Display resolution - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The display resolution of a digital television

Digital television

Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...

or display device

Display device

A display device is an output device for presentation of information in visual or tactile form...

is the number of distinct pixel

Pixel

In digital imaging, a pixel, or pel, is a single point in a raster image, or the smallest addressable screen element in a display device; it is the smallest unit of picture that can be represented or controlled....

s in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution is controlled by all different factors in cathode ray tube

Cathode ray tube

The cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun and a fluorescent screen used to view images. It has a means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam onto the fluorescent screen to create the images. The image may represent electrical waveforms , pictures , radar targets and...

(CRT), flat panel or projection displays using fixed picture-element (pixel

Pixel

) arrays.

It is usually quoted as width × height, with the units in pixels: for example, "1024x768" means the width is 1024 pixels and the height is 768 pixels. This example would normally be spoken as "ten twenty-four by seven sixty-eight" or "ten twenty-four by seven six eight".

One use of the term “display resolution” applies to fixed-pixel-array displays such as plasma display panels

Plasma display

A plasma display panel is a type of flat panel display common to large TV displays or larger. They are called "plasma" displays because the technology utilizes small cells containing electrically charged ionized gases, or what are in essence chambers more commonly known as fluorescent...

(PDPs), liquid crystal display

Liquid crystal display

A liquid crystal display is a flat panel display, electronic visual display, or video display that uses the light modulating properties of liquid crystals . LCs do not emit light directly....

s (LCDs), digital light processing (DLP) projectors, or similar technologies, and is simply the physical number of columns and rows of pixels creating the display (e.g., 1920×1080). A consequence of having a fixed grid display is that, for multi-format video inputs, all displays need a "scaling engine" (a digital video processor that includes a memory array) to match the incoming picture format to the display.

Note that the use of the word resolution here is a misnomer, though common. The term “display resolution” is usually used to mean pixel dimensions, the number of pixels in each dimension (e.g., 1920×1080), which does not tell anything about the resolution of the display on which the image is actually formed: resolution properly refers to the pixel density, the number of pixels per unit distance or area, not total number of pixels. In digital measurement, the display resolution would be given in pixels per inch. In analog measurement, if the screen is 10 inches high, then the horizontal resolution is measured across a square 10 inches wide. This is typically stated as "lines horizontal resolution, per picture height;" for example, analog NTSC

NTSC

NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...

TVs can typically display 486 lines of "per picture height" horizontal resolution, which is equivalent to 648 total lines of actual picture information from left edge to right edge. Which would give NTSC TV a display resolution of 648×486 in actual lines/picture information, but in "per picture height" a display resolution of 640×480.

Considerations

Some commentators also use this term to indicate a range of input formats that the display's input electronics will accept and often include formats greater than the screen's native grid size even though they have to be down-scaled to match the screen's parameters (e.g., accepting a 1920×1080 input on a display with a native 1366×768 pixel array). In the case of television inputs, many manufacturers will take the input and zoom it out to "overscan

Overscan

Overscan is extra image area around the four edges of a video image that may not be seen reliably by the viewer. It exists because television sets in the 1930s through 1970s were highly variable in how the video image was framed within the cathode ray tube .-Origins of overscan:Early televisions...

" the display by as much as 5% so input resolution is not necessarily display resolution.

The eye's perception of "display resolution" can be affected by a number of factors—see Image resolution

Image resolution

Image resolution is an umbrella term that describes the detail an image holds. The term applies to raster digital images, film images, and other types of images. Higher resolution means more image detail....

and Optical resolution

Optical resolution

Optical resolution describes the ability of an imaging system to resolve detail in the object that is being imaged.An imaging system may have many individual components including a lens and recording and display components...

. One factor is the display screen's rectangular shape, which is expressed as the ratio of the physical picture width to the physical picture height. This is known as the aspect ratio

Aspect ratio (image)

The aspect ratio of an image is the ratio of the width of the image to its height, expressed as two numbers separated by a colon. That is, for an x:y aspect ratio, no matter how big or small the image is, if the width is divided into x units of equal length and the height is measured using this...

. A screen's physical aspect ratio and the individual pixels' aspect ratio may not necessarily be the same. An array of 1280×720 on a 16:9

16:9

16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...

display has square pixels. An array of 1024×768 on a 16:9 display has rectangular pixels.

An example of pixel shape affecting "resolution" or perceived sharpness: displaying more information in a smaller area using a higher resolution makes the image much clearer or "sharper". However, newer LCD screens and such are fixed at a certain resolution; making the resolution lower on these kinds of screens will greatly decrease sharpness, as an interpolation process is used to "fix" the non-native resolution input into the display's native resolution

Native resolution

The native resolution of a LCD, LCoS or other flat panel display refers to its single fixed resolution. As an LCD display consists of a fixed raster, it cannot change resolution to match the signal being displayed as a CRT monitor can, meaning that optimal display quality can be reached only when...

output.

While some CRT-based displays may use digital video processing

Video processing

In electrical engineering and computer science, video processing is a particular case of signal processing, which often employs video filters and where the input and output signals are video files or video streams. Video processing techniques are used in television sets, VCRs, DVDs, video codecs,...

that involves image scaling using memory arrays, ultimately "display resolution" in CRT-type displays is affected by different parameters such as spot size and focus, astigmatic effects

Astigmatism

An optical system with astigmatism is one where rays that propagate in two perpendicular planes have different foci. If an optical system with astigmatism is used to form an image of a cross, the vertical and horizontal lines will be in sharp focus at two different distances...

in the display corners, the color phosphor pitch shadow mask

Shadow mask

The shadow mask is one of two major technologies used to manufacture cathode ray tube televisions and computer displays that produce color images. The other approach is aperture grille, better known by its trade name, Trinitron. All early color televisions and the majority of CRT computer monitors...

(such as Trinitron

Trinitron

Trinitron is Sony's brand name for its line of aperture grille based CRTs used in television sets and computer display monitors. One of the first truly new television systems to enter the market since the 1950s, the Trinitron was announced in 1966 to wide acclaim for its bright images, about 25%...

) in color displays, and the video bandwidth.

Overview

Analog television

Analog television is the analog transmission that involves the broadcasting of encoded analog audio and analog video signal: one in which the message conveyed by the broadcast signal is a function of deliberate variations in the amplitude and/or frequency of the signal...

systems use interlaced video scanning with two sequential scans called fields (50 PAL

PAL

PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...

or 60 NTSC

NTSC

fields per second), one with the odd numbered scan line

Scan line

A scan line or scanline is one line, or row, in a raster scanning pattern, such as a line of video on a cathode ray tube display of a television set or computer monitor....

s, the other with the even numbered scan lines to give a complete picture or frame (25 or 30 frames per second). This is done to save transmission bandwidth but a consequence is that in picture tube (CRT

CRT

-Medicine:* Capillary refill time, the rate at with blood refills empty capillaries* Cognitive Retention Therapy, a dementia treatment* Cardiac resynchronization therapy, a treatment for heart failure** CRT-D, an implanted cardiac resynchronization device...

) displays, the full vertical resolution cannot be realized. For example, the maximum detail in the vertical direction would be for adjacent lines to be alternately black then white. This is not as great a problem in a progressive video display but an interlace display will have an unacceptable flicker at the slower frame rate. This is why interlace is unacceptable for fine detail such as computer word processing or spreadsheets. For television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

it means that if the picture is intended for interlace displays the picture must be vertically filtered to remove this objectionable flicker with a reduction of vertical resolution. According to the Kell factor

Kell factor

The Kell factor, named after RCA engineer Raymond D. Kell, is a parameter used to limit the bandwidth of a sampled image signal to avoid the appearance of beat frequency patterns when displaying the image in a discrete display devices, usually taken to be 0.7. The number was first measured in 1934...

the reduction is to about 85%, so a 576 line PAL interlace display only has about 480 lines vertical resolution, and a 486 line NTSC interlace display has a resolution of approximately 410 lines vertical. Similarly, 1080i digital interlaced video (the "i" in 1080i refers to "interlaced") would need to be filtered to about 910 lines for an interlaced display, although a fixed pixel display (such as LCD television) eliminates the inaccuracies of scanning, and thus can achieve Kell factors as high as 95% or 1020 lines. It should be noted that the Kell Factor equally applies to progressive scan. Using a Kell factor of 0.9, a 1080p HDTV video system using a CCD camera and an LCD or plasma display will only have 1728×972 lines of resolution.

Fixed pixel array displays such as LCDs, plasmas, DLPs, LCoS, etc. need a "video scaling" processor with frame memory, which, depending on the processing system, effectively converts an incoming interlaced video signal into a progressive video signal. A similar process occurs in a PC and its display with interlaced video (e.g., from a TV tuner card

TV tuner card

A TV tuner card is a kind of television tuner that allows television signals to be received by a computer. Most TV tuners also function as video capture cards, allowing them to record television programs onto a hard disk much like the Tivo digital video recorder does.-Variants: The interfaces for...

). The downside is that interlace motion artifacts are almost impossible to remove resulting in horizontal "toothed" edges on moving objects.

In analog connected picture displays such as CRT TV sets, the horizontal scanlines are not divided into pixels, but by the sampling theorem, the bandwidth of the luma

Luma (video)

In video, luma, sometimes called luminance, represents the brightness in an image . Luma is typically paired with chrominance. Luma represents the achromatic image without any color, while the chroma components represent the color information...

and chroma signals implies a horizontal resolution. For television, the analog bandwidth for luminance in standard definition can vary from 3 MHz (approximately 330 lines edge-to-edge; VHS) to 4.2 MHz (440 lines; live analog) up to 7 MHz (660 lines; DVD). In high definition the bandwidth is 37 MHz (720p/1080i) or 74 MHz (1080p/60).

Televisions

Televisions are of the following resolutions:

Standard-definition television (SDTV
Standard-definition television
Sorete-definition television is a television system that uses a resolution that is not considered to be either enhanced-definition television or high-definition television . The term is usually used in reference to digital television, in particular when broadcasting at the same resolution as...

):
- 480i
  480i
  480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US NTSC television system or digital television systems with the same characteristics. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC...
  
  (NTSC
  NTSC
  NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
  
  standard uses an analog system of 486i split into two interlaced fields of 243 lines)
- 576i
  576i
  576i is a standard-definition video mode used in PAL and SECAM countries. In digital applications it is usually referred to as "576i", in analogue contexts it is often quoted as "625 lines"...
  
  (PAL
  PAL
  PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
  
  , 720×576 split into two interlaced fields of 288 lines)
Enhanced-definition television (EDTV
Enhanced-definition television
Enhanced-definition television, or extended-definition television, is a United States Consumer Electronics Association marketing shorthand term for certain digital television formats and devices...

):
- 480p
  480p
  480p is the shorthand name for a video display resolution. The p stands for progressive scan, i.e. non-interlaced. The 480 denotes a vertical resolution of 480 pixel high vertically scanning lines, usually with a horizontal resolution of 640 pixels and 4:3 aspect ratio or a horizontal resolution of...
  
  (720×480 progressive scan
  Progressive scan
  Progressive scanning is a way of displaying, storing, or transmitting moving images in which all the lines of each frame are drawn in sequence...
  
  )
- 576p
  576p
  576p is the shorthand name for a video display resolution. The p stands for progressive scan, i.e. non-interlaced, the 576 for a vertical resolution of 576 lines, usually with a horizontal resolution of 720 or 704 pixels. The frame rate can be given explicitly after the letter.-576p25:In other...
  
  (720×576 progressive scan)
High-definition television (HDTV
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...

):
- 720p
  720p
  720p is the shorthand name for 1280x720, a category of High-definition television video modes having a resolution of 1080 or 720p and a progressive scan...
  
  (1280×720 progressive scan)
- 1080i
  1080i
  1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels...
  
  (1920×1080 split into two interlaced fields of 540 lines)
- 1080p
  1080p
  1080p is the shorthand identification for a set of HDTV high-definition video modes that are characterized by 1080 horizontal lines of resolution and progressive scan, meaning the image is not interlaced as is the case with the 1080i display standard....
  
  (1920×1080 progressive scan)

Computer Monitors

Computer monitors have higher resolutions than most televisions. , 1024×768 eXtended Graphics Array was the most common display resolution. Many web sites and multimedia products were re-designed from the previous 800×600 format to the higher 1024×768-optimized layout.

The availability of inexpensive LCD monitors has made the 5:4 aspect ratio resolution of 1280×1024 more popular for desktop usage. Many computer users including CAD

Computer-aided design

Computer-aided design , also known as computer-aided design and drafting , is the use of computer technology for the process of design and design-documentation. Computer Aided Drafting describes the process of drafting with a computer...

users, graphic artists and video game players run their computers at 1600×1200 resolution (UXGA, Ultra-eXtended) or higher if they have the necessary equipment. Other recently available resolutions include oversize aspects like 1400×1050 SXGA+ and wide aspects like 1280×800 WXGA, 1440x900 WXGA+, 1680×1050 WSXGA+, and 1920×1200 WUXGA. A new more-than-HD resolution of 2560×1600 WQXGA was released in 30" LCD monitors in 2007. In 2010, 27" LCD monitors with the resolution 2560×1440 were released by multiple manufacturers including Apple. Panels for professional environments such as medical use and air traffic control, support resolutions up to 4096×2160.
The most common computer display resolutions are as follows:

Width	Height	% of Internet Users
1024	768	22.63
1366	768	15.63
1280	800	14.55
1280	1024	7.96
1440	900	6.92
1680	1050	3.75
1920	1080	3.70
1600	900	3.12
1360	768	2.65
1024	600	2.37
1152	864	1.91
1280	768	1.84
1280	720	1.66
800	600	1.44
1920	1200	1.04
1280	960	0.86
768	1024	0.80
1093	614	0.54
1024	640	0.28
1152	720	0.26
Other		6.08

Note: These statistics were gathered from visitors to three million websites, normalised to counteract geolocational bias, and may not be representative of computer users in general. Covers the three month period from June to August 2011.

These are the results of Steam hardware survey of October 2011 (note that these figures reflect computer video-gamers who use Steam):

Code	Name	Aspect ratio	Width	Height	% of Steam users
XGA	eXtended Graphics Array	4:3	1024	768	4.51%
XGA+	eXtended Graphics Array Plus	4:3	1152	864	0.59%
WXGA	Widescreen eXtended Graphics Array	16:9	1280	720	0.73%
WXGA	Widescreen eXtended Graphics Array	16:10	1280	800	4.48%
SXGA (UVGA)	Super eXtended Graphics Array	4:3	1280	960	0.83%
SXGA	Super eXtended Graphics Array	5:4	1280	1024	11.39%
HD	High Definition	16:9	1360	768	1.32%
HD	High Definition	16:9	1366	768	5.97%
WXGA+	Widescreen eXtended Graphics Array Plus	16:10	1440	900	8.89%
HD+	High Definition Plus	16:9	1600	900	4.09%
UXGA	Ultra eXtended Graphics Array	4:3	1600	1200	0.94%
WSXGA+	Widescreen Super eXtended Graphics Array Plus	16:10	1680	1050	18.08%
FHD (Full HD)	Full High Definition	16:9	1920	1080	23.73%
WUXGA	Widescreen Ultra eXtended Graphics Array	16:10	1920	1200	8.29%
WQHD	Wide Quad High Definition	16:9	2560	1440	0.74%
	Other				4.60%

When a computer display resolution is set higher than the physical screen resolution (native resolution) , some video drivers make the virtual screen scrollable over the physical screen thus realizing a two dimensional virtual desktop

Virtual desktop

In computing, a virtual desktop is a term used with respect to user interfaces, usually within the WIMP paradigm, to describe ways in which the size of a computer's desktop environment is expanded beyond the physical limits of the screen's real estate through the use of software, This saves space...

with its viewport

Viewport

A viewport is a rectangular viewing region in computer graphics, or a term used for optical components. It has several definitions in different contexts:- Computing :...

. Most LCD manufacturers do make note of the panel's native resolution as working in a non-native resolution on LCDs will result in a poorer image, due to dropping of pixels to make the image fit (when using DVI) or insufficient sampling of the analog signal (when using VGA connector). Few CRT manufacturers will quote the true native resolution since CRTs are analog in nature and can vary their display from as low as 320×200 (emulation of older computers or game consoles) to as high as the internal board will allow, or the image becomes too detailed for the vacuum tube to recreate (i.e. analog blur). Thus CRTs provide a variability in resolution that LCDs can not provide (LCDs have fixed resolution).

In recent years the popularity of 16:9 aspect ratios has resulted in more notebook display resolutions adhering to this aspect ratio. 1366×768 (HD

720p

720p is the shorthand name for 1280x720, a category of High-definition television video modes having a resolution of 1080 or 720p and a progressive scan...

) has become popular for most notebook sizes, while 1600×900 (HD+) and 1920x1080 (FHD

1080p

1080p is the shorthand identification for a set of HDTV high-definition video modes that are characterized by 1080 horizontal lines of resolution and progressive scan, meaning the image is not interlaced as is the case with the 1080i display standard....

) are available for larger notebooks.

As far as digital cinematography is concerned, video resolution standards depend first on the frames' aspect ratio in the film stock

Film stock

Film stock is photographic film on which filmmaking of motion pictures are shot and reproduced. The equivalent in television production is video tape.-1889–1899:...

(which is usually scanned

Motion picture film scanner

A motion picture film scanner is a device used in digital filmmaking to scan original film for storage as high-resolution digital intermediate files.A film scanner scans original film stock: negative or positive print or reversal/IP...

for digital intermediate

Digital intermediate

Digital intermediate is a motion picture finishing process which classically involves digitizing a motion picture and manipulating the color and other image characteristics. It often replaces or augments the photochemical timing process and is usually the final creative adjustment to a movie...

post-production) and then on the actual points' count. Although there is not a unique set of standardized sizes, it is commonplace within the motion picture industry to refer to "nK" image "quality", where

is a (small, usually even) integer number which translates into a set of actual resolutions, depending on the film format

Film format

A film format is a technical definition of a set of standard characteristics regarding image capture on photographic film, for either stills or movies. It can also apply to projected film, either slides or movies. The primary characteristic of a film format is its size and shape.In the case of...

. As a reference consider that, for a 4:3 (around 1.33:1) aspect ratio which a film frame (no matter what is its format) is expected to horizontally fit in,

is the multiplier of 1024 such that the horizontal resolution is exactly

points. For example, 2K reference resolution is 2048×1536 pixels, whereas 4K reference resolution is 4096×3072 pixels. Nevertheless, 2K may also refer to resolutions like 2048×1556 (full-aperture), 2048×1152 (HDTV, 16:9 aspect ratio) or 2048×872 pixels (Cinemascope

CinemaScope

CinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...

, 2.35:1 aspect ratio). It is also worth noting that while a frame resolution may be, for example, 3:2 (720×480 NTSC), that is not what you will see on-screen (i.e. 4:3 or 16:9 depending on the orientation of the rectangular pixels).

Evolution of standards

Many personal computers introduced in the late 1970s and the 1980s were designed to use television sets as their display devices, making the resolutions dependent on the television standards in use, including PAL

PAL

and NTSC

NTSC

. Picture sizes were usually limited to ensure the visibility of all the pixels in the major television standards and the broad range of television sets with varying amounts of overscan. The actual drawable picture area was therefore somewhat smaller than the whole screen, and was usually surrounded by a static-colored border (see image to right). Also, the interlace scanning was usually omitted in order to provide more stability to the picture, effectively halving the vertical resolution in progress. 160×200, 320×200 and 640×200 on NTSC were relatively common resolutions in the era (224, 240 or 256 scanlines were also common). In the IBM PC world, these resolutions came to be used by 16-color EGA

Enhanced Graphics Adapter

The Enhanced Graphics Adapter is the IBM PC computer display standard specification which is between CGA and VGA in terms of color and space resolution. Introduced in October 1984 by IBM shortly after its new PC/AT, EGA produces a display of 16 simultaneous colors from a palette of 64 at a...

video cards.

One of the drawbacks of using a classic television is that the computer display resolution is higher than the TV could decode. Chroma resolution for NTSC/PAL televisions are bandwidth-limited to a maximum 1.5 megahertz, or approximately 160 pixels wide, which led to blurring of the color for 320- or 640-wide signals, and made text difficult to read (see second image to right). Many users upgraded to higher-quality televisions with S-Video

S-Video

Separate Video, more commonly known as S-Video and Y/C, is often referred to by JVC as both an S-VHS connector and as Super Video. It is an analog video transmission scheme, in which video information is encoded on two channels: luma and chroma...

or RGBI

Color Graphics Adapter

The Color Graphics Adapter , originally also called the Color/Graphics Adapter or IBM Color/Graphics Monitor Adapter, introduced in 1981, was IBM's first color graphics card, and the first color computer display standard for the IBM PC....

inputs that helped eliminate chroma blur and produce more legible displays. The earliest, lowest cost solution to the chroma problem was offered in the Atari 2600

Atari 2600

The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...

Video Computer System and the Apple II+

Apple II Plus

The Apple II Plus was the second model of the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Computer, Inc. It was sold new from June 1979 to December 1982.-Features:...

, both of which offered the option to disable the color and view a legacy black-and-white signal. On the Commodore 64, the GEOS

GEOS (8-bit operating system)

GEOS is an operating system from Berkeley Softworks . Originally designed for the Commodore 64 and released in 1986, it provided a graphical user interface for this popular 8-bit computer.GEOS closely resembled early versions of Mac OS and included a graphical word processor and paint program...

mirrored the Mac OS method of using black-and-white to improve readability.

The 640×400i resolution (720×480i with borders disabled) was first introduced by home computers such as the Commodore Amiga

Amiga

The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...

and (later) Atari Falcon. These computers used interlace to boost the maximum vertical resolution. These modes were only suited to graphics or gaming, as the flickering interlace made reading text in word processor, database, or spreadsheet software difficult. (Modern game consoles solve this problem by pre-filtering the 480i video to a lower resolution. For example, Final Fantasy XII

Final Fantasy XII

is a console role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 2. Released in 2006, it is the twelfth title in the Final Fantasy series and the last in the series to be released exclusively on the PlayStation platform...

suffers from flicker when the filter is turned off, but stabilizes once filtering is restored. The computers of the 1980s lacked sufficient power to run similar filtering software.)

The advantage of a 720×480i overscanned computer was an easy interface with interlaced TV production, leading to the development of Newtek's Video Toaster

Video Toaster

The NewTek Video Toaster is a combination of hardware and software for the editing and production of standard-definition and high-definition video in NTSC, PAL, and resolution independent formats on Commodore Amiga computers and subsequently on computers running the Windows operating system...

. This device allowed Amigas to be used for CGI creation in various news departments (example: weather overlays), drama programs such as NBC's seaQuest, WB's Babylon 5, and early computer-generated animation by Disney for the Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin.

In the PC world, the IBM PS/2 VGA and MCGA

MCGA

MCGA may refer to*IBM Multicolor Graphics Array*Maritime and Coastguard Agency, in the United Kingdom...

(multi-color) on-board graphics chips used a non-interlaced (progressive) 640×480×16 color resolution that was easier to read and thus more-useful for office work. It was the standard resolution from 1990 to around 1996. The standard resolution was 800×600 until around 2000. Microsoft Windows XP

Windows XP

Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...

, released in 2001, was designed to run at 800×600 minimum although it is possible to select the original 640×480 in the Advanced Settings window. Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

, FreeBSD

FreeBSD

FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...

, and most Unix

Unix

Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...

variants use the X Window System

X Window System

The X window system is a computer software system and network protocol that provides a basis for graphical user interfaces and rich input device capability for networked computers...

and can run at any desired resolution as long as the display

Display device

A display device is an output device for presentation of information in visual or tactile form...

and video card

Video card

A video card, Graphics Card, or Graphics adapter is an expansion card which generates output images to a display. Most video cards offer various functions such as accelerated rendering of 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or the ability to connect multiple monitors...

support it, and tend to go a long way towards being usable even on small screens, though not all applications may support very low display resolutions.

Programs designed to mimic older hardware such as Atari, Sega, or Nintendo game consoles (emulators) when attached to multiscan CRTs, routinely use much lower resolutions such as 160×200 or 320×400 for greater authenticity.

Commonly used

The list of common display resolutions article lists the most commonly used display resolutions for computer graphics, television, films, and video conferencing.

Overscan and underscan

Most television display manufacturers "overscan" the pictures on their displays (CRTs and PDPs, LCDs etc.), so that the effective on-screen picture may be reduced from 720×576(480) to 680×550(450), for example. The size of the invisible area somewhat depends on the display device. HD televisions do this as well, to a similar extent.

Computer displays including projectors generally do not overscan although many models (particularly CRT displays) allow it. CRT displays tend to be underscanned in stock configurations, to compensate the increasing distortions at the corners.

External links

How many dots has it got? — Fourmilab
ScreenResolution.org — Free online browser screen tester; shows the screen resolution of your current monitor; realtime statistics on Internet users’ screen resolution
Video Format Resolutions — Video Technology Magazine
Browser Display Statistics — W3Schools
Standard resolutions used for computer graphics equipment, TV and video applications and mobile devices.
Screen resolution simulator

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Considerations

Overview

Televisions

Computer Monitors

Evolution of standards

Commonly used

Overscan and underscan

See also

External links