Comparison of display technology

Further information: Comparison of CRT, LCD, plasma, and OLED displays and History of display technology

This is a comparison of various properties of different display technologies.

General characteristics

Display technology	Screen shape	Largest known diagonal		Typical use	Usable in bright room
		(in)	(cm)
Eidophor front projection	Flat	(limited only by brightness)		TV	No
Shadow mask CRT	Spherical curve or Flat	42<ref name=crt>"DEAD MITSUBISHI 40-INCH TV. help!! - ecoustics.com".</ref>	107	TV, Computer monitor,	Yes
Aperture grille CRT	Cylindrical curve or Flat	42<ref name=crt2>"Aperture grille CRT" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2011-02-23.</ref>	107	TV, Computer monitor	Yes
Monochrome CRT	Spherical curve or Flat	30<ref name=crt12>"Monochrome CRT". Archived from the original on 2009-10-09.</ref>	76	TV Computer monitor, Radar display, Oscilloscope	Yes
Direct view Charactron CRT	Spherical curve	24	61	Computer monitor, Radar display	No
CRT self-contained rear-projection	Flat lenticular	80<ref name=crt3>"Self-contained Rear Projection CRT". Archived from the original on 2008-10-31. Retrieved 2007-11-04.</ref>	203	TV	Yes
CRT front projection	Flat	(limited only by brightness)		TV or presentation	No
Plasma display panel (PDP)	Flat	152<ref name=plasma>"Panasonic Develops World's Largest 152-Inch Full HD 3D Plasma Display - Headquarters News - Panasonic Newsroom Global". Archived from the original on 2010-01-10. Retrieved 2010-01-08.</ref>	386	TV, Computer monitor (In some early "portable" computers. They required too much power for battery-powered laptops)<ref>"Gas Plasma Screen - Compaq Portable 386". December 19, 2018.</ref><ref>"Compaq Portable 386 - Computer - Computing History". www.computinghistory.org.uk.</ref><ref>"Toshiba T3100/20 - Computer - Computing History". www.computinghistory.org.uk.</ref><ref>"T-5100-Computer Museum". museum.ipsj.or.jp.</ref>	Template:Partial
Direct view LCD	Flat	110<ref>"Samsung's 110-inch 4K TV to cost US$150,000".</ref>	274	TV, Computer monitor	Yes
LCD self-contained rear-projection	Flat lenticular	70<ref name=LCD2>"LCD Rear Projection". Archived from the original on 2012-07-17. Retrieved 2007-03-16.</ref>	178	TV	Yes
LCD front-projection	Flat	(limited only by brightness)		TV or presentation	Yes
DLP self-contained rear-projection	Flat lenticular	120<ref name=DLP>Casamassina, Matt (8 January 2007). "CES 2007: Optoma's $50k 120-inch Set".</ref>	305	TV	Yes
DLP front-projection	Flat	(limited only by brightness)		TV or presentation	Yes
LCoS self-contained rear-projection	Flat	110<ref name=LCoS>"JVC Develops 110-inch".</ref>	279	TV	Yes
LCoS front-projection	Flat	(limited only by brightness)		TV or presentation	Yes
Laser self-contained rear projection	Flat lenticular	75<ref name=LASERVUE>"Mitsubishi Electric LaserVue® - Products". Archived from the original on 2009-08-25. Retrieved 2009-09-08.</ref>	191	TV	Yes
LED	Flat	279.92<ref name=LED>"Largest LED 3D TV".</ref>	711	Billboards, TV	Yes
SED	Flat	55<ref name=SED>"55-inch SED HDTVs on the way in '08".</ref>	140	Computer monitor, TV	Yes
FED	Flat	Template:Dunno	Template:Dunno	Computer monitor, TV	Yes
EPD (e-paper)	Flat (flexible)	Template:Dunno	Template:Dunno	Electronic paper	Yes
OLED	Any, but most commonly flat rectangular with or without rounded edges, notch(es) and holes, circular, or curved (flexible)<ref name=flexibleOLED>LG Global (7 January 2015). "CES 2015 LG - Perfect Black, Perfect Color : Only in LG OLED TV". Archived from the original on 2015-01-08 – via YouTube.</ref>	88<ref name="OLED88 8K">"LG SIGNATURE Z9 88 inch Class 8K Smart OLED TV w/AI ThinQ® (87.6 Diag) (OLED88Z9PUA)". LG USA.</ref>	223.52	Computer monitor, TV, Mobile phone	Yes
'LED' LCD	Flat rectangular, circular, semi circle	98	249	TV, Computer monitor	Yes
'QLED' LCD	Curved or Flat	98	249	TV, Computer monitor	Yes
Telescopic pixel display
Ferroelectric LCD
'mLED' LED	Curved or Flat	??	??	Mobile phone, Wearable Electronics, VR Display, Smartwatch, Optical Instruments, AR Display	Yes
QDLED<ref name=oled-display.net>"Quantum Dots QDTV Displays from Nanoco Technologies". Archived from the original on 2009-07-14. Retrieved 2009-05-02.</ref><ref name=unlv.edu>"Nevada Nanotechnology Center - Research".</ref><ref name=softpedia>Gache, Gabriel (10 December 2007). "LED's Outpower QDLED's".</ref><ref name=oceannanotech>"Ocean NanoTech research in QDLEDs". Archived from the original on 2009-04-29. Retrieved 2009-05-02.</ref>	—	—	—	—	Yes
IMOD	Flat	1.2<ref name=Mirasol>"Wireless Technology & Innovation - Mobile Technology - Qualcomm" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-11.</ref>	3	Mobile phone<ref name=imod>"IMOD" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-03-09.</ref>	Yes
Laser Phosphor Display (LPD)	Flat / Box	196	497.8	Presentation	Yes
Virtual retinal display	Any shape	—	—	Experimental, possibly virtual reality	Depends on system

Major technologies are CRT, LCD and its derivatives (Quantum dot display, LED backlit LCD, WLCD, OLCD), Plasma, and OLED and its derivatives (Transparent OLED, PMOLED, AMOLED). An emerging technology is Micro LED and cancelled and now obsolete technologies are SED and FED.

Temporal characteristics

Different display technologies have vastly different temporal characteristics, leading to perceptual differences for motion, flicker, etc.

Sketch of some common display technologies' temporal behaviour

The figure shows a sketch of how different technologies present a single white/grey frame. Time and intensity is not to scale. Notice that some have a fixed intensity, while the illuminated period is variable. This is a kind of pulse-width modulation. Others can vary the actual intensity in response to the input signal.

• Single-chip DLPs use a kind of "chromatic multiplexing" in which each color is presented serially. The intensity is varied by modulating the "on" time of each pixel within the time-span of one color. Multi-chip DLPs are not represented in this sketch, but would have a curve identical to the plasma display.
• LCDs have a constant (backlit) image, where the intensity is varied by blocking the light shining through the panel.
• CRTs use an electron beam, scanning the display, flashing a lit image. If interlacing is used, a single full-resolution image results in two "flashes". The physical properties of the phosphor are responsible for the rise and decay curves.
• Plasma displays modulate the "on" time of each sub-pixel, similar to DLP.
• Movie theaters use a mechanical shutter to illuminate the same frame 2 or 3 times, increasing the flicker frequency to make it less perceptible to the human eye.

Research

Researchers announced a display that uses silicon metasurface pixels that do not require polarized light and require half the energy. It employs a transparent conductive oxide as a heater that can quickly change the pixels. The pixels are 100 times thinner than liquid crystal. Response times are under 1 millisecond. They claim that the metasurface array could replace the liquid crystal layer in today's displays, eliminating the need for production technology.<ref>Ridden, Paul (2023-02-23). "Meta-display concept could retire LCD panels in big-screen TVs". New Atlas. Retrieved 2023-02-23.</ref>

See also

• Computer monitor
• Large-screen television technology