Introduction
Welcome to Volume 2, Issue 10! Special Announcement Editorial: The Final Sayye by Gary Kayye
At infoComm, Focus on Education
Kayye Consulting's AVJob Resume Posting Service
Special Announcement News: 1. Forbes Article: Brighter OLED Screens May Soon Replace Liquid Crystal Displays
2. Dukane Introduces XGA Document Camera
3. New Atlas Varizone Digital Public Address System
4. Sound-Craft to Show LT3 Lectern
5. SMART Offers Free Tutorials for Using Interactive Whiteboards
6. GuiFX Announces Upgrade to S2 Series Crestron Templates, New Template for iPronto
7. ClearOne Introduces Echo-Canceling Microphone for PCs
8. DPI Introduces Two High-Performance Projectors
9. VCON Announces Desktop Videoconferencing Software
10. New Website Facilitates AV Design, Engineering and Installation
Feature Article Display Technology Shoot-Out
Comparing CRT, LCD, Plasma and DLP Displays
by Dr. Raymond M. Soneira
President, DisplayMate
Technologies Corp.
Part IIIa Image Quality and Artifacts | |
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Introduction Welcome to Volume 2, Issue 10! This issue of rAVe is one that I am excited about as it features a guy who is well known by the old-timers in CRT projection in our rAVe AV Hall of Fame section: Bob Brockman. Famous for being inadvertently responsible for Brock-Lumens, Bob's name is often tossed around projector manufacturer hallways whenever a light output specifications is believed to be exaggerated. In reality, Bob was one of a handful of people who helped create the famous Projection Shoot-Out that made InfoComm so famous all those years with a special event that helped grow the show from 13,000 attendees to over 24,000 the last year the Shoot-Out was held. Bob was instrumental in getting the event on the show docket. Enjoy this issue of rAVe, and be sure to read all about Bob in the Hall of Fame section after the news. See you at InfoComm in less than two weeks! I will be spending much of my time, again, in the Crestron booth helping to launch the next generation of the MediaManager product line as well as training on their RoomView AV system networkable management software tool (see details below). Come by and say hello!!!
— Gary Kayye, CTS
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Kayye to Present MediaManager at InfoComm 2004 Crestron is pleased to announce that ICIA Educator of the Year Gary Kayye will again be a featured presenter in the company's booth at InfoComm 2004 in Atlanta. The keynote speaker at this year's EduComm Conference at InfoComm, Gary will again present Crestron's MediaManager line of products to the industry from the Crestron exhibit on the show floor June 9-11. Introduced at last year's InfoComm with new additions scheduled to launch this year, Crestron's MediaManager is a comprehensive family of products offering high-performance AV signal distribution, device control and facility-wide AV system management. "2004 will always be the year that will be remembered as the year AV, especially in education, changed forever – the year that brought you networkable systems," says Kayye. "For a look at the latest integrated solutions, check out Crestron's RoomView AV management software and the MediaManager line of room signal routing and control systems." Gary will be presenting in Booth 639 every hour during each day of the show. His keynote Address at the EduComm portion of the InfoComm Show at 9:00am on June 9th.
Editorial The Final Sayye by Gary Kayye At infoComm, Focus on Education By Gary Kayye, CTS Forget about the exhibits. Don't plan your infoComm experience backwards. Most people attending infoComm plan their show experience around the exhibits and their ability to peruse the show floor and see all the manufacturers they need to see. Then, depending on the appointments they make and the meetings they attend in the booth they determine the leftover time slots for taking in a course or two through infoComm's extensive show educational offerings. That's exactly opposite of what you should be doing. What I think you should do is immediately (after you finish reading this newsletter, of course), go to the infoComm educational section of their web site and pick educational courses relevant to your interest and expertise, plan to attend them all and then with the time you have left, visit booths, attend parties and meetings. Certainly, I haven't been attending infoComm as long as industry icons Fred Dixon (who's come to over 45 shows in 50 years), Kevin Collins, Mackie Baron, Harold Thiel and Andrew Edwards, but I will bet that if you asked every one of them what part of the industry's premiere ProAV show they have gotten the most of over the years, they will unanimously say the educational offerings. Education in our market is crucial. The first time an LCD projector was ever shown to the ProAV market was in a class at COMTEX (the name of infoComm prior to becoming infoComm); the first time the concept for a DLP projector was explained to AV geeks was at a seminar at infoComm. And the first time a networked system was demonstrated was in a seminar at infoComm. Sure, these technologies and trends eventually hit the floor, but the time and attention given attendees of a seminar by the instructor far exceeds the time given to a question on the typical show floor booth. And by the way, while the industry's marketing gurus from each exhibiting manufacturer hangs out with PR kits in their respective booth, the engineering departments "geeks" are teaching technology at a seminar down the hall. So, before you plan your journey to Atlanta in less than two weeks, go to: http://infocomm04.expoexchange.com/_Event1/Expoexchange/ShoppingCart/session_search.asp and take a look at the over 150 seminars and workshops being offered and make sure you attend as many as possible.
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Kayye Consulting offers a resume posting service for readers. While we include the location of the candidate, please remember that many candidates are willing to relocate. Here is a sample of the job-seekers located in the current Kayye Consulting's AVJobs listings. See them all at http://www.kayye.com/resources/av_jobs.asp Employers: To view all resume listings, go to http://www.kayye.com/resources/av_jobs.asp Employees: If you are a candidate interested in this resume service, write to: jobs@kayye.com
Ray Ricoarango
Current location: Florida Objective
A position in a results-oriented company that seeks an ambitious and career conscious person where acquired skills and education will be utilized toward continued growth and advancement. http://www.kayye.com/resources/resumes/rr03032004.pdf |
| JOSE LUIZ QUEIROZ
Current location: California Objective
Customer service position such as project manager or multi-site manager in a company looking to expand or improve customer relations and customer service. http://www.kayye.com/resources/resumes/JLQ01102004.pdf |
| Randye Levine
Current location: Florida Coordinated the scheduling of audio-visual installations in commercial establishments. Assisted Installation manager, interfaced with sales staff, purchased supplies, processed billing. Accomplishments: Maintained strong relationships with vendors, clients, colleagues and executives. Established a reputation for being a resource of information for various departments. http://www.kayye.com/resources/resumes/rl03032004.pdf
| JOSEPH J. CHRISTENSEN
Current location: Nebraska A challenging role in the professional audio/visual field that is dynamic, maximizes the use of my talents, and is an intrinsic part of a company's relentless, team-oriented pursuit of its mission. http://www.kayye.com/resources/resumes/jjc03052004.pdf
| Employers: To view all resume listings, go to http://www.kayye.com/resources/av_jobs.asp Employees: If you are a candidate interested in this resume service, write to: jobs@kayye.com |
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Special Announcement Kayye to Deliver Keynote at EduComm, InfoComm 04 Attendance is free! Keynote Day and Time:
Wednesday, June 9th at 8:00am In the Marcus Auditorium at the Convention Center The International Communications Industries Association, Inc. (ICIA), premier trade association for the professional audiovisual communications industry, and Professional Media Group LLC, the publisher of University Business and District Administration magazines, are pleased to announce the selection of Gary Kayye as the keynote speaker for the EduComm Conference at InfoComm 2004. The EduComm Conference will run June 9 to 11, 2004, in conjunction with InfoComm and is designed to meet the needs of higher education and K-12 leaders. A full slate of sessions is planned in two tracks – one for higher education and one for K-12 – to help education technology professionals bring the benefits of the convergence of AV, IT and multimedia to their schools and campuses. "We are thrilled to have Gary Kayye as our keynote speaker," said Joseph J. Hanson, Chairman of Professional Media Group. "Mr. Kayye has distinguished himself for many years as a visionary technology leader and friend of education, and there is no one more qualified to set the tone for the first EduComm Conference at InfoComm." Kayye was named the ICIA 2003 Educator of the Year by ICIA. "Gary has made tremendous contributions in helping organizations use AV and presentation technologies effectively," said Randal A. Lemke, Ph.D., Executive Director of ICIA, "and his keynote at EduComm will provide a dynamic vision that education leaders can take back to their school districts and campuses." "EduComm is a tremendous opportunity for education buyers to keep on top of today's system capabilities as well as to know what to expect next year and the year after that," said Kayye. "It will serve as a central location where manufacturers, systems integrators, buyers and end-users can learn from each other." About Professional Media Group LLC
Professional Media Group LLC is a magazine publisher and conference producer focusing on the education market. Its two primary publications are District Administration, the magazine for leaders in K-12 education, and University Business, the magazine for leaders in higher education. In addition, Professional Media publishes two popular daily e-newsletters – District Daily and UB Daily – with a combined circulation of more than 70,000. Professional Media Group also produces the EduComm Conference at InfoComm, providing education market buyers with the information they need to effectively integrate AV, IT and multimedia into their education programs and facilities. For more information, go to http://www.districtadministration.com/educomm or http://www.universitybusiness.com/educomm News Got a news tip? Send them to rAVe Editor-in-Chief Denise Harrison — dharrison@kayye.com
1. Forbes Article: Brighter OLED Screens May Soon Replace Liquid Crystal Displays
We've been following the progress of Philips' new OLED technology and now it's really on the move, actually being used in small screen applications such as mobile devices (i.e. cell phones and displays for digital cameras) and with new prototypes up to 20 inches. It sounds like the only hold-up to using it in larger applications is the development of larger printers (manufacturing OLEDs is as simple as printing dyes on plastic). But some believe it will be ready for primetime, television that is, by 2007. We'd like to point you to an excellent article (although basic) in the current issue of Forbes that discusses the various applications and the state of the technology. To read it, go to http://www.forbes.com/infoimaging/2004/05/19/0519oledpinnacor_ii.html
2. Dukane Introduces XGA Document Camera Dukane introduced a high-end XGA (1024 x 768) resolution document camera, the Camera 220, for capturing, saving and displaying images and objects. The incredibly simple gooseneck-designed model includes a DVI out, VGA in through DVI-I, USB, DC out and XGA output for loop-through monitoring. Capabilities include 15x zoom, fluorescent lighting, laser positioning, image capture, and a 16-picture internal memory. The lens is designed for high field depth performance so that it is especially suited for showing the details and depths of 3D objects. For more information, go to http://www.dukcorp.com/audiovisual/products/220.htm
3. New Atlas Varizone Digital Public Address System At InfoComm, Atlas Sound will show its new 24-bit Atlas Varizone Advanced Matrix Digital System, a digital public address system with flexible audio routing. Atlas Varizone uses an audio matrix for point-to-point audio routing of audio. Zones can be created, subdivided and combined, and an entire building can be rezoned at the touch of a button, says the company. The Varizone is IP addressable so that an administrator can access the system via a LAN, WAN, or the internet and load audio programs, schedule activities, or monitor system performance as well as adjust volume and set speaker delay times. At the InfoComm demo, the company will show the system's routing, zoning and control capabilities. For more information, go to http://www.AtlasSound.com
4. Sound-Craft to Show LT3 Lectern Sound-Craft Systems will show its new LT3 lectern at InfoComm. This lectern, designed small enough to accommodate most sized rooms, has options such as a built-in sound system, wireless microphone system, rack mount, keyboard drawer, custom logo, and a folding document camera shelf. For more information, go to http://www.sound-craft.com 5. SMART Offers Free Tutorials for Using Interactive Whiteboards SMART announced new online orientation classes for SMART Board interactive whiteboard owners to learn how to use the features and functions of the systems during half-hour sessions. The classes are led by an instructor who uses audio and video conferencing for hands-on lessons as well as Q&A. There are two different half-hour classes, one for basic instruction on writing on-screen in digital ink and capturing annotations made on computer applications. The second session is on Notebook whiteboarding software, which teaches users to use the toolbar, how to create objects, how to access clip-art and templates and exporting files to other formats. SMART says additional classes will be available on topics such as hardware setup and SMART Ideas concept-mapping software, for example. The company will still maintain its library of downloadable online training center. The half-hour orientation sessions are offered four times a week at different times in order to accommodate customers in various time zones in the United States and Canada. Sessions are delivered via Bridgit data-conferencing software (a Windows-based web conferencing product from SMART) and conference call; toll free for customers in the United States and Canada. Customers in other countries may join sessions through a regular
international call. For more information, go to http://www.smarttech.com/trainingcenter/online 6. GuiFX Announces Upgrade to S2 Series Crestron Templates, New Template for iPronto GuiFX released a major upgrade for its customers using the S2 Series templates for Crestron touch panel control systems. The S2 PRO has a new design that the company says will make templates easier to edit and more flexible. GuiFX's PRO templates let you swap themes interfering with previous
modifications. All S2 PRO themes are interchangeable with each other with no reprogramming required. Registered users of S2 templates are being given free upgrades to S2 PRO templates. The company also announced a free template for Philips' iPronto remote using GuiFX's LCD Blue design. GuiFX also has available the GuiFX Font Pack, a collection of free fonts for touch panel designs. For more information, go to http://www.GuiFX.com
7. ClearOne Introduces Echo-Canceling Microphone for PCs As desktop video and web conferencing become more popular and cost-effective, we're going to see enhancements to audio and video for less choppy performance. ClearOne intends to clear up the audio with its new AccuMic PC for hands-free, headphones-free PC audio. The AccuMic PC uses audio technology from ClearOne's XAP conferencing systems and the company says it will deliver high-quality sound with its three microphone elements and 360-degree audio pickup. It's especially suited for small-group conferencing, and it can be linked with a second AccuMic PC for use in larger rooms with more participants. AccuMic PC uses standard stereo (3.5 mm) connectors for connecting to a PC or Apple computer. Users can adjust volume via the computer control panel. ClearOne will show the AccuMic PC, with US MSRP of $649, at InfoComm. For more information, go to http://www.clearone.com
8. DPI Introduces Two High-Performance Projectors Digital Projection International has two new high-performance projectors, one specified at 4,500 ANSI lumens and another at more than 11,000. The DLP Mercury 5000HD uses three of TI's Dark Metal DLP chips and is specified at 4,500 ANSI lumens with 1000:1 contrast ratio. It has 1280 x 720 native resolution and a greyscale depth of 14-bits per DMD for more than four trillion on-screen colors, says the company. The Mercury 5000HD has accurate image resizing, optimized video processing and user-definable geometric warp. There are a number of fixed and zoom lens options. The new 3-chip DLP SXGA native resolution HIGHlite 12000xs+ is specified at greater than 11,000 ANSI lumens and 1800:1 contrast ratio. The technology includes four-side soft-edge blend capabilities and can incorporate seamless cross-fade, optimized video processing and user-definable geometric warp. The projector has three integrated chassis-leveling "jack" points to enable users to optimize projector pitch and roll to the exact application requirements. For more information, go to http://www.digitalprojection.com
9. VCON Announces Desktop Videoconferencing Software VCON's new vPoint HD, which the company says is the first desktop videoconferencing software to use the H.264 videoconferencing video standard, was introduced this week and will be shown at InfoComm.
"Supporting H.264 means that vPoint HD will provide twice the quality at the same bandwidth," according to VCON. That should allow better performance and less dependency on high bandwidth. vPoint HD also includes vMail, so users can send video email, as well as record videoconferences and trainings, conduct interviews, or archive information.
vPoint HD seats can be purchased separately for $199 or are free of charge when sold in combination with VCON MXM Media Xchange Manager with IP telephony features. MXM allows video call transfer and call forward and online directory services and ad-hoc conferencing capabilities. For more information, go to http://www.vcon.com
10. New Website Facilitates AV Design, Engineering and Installation The lack of information resources for design, engineering and installation professionals was what drove the creation of a new website tailored to the needs of the average project manager juggling dozens of jobs at a time. AVProjectManagement.org. currently in development, is designed specifically for audiovisual design, engineering and installation professionals who work in all types of buildings, facilities and industries. The site will have bulletin boards on products, problems and solutions as well as productivity articles.
It will also include news, company links, press releases and a library section with book reviews, definitions for common industry terminology, article reprints and other resources.
For more information, go to http://www.avprojectmanagement.org/
Feature Article
Gary Kayye's rAVe AV Hall of Fame Featuring Robert Brockman
By Denise Harrison
Editor Robert Brockman was one of the early drivers of the projector market. In fact, it was his notion that started the famous InfoComm Projector Shoot-Out, the annual event that put InfoComm on the map as the best and only place to compare projectors in side-by-side comparison. While Brockman left a legacy in the AV industry, he in fact also left his mark on other industries as well. His interest in technology appeared early and he remembers that while growing up in New York City in the '40s and '50s, he was into fixing things, was always "the AV guy" in school, getting the films, setting up and running the projector. "I've always asked a lot of people about that – 'were you the AV guy in school?' and you'd be amazed how many say yes," says Brockman. Brockman did so well with technology that he was later admitted to the prestigious Brooklyn Technical School. He commuted by subway an hour each way daily from Manhattan to Brooklyn. "The ride from 77th Street to 42nd Street was totally packed so you had to squeeze in with every type of human possible," remembers Brockman. "After 42nd, it would thin out so I could study." He remembers a funny French and German teacher, Mr. Berman, they nicknamed German Berman because the teacher got a kick out of giving the students nicknames, then using the nicknames to command them during class. "For some reason he named me Bruck, and if he wanted me to go up to the blackboard, it was 'Bruck, UP!' That kept the class entertaining – you have to love a teacher like that." He also remembers that the school had, during World War II, been a training site to teach how to repair engines. So, says Brockman, there was not only an aviation shop where students learned to build and repair engines, there was also space enough for building an entire house inside the school. Every semester a new house was built by those studying carpentry. After high school, he was off to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Upstate New York where he studied electrical engineering. He said college was tough academically and it was a constant grind in order to stay on top of it all, as is true in most top engineering schools. Brockman does, however, remember some lighter moments. "One of my fraternity brothers just didn't want to take humanities courses, a feeling most engineering students shared," he says. "He signed up for a course in Shakespeare but he cut every class. He just wasn't interested. "One morning at breakfast, he read that today was Shakespeare's birthday so he figured he'd finally go to class in his honor. But when he got to the class, there was a note on the door that said 'Class cancelled in honor of Shakespeare's birthday!' "We were also lucky in that we knew a guy we called The Tool," says Brockman. "We called him that because he studied all the time, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. taking few breaks. He was one of those guys who did every single problem in the textbook when only some of them were required. When we were studying for a dynamics course, he had done the hundreds of problems in the book but there was one he couldn't get. The next day he asked the professor for help on the problem but the professor looked at him in surprise, got defensive in his body language and said 'sorry, I can't help you right now.'" The fraternity brothers knew immediately that that problem would be on the test so they worked it through together and sure enough, it was on the test and all the brothers aced it. After graduation in 1966, Brockman entered the Navy and spent the first 18 months qualifying to work on nuclear submarines, then spent four years on the vessels in different positions such as electrical officer, reactor officer, sonar officer and more. He later taught encryption technologies to other Navy personnel. He also married his wife of 35 years, Nancy, and started a family. After the Navy, he landed a job with the Babcock & Wilcox Company, a renowned worldwide power generation systems and equipment company where he worked from 1971 to 1979. "The nuclear power business was booming at the time and I worked mostly on reactor controls and systems," says Brockman. "Then in 1979, an accident occurred at Three Mile Island and that happened to be our reactor. So I actually went to the plant a week after the accident to help out. "Five minutes after I arrived, alarms started going off and the whole area went into a panic. It turned out someone had flushed a radioactive tank into the sewer system and gas was discharged, which set off the alarm. "They had so many warnings and little panics going on, and we were the task force to try to disseminate information to try to keep up with and diffuse the panics. There were people spreading rumors, for example, that a hydrogen bubble could make the reactor explode at any time, which wasn't true. Those of us with experience tried to say, 'hey, there can't be a hydrogen bubble.' But it took a Nobel Prize winner to finally convince everyone it was safe. That was quite a week." Although exciting, it wasn't the sort of excitement that interested Brockman long-term so he decided to see about technical marketing as a career path. "A professor of retail marketing at the University of Virginia said engineers make the worst managers and encouraged me to get my MBA," says Brockman. He remained with Babcock & Wilcox part time then after his graduation in 1981, they sent him to Cleveland to work in their controls division. "At first, I did business planning for them," says Brockman, "then I saw an opportunity. I told them we could greatly expand the products business selling individual items such as transmitters and sensors."
Brockman put together a business plan to show the sort of profits that could be realized. "They said, 'well you're so smart, why don't you run it?' So I ran the engineering group to get a bunch of these products to market." An early productivity fix came when he realized they weren't always getting components from suppliers as specified. "We'd do these four-page mechanical drawings with incredible detail, which included specifications of components. Not only were the suppliers charging us for reading and interpreting these expensive drawings, sometimes the supplier simply got the specs wrong and then entire production runs would be ruined." Brockman made a change in the group, having them spec specific components by manufacturer part number and it freed up an entire workgroup to do more product activities, such as new product designs. As a result, the group released five products in a year. Now the challenge was distribution and the company once again put Brockman in charge. After establishing a nationwide distribution system of reps, sales of these products, as foreseen by Brockman, increased 300 percent. "A headhunter called me one day about a job at GE, in the projector business, and I couldn't quite visualize what this projector gadget actually did, and the headhunter didn't have a clue either. He suggested I go ahead and take the interview in Syracuse to have a look," says Brockman. "Well I walked into an auditorium and they had a GE Talaria projector playing a laser disc of Olivia Newton-John on a 12-foot by 8-foot wall. It was great! The old AV genes in me said 'Wow! This is a neat product and I have to do this.'" The Talaria was a $100,000 projector, used most commonly in closed-circuit TV. When Brockman took over as head of sales and marketing, it had sales of about $8 million in sales and rentals. The company actually thought a smaller version of the Talaria would take off, but Brockman and his group found continued and increasing success with the original. "We improved the Talaria's picture quality and improved the capabilities to interface with computers and to project high definition TV, for example, and that really boosted sales," remembers Brockman. "The Pope owned two, Hugh Hefner owned about a dozen and they were all over the Pentagon and in flight simulation. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen had one, Steve Jobs had one, and we rented them to all the big rock groups for concerts, including eight for the Rolling Stones for their Steel Wheels tour. Sales eventually topped $40 million. One of Brockman's tech guys was French Canadian and was sent to help the King of Morocco install his Talaria, since they both spoke French. They set the tech up in one of the king's hotels where he was told to wait until the king called him over. "Several days later they called, and the tech, Paul Gelinis, entered the palace. He walked down a long, long majestic hallway and at the other end was a Stewart screen and a Talaria with an audio system on one side and video on the other, and a lounge chair in the middle for the king. But the king was nowhere to be found. It turned out he was down on the floor, on his hands and knees, fiddling with the cables. It turned out the king was a real video nut, and he and the tech had a total geek talk about black levels and the like." Over time, other companies were providing some competition to the Talaria and the specification of "lumens" was anything but clear to the customers. "There was no standard for lumens and it was so confusing that no one knew what it meant," says Brockman. "A competitive company was claiming higher lumen output than ours yet in side by side comparisons, our projector was obviously brighter. But one customer told me he bought theirs instead of ours because their printed specs were brighter, and I had to do something." He approached Imre Csaszar, who founded video interface company Covid, and suggested they work on a standard, which began the IEEE group that defined the current ANSI standard for measuring brightness. "In the meantime, I also called one of the magazines and said I wanted to expose how this all works, these brightness claims, and after that article, one of our sales guys, Jim Taylor, started calling our measurement Brock lumens as a joke," remembers Brockman. "The other thing was that I knew, whenever we did a private projector shoot-out to sell a customer seeing a side-by-side comparison, we always won the contract because ours was the brightest. I approached the Guy Philbin of InfoComm at the time and said, 'Why don't we do a shoot-out at InfoComm? What do you think?' Before I even knew it, the guy had put together a committee, created strict rules, established a three-day schedule during which no manufacturers could touch their own projectors after set-up and, the first year, there were between 20 and 30 projectors. It was a phenomenal success and grew to be the biggest attraction at the show. And it all started because we'd lost an order." GE sold their aerospace division to Martin Marietta in 1990 and along with it went the projector business. But Martin Marietta didn't see it as a fit with the rest of the businesses and decided to change it from a growth business to a harvest business. "They basically got as much cash out of us as they could but didn't infuse any investment into it with the intention that it would wind down. Of course, we couldn't keep up with new technologies such as DLP and LCD and eventually we were laid off." Brockman next went to work in 1996 for a company that had one of the first wireless modems. It operated on an analog cellular system and allowed for computer networking wirelessly around the world. "We were told by some of the brightest minds in the cellular industry that we would sell thousands of units during the first year alone," says Brockman. "The thing was, it really was a terrific idea and we had some success in using the systems to monitor remote gas wells and mobile credit card processing for sidewalk vendors or companies with no wiring in the building. It was also used by police departments to run license plates from the field." The systems worked great, but it turned out they were so complicated to set up that far too many resources were going into the programming and installation up front so instead of the thousands they hoped for, they sold just hundreds and eventually decided to cease operations. "At that point, my wife and I looked at each other and decided we'd had enough of working for other people," says Brockman. "We went in a completely new direction and bought a souvenir business, even though I'd never bought a souvenir or postcard in my life." Robert and Nancy Brockman grew the business from break-even to double the sales and quadruple the distribution, much of it thanks to deals with local Wal-Marts which, says Brockman, like to work with local businesses. They sold the business in 2002 and now spend two months a year, every year, traveling. In fact, they just returned from a two-month trip to Thailand. The rest of the time he spends with family and with some consulting work. Even with all the successes in the AV world, it's the Shoot-Out of which he is most proud. (The Shoot-Out was eventually discontinued not because it wasn't still popular, but because the image qualities and brightness of LCD and DLP no longer varied much from manufacturer to manufacturer.) "The Shoot-Out was a really good idea," says Brockman, "and the head of ICIA just took the idea and ran with it. It just went from idea to reality immediately, when usually you have to wait years for an idea to take off. How often does that happen?" Robert Brockman can be reached at robertb363@yahoo.com
Back to top Feature Article Display Technology Shoot-Out
Comparing CRT, LCD, Plasma and DLP Displays
by Dr. Raymond M. Soneira
President, DisplayMate
Technologies Corp.
Part IIIa Image Quality and Artifacts Introduction This is Part IIIa of a three part article series describing an in-depth comparison between CRT, LCD, Plasma and DLP display technologies in order to analyze the relative strengths and weaknesses of each. In Part I we measured, analyzed and compared primary specs like Black-Level, Color Temperature, Peak Brightness, Dynamic Range, and Contrast for each display. Click this link to read Part I. — http://www.kayye.com/resources/rAVe_archives/03252004.asp In Part II we continued with Gray-Scale, Gamma, Primary Chromaticities and Color Gamut to see how they all affect color and gray-scale. Click this link to read Part II — http://www.kayye.com/resources/rAVe_archives/04122004.asp Here in Part IIIa we continue with Artifacts and how they affect Image Quality.
Artifacts In Parts I and II we measured the photometry and colorimetry for each of the displays. If all of the pixels in a display performed in exactly this manner, there wouldn't be anything more to discuss because images are just made up of pixels. The whole would just be the exact sum of its parts. Unfortunately, things aren't quite that simple because a considerable amount of processing is required between the input connectors and the actual display device. All of this processing affects and modifies what each pixel winds up displaying, often adversely affecting image quality and accuracy and frequently introducing artifacts into the image. An artifact is simply any distinct feature that is visible in an image that doesn't belong there. How the different display technologies respond to these issues will be the subject of Part IIIa.
First we'll consider the question of Analog vs Digital processing for intensities, pixels and signals. Then we'll examine Native Resolution and Image Rescaling, followed by discussions on Image Noise, Motion Artifacts and Signal Processing.
Analog vs Digital Three fundamental issues for any display are the way in which it generates pixels and intensities and how it processes the input signals. Each one of these can exist in either the analog or digital domain. While most people assume that digital is somehow automatically better, that really isn't the case. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages and either one can produce excellent image and picture quality. It's the details of the implementation that determines the quality of the end result and the kind of artifacts that are produced. We'll explore these issues next.
Analog vs Digital Intensity The intensity (brightness) of a display pixel can be controlled by either an analog or digital process. Each display technology must do it in a particular way. While any display can accept both analog and digital signals, they must be converted into the proper native mode by the time they get to the actual display device.
Both CRTs and LCDs produce their intensity scale through analog voltage control of the device. The range of brightness that is produced is both perfectly smooth and infinitesimally graduated. Some signal processing is required in order obtain the desired brightness relationship, as discussed in the Gamma and Gray-Scale sections in Part II. If it's all done via analog control then the display retains its pure analog nature.
On the other hand, both Plasma and DLP displays have only digital on and off pixel states so they must produce their intensity-scale by rapidly switching between the two and varying the percentage of time that is spent in each. For example, for 25% brightness, a quarter of the time is spent on and the other three-quarters is spent off. In principle, it's possible to produce a infinitesimally graduated intensity scale just like the analog devices above. In practice the switching frequency is fixed and the states are digitally controlled so only a discrete set of intensity levels that can be produced. At low intensities the on time is so brief that it is visually perceived as image noise. (See Image Noise and Pulse Width Modulation, below). In most consumer devices the goal is to produce 256 intensity levels (8-bits per color or 24-bits total). Signal processing generally reduces the total number of levels that are actually available, so in reality less than 256 levels are provided. This introduces gray-scale artifacts that we'll discuss further under Signal Processing, below.
Analog vs Digital Pixels The pixel structure of the display can also be either analog or digital. This is determined by either the inherent nature of the display technology or the implementation chosen by the manufacturer.
DLP and Plasma displays have an intrinsic discrete pixel matrix format that is fixed at the time of manufacture and cannot be changed. Each DLP pixel is made up of a micro-mirror and each Plasma pixel is made up 3 gas cells that contain red, green and blue phosphors. This discrete image structure is referred to as digital pixels. There are many competing advantages and disadvantages to this approach. If you have a digital image that has a resolution identical to the display's then it can be reproduced exactly. If it's at a different resolution then it must to be rescaled to match the pixel structure of the display, which introduces errors and artifacts into the image (see Image Rescaling, below). If the image is analog and not digital then it must be digitized, which also introduces errors and artifacts. (See Analog vs Digital Signals, below.)
CRTs as pure analog devices don't have any preordained pixel structure built in so they are free to support a very wide range of image formats. The phosphor dots or stripes in color CRTs do introduce a grain into the image and can produce moiré patterns but don't impart any particular pixel structure. Technically CRTs are pixel-free, but this lack of structure is still referred to as analog pixels because they can be thought of as formed and stretched in whatever way is necessary. For example, if you have a CRT monitor connected to your computer then you can select from a wide variety of resolutions that will be accurately reproduced without pixel or scaling artifacts. LCDs are also analog devices and don't have any intrinsic digital pixel structure (because they are filled with a uniform liquid crystal layer), however, they are generally manufactured with a pixel matrix structure just like the DLP and Plasma technologies. So all of the flat panel technologies are identical in this regard.
Analog vs Digital Signals Most displays now accept both analog and digital signals. In principle, displays with digital pixels prefer digital signals and displays with analog pixels prefer analog signals. Switching between the two signal types always involves some image degradation and artifacts.
Analog Signals An analog signal has the advantage of not possessing any built-in structure, which makes it relatively artifact free. It can contain a lot more subtle image information than a digital signal, which is restricted to a discrete pixel structure and a discrete set of allowed intensity levels. On the other hand, analog signals by their very nature are easily susceptible to degradation and interference. Also, high quality analog signal processing is now more difficult and expensive to implement than digital signal processing (even though the analog electronics is much simpler than the digital electronics), which is why we'll continue to see more and more of the latter.
Analog signals typically come in the form of RGB for computers (via DB15 VGA or BNC connectors) and component YPBPR for video (via BNC or RCA connectors). Since analog signals are easily degraded it's important to use high quality signal sources (graphics boards for computers and cameras, DVDs, VCRs, and set top boxes for video) and also high quality cables, particularly for runs longer than a few meters. (See the DisplayMate Best Video Hardware Guide — http://www.displaymate.com/best.html –for our recommendations.) While many things can happen as an analog signal degrades, the most common is a loss of high frequencies, which reduces sharpness and image detail. This can be evaluated through video bandwidth measurements. DisplayMate for Windows Multimedia Edition — http://www.kayye.com/ — includes a proprietary test pattern that quantitatively measures video bandwidth on-screen using only your eyes (no other instrumentation required).
Digitizing Analog Signals – Pixel Tracking and Phase When an analog signal is fed to a display with digital pixels, it needs to be digitized. Since most analog signals are actually generated from digital sources (computer or MPEG) it's necessary for the display to accurately identify the underlying digital pixels and then accurately measure the signal level at the center of each. First of all, it's very difficult to accurately locate the beginning and end of each pixel because they don't have hard edges. If it's not done with 100% accuracy, there will be visible on-screen interference in the form of moiré patterns and digital noise, which arise because the image pixels are not all being properly identified and mapped to the appropriate display pixel. As a result the image actually becomes a bit fuzzy like a CRT. It's rather difficult to perform an accurate conversion because the start and end of each signal pixel is difficult to identify and there may be problems with signal rise-time, overshoot and ringing. Most displays have an "Auto" function (button or menu selection) that attempts to do this automatically. For most displays Auto generally does a pretty good job but seldom gets it exactly right (so most flat panels with analog connections have a bit of fuzziness). A manual adjustment of "Pixel Tracking or Phase" is necessary to get it exactly right. (Some displays are simply unable to get a perfect lock at all). All DisplayMate for Windows — http://www.kayye.com/ — products include special proprietary "Pixel Tracking and Phase" test patterns that are used to accurately adjust and test the setting. There is an Auto pattern that will help the Auto function get as accurate a setting as possible and a more sensitive Manual pattern to help you adjust it as perfectly as possible.
Digital Signals If both the signal source and display work with digital signals then most of the time it's better to use a digital rather than an analog connection. There are two reasons for instead picking analog over digital: (1) digital generally produces stronger and more visible artifacts, and (2) analog often provides a larger set of user controls for adjusting the image. Both of these issues are discussed in detail in the sections below.
Digital signals come in the form of DVI for computers and DVI with HDCP (High Definition Copy Protection) for video. Note that there is a crucial difference in the signal levels between them: computer signals cover the complete 8-bit 0-255 range while 8-bit video signals are limited to a smaller 16-230 range. For accurate image reproduction it's important that the display provide (automatic or manual) adjustments to accommodate these range differences. Another issue with DVI signals is that the transmission distance is typically limited to relatively short distances of a few meters. Beyond that some form of repeater is required. After the maximum recommended distance the image will start to degrade, first in the form of intermittent digital noise appearing in the image and then by a total loss of signal.
HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) is the next generation of digital interconnect that is beginning to appear in the marketplace. It is backwards compatible with DVI. From our perspective here it has two major advantages: support for up to 12-bits of intensity (4096 levels) and a transmission distance up to 15 meters. This will help to significantly reduce most of the digital artifacts that we discuss here.
Native Resolution and Image Rescaling Almost all signal sources are now digitally generated, so they have an underlying pixel format and resolution, even when delivered as an analog signal. The format is always expressed in the form of total horizontal pixels by total vertical pixels, HxV. For example, computer based signal sources typically range from 640×480 up through 2048×1536 and MPEG video sources, including DVDs and digital television, are 720×480 for NTSC based systems and 720×576 for PAL based systems. High Definition Television signals have resolutions of 1280×720 and 1920×1080.
Native Resolution Essentially all non-CRT based displays have a fixed digital pixel format, which is referred to as the native resolution of the display. For non-CRT computer displays, which are now primarily LCDs, the most common resolution formats are 1024×768 and 1600×1200 for 4:3 Aspect Ratio screens, 1280×1024 for 5:4 Aspect Ratio and 1280×768 for 5:3 Aspect Ratio. For Enhanced or High Definition Television displays the most common resolution formats are 852×480, 1280×720, 1365×768, 1386×788 (Sony projection LCDs), and 1920×1080, all with 16:9 Aspect Ratio screens.
When the pixel format of the image or signal matches that of the display, there is a one to one correspondence so, in principle, it's possible for the display to produce an image that is a perfect match to the source image. For computer images, which typically have fine text and graphics, this correspondence is essential. Fortunately, computer graphics boards can be configured to support almost any resolution, although manufacturers generally support only the most popular ones. Specialized utilities, like PowerStrip — http://entechtaiwan.net/util/ps.shtm — allow most graphics boards to be programmed for almost any resolution that the hardware is capable of supporting. For video, on the other hand, the agreement between signal source and display native resolution is unfortunately not good. If you compare the resolutions listed above, there are only two out of five matches: 1280×720 and 1920×1080.
Image Rescaling When the pixel format of a signal or image doesn't exactly match the display's own native pixel format then the image needs to be rescaled up or down to match that format. Otherwise the image will overfill or underfill the screen. To accomplish the rescaling the image pixels must be digitally interpolated and resampled to the display's native pixel format. For example, consider rescaling a 720×480 DVD image into 1280×720, one line at a time, the simplest case. No matter how you try to do it, there will be periodic irregularities in mapping 720 pixels into 1280, and they will be quite noticeable whenever there is fine image detail. Because rescaling always produces severe artifacts, the image must then be filtered in order to help smooth out the irregularities, which are scaling artifacts. Many displays provide a choice of several different filters so you can pick the best compromise based on your application and visual preferences.
Although there are many different rescaling algorithms, so there will be significant differences in quality, rescaling an image always produces a noticeable degradation in image quality. While rescaling has improved dramatically over the last 10 years there are fundamental mathematical limitations that restrict the accuracy and quality of a rescaled digital image. This is true whether the signal is up converted to a higher resolution, or down converted to a lower resolution. In the latter case, there are fewer pixels so some information is lost.
Since most video images are photographic in nature, they are already relatively fuzzy and smooth, so the rescaling artifacts are not as apparent as in computer graphics images. Given the resolution format mismatches above, rescaling is the rule rather than the exception in video. In many cases both the signal source and the display are capable of rescaling the image. The most important point is to avoid double rescaling. This will happen if the signal source cannot rescale to the native mode of the display. The display will then be forced to perform a second rescaling, which should be avoided because of additional image degradation. As an example, if you have a DVD player that can rescale the image up to 1280×720, turn this feature off unless you have a 1280×720 display, such as in many current DLP displays and projectors.
On the other hand, CRTs, as analog devices, don't have a native resolution so image rescaling occurs automatically once the display's analog size and position controls are adjusted. The image is just appropriately stretched or compressed as needed. It's an entirely analog process so there aren't any artifacts. DisplayMate includes a large selection of test patterns that can be used to examine the accuracy of the image rescaling and the resulting artifacts. The Multimedia Edition's "Moiré Montage" pattern is the ultimate test of rescaling artifacts. It includes 12 different dither patterns that visually demonstrate how the pixels are redistributed and merged together after rescaling. Other test patterns, like resolution, focus and fine text can be used to visually evaluate the effects of rescaling.
Image Noise Noise is any seemingly random variation in image content that doesn't belong (static or time varying) and there are many possible sources. One that is always present is from the image or signal source. In video it can arise from the camera sensor, grain in the film, a poor quality transfer, or MPEG encoding and compression artifacts. Composite video signals also produce cross-color interference, which is a form of image noise. Computer generated images, on the other hand, generally have exceptionally low noise. If noise is visible from a computer source, it's generally the result of analog electrical interference from other analog or digital signals inside the computer.
In analog devices like the CRT, noise tends to automatically cancel out through temporal and spatial averaging because of its random nature. On the other hand, most digital displays will magnify analog signal noise because they sample the signal, so the noise component becomes pixelated. This was apparent in all of the flat panel displays. Once an analog to digital conversion takes place no additional noise propagation can occur, although the digital signal can become distorted through processing (see below).
Pulse Width Modulation A major source of noise for all displays that use digital intensity control, like the Plasma and DLP technologies, is Pulse Width Modulation, PWM, which generates the gray-scale by rapidly switching the pixels between on and off states. At low intensities the pixel spends most of its time in the off state, so the occasional switch to the on state becomes noticeable as a form of switching noise. The PWM patterns also produce visible contouring in the image. The higher the switching frequency, the less this effect is noticeable. Spatial dithering between adjacent pixels can be used to help mask this effect.
Spatial Dithering In some cases a display may not be able to generate all of the intensity levels that are required. This may be the case for only a portion of the gray-scale. To overcome this limitation the display electronics will automatically adjust the intensities of neighboring pixels so their combined intensities average out to the desired values. This procedure is called spatial dithering. The averaging process may involve only adjacent pixels or it can encompass larger groupings of nearby pixels. Image sharpness is reduced somewhat in return for a smoother gray-scale and reduced intensity contouring. The dithering process introduces a form of spatial noise into the image. The dithering algorithm may involve a fixed pixel pattern, which is often more noticeable because it tends to produce repeating patterns, or error diffusion, which generates a seemingly random pattern and a finer intensity scale, but also introduces more random noise intro the image. In some cases displays will provide a menu option to choose among several dithering algorithms.
Noise Dithering In some cases a perfect end-to-end digital signal train may produce an image that is so "clean" that all of the artifacts they we discuss here will become quite noticeable. In that case a using high quality analog signal connection instead may produce a better looking picture because the analog noise will soften and obscure many of the artifacts.
Motion Artifacts Most display technologies with digital pixels will produce some form of artifact when there is motion in the image. This results from differences in how the pixels are updated from one frame to the next. These artifacts will be most visible when the image contains fine detail. DisplayMate Multimedia Edition's "Moiré Montage" with 12 different dither patterns is the ultimate test for motion artifacts.
Additional motion artifacts generally arise when there is any form of temporal dithering, such as Pulse Width Modulation in DLP and Plasma displays, because the motion interrupts the switching cycle and thereby introduces some gray-scale contouring errors. LCDs have their own special issues of motion smear and flicker due to a slower response time. On the other hand, CRTs are virtually immune from motion artifacts because they are analog devices and the phosphors have incredibly fast response times. Compare the photographs of a moving DisplayMate test pattern on a CRT and an LCD on http://www.displaymate.com/motion.html We'll discuss all of this further in Part IIIb.
Signal Processing A fair amount of signal processing must occur between the display's signal input (whether it's analog or digital) and the display device. Any adjustment, correction or change requires some sort of signal processing. For example, each of the user and service controls modifies the signal in some way and therefore requires signal processing. Getting the display to produce the desired gray-scale and Gamma (Part II) generally requires a considerable amount of processing.
Analog Processing For analog signals it's relatively simply to implement the necessary signal processing because most of the controls merely involve a change in amplitude (gain) or bias (DC offset). The most complex analog circuitry is involved in producing the desired Gray-Scale and Gamma because it has to correct the irregular variations in the display's Transfer Characteristic. The biggest problem is that analog circuits are imprecise, and that can lead to processing errors and artifacts. For example, if the Red, Green and Blue signal channels do not behave identically, then a gray-scale image will have irregular color tinting even after calibration (color tracking error). Similar color errors are introduced if the frequency response of the R,G,B channels are not identical (unbalanced RGB video bandwidth). DisplayMate has multiple test patterns to test for all of these effects.
Digital Processing The electronics for implementing digital signal processing is considerably more complex than analog signal processing. This is the main reason why most displays currently offer fewer controls with digital inputs than with analog inputs. For example, for the standard 8-bit 0-255 intensity scale that has 256 levels, merely increasing the black-level by 10 levels requires that 10 be digitally added to the intensity value for each pixel that is received by the display. The first problem is that this needs to be implemented in special image processing hardware. The second problem is that we automatically lose 10 intensity levels so there are now only 246 active levels on the 0-255 scale. A third problem arises if we wish to recover the now illegal values of 256 to 265 and restore them to the 0-255 scale. To do this, it's necessary to effectively multiply all of the signal intensity values by a factor of 255/265=0.962. (It can be done with fixed point arithmetic or a look-up table.) This is actually a rescaling of the intensity values and is equivalent to lowering the analog video gain using a Contrast Control. A fourth problem arises because the intensity scale has now acquired some irregularities (artifacts) because the former 256 steps are now squeezed into 246 steps, resulting in some visible banding and false contouring. This same type of processing is required for each control pair that is implemented digitally: Brightness and Contrast, Red, Green and Blue Drive and Bias. More complex processing is required to implement Color Tint and Saturation Controls. Finally, additional processing is required to implement the desired Gray-Scale and Gamma (generally in the form or a look-up table, which can accurately handle all of the irregularities). All of this can be done with custom image processing chips. However, each processing step in the chain results in a further loss of intensity levels and mathematical precision, so the cumulative errors can be quite large. As a result internal processing must be done with more than the external 8-bit display intensity scale. The greater the degree of processing required the finer the internal intensity scale that is needed. 10-bits is the minimum in order to restrain the artifacts from growing too much. As the bit-depth increases digital processing then begins behaving more like a scale free and artifact free analog system.
Gray-Scale Artifacts Many of the artifacts that we have discussed here affect the final intensity scale that is produced by the display. Some result in an insufficient number of intensity levels, a form of quantization error that leads to false contouring in an image. Others introduce irregularities that affect the smooth progression of intensity and produce false textures and contours. In most cases the irregularities are different for the red, green and blue primaries, so the gray-scale is likely to acquire a complex tinted structure.
DisplayMate Multimedia Edition includes a large number of test patterns that can be used to check on the smoothness of the gray-scale and whether there are any irregularities in the form of contouring or banding. Varying the range and step size within a gray-scale allows all sorts of subtle patterns to be easily detected. Noise bands from Pulse Width Modulation are easy to detect this way. The "Gray-Scale Tunnel" visually translates irregularities into spatial effects and is an excellent way of determining whether any of the artifacts will be noticeable on screen.
Closing In Part IIIa of the article we have discussed a whole series of artifacts than can affect the different display technologies. In Part IIIb we will discuss the computer and video viewing tests. Then we will analyze and assess each display technology in detail and tie together all of the results from Parts I to IIIa.
About the Author
Dr. Raymond Soneira is President of DisplayMate Technologies Corp. He is a research scientist with a career that spans physics, computer science, and television system design. Dr. Soneira obtained his Ph.D. in Physics from Princeton University, spent 5 years as a Long-Term Member of the world famous Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, another 5 years as a Principal Investigator in the Computer Systems Research Laboratory at AT&T Bell Laboratories, and has also designed, tested, and installed color television broadcast equipment for the CBS Television Network Engineering and Development Department. He has authored over 35 research articles in scientific journals in physics and computer science, including Scientific American. If you have any comments or questions about the article you can contact him at mailto:dtso@displaymate.com
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