Bought A LCD? Don’t Let Techie Talk Freak You Out

Here is what those statistics, numbers, and specs mean on the side of the box
Color Gamut
Your eyes can see a huge array of colors and depths compared to a computer or a TV. A color gamut is the different colors that can be seen on a TV or computer. The standard range of the color gamut for LCD displays is 72 percent, but many recent innovations in technology have allowed displays to produce up to 100%. Basically, the higher the color gamut range, the more colors your display will be able to accurately create.

Color Depth
An LCD's color depth defines the number of levels that each primary color can render:

An 8-bit panel, the red, green, and blue colors can each render 256 times, for a total of over 16.7 million possible color combinations.

With 6-bit LCD panels, which are becoming increasingly more common, the red, green, and blue colors can each render only 64 times, making a total of 262,144 colors.

In order to compensate for this huge gap between the 8-bit and 6-bit panels, manufacturers use techniques such as dithering and frame-rate control to claim up to 16.7 million colors on their LCD, making it hard to distinguish between an 8-bit or 6-bit display.

Backlight
Most desktop LCD monitors use backlights made of cold-cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFL). However, the use of LEDs for backlights is growing. LED backlights use a grid of either white or mixed red, blue, and green to create the backlight. LED backlights Display brighter more defined colors but are more expensive than their CCFL counterparts.

Inputs
Ideally LCD displays should come with at least one DVI port, which is the current standard for LCD displays. However, newer and better digital interfaces, such as HDMI and DisplayPort, are becoming available. HDMI or DisplayPort offer greater bandwidth than DVI, which can be crucial to LCD displays looking to hold a resolution higher than 1920x1200

HDCP
This basically means that if your LCD display doesn't support HCDP (High Definition Copy Protection), you won't be able to watch HD DVD or Blue-ray movies in full resolution.

Contrast Ratio
Contrast ratios are all hype from the manufacturers who each use a different standard for testing, so there is little to no basis for comparison. Because of this manufacturers have also taken to reporting dynamic contrast ratio's as much higher and seeming more impressive than standard contrast ratio's.

Pixel Response Time
Pixel response time is how long a pixel takes to change from one color to the next. As pixel response times improve, the clearer and sharper your video will be as motion occurs.

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