Digital television has eliminated the need for the CRT monitor. For years they were the primary display for analog TV. Since analog TV no longer exists most TVs sold today are flat screens.
A flat screen TV gives flexibility in mounting and locating the screen within the room. Since the monitor is no longer a huge box it doesn’t need a piece of furniture on which to sit. Most flat screens are hung on a wall or a bracket. The brackets are engineered to accommodate the weight of the screen and to adjust for the best viewing. This requires that a suitable blank wall be set aside in the viewing room and the furniture arranged for the best viewing angle. There are stands and carts that can be used with flat screen displays but they are rare.
A flat screen TV, especially a large one, is generally used as a monitor. That is to say that they are sold without speakers built into them. Since most customers for flat screen displays also have a Surround Sound setup this is normal. Smaller sized sets come with speakers but the sound is disappointing when compared to a Surround Sound setup.
There are three types of flat screen TVs. The first to gain popularity was the Plasma TV. These screens take advantage of the properties of certain noble gases when turned into plasma by the application of voltage. The plasma causes a phosphor to fluoresce and this produces one pixel of light. The advantages of Plasma screens are a bright display and blacker blacks with a superior contrast ratio. The disadvantage to these sets is that they have higher power consumption than other flat screens.
The next flat screen TV is the LCD screen. These have been used for years in laptop computers and many small devices. Any hand-held calculator, cell phone, or other such device with a small display uses an LCD screen. LCD screens have the advantage that the technology is well developed and they use little power. They do require a light source behind them in order to be visible. This can be either a cold cathode fluorescent light, as is used in laptops, or an LED array. LED back lighting doesn’t produce the best color quality and is used when power consumption or cost is an issue.
The newest type of flat screen TV is the OLED display. These are just coming into the market but promise to be the display of choice in the future. They are currently confined to small sizes but manufacturers promise to deliver large displays which equal other technologies in the near future. The OLED requires no back lighting and uses little power. They offer better contrast for blacker blacks and will accommodate viewing angles up to ninety degrees. Manufacturing is simple and they can be applied to a number of surfaces in novel ways. The only problem that needs to be addressed is a limited life which currently would allow five years of eight-hour-a-day viewing.
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