This is a comparison of various properties of different display technologies.
General characteristics
Display Screen shape Largest known diagonal Typical use Usable in bright room (in) (cm) Eidophor front projection Flat(limited only by brightness) TV Shadow mask CRT Spherical curve or flat 42 107 TV, computer monitor Aperture grille CRT Cylindrical curve or flat 43 109 TV, computer monitor CRT Spherical curve or flat 30 76 TV, computer monitor, radar display, oscilloscope Direct view Charactron CRT Spherical curve 24 61 Computer monitor, radar display CRT self-contained rear-projection Flat lenticular 80 203 TV CRT front projection Flat(limited only by brightness) TV or presentation Plasma display Flat 152 386 TV, computer monitor (In some early "portable" computers. They required too much power for battery-powered laptops) LCD Flat 115 292 TV, computer monitor LCD self-contained rear-projection Flat lenticular 70 178 TV LCD front-projection Flat(limited only by brightness) TV or presentation DLP self-contained rear-projection Flat lenticular 120 305 TV DLP front-projection Flat(limited only by brightness) TV or presentation LCoS self-contained rear-projection Flat 110 279 TV LCoS front-projection Flat(limited only by brightness) TV or presentation Laser self-contained rear projection Flat lenticular 75 191 TV LED Flat 279.92 711 Billboards, TV SED Flat 55 140 Computer monitor, TV FED Flat Computer monitor, TV EPD (e-paper) Flat (flexible) Electronic paper OLED Any, but most commonly flat rectangular with or without rounded edges, notch(es) and holes, circular, or curved (flexible) 88 223.52 Computer monitor, TV, Mobile phone Telescopic pixel display LCD 'mLED' LED Curved or flat ?? ?? Mobile phones, wearable electronics, VR displays, , optical instruments, AR displays QDLED IMOD Flat 1.2 3 Mobile phone Laser Phosphor Display (LPD) Flat / Box 196 497.8 Presentation Virtual retinal display Any shape , possibly virtual reality Depends on system
Major technologies are CRT, LCD and its derivatives (Quantum dot display, LED backlit LCD, WLCD, OLCD), Plasma, and OLED and its derivatives (Transparent OLED, PMOLED, AMOLED). An emerging technology is Micro LED. Cancelled and now obsolete technologies are SED and FED.
Temporal characteristics Different display technologies have vastly different temporal characteristics, leading to perceptual differences of motion, flicker, etc.
The figure shows a sketch of how different technologies present a single white/grey frame. Time and intensity is not to scale. Notice that some have a fixed intensity, while the illuminated period is variable. This is a kind of pulse-width modulation. Others can vary the actual intensity in response to the input signal.
Single-chip DLPs use a kind of "chromatic multiplexing" in which each color is presented serially. The intensity is varied by modulating the "on" time of each pixel within the time-span of one color. Multi-chip DLPs are not represented in this sketch, but would have a curve identical to the plasma display. LCDs have a constant (backlit) image, where the intensity is varied by blocking the light shining through the panel. CRTs use an electron beam, scanning the display, flashing a lit image. If interlacing is used, a single full-resolution image results in two "flashes". The physical properties of the phosphor are responsible for the rise and decay curves. Plasma displays modulate the "on" time of each sub-pixel, similar to DLP. Movie theaters use a mechanical shutter to illuminate the same frame 2 or 3 times, increasing the flicker frequency to make it less perceptible to the human eye.
Research Researchers announced a display that uses silicon metasurface pixels that do not require polarized light and require half the energy. It employs a transparent conductive oxide as a heater that can quickly change the pixels. The pixels are 100 times thinner than liquid crystal. Response times are under 1 millisecond. They claim that the metasurface array could replace the liquid crystal layer in today's displays, eliminating the need for production technology.
See also Computer monitor Large-screen television technology
References