http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/rnb_091003.asp
Display Brighter Than Film
Technology Research News September 10, 2003
The human eye is capable of seeing the sun's entire range of brightness—nearly seven orders of magnitude, or 10 million to 1. The contrast between a bright sunny day and a moonless night, for example, is around a million to one.
The liquid crystal screens used in laptops, palmtops and cell phones, however, display only a fraction of that range: they average around 300 to 1, and top out at 800 to 1.
Researchers from York University in Canada, the University of British Columbia in Canada, and Sunnybrook Technologies, have devised a way to boost the dynamic range of liquid crystal displays to 90,000 to 1.
The technology promises to make computer screens look more realistic.
The method should improve architectural rendering, and flight and vehicle simulators, according to the researchers. It also promises to prove viewing medical imaging data, which, because of the limitations of today's computer displays, is often broken up into many pictures that show a series of brightness ranges.
Key to the improvement is using hundreds of light-emitting diodes as a backlight rather than a pair of fluorescent tubes. The set up is made from off-the-shelf parts and draws no more power than conventional screens, but is pricier.
The researchers presented the work at the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group Graphics (Siggraph) 2003 conference in San Diego, July 27 to 31.
Display Brighter Than Film
Technology Research News September 10, 2003
The human eye is capable of seeing the sun's entire range of brightness—nearly seven orders of magnitude, or 10 million to 1. The contrast between a bright sunny day and a moonless night, for example, is around a million to one.
The liquid crystal screens used in laptops, palmtops and cell phones, however, display only a fraction of that range: they average around 300 to 1, and top out at 800 to 1.
Researchers from York University in Canada, the University of British Columbia in Canada, and Sunnybrook Technologies, have devised a way to boost the dynamic range of liquid crystal displays to 90,000 to 1.
The technology promises to make computer screens look more realistic.
The method should improve architectural rendering, and flight and vehicle simulators, according to the researchers. It also promises to prove viewing medical imaging data, which, because of the limitations of today's computer displays, is often broken up into many pictures that show a series of brightness ranges.
Key to the improvement is using hundreds of light-emitting diodes as a backlight rather than a pair of fluorescent tubes. The set up is made from off-the-shelf parts and draws no more power than conventional screens, but is pricier.
The researchers presented the work at the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group Graphics (Siggraph) 2003 conference in San Diego, July 27 to 31.
