Monitors

Resolution

The resolution is the amount of pixels displayed onto a screen. The higher the resolution, the more that can be displayed.

Common resolution sizes [15]:

Abbreviation

Width x Height

Megapixels (MP)

Name

720p

1280 x 720

0.9

High Definition (HD)

768p

1366 x 768

1

1080p

1920 x 1080

2.1

Full HD (FHD)

1440p

2560 x 1440

4

2K

2160p

3840 x 2160

8.5

4K Ultra HD (UHD)

4320p

7680 x 4320

33.2

8K UHD

The full human eye can see up to 576 megapixels. [16] However, a human can actually only consciously comprehend up to 15 megapixels. [17]

Size

Each resolution has an optimal monitor size. Below lists the recommended size to buy and the maximum size where a difference will be noticed when sitting 24” away from a monitor. All sizes are in inches. [5]

Resolution

Recommended Size

Maximum Size

1080p

24

23

1440p

27

30.5

2160p

32

46

4320p

48

92

For laptops, 1080p is the ideal resolution. 4K and even 2K resolution makes the text too small and the screen sizes are not big enough to take full advantage of higher resolutions. The higher the resolution, more battery life is also drained. [6]

Panel Technology

Every monitor uses a panel technology. This is a large factor in determining the quality and features of the monitor.

Panel Technology

Price*

Viewing Angles

Contrast Ratio

Color Accuracy

Response Time*

In Plane Switching (IPS)

High

High

Medium

High

High

Vertical Alignment (VA)

Medium

Medium

High

Medium

Medium

Twisted Nematic (TN)

Low

Low

Low

Low

Low

*= Lower is better.

[7]

Color Accuracy

The International Commission on Illumination (CIE) 1976 chromaticity diagram is used as a standard for digital color spaces. It represents all visible colors that a human eye can see in a three-dimensional diagram. Different color spaces exist that cover a percentage of the CIE 1976 standard. [1]

Color Space

Percentage of Human Visible Colors

Use Case

Adobe Wide Gamut RGB

77.6

Professional film recorders

Rec. 2020

75.8

Professional movies

Adobe RGB

52.1

Printing

DCI-P3

41.7

HDR movies and video games

sRGB (Rec. 709)

35.9

Digital photos and videos

For color accuracy, it is recommended for the general consumer to buy a monitor with 100% sRGB coverage. For HDR content, near 100% coverage of DCI-P3 is desired. Rec. 2020 is slowly becoming more popular for HDR content but is not widely available.

[2][3][4]

Contrast Ratio

Contrast ratios are the difference between the darkest and lightest color a monitor can produce. There are two types: static and dynamic. Static ratios are the most important. It represents the difference with the monitor settings unchanged for checking the darkest and lightest color. Most monitors that do not use OLED cannot reach higher than a 1000:1 static contrast ratio. Manufacturers normally use dynamic ratios in their marketing which provides an inaccurate view. Dynamic ratios unfairly compare the brightness difference with the monitor set at two different settings. [8]

Brightness

The brightness of monitors and TVs are measured in nits (cd/m^2). The higher the nits, the higher it’s brightness is. A bright monitor is easier to see in a well-lit room or outdoors. [12] When buying a TV, it is most important to consider the brightness level when seeing if it supports true HDR. That feature usually requires at least 1000 nits. [9]

High Dynamic Range (HDR)

HDR provides a standard for color accuracy and high contrast. Only video games and movies created with HDR can fully utilize all of the features of a HDR TV. For official qualification, a TV must at least meet these minimum requirements: [9]

  • 4K Resolution

  • 10-Bit Color Depth

  • Wide Color Gamut (WCG)

    • >= 90% of DCI-P3

  • Brightness

    • Over 1000 nits (and have better whites)

    • Or over 540 nits (and have better blacks)

Only mid- to high-end TVs support the brightness and WCG. Most low-end TVs do not meet all of the requirements to display true HDR content. Many companies have their own technology for helping to deliver WCG colors. [10]

Proprietary WCG backlight technologies:

  • Nano Cell (LG)

  • QLED (Samsung)

  • Triluminos (Sony)

There are different certification standards for HDR. The color bit depth determines how many colors can be displayed. Having dynamic metadata allows for different HDR settings on each individual frame or scene for a better optimized viewing experience. Static metadata sets the HDR settings once for the entire video. [20]

Standard

Standard Type

Industry Support

Color Bit Depth

Metadata

Brightness Minimum

Brightness Maximum

HDR10

Open

High

10

Static

1000 nits

4000 nits

HDR10+

Open and royalty-free

Low

10

Dynamic

1000 nits

4000 nits

Dolby Vision

Proprietary

Medium

12

Dynamic

4000 nits

10000 nits

Dolby Vision and HDR10+ require HDR10 information as a base. That means that even if a TV does not support Dolby Vision and/or HDR10+, it can at least play HDR10. [34][35]

Computer operating systems have partial support for HDR. Most applications do not natively support it. Windows 10 and Netflix require buying Microsoft’s HEVC Video Extension for video playback streaming to work. [11]

Color Depth

Every monitor has a color depth that determines how many colors it can display.

Bits of Color Depth

Bits Per Pixel

Number of Colors

HDR

8

24

16 million

SDR

10

30

1 billion

HDR10 and HDR10+

12

36

68 billion

Dolby Vision

[21][22]

Some monitors use 8-bit color depth with Frame Rate Control (FRC) to provide fake 10-bit support. This is also known as 8-bit with dithering. It smooths the transition of colors from one pixel to the next to make the colors appear more natural and to reduce banding. [23]

Refresh Rate

Most monitors can display video up to 60 Hz (60 frames per second). A monitor with a high refresh rate will have decreased motion blur and lower input lag. The monitor will look smoother and be more responsive. This is most useful when playing competitive video games. [13]

Common refresh rates (Hz):

  • 60

  • 120

  • 144

  • 240

Variable refresh rate (VRR) is when the monitor dynamically changes it’s refresh rate to match the content that is being played. This prevents screen tearing and provides even smoother playback. There are two standards for implementing this: FreeSync (AMD) and G-SYNC (NVIDIA). All FreeSync monitors support both AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards. Most G-SYNC monitors from 2020 and beyond are compatible with both AMD and NVIDIA graphics card. [14]

The human eye can identify objects at 220 Hz. Above that frequency, a human can at least notice flickers. [18] Theoretically, a human can perceive beyond 1000 Hz. [19]

Projectors

ANSI Lumens

Projectors will have at least one of these different brightness specifications detailed [36][37]:

  • ANSI lumens = This is the industry standard. This provides the smallest number so most companies do not use it in their marketing material.

  • LED lumens = Not an industry standard. However, divide this number by 2.4 to convert it to ANSI lumens.

  • Light source lumens = The actual light source. This is very inaccurate as the light needs to travel through a lens and to a screen. A lot of that original light is lost.

  • Lux = This number is used to help calculate the ANSI lumens number but does not tell much by itself.

Here is the minimum amount of ANSI lumens the projector needs to have for an acceptable image.

Scenario

Minimum ANSI Lumens

Inside dark

300

Inside medium

600

Inside bright

2500

Outside dark

200

Outside medium

1000

Outside bright

3500

As the screen size gets larger, more light is lost. It is recommended to get a very bright projector for large screen usage. [37][38]

Human Vision

With modern day technology, it is almost possible to reproduce the image quality that human eyes can comprehend. The specifications for a theoretical monitor would be:

  • 8K resolution

  • 100% of the Rec. 2020 color spectrum

  • Dolby Vision HDR

    • 10,000-nit brightness

    • 12-bit color depth

  • 240 Hz

HDMI

High-Definition Multimedia Interfae (HDMI) is a popular and prorietary format for transmitting audio and video. [28] There is optional support for Ethernet. [29]

HDMI 2.1 provides support for 8K at 60 Hz and 4K at 120 Hz. [30] Here is the support matrix for HDMI 2.1 support based on the graphics card driver:

OS

AMD

Intel

NVIDIA

LINUX OPEN SOURCE

No*

Yes**

Yes***

LINUX PROPRIETARY

Yes

Yes

Yes

WINDOWS PROPRIETARY

Yes

Yes

Yes

  • *AMD created support for HDMI 2.1 but the HDMI Licensing Administration has denied their request to include it as it can be reverse engineered.

  • **Intel Arc dGPUs use a hardware chip to convert a DisplayPort signal to the HDMI 2.1 protocol. [32][33]

  • ***NVIDIA’s open source graphics driver uses proprietary firmware to get HDMI 2.1 support. [31]

DisplayPort provides a free and open standard as an alternative to HDMI. [32]

Movie Formats

Here is a comparison between all physical movie formats.

Name

Resolution

HDR Support [24]

Video Codec Support

Maximum Format Size

4K UHD Blu-ray

4096x2160 [25]

Yes

H.265 (HEVC) and VP9

100 GB

1080p HD Blu-ray

1920x1080

No

H.264 (MPEG-4 AVC), H.262 (MPEG-2), and SMPTE VC-1 [26]

50 GB

480p DVD

720x480

No

H.262 (MPEG-2)

8.5 GB

[27]

History

Bibliography

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  2. “Color spaces and gamut.” Color Management Guide. October 31, 2019. Accessed May 3, 2020. https://www.color-management-guide.com/color-spaces.html

  3. What is Color Gamut?” Samsung Display Public Information Display (PID). Accessed May 3, 2020. https://pid.samsungdisplay.com/en/learning-center/white-papers/wide-color-gamut-displays

  4. “VISTALOGICS DYE SUBLIMATION AND DIGITAL COLOR TECHNOLOGY.” VistaLogics. Accessed May 3, 2020. https://www.vistalogics.com/rgb-profiles.html

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