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The basic mechanisms of display devices
The mechanism of a Plasma Display Panel
Plasma display panels have the characteristics of
both CRT and LCD displays, in addition to some
unique characteristics of their own. These
similarities and differences can be summarized
as follows:
1. As with CRTs, Plasma display panels emit
light by stimulating phosphor material.
Plasma displays - An array of tiny fluorescent lights
As earlier described, LCD panels consist of a
number of small pixels, each of which operate like
a camera's lens iris (refer to page 9). In contrast,
Plasma display panels consist of an array of tiny
cells that generate plasma, a state of gas
separated into ions and electrons. Similar to an
LCD device, a Plasma display's resolution is
determined by the number of cells it has in its
array, i.e., an XGA Plasma display consists of
1024 x 768 cells.
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Product Information Manual Sony Professional LCD Monitors
Figure 2-9. Plasma displays are
like an array of tiny fluorescent lights
2. As with LCDs, Plasma display panels use a
fixed pixel array to form an image, and
require I/P conversion and scaling process.
3. Unlike either of these devices, Plasma
display panels discharge a gas (in 'plasma'
state) in order to convert video signals into
light.
By keeping these three facts in mind, the
approach to understanding the mechanism of a
Plasma display panel should be an easy one.
A significant difference between the two is the
way they generate images. Pixels in an LCD
panel control the amount of light (from the
backlight) that should pass through them to
create the corresponding image.
In contrast, Plasma displays do not use a
backlight, but instead, each cell in the array emits
light on its own. The mechanism used to produce
light in each tiny cell is similar to the way a typical
fluorescent tube generates light.
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