doug_k
04-15-07, 12:53 PM
People say that the resolution of LCD doesn't matter beyond a particular viewing distance because you can't see the pixels anyway.
I don't think that's entirely accurate. It's a similiar issue to that of "stuck" LCD pixels. On a black screen, you can see them from pretty much across the room. So, it depends on what surrounds the pixel.
1) on a plasma screen, the RGB subpixels are arranged in stripes (usually vertical). This means that if you see red, you're seeing red subpixels flanked by two black pixels on either side. Add in the fill ratio (space between actual pixels), and it's more like 3 on each side. It clearly makes pixels stand out more, and leads to a coarser image overall.
The better LCD technologies do not use stripes, and instead arrange the RGB subpixels in a geometric pattern which helps hide the subpixel structure *and* edges between full pixels. Similarly, DLP overlaps pixels and LCOS has a blending effect with nearby pixels.
2) plasma's much greater peak contrast makes pixels stand out even more
3) if the signal/video processing is lousy, you get errant pixels (fireflies, sparklies, etc) which haven't been smoothed out. These stand out moreso on a low-res screen
It seems like increasing resolutions to 1080P isn't really what Plasma mfgrs need to do to fix this 'weakness'. What they need is to blend the RGB subpixels together with some kind of fine diffusor. This would smooth over the sharp contrasts between pixels, including the red example above, and help hide the grid structure and jaggies.
I don't think that's entirely accurate. It's a similiar issue to that of "stuck" LCD pixels. On a black screen, you can see them from pretty much across the room. So, it depends on what surrounds the pixel.
1) on a plasma screen, the RGB subpixels are arranged in stripes (usually vertical). This means that if you see red, you're seeing red subpixels flanked by two black pixels on either side. Add in the fill ratio (space between actual pixels), and it's more like 3 on each side. It clearly makes pixels stand out more, and leads to a coarser image overall.
The better LCD technologies do not use stripes, and instead arrange the RGB subpixels in a geometric pattern which helps hide the subpixel structure *and* edges between full pixels. Similarly, DLP overlaps pixels and LCOS has a blending effect with nearby pixels.
2) plasma's much greater peak contrast makes pixels stand out even more
3) if the signal/video processing is lousy, you get errant pixels (fireflies, sparklies, etc) which haven't been smoothed out. These stand out moreso on a low-res screen
It seems like increasing resolutions to 1080P isn't really what Plasma mfgrs need to do to fix this 'weakness'. What they need is to blend the RGB subpixels together with some kind of fine diffusor. This would smooth over the sharp contrasts between pixels, including the red example above, and help hide the grid structure and jaggies.