Chapter 2.

Display Systems

2.1 Introduction

Early computers communicated with the user with either indicator lamps or hard
copy printers, but today, the primary output device is the electronic display. This is
usually the CRT display, although other technologies are available. The enabling
display technology for portable computers and the latest personal digital assistants
(PDA) is the liquid crystal display.

2.2 Types of displays

Displays can be classified into following 3 main types in term of technology.

Electronic Displays

CRT Flat Screen

Active Passive

Gas Discharge Liquid crystal

(Plasma) (LCD)

Figure 2.2-1 Display technologies.

The CRT display uses the same technology as the television. A vacuum glass
tube has at the end of its neck a heated filament. The electrons emitted are attracted
towards the face of the screen by the electric field created by the high tension (HT)
voltage applied between the cathode and the anode. The beams of electrons pass
through the focusing and deflection electrostatic plates or coils along the way. The
screen is coated with a thin phosphor layer which emits light when impacted by an
electron at that point.
LCDs composed of two plates of glass in close proximity. Each plate has
conductive lines evenly spaced, but very close together, on its surface. The two sets of
conductive lines on the glass plates are perpendicular to each other so that they form a
grid when viewed from the top. On the outside of each glass plate is a polarising filter.
The liquid crystal material is in the centre, between the two sets of conductive lines.
 Display Systems 2

There is a mirror on the bottom side of the display. When room light or sunlight hits
the display, the light is polarised as it passes through the top polariser. In the parts of
the grid with no power applied, the crystals automatically line up in a stair-step type
of formation on their side. This alignment causes the now-polarised light to rotate 90
degrees and allows it to pass through the lower, or bottom, polarising layer. There, it
hits the mirror and is reflected back along the same path, rotating back through the
crystals as it does. This causes the grey or silver colour on the screen. In the parts of
the grid where a character is to appear, a current is applied to the appropriate
conductive lines on both the top and bottom plates. This causes the crossing point of
these two lines to be energised or excited. When this happens, the crystals are pulled
perpendicular to the glass plates. The staircase no longer exists at this location, and
the light is kept from twisting 90 degrees. Thus, it cannot pass through the lower
polarising filter and be reflected back. This screen position, therefore, appears to be
black.
Plasma screens are one of the easiest types of displays on which to see
characters and graphics. In addition, they are also very reliable. With plasma screens,
there are two glass panels on the top and the bottom, like LCDs. The panels are
separated slightly and have conductors plated onto the glass in evenly spaced rows.
The conductor rows on the bottom plate are rotated 90 degrees from the top plate. The
two plates are sealed airtight, and the space between them is filled with a mixture of
argon and neon gases. To form a point on the display, one of the upper conductors is
energised as well as one of the lower conductors. The point where they cross over
each other has approximately 200 volts DC difference. This causes the gas at this
point to break down or "ionises" causing it to glow.

2.3 CRT Displays

It is the oldest and most popular display technology

Advantages:
♦ Low cost because of volume of production.
♦ Speed of updating and the retention of image is good.
♦ Colour display is available.
♦ Text and graphics display modes.
Disadvantages:
♦ Large size and weight: Typical CRT displays are at least as deep as they are wide
♦ High voltage and power consumption. Also generate a lot of heat.
♦ CRT displays are glass vacuum tubes, and are therefore relatively fragile.
♦ The microprocessor interface is relatively complex.
 Display Systems 3

2.3.1 CRT FUNDAMENTALS

The CRT display uses the same technology as the television. Figure 2.3-1 shows
the basic components of the CRT. The vacuum glass tube has at the end of its neck a
heated filament. The electrons emitted are attracted towards the face of the screen by
the electric field created by the high tension (HT) voltage applied between the cathode
and the anode. For a 12-inch monitor, this voltage is about 1200V. The beam of
electrons passes through the focusing and deflection electrostatic plates or coils along
the way. The screen is coated with a thin phosphor layer which emits light when
impacted by an electron at that point.
The voltage applied to the control grid regulates the intensity of the electron
beam. Since the brightness of the screen is dependent on the number of electrons
hitting the phosphor, the display brightness is a function of the control voltage applied
to the grid. For monochrome displays, the colour of the display is dependent on the
type of phosphor used.
The focusing anode, sometimes called an electrostatic lens, forms the emitted
electrons into a thin circular beam (along the Z direction), so that the image created on
the screen is a sharp well-defined spot. Magnetic focusing coils are common and can
produce a narrower beam of electrons, that is, a sharper focus.
The electron beam is aimed at a particular point on the screen by passing it
through an electromagnetic field generated by the set of deflection coils in the yoke
assembly. Two vertical deflection coils generate a field perpendicular in X direction
of the electrons, allowing the electron beam to be scanned vertically. And two
horizontal deflection coils do the same in the horizontal direction, thus enabling the
beam to be positioned anywhere on the face of the tube. The CRT used in
oscilloscopes which require faster, more precise and linear positioning of the beam
uses electrostatic deflection plates in the tube rather than deflection coils.

Figure 2.3-1Basic CRT physical construction

 Display Systems 4

2.3.1.1 Colour display.

To achieve colour, different chemical compounds (excess of 150 types) are used
in phosphor manufacturing. Three cathode ray tubes are used. Each gun is directed
and masked so that it can only illuminate a single colour phosphor. With the right
mixture of the 3 primary colour (RGB) the full colour spectrum can be achieved.
Figure 2.3-2 shows a colour mixing chart.

Figure 2.3-2 colour mixing chart

Figure 2.3-3 Configuration of colour CRT gun

 Display Systems 5

Figure 2.3-4 Colour CRT phosphor configuration

Figure 2.3-5 Colour CRT mask configuration

2.3.2 CRT INTERFACE SIGNALS

The circuit that interfaces the microprocessor buses to the CRT monitor is called the
CRT controller. The three basic signals that must be provided to the CRT monitor are
the video information, horizontal sync, and vertical sync. Each time horizontal sync is
asserted, the electron beam retraces to the left edge of the screen. Each time vertical
sync is asserted, the beam retraces to the top of the screen. These signals are usually
provided by the CRT controller to synchronise the sweep oscillators in the monitor to
the video information. For special applications, such as overlaying of computer
generated video on television images, the CRT controller may accept the sync signals
as inputs and synchronise the computer-generated video to them.
 Display Systems 6

Some CRT monitors use signals called horizontal drive and vertical drive
instead of the sync signals described above. These signals have the same period as
sync signals but different pulse widths and polarity.

]
Figure 2.3-6 Major interface signals

Figure 2.3-7 Horizontal and vertical Sync pulses

• Horizontal sync: Retraces beam to the left edge of the screen.

• Horizontal oscillator: Saw-tooth signal that sweeps the beam horizontally across
the screen.
• Vertical sync: Causes beam to retrace to the top of the screen.
• Vertical oscillator:Saw-tooth signal applied to the vertical deflection amplifier to
move the beam down the screen.
• Video signal: Determines the intensity of the beam that will strike the screen. The
signal is amplified and applied as the accelerating voltage in the CRT.
There are two basic methods of displaying an image on the screen:

2.3.2.1 VECTOR GRAPHIC

The vector or stroke method, like the oscilloscope, controls the positioning of
the spot on the screen with electric fields (usually, although sometimes magnetic
 Display Systems 7

fields are used,) in the X- and Y- direction to trace out the image. This is suitable for
very fine line images. As the persistence is limited and to avoid flicker, the entire
image must be retraced more than 30 times per second, which places a limit on the
complexity of the image that can be displayed. Sometimes storage display tubes are
used.
2.3.2.2 RASTER SCAN
Like the Television, the electron beam traces a standard pattern of horizontal
lines. As each line is traced, the brightness of the spot is changed by varying the Z-
axis (video) voltage, thus building up the image line-by-line.

Starting from top left, a horizontal line is traced by sweeping the X-voltage. On
reaching the right edge, the beam is blanked and quickly returned to the left
(horizontal retrace) to trace the next line. The Y-voltage is increased slightly so that
the beams begins from a new starting point below the previous line.

After the bottom line is traced, the vertical retrace takes place, blanking the
beam and quickly moving it back to the top of the screen even as the horizontal
retrace takes place.

Figure 2.3-8 Vector scan vs. raster scan

Figure 2.3-9 Raster scan CRT display

 Display Systems 8

2.3.2.3 Interlaced and Non-interlaced

Instead of tracing all the video signals from top to bottom to form one frame.
CRT displays often use interlacing, where the odd number and even number of lines
being traced out at alternate frame. See Figure 2.3-10. Interlacing is used because it
doubles the effective resolution without increasing the scan rate. However, the refresh
rate for each field is reduced to 25 (30) Hz, which is slow enough to cause flicker.
This is not noticeable on television displays because both fields (that is, adjacent
lines) are usually quite similar. On computer displays, however, the full resolution is
often used, and one scan line may be completely different from the adjacent ones,
resulting in flicker. Thus, non-interlaced displays are preferred for computer display
applications.
The sweep oscillators in the CRT monitor are synchronised to the sync signals
from the CRT controller. The sync signals must be within a range that the monitor can
accept; the width of this range varies depending on the type of monitor. Most
monitors can operate in an interlaced or non-interlaced mode; this is determined by
the sync signals. In an interlaced system, every other vertical sync pulse occurs in the
middle of a horizontal scan.

Figure 2.3-10 Raster scan CRT display

For standard broadcast format television in North America, the NTSC standard
is used where the horizontal sweep rate is 15,750 Hz, and the vertical sweep rate is 60
Hz. The vertical rate is chosen to match the power line frequency, to avoid any
"beating" effects with it. Stray electromagnetic fields which would have a power line
frequency would result in waviness in the display by deflection of the beam. The
horizontal frequency determines the number of lines per field. A horizontal rate of
15,750 Hz results in 262.5 lines per field. For standard television monitors, the
horizontal scan rate must be close to this standard. However, many commercial
applications use higher scan rates, such as 18.4 kHz. This provides more lines per
field and thus higher resolution. In addition, it raises the scan frequency out of the
hearing range of most people, 15,750 Hz is audible to many people, and CRT
monitors at this frequency produce an annoying whine. This is not so objectionable
with televisions, since the viewer is usually across the room and the television voice
channel is generating lots of intentional noise that tends to block out the whine from
the scanning. The European Phase Alternating Line standard uses a 625-line raster
scan display with a refresh rate of 50 Hz, resulting in a horizontal rate of 15625 Hz.
The fact that the 15625-Hz (15750-Hz) scan rate produces an extra half a line
(312.5 or 262.5) is not accidental. It results in interlacing, as shown in Figure 3.2.3.1.
Each alternate field is offset by one-half the line spacing. This effectively produces a
display with twice as many lines, only half of which are scanned each time. Two
 Display Systems 9

fields are required to produce a complete image, which is called a frame. This is the
technique used by standard broadcast television.
2.3.2.4 Composite Video
Many monitors accept separate video, horizontal, and vertical signals as
described previously. For broadcast television and some CRT monitors, these signals
are all combined into one composite signal. As a first step, the horizontal and vertical
sync signals are combined. The horizontal sync pulses are typically 3 to 5 ms wide,
while the vertical sync pulses are much longer, typically over 150 ms. Because of the
difference in frequency, they are easily separated by low-pass and high-pass filters.
The combined sync signals are then combined with the video information by
using different voltage levels. Figure 2.3-11 shows the waveform of a composite
video signal for one line. The black, or off, video level is represented by a level of
approximately 0 V. The white, or on, video level is represented by the maximum
voltage, typically 1 to 2 V. Intermediate voltages can be used for varying intensity
levels. The sync signals appear as pulses below the 0 V black level. Figure 2.3-11
shows the composite signal for an entire frame. The vertical sync pulses are
distinguished by their length. The number of horizontal sync pulses between each pair
of vertical sync pulses determines the number of lines in the field. Typically 20 to 30
percent of each scan line is blanked and thus not available for video information.
Similarly, a percentage of the vertical scan time is used for blanking and retrace, so
some of the scan lines (approximately 20) are not displayed.
For many computer display applications, there is no reason to use composite
video. It makes little sense to add circuitry to the CRT controller to combine several
signals, which requires additional circuitry in the CRT monitor to separate them
again. CRT monitors that accept composite video are generally more expensive than
those requiring separate video and sync signals, since the "sync separator" is an
additional cost. There are several standards that apply to CRT monitors, although they
are not universally followed. RS-170 specifies the basic interface signals as described
previously for television-format displays. For higher-resolution displays, RS-343
defines the interface signals and certain display characteristics.

Figure 2.3-11 Composite video signal

2.3.2.5 SIZE AND RESOLUTION

The resolution of a CRT display is a combination of two factors: the number of
scan lines and the number of dots that can be displayed on each line. As previously
described, the number of scan lines is determined by the horizontal scan rate
 Display Systems 10

(assuming a fixed vertical scan rate). This determines the resolution in the vertical
direction. The resolution in the horizontal direction is determined by the rate at which
the electron beam can be turned on and off; this is called the video bandwidth.
Typical resolutions:
• CGA: 320 X 200
• EGA: 640 x 350
• VGA: 640 x 480
• SVGA: 800 x 600, 1024 x 768, 1280 x 1024 etc.
Screen aspect ratio: 4:3 or 16:9 (Cinemascope)
Dot aspect ratio: The square dot

2.3.2.6 TIMING CONSIDERATIONS

For non-interlaced display with resolution of 640 x 480 dots, refreshed at 70 Hz.
For an actual viewable display of 480 lines we need to allow time for the vertical
retrace (flyback). Typically we allow an additional 25-30 lines for this.
Similarly after displaying 640 dots on the line, we allow an additional 25% of the line
time for the horizontal retrace (commonly worded as 20% of the line time is used for
horizontal retrace). (Total: 800 dots)
Thus every 14.28 ms the screen is refreshed by writing the frame of 510 lines (480 +
30).
Line time is 28 s, i.e. this is the time available for one line to be traced, including the
horizontal flyback.
Time for each active line (of 640 dots) is 0.8 of this, 22.4 s.
The dot time is thus 35 ns, giving a dot rate of ~30 MHz.

Frequency oscillator: 28.57 MHz -----------------> Dot frequency

| % 800 lines
35.71 KHz -----------------> Horizontal Sync
| % 510
70.02 Hz ------------------> Vertical Sync

2.3.2.7 FREQUENCY RESPONSE OF MONITORS

Worst case display is when dots are alternating on and off, giving a worst case
signal of 15 MHz square wave for a 30Mhz display.
 Display Systems 11

Figure 2.3-12 Frequency response of monitor

However, monitor bandwidth is specified as sine wave bandwidth. If a 15 MHz

square wave is fed to a monitor with a 15 MHz bandwidth, only the fundamental sine
wave will be displayed, resulting in dots with fuzzy edges. To obtain sharper edges on
each dot, the monitor must pass the third harmonic of the fundamental frequency.
(The Fourier transform of a square wave is an infinite series of odd harmonics.) Thus,
the required bandwidth for a high-quality display is 3 x 15 MHz, or 45 MHz. Many
applications get by with monitor bandwidths equal to the dot rate (twice the maximum
square wave frequency). High resolutions monitor typically has frequency responses
in the 100 MHz range.

2.4 TEXT-ORIENTED DISPLAYS

The most flexible CRT displays allow the microprocessor to individually

control each dot on the screen. This is called a bit-mapped display, since one bit (or
several bits) of memory controls each dot on the screen. This is the common approach
for graphics displays. Bit-mapped Displays is almost a standard in the latest OS.
However, many applications still require Text Display only, Terminals like DEC
VT100/220 and the normal mode for the PC monitor.

2.4.1 CHARACTER GENERATION

Dot Matrix representation of Characters on CRT.

Low cost, low resolution 5 x 7 Matrix
Improved 7 x 9 Matrix with 2 dot Descenders
7 x 11 FONT SIZE.
Also requires (say) 2-dot Inter-character Spacing and 3-line Inter-line Spacing
9 X 14 CHARACTER CELL

Figure 2.4-1 shows an 80-character row of data being generated using 5 X 7 matrix
and the 35-bit memory for the character R.
 Display Systems 12

Figure 2.4-1 show a 80-character row of data being generated using 5 X 7 matrix

Figure 2.4-2 Storage of one row of characters

Take the above example with the dot time as 35 ns, giving a Dot Clock of 28.57
MHz. If each character takes up 8 by 10 cell, then the 640 X 480 display is capable of
displaying 48 rows of 80 characters. The following are the frequencies:
 Display Systems 13

Frequency oscillator: 28.57 MHz -----------------> Dot CLK

| % 8 dot per character
3.57 MHz -----------------> Character CLK
| % 100 (80 + 20) characters
35.71 KHz -----------------> HSYNC
| % 10 Lines/Character
3.57 KHz ------------------> Data row CLK
| % 51 Rows/screen (48+3 retrace)
70.02 Hz ------------------> VSYNC

Figure 2.4-3 CRT controller counter chain and associated logic

2.4.2 DISPLAY SIZE

Use 7 x 11 Font Matrix in 9 x 14 Cell

Display with 25 lines x 80 characters
Number of dots per line 80 x 9 = 720
Total lines per frame 25 x 14 = 350
Monitor resolution required 720 x 350
This is EGA resolution.

Figure 2.4-4 A 7 X 11 character matrix in a 9 X 14 cell

 Display Systems 14

2.4.3 Screen Memory

Figure 2.5.1 shows a general block diagram of a CRT controller. The CRT
display RAM (also called the screen memory) contains one location for each possible
character position. The microprocessor writes the characters to be displayed to this
memory, and the CRT controller reads them at the appropriate times. Because the
microprocessor and the CRT controller both require access to the same memory,
memory contention logic is required to determine which of them can access the
memory at what time.

Figure 2.4-5 CRT controller

The CRT controller requires access during the active video time, and if it is
denied this access, the image on the screen cannot be maintained. The microprocessor
is less demanding of immediate access to the screen memory, but if it has to wait for
access often, the system performance can suffer. Three common approaches are
frequently adopted to handle memory contention problem

2.4.4 Memory Contention Logics

2.4.4.1 Direct Memory Access

One approach is to use the microprocessor's main memory for the screen
memory. A DMA controller transfers data to the CRT controller. The CRT controller
typically includes two row buffers that store the screen data for two rows of
characters. While one row buffer is being displayed, the other is filled by the DMA
controller by reading from the screen memory area in the microprocessor's main
memory.
2.4.4.2 Interlaced Memory Access
The second technique is to use a 2-phase clock. This allows access by both the
microprocessor and the CRT controller ‘at any time’. Interlaced Memory Access is
often easier to implement with microprocessors such as the 68000 and 6502, since
they have symmetrical two-phase clocks that define when the microprocessor needs
access to the memory. Since the microprocessor requires access to the memory only
during one phase of the clock, the CRT controller can be given access on the opposite
phase.
2.4.4.3 Non-Display Time Access
 Display Systems 15

The simplest technique is for the microprocessor to access the screen memory
only when the display is normally blanked. The major blanking periods are the
horizontal and vertical blanking times, although it is also possible to make use of the
blank dots between characters and the blank lines between character rows. This can be
implemented with any CRT controller by connecting the blanking signal to an input
port bit or an interrupt input. The microprocessor then polls this input bit (or waits for
an interrupt) to determine when it can access the screen memory.
Typically horizontal retrace represent approximately 25% of the total horizontal
scan time and with the vertical retrace being around 30 lines, this will give about 25%
of the time for CPU to access the screen memory. Figure 2.2-1 shows the amount of
time available in the total blanking time of a 512 X 512 60 Hz display.

Figure 2.4-6 Display time vs Blanking time.

The disadvantage of the Non-Display Time Access approach is that the

microprocessor can spend a significant amount of time waiting for access to the
screen memory.

2.4.5 CHARACTER-ORIENTED CONTROLLERS

2.4.5.1 Intel i8275 for Direct Memory Access

i8275 is designed to work with i8257 DMAC in order to handle the block
transfer of characters between screen memory and the CPU. The i8275 provide
programmable screen and character formats, visual field and character attributes,
cursor control, light pen support, dual row buffers and ability to operate in DMA burst
mode. Figure 2.4-8 shows a block diagram of the i8275 CRT controller.
 Display Systems 16

Figure 2.4-7 i8275 CRT contoller

 Display Systems 17

Figure 2.4-8 Interfacing an I8275 CRTC to an I8086 CPU

2.4.5.2 Interlaced Memory Access (Dual-Ported Memory Access)
The 6845 CRT controller was originally developed by Motorola as a 6800-
family peripheral chip. While intended primarily for alphanumeric displays, it can be
used for graphics displays. Figure 2.4-9 shows a block diagram of the 6845. While it
appears complex at first, it is simply a programmable implementation of the counter
chain previously described. The clock input is at the character rate. Like most CRT
controller chips, this chip is too slow to operate at the dot rate, so the dot timing must
be performed externally. The 6845 allows the number of characters per line and many
other display parameters to be programmed by the microprocessor. The registers are
shown at the right side of the block diagram. Register R0 sets the total number of
characters per line (including blanked character positions). The blocks labelled "CO"
are comparators, which test the values in the counters against the limits programmed
in the registers.
The screen format is determined by the values in the registers. Registers R0 to
R3 determine the timing within each line. The DE (display enable) signal is high
during active video, it can also be thought of as an active-low blanking signal. The
horizontal total register (R0) determines the number of character clocks that make up
an entire scan line, including blanking and retrace. The horizontal displayed register
(R1) sets the number of actual characters displayed; the difference between R0 and R1
determines the horizontal blanking time. The position of the horizontal sync pulse is
independently set by R2, and the width of the sync pulse is set by R3. The unit for all
these settings is one character time.
Registers R4 to R7 set the vertical timing in a similar manner. The vertical total
register (R4) sets the total number of character rows in the complete raster, including
rows that are blanked. Because this register is set in units of one character row (which
is typically 9 to 14 scan lines), it will usually not be possible to specify the exact
number of scan lines required for the complete raster. The vertical adjust register (RS)
sets the number of additional lines needed to make the complete raster. Register R6
sets the total number of character rows displayed, and R7 sets the number of character
 Display Systems 18

rows of delay before the vertical sync pulse is begun. The sync pulse width is fixed at
16 scan lines.

Figure 2.4-9 The 6845 CRTC block diagram

The 6845 can produce interlaced or non-interlaced sync signals.

 Display Systems 19

The microprocessor interface to the 6845 is straightforward, but since it is

designed for 6800-type microprocessors, some additional logic is needed for Intel-
style processors. The 6845 connects directly to an 8-bit data bus. All transfers are
timed by the E (enable) signal, which is driven by the Φ2 or E signal in 6800-family
systems. Figure 2.4-10 shows a block diagram of a CRTC system and Figure 2.4-11
shows the timing interlacing between the CRTC and CPU

Figure 2.4-10 Block diagram of a 6845-based CRTC system

Figure 2.4-11 Timing interlacing

2.5 Graphic CRT Displays

Several techniques are used to generate raster-scan graphics displays.

2.5.1 Graphics Generation Techniques

Graphics capability is obtained by using a bit-mapped display, in which there is

1 bit (or more) of screen memory for each possible dot (pixel) on the display. For
monochrome displays, only 1 bit/pixel is needed. For colour or grey scale, additional
bits are required. For example, using 8 bits/pixel provides 256 different colours or
grey levels.
Table 2.5-1 Bit-Mapped Graphics Display Memory Requirement shows, the
memory requirements for graphics displays increase rapidly as resolution increases.
Note that the terms high-resolution and low-resolution are relative and depend on the
application. In a home computer, 640 x 400 may be high-resolution, but to qualify for
that designation in a computer-aided design application, 1280 x 1024 is required.
 Display Systems 20

Table 2.5-1 Bit-Mapped Graphics Display Memory Requirement

Memory in bytes for various

numbers of bits per pixel
Resolution No.of pixels 1 bit 4 bits 8 bits
240 X 200 48,000 6K 24K 48K
640 X 350 224,000 28K 112K 224K
640 X 480 307,200 38k 152K 304K
1024 X 768 786,432 96K 192K 384K
1280 X 1024 1,310,720 160K 640K 1280K

Figure 2.5-1 Monochrome graphics video generator shows a Monochrome

graphics video generator

Figure 2.5-1 Monochrome graphics video generator

To provide grey levels, more than 1 bit/pixel is required; 8 bits/pixel provides

256 gray levels, enough for virtually any application. The number of bits per pixel is
often referred to as the number of bit planes, since the memory can be visualized as a
number of memory planes, each with 1 bit/pixel. In the actual storing of bit
information, there are the bit plane and packed integer format. Figure 2.5-2 shows the
video generation circuit for 256 gray levels. Each byte in the screen memory
corresponds to a single pixel. All 8 bits are combined by the digital-to-analog
converter to produce one of 256 possible video signal levels.

Figure 2.5-2 Graphic video for 256 gray levels.

2.5.2 Color CRT

 Display Systems 21

Color CRT controllers must produce three video signals: red, green, and blue.
The simplest implementation uses one bit for each of these signals and allows a total
of eight different colors. Figure 2.5-3 shows a block diagram for the video-generation
portion of an eight-color CRT controller.

Figure 2.5-3 Video generation for digital RGB + intensity bit.

The eight-colour technique described above is easily extended to 16 colours by

adding a fourth bit for luminance, used in CGA. For more colours, analogue RGB
monitors are used, and more than one bit per colour is required. There is one memory
array and one D/A converter for each colour. If four bits are used for each colour, a
total of 212, or 4096, different colours can be displayed. While 4096 colours are
adequate for most applications, more are needed for realistic (true-to-life) colour
rendition. High-end systems use as many as 8 bits per colour (24 bits/pixel), for a total
of over 16.8 million different hues.

Figure 2.5-4 Analogue RGB video generation with CLUT

2.5.3 Colour Lookup Tables

Although it is desirable to have a large number of hues available, most images

use a relatively limited selection. A colour lookup table can be used to take advantage
of this characteristic to reduce the amount of screen memory required and also the
accessing time required for a full frame of graphic. Figure 2.5-3 shows a system using
a colour lookup table. The lookup table consists of high-speed RAM that is written by
the applications program. (The figure does not show the multiplexers required on the
connections to the lookup table RAM to allow access by the microprocessor.) The
 Display Systems 22

lookup table translates a "colour number" from the screen memory to RGB data for
the DAC.
A common system uses 8 bits/pixel in the screen memory and provides 8 bits
for each colour from the lookup table. This would require a 256 x 24 lookup table and
would allow any 256 from a palette of 16.8 million colours to be displayed. The
relatively small lookup table greatly reduces the amount of screen memory that would
be required for a comparable choice of colours without using a lookup table.

2.5.4 Video RAM

The data in a screen memory must be displayed continuously at the same time
as it is being created. The data rate for a video display device is such that the memory
used to from the image cannot be easily shared between the display and the processor.
A special form of memory, known as the dual port memory, allows access by two
different circuits at the same time is used. One port, the standard random access
memory (RAM) interface, is connected to the computer and the other, a sequential
access port, is used by the screen. This special memory device is known as video
random access memory (VRAM) and usually form part of a special interface card
called a video adaptor.