Glossary of Technical LCD and Plasma Screen Terms

Please feel free free to add your own or correct me if you think I have boobed!

LCD
Liquid Crystal Display. A screen constructed using liquid crystal system.

TFT
Thin Film Transistor, the lattice of circuitry that makes an LCD screen work.

Plasma
A gas which when stimulated electrically emits a light.

CRT
Cathode Ray Tube. The good old fashioned method of displaying a picture. Involves an electron gun firing at phosphors on a screen to illuminate them and make the picture.

HD
High Definition. A broad, non specific term used to describe a picture quality higher than normal.

HD Ready
A term which states that a device is going to be compatible with HD inputs. This could be one or more than one type of input i.e. DVD, RGB or others.

Scart
A commonly used method of inputting to a TV or other device.

Pixel
Picture Element. The smallest visible part of a display.

Sub Pixel
Invisible to the viewer these elements combine to make a pixel.

Phosphor
A material that when 'lit' gives off a colour dependent upon its own initial colour and the level of stimulation.

Microfibre
A very small fibre. Often used to make cloths used to make Plasma, LCD and Laptop cleaning cloths.

WOW Screen Wipe
A high quality cleaning cloth suitable for LCD, Plasma, TFT, Sony PSP and most other screens.

Contrast Ratio
The difference between the lightest and darkest possible picture elements.

Aspect Ratio
The shape of the display on a screen. I.e. Wide screen or 4:3 (A regular TV).

Resolution
The number of dots(Pixels) that go to make up a display.

Progressive Scan
One method of 'drawing' a picture to the screen. The picture is drawn left to right and top to bottom.

I (interlaced)
A method of 'drawing' a picture to the screen. The picture is drawn left to right but first all the odd numbered horizontal lines are drawn and then the even numbered ones.

Ghosting
A term to describe an imperfection in a picture. Often this is when the image takes on an extra outline giving it an almost spectral double.

Smearing
When an image blurs from one part into another. Laviva Online Store

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