on sale for 'only' 20 Gs.

According to Panasonic, the exorbitantly priced TH-85PF12U is the industry's first 85-inch full HD, 1080p plasma display and equivalent to four 42-inch plasmas. The company also claims its Neo plasma display panel technology has made it possible to keep the 85-incher "significantly thinner and lighter than past plasmas," measuring 3.9 inches deep and checking in at 260 pounds.

Sounds groovy and all, but how do you convince your significant other that a $30,000 TV set would really complete your living room? Answer that question and you're halfway there.

Image Credit: Panasonic via Cnet

Flexible 135-Inch Plasma Coming in 2009, Still Not Soon Enough

Alex Castle — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:57:40 -0500

Image Credit: Pink Tentacle

Shinoda Plasma Corp is showing off a huge, flexible, prototype plasma display at the FPD exhibition in Japan, with plans to sell it commercially starting next year.

Unlike traditional plasma screens, with light-emitting cells located between sheets of glass, Shinoda’s display will use cells inside of incredibly thin glass tubes. These tubes allow the screen to be thinner than current plasma displays, and also allow it to be flexible.

The screen of the prototype is 3 meters by 1 meter, and only a millimeter thick. As if that weren’t enough, the screen is light (1.4kg) and energy efficient (600 watts) as well. Sadly, the technology isn’t ready for use in TVs and monitors yet—it can’t display resolutions higher than 960 by 360 pixels, but we should start seeing it in public display capacities as early as next April or May.

Assuming this technology does become suitable for consumer displays, how do you think it’ll change the commercial landscape? Tell us your thoughts after the break.

NEC's New Plasma Display Identifies Consumers

Paul Lilly — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:13:31 -0500

Ever get that eerie feeling you're being watched? Forget what your therapist told you, you have every right to be paranoid. NEC Corp. has just developed a new 50-inch plasma display that not only likes being watched, but watches back. On top of the display sits a tiny camera capable of identifying a person's age and sex, and it can perform the same trick with a group of viewers. Armed with that information, the display can then target advertisements based on the predominate demographic. For example, if most of the viewers are determined to be senior citizens, it might show an ad for the Jitterbug instead of Apple's iPhone.

"Changing advertising products in accordance with the viewer would bring advertising closer to the purchaser," said Hiroshi Takahashi at NEC's solution business promotion division.

And he's right, but is that a good thing? Imagine stopping near a billboard with your longtime girlfriend and as you bend down on one knee to propose, the display starts belting out a "Viva Viagra!" jingle. Or Herpex. Interested parties need only hold their cell phone over a special device and the display will feed them a URL, coupons, and any other pertinent information, but depending on what's being advertised, you may want to wait until your girlfriend's not looking.

The 50-inch display will make an appearance later this summer at an annual festival in Tokyo run by Fuji Television network and be presented as an entertainment device. Visitors will know they're being watched, but will they like it?

Image Credit: Flickr Mick 0

Move Over LCDs and Plasmas, and Make Room for Telescopic Pixel Tech

Paul Lilly — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:22:32 -0500

Plasma displays are all but dead, and as any Maximum PC subscriber knows by now, the quality of LCD monitors can (and do) vary wildly, even among the same manufacturer (see VX2035WM and VLED221WM). Even still, LCDs dominate the PC landscape, and because prices have fallen so far in the past year, LCD televisions are also becoming increasingly commonplace. But there's a new contender on the horizon.

Researchers from Microsoft and the University of Washington talked up a new technology called "telescopic pixels" in this week's Nature Photonics. As the name suggests, the new tech takes advantage of an old concept and finds its roots in the optical telescope. How it works is each individual pixel consists of two opposing mirrors with one changing shape based on applied voltage, and the other reflecting light through a hole on the primary mirror and onto the display screen. Arstechnica has the full technical rundown, but what's most interesting are the several potential upsides over today's pixel technology.

Backlight and Battery Life

If LCD technology has an Achilles' heel, it's with the backlight. Few displays manage to get it just right, with many of them suffering from either washed out black coloring, or a display that's too dark all around. According to the article, telescopic pixel technology looks to improve backlight transmission to 36 percent, with the promise of reaching 56 percent as the technology matures. Should that happen, battery life in laptops could potentially increase by up to 45 minutes without reducing the screen brightness.

Response Time and Contrast

While most LCD displays advertise single digit response times as low as 2ms, telescopic pixel displays look to be as low as 0.625ms, which should come as good news to any hardcore gamer. Where the technology falters is with contrast ratios, where experimental measurements were noted at just 20:1. But the article states that up to 800:1 may be possible, which would make it competitive with LCD technology.

Where telescopic pixels go from here is anyone's guess, so let's hear yours: Are LCDs on their way out?

Image Credit: BenQ

Scientists Warn Gas Used to Produce LCD, Plasma TVs Hurting Environment

Paul Lilly — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 12:21:55 -0500

Absolutely no flatulence jokes will be blasted out in this blog, and while I'll do my best to hold it in, scientists are letting out concerns that a gas used in the making of LCD and plasma screens could be hurting the environment. The news couldn't have come at a worse time; plasmas and LCDs account for almost half of all televisions produced this year, a trend that doesn't appear to be slowing down. Almost all of them benefited from nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) during the production process, a potentially harmful gas also used to produce semiconductors and synthetic diamonds.

Exactly how dangerous NF3 might be to the environment remains a mystery, and will likely become a point of contention. Skeptics will point out that NF3 isn't one of the six gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol international climate change agreement, a legaly binding treaty designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, NF3 was only produced in tiny amounts when the treaty was signed over 10 years ago, and production has since skyrocketed. Today scientists estimate the gas to be 17,000 times stronger than carbon dioxide and warn it could cause more global warming than coal-fired power plants.

Highlighting concerns in the United States, a Congress mandate calls for all full-power television stations to make the transition to digital-only broadcasting by February 17, 2009, further fueling demand for an already booming flat-screen market. An estimated 4,000 tons of NF3 will be produced in 2008 and could double in 2009. What that means to the environment won't be known until measurements of NF3 released into the atmosphere are taken. From there, let the global warming debate resume.

Image Credit: Fenner School of Environment and Society