History of Computers - LCD Televisions

Introduction

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) is a type of screen which is flat, unlike it precursor, the CRT. The LCD television’s main appeal over its predecessor, the CRT, is because it is flat and can be much larger without being much thicker and it can be hung on a wall. Although LCD's profit first surpassed CRT's in 2003 (by over 7.7 Billion Dollars), and, despite the age of LCD televisions, they continue to sell. [1]

Overview

The LCD Television produces an image on its screen. This is because the screen is made up of tiny boxes called pixels, so tiny there are millions of them in a single screen. These pixels have a red, blue, and green light in them which turns on or off and rapidly changes. All these pixels working together create the desired image or many images in short succession which then the observer sees as a picture or video. [2] The creation of the LCD television can be traced back to the 1960's when George H. Heilmeier and others used liquid crystals to create a display at the Radio Corporation of America who then announced the invention in may 1968. [3] Due to the lower energy consumption of LCD televisions and how their colors would not be washed out in sunlight, unlike the power hungry CRT whose color does wash out in bright light, the first LCD television was sold as a portable TV called the the Cassio TV-10 was sold in 1983.[4]

Significance

The significance of the LCD television in the grand scheme of things is how it replaced its predecessor, the CRT television and that it was the next step in technology for screens at the time. Nowadays most screens are LCD as they continue to dominate the market as of 2016. Their flatness allowed them to take up less space, have higher quality, and for them to be hung up on walls.