Resolution Is The Key To Success

TFT displays are so much a part of our modern lives, from our Ultra HD televisions, down to the displays on our wrist watches and other wearable or portable equipment. Each display has 2 features which define its physical shape (aspect ratio) and clarity or sharpness of the displayed image. (Screen resolution is defined in pixels and calculated as width x height). This article looks back at how we got to the super high-resolution screens we now take for granted and how they relate to the displays used in the industrial sector. There is also a handy little aide memoir of names and sizes.

The personal computers first introduced in 70s & 80s were designed to use television receivers as their display devices. This meant that the available resolutions were dependent on the television standards in use at the time. Picture sizes were usually limited to ensure the visibility of all the pixels and the actual usable picture area was somewhat smaller than the whole screen.

One of the drawbacks of using a classic television was that the computer display resolution is higher than the TVs could decode. Many users upgraded to higher-quality televisions with S-Video or RGBI inputs that helped eliminate chroma blur and produce more legible displays.

Early computer manufacturers, like Commodore, Apple and Atari, developed interlacing techniques to boost the maximum vertical resolution, but these outputs were still only suitable for showing graphics rather than text, which suffered from flicker effects.