Define: Flat Screen

Define: Flat Screen TV

2008-01-11T22:01:00.000-08:00

Flat panel displays encompass a growing number of technologies enabling video displays that are lighter and much thinner than traditional television and video displays that use cathode ray tubes, and are usually less than 4 inches (100 mm) thick. They can be divided into two general categories Volatile or Static.

Flat panel displays balance their smaller footprint and trendy modern look with high production costs and in many cases inferior images compared with traditional CRTs. In many applications, specifically modern portable devices such as laptops, cellular phones, and digital cameras, whatever disadvantages are overcome by the portability requirements.

Volatile

Volatile displays require constant power output to refresh the image on screen many times a second. The image appears steady because the images are refreshed more often than the human eye can perceive.

Examples of Volatile Flat Panel Displays

DLP (Digital Light Processing)
Plasma displays
Liquid crystal displays (LCDs)
Organic light-emitting diode displays (OLEDs)
Light-emitting diode display (LED)
Electroluminescent displays (ELDs)
Surface-conduction electron-emitter displays (SEDs)
Field emission displays (FEDs)
Nano-emissive display (NEDs)

Only the first five of these displays are commercially available today, though OLED displays are beginning deployment only in small sizes (mainly in cellular telephones). SEDs were promised for release in 2006, while the FEDs and NEDs are (as of November 2005) in the prototype stage.

Static

Static flat panel displays rely on materials whose color states are bistable. This means that the image they hold requires no energy to maintain, but instead requires energy to change. This results in a much more energy efficient display, but with a tendency towards slow refresh rates which are undesirable in an interactive display.

Examples of Static Flat Panel Displays

electrophoretic displays (e.g. E Ink's electrophoretic imaging film)
bichromal ball displays (e.g. Xerox's Gyricon)
Interferometric Modulator displays (e.g. Qualcomm's iMod, a MEMS display.)
Cholesteric displays (e.g. MagInk, Kent Displays)
Bistable nematic liquid crystal displays (e.g. ZBD)

Bistable flat panel displays are beginning deployment in limited applications (Cholesteric displays, manufactured by Magink, in outdoor advertising; electrophoretic displays in e-book products from Sony and iRex; and bistable liquid crystal displays from ZBD in store shelf labels).

Flat Panel Displays

2008-01-11T22:00:00.001-08:00

From Answers.com:

A thin display screen for computer and TV usage. The first flat panels appeared on laptop computers in the mid-1980s, and the LCD technology became the standard. Stand-alone LCD screens became available for desktop computers in the mid-1990s and exceeded sales of CRTs for the first time in 2003. For TV viewing, LCD and plasma are the two competing technologies, and many flat panel TVs can also display computer output (see flat panel TV).

Reflective - Not Reflective - Reflective

You can see yourself in the glass of a traditional CRT-based computer monitor or TV. The same is true of a plasma TV. However, LCDs used to be non-reflective, a significant advantage in a brightly lit room. Along about 2003, laptop screens began to include a clear, rigid overlay that makes colors richer, but causes the screen to be reflective once again. LCD TVs, on the other hand, are mostly not reflective (see flat panel TV).

Digital Computer to Digital Display

Unlike analog CRTs, flat panel screens are digital. However, although almost all new flat panel monitors accept digital inputs, many PCs continue to offer only analog outputs. Going directly to the digital input of the display creates a sharper image (see flat panel connections for details).

Know the Maximum "Native" Resolution

Flat panel screens have a precise matrix of rows and columns based on the highest resolution supported, and this "native" resolution displays the best. If you want to view a 1280x1024 resolution on a flat panel with a native resolution of 1600x1200, the 1280x1024 image will scale up to fill the screen. The quality of scaling algorithms between brands can differ substantially; therefore, you are better off viewing a flat panel at its native resolution. Otherwise, before you buy, be sure to set the panel to the lower resolution you desire and see what it looks like. See DVI, LCD, plasma display, EL display and FED. See also flat screen.

Flex Scan Flat Screen Monitor

2008-01-11T21:57:00.000-08:00

Report:

Work luxuriously with 30" of screen space. Use the entire screen for working with one PC or take advantage of the picture-by-picture function and display two different PC sources at once without a distracting bezel between them. EIZO’s Digital Uniformity Equalizer function ensures brightness and chroma are uniform from corner to corner.

The FlexScan SX3031W has a color gamut that is 100% compared to NTSC. It also reproduces 97% of the Adobe RGB color space so it can display most colors in a photograph taken in Adobe RGB mode. Furthermore, it has an sRGB mode to accurately reproduce this narrower but commonly used color space. This ensures that colors meant for sRGB such as those used on web pages and any photos taken with a digital camera’s sRGB mode will be reproduced on the screen as intended.

The Dell UltraSharp 1707FP Report

2008-01-11T21:55:00.000-08:00

CNET says:

The Dell UltraSharp 1707FP raises the bar on what you can expect to get from a $299 LCD. It combines great image quality with a wonderfully utilitarian design, and it offers all the adjustability we could wish for, including a pivoting screen. Also onboard are sensible extras such as four USB ports and an audio input. Other 17-inch monitors, such as the Sony SDM-HS75P/S and the SDM-S75AB, perform slightly better but cost more and lack the adjustability and the overall appeal of the 1707FP.

The Dell UltraSharp 1707FP's thin bezel is attractive, and its two-tone black-and-silver color scheme and slightly space-age design will blend in with any home or office environment. Most impressive is the 1707FP's adjustability: the panel tilts 5 degrees forward and 20 degrees backward, swivels smoothly 45 degrees left and right, and pivots easily between portrait and landscape mode. The 1707FP also offers 5 inches of height adjustment--as much as we've seen on any LCD. The monitor is slightly top-heavy, and the panel wobbles with even slight adjustments, though it won't tip over.

In back, the 1707FP has connection ports for audio, DVI-D, VGA, and one upstream and two downstream USB 2.0 ports; two more downstream USB ports are stealthily tucked into the left-hand side of the cabinet. We rarely see such an impressive assortment of connections in 17-inch LCDs. A quick-release button lets you easily remove the panel for mounting on a wall or an arm mount. Despite the audio input, there are neither built-in speakers nor a headphone jack, but Dell sells a sound bar attachment for $29.

Dell UltraSharp 1707FP

2008-01-11T21:54:00.000-08:00

CNET says:

The good: Great image quality; very adjustable; high degree of connectivity; OSM is easy to navigate; USB hub.

The bad: Subtle color-tracking errors in the grayscales; slightly wobbly.

The bottom line: With an attractive design, ample adjustability options, and great image quality, the Dell UltraSharp 1707FP is one of the best 17-inch LCD monitors. We're especially impressed with its low price.

Specs: Display Type: Flat panel display / TFT active matrix; Diagonal Size: 17 in; Max Resolution: 1280 x 1024 See full specs >>

Flat Screen Definition

2008-01-11T21:53:00.001-08:00

Report: "FLAT SCREEN - This typically refers to a CRT monitor that is made more flat than a standard tube by using more than one electron gun. It is most useful to professionals who rely on the precision of their monitors. It is also better for the standard user because a straight light across the monitor looks straight and not curved. This can also refer to flat panels and projection screens, which are also flat."

Defining 'Flat Screen TV'

2008-01-11T21:52:00.001-08:00

Guest writes in 2005:

The screens were supposed to be FLAT since the very begginings of the TV (including those B/W ones), but they couldn't solve the picture distortion problems, so all TV's were made with the screens shaped as a cut of a sphere.

The first to address these problems was SONY making so called TRINITRON screens, which were shaped as a cut of a cylinder, but also making it proprietary, which made it very expencive for everyone else to produce it (TYPICALLY SONY). Only a few very expencive computer monitors were produced as TRINITRONs (NOKIA, NEC, PHILIPS). To solve the distortion problems, SONY stored the correction patterns in EEPROM, reading it repeatedly while displaying lines/frames (Everyone who had fixed older TRINITRON monitors & TV sets knows how complicated those circuits were).

The new TV sets might have really flat screen (sometimes marked as "PURE FLAT"), but the producer had to solve the distortion problems, including the FOCUS correction during each line (that must be complicated - regulating 5kV voltage at 15kHz or higher). That's why so many those "FLAT" screen TV's have actually distorted picture. Go to any consumer electronics shop - if you find more than 10% TV's WITHOUT ANY DISTORTION, I'll buy you a lunch!

Define: Flat Screen

2008-01-11T21:50:00.000-08:00

Mel writes:

It is a CRT screen that is perfectly flat. If you would like to own one, check out www.FreeFlatScreens.com/?r=10948674 for a chance to earn one at no cost but a little effort on your part. I just got one and it is great.

I just received one from the site that I referred to and am now trying to help my grandson earn one. One of the advantages of the flat screen is the you get a clear view of the picture no matter at what angle you view it whereas the old CRTs give you a distorted picture when viewed from an angle.

Defining 'Flat Screen TV'

2008-01-11T21:48:00.000-08:00

Chris Cento Aug. 14, 2007:

Flat screen TV is one of the most popular and exciting TV technologies today. At only a few inches thick, flat screen TVs offer unparalleled flexibility and convenience. Older conventional TV's, in fairness to them, did offer crisp and vibrant images. However, these TV's, which operate through a cathode ray tube (CRT), suffered from one major drawback, they were bulky. As screen size increased, so did the bulk and weight. However, the TV of old has reached its twilight years. New television technologies have enabled TV manufacturers to create TVs with wider screen size yet still only a few inches thick. Thus, flat screen TVs usher home entertainment into the 21st century.

Flat Screen TV basically refers to two technologies: Plasma and LCD. The advances in these two technologies have enabled TV makers to build thin, lightweight TV screens with a large picture area. Plasma and LCD both offer similarly large, lightweight, flat screen TV's but the similarities are skin deep for their inner workings are different.

Defining Flat Screen TV

2008-01-11T21:46:00.000-08:00

AV Greek writes in January, 2007:

The thing to look for when buying a flat-tube TV is something called dynamic focus. Within the inside of the set is usually two or three rheostats on the flyback that regulate focus at different points on the CRT. Depending on where the beam is on the CRT, the set will use that particular focus point.

RCA/Thomson was one of the first manufacturers to use this system on their ProScan models back in the early 90's. Their sets however were not flat tubes, but they had extremely wide angle, sort gun picture tubes, and this feature was necessary to achieve good focus at the screen corners.

Needless to say, you are not going to find this on the little $99.99 wal-mart specials, so likewise, those flat-tube TV's look terrible. Purchase one of the higher end Japanese sets, like a Trinitron Wega, and you'll be sure to get it!

Please define "flat screen" TV

2008-01-11T21:44:00.000-08:00

PlameNSL writes in 2005:

The screens were supposed to be FLAT since the very begginings of the TV (including those B/W ones), but they couldn't solve the picture distortion problems, so all TV's were made with the screens shaped as a cut of a sphere.

The first to address these problems was SONY making so called TRINITRON screens, which were shaped as a cut of a cylinder, but also making it proprietary, which made it very expencive for everyone else to produce it (TYPICALLY SONY). Only a few very expencive computer monitors were produced as TRINITRONs (NOKIA, NEC, PHILIPS). To solve the distortion problems, SONY stored the correction patterns in EEPROM, reading it repeatedly while displaying lines/frames (Everyone who had fixed older TRINITRON monitors & TV sets knows how complicated those circuits were).

The new TV sets might have really flat screen (sometimes marked as "PURE FLAT"), but the producer had to solve the distortion problems, including the FOCUS correction during each line (that must be complicated - regulating 5kV voltage at 15kHz or higher). That's why so many those "FLAT" screen TV's have actually distorted picture. Go to any consumer electronics shop - if you find more than 10% TV's WITHOUT ANY DISTORTION, I'll buy you a lunch!

Define: Flat Screen

2008-01-11T21:43:00.001-08:00

Report: "Term most oftenly used when referring to a flat-panel display. A flat screen implies a traditional CRT with a flat picture tube. The items that you will find here at PresentationMart are flat-panel displays, thin display screens that utilize a number of technologies including plasma and LCD (liquid crystal display). For a more indepth explanation of these types of technologies, please refer to our Display Definition reference guide in the Resources section of our site."

Definitions Of 'Flat Screen'

2008-01-11T21:41:00.000-08:00

A metal frame over which a synthetic filament mesh fabric has been stretched.
www.merinoinnovation.com/wps/wcm/connect/en/Tools/glossary/

Term most oftenly used when referring to a flat-panel display. A flat screen implies a traditional CRT with a flat picture tube. ...
www.presentationmart.com/resources/glossary.asp