Tim:
>> If you do any graphic work, LCDs are crap. The colours/shading/etc
>> change radically depending on your angle of view.
Frank Cox:
> You may want to clarify that a bit further.
LCDs work using the polarising effect (like the sunglasses). There's a
fixed mesh (to use a simple descriptive term for it) with one fixed
polarisation, and a variable one formed by the liquid crystals. The
crystals are charged to line up either parallel or 90 degrees to the
fixed mesh, and other angles between, where they block light, or let it
through in varying amounts.
This is also why they're quite dim (they block light), why
the contrast is poor (less than 90 degrees of the crystal
turning point is useful), and slow (the crystals have to
physically move).
The angle that you view the screen at pays a part in this, too. At
extreme angles, you can see some colours and grays turning negative. At
lesser angles you see some strange effects, where some things aren't
brighter or darker than they should be. The LCD was doing its tricks to
produce a picture for front-on viewing.
Also, the quality of the backlight affects how uniformly the entire
screen is illuminated.
If you can see some cheap LCDs on display, then try these sorts of
things: Look at it from the side, walk around to front on, keep going
until you're looking at it from the other side. You'll probably see
changes. Do the same vertically, stand up close and look down on it,
squat down and look directly at it, then keep going down lower until
you're looking up at the screen. Alternatively, stand in one spot and
move the screen around with your arms, if they'll let you.
Chances are that the horizontal issues aren't a problem for most people,
as they'll sit in one spot in front of their screen. But turn into an
issue if you try to show something to someone next to you. The vertical
changes are more of a problem, people do sit up, sit back, etc., and
that's enough of a change for some monitors.
--
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Using FC 4, 5, 6 & 7, plus CentOS 5. Today, it's FC7.
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