SOFT COPY OUTPUT DEVICES

Soft copy output devices output information to a computer

monitor or other temporary output device. Soft copy output
devices include:
Computer monitors
Audio output devices
Voice output devices
Sound Output devices
Video Output devices
COMPUTER MONITORS/DISPLAYS
The computer monitor, like a television, displays computer
output for a user to view. The monitor has various names: screen
or video display unit. When purchasing a computer monitor, the
following features are important:
Colour
Size
Resolution
Refresh Rate
Technology
Colour
Monitors can be monochrome, grey scale or coloured.
Monochrome monitors display images in two colours one for the
background and the other for the foreground. The colours can
be white, green, or amber foreground on black background.
Greyscale monitors are a special type of monitor that displays
information in different shades of grey.
Colour monitors can display anywhere from sixteen colours on
the case of CGA and over sixteen million in the case of SVGA
monitors. The more colours, the better the quality of the pictures
displayed. The number of colours available depends on the
video card used and how much memory is devoted to the display.
It takes 8 bits to describe 1 pixel when using 16 million colours.
Video cards now come with extra memory chips on them to
alleviate the problem of insufficient memory.
Size
Monitors come in various sizes: 14, 15, 17, 20 and even
larger monitors can be had at higher prices. A 15 monitor can
display 800 pixels horizontally and 600 pixels vertically. A
pixel, short for picture element, refers to the dots that make up
the pictures displayed on the screen. The more pixels per inch,
the better the quality of the picture. One measure of this is the
dot pitch, the distance between dots. A 20 monitor can display
1280 x 1024 pixels.
Resolution
On way of measuring the quality of a monitor is by its resolution.
The resolution of a screen is a measure of how accurately data
can be represented on it. Screens are usually Low Resolution,
Medium Resolution or High Resolution.

Resolution types include:

CGA Colour Graphics Adapter which has a resolution
of 320 x 200.
EGA Extended Graphics Adapter which has a
resolution of 640 x 350
VGA Video Graphics Adapter which has a resolution
of 640 x 480
SVGA Super VGA which has resolutions of 800 x
600, 1024 x 768 or 1280 x 1024.
Refresh Rate
The refresh rate of a monitor is how often, the images on the
screen are redrawn. If the rate is low, the picture will appear to
flicker. Flickering on the screen can affect the eye. 60 times per
second is tolerable at low resolutions for some people. 75 times
per second is better and is necessary for high resolution.
Technology
The two most popular technology used for computer displays
are:
Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)
Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)
CRT Technology

CRT technology uses electron guns that must be at distances of

over one foot from the screen. The inside surface of the screen is
coated with dots of phosphors which glow when a stream of
electrons from the electron gun strike them.
On a colour monitor, these dots are in groups of three, red, green
and blue. Three electron guns are used to set the dots glowing
and the human eyes blend the dots that are glowing to create all
the colours. CRT technology is used with computer systems that
are not frequently moved from one place to another. Computers
that used this technology include: desktop computers,
minicomputers, mainframes, and supercomputers.
Flat Panel Display

The technology used for CRT display tends to be bulky in size

and hence, difficult to move around. Therefore in order to create
small portable computers, flat panel display technology is used.

Flat panel screens include:

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD): the most popular
current technology for flat-screen display is liquid
crystal display (LCD) used for pocket calculators and
digital watches. LCD consists of liquid crystal material
between two glass plates. Characters are etched on to
the inner sheet but cannot be seen. The user can see
them on the outer sheet only when a current is passed
through them.
Electroluminescent Display (ELD): images of yellow
and orange dots.
Plasma Display: neon gas that glows orange. Used in
mainframe terminal screens and some touch-sensitive
screen.

VIDEO OUTPUT
Video output is the output of motion video to be viewed by a
computer user. Examples of video output devices or applications
are:
Videoconferencing
Virtual reality
Simulators
Robots
Data projectors

AUDIO OUTPUT DEVICES

Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality (VR) is a kind of computer generated artificial
reality that projects a person into a sensation of three dimensional
space.
Headgears called head mounted display (HMD) has
two small video display screens, one for each eye that
create the sense of three-dimensions. Headphones pipe
in stereophonic sounds or even 3-D sound.
Gloves the gloves have sensors that collect data about
your hand movements.
Software give the wearer of the special gear the
interactive sensory experience that feels like an
alternative to the realities of the physical world.

Voice (audio) output devices include those devices that output

voice or voice-like sounds and those that output music and other
sound. This includes head phones, speakers enabled by sound
cards.
VOICE OUTPUT DEVICES
A voice output device convert digital data into speech-like
sounds. Two types of voice output technology are:
Speech coding: uses actual human voices speaking
words to provide a digital database of words that can
output as voice sounds.
Speech synthesis: uses a set of forty basis speech
sounds (called phonemes, the basic of all speech
English) to electronically create any word. Human
voices are not used to make up a database of words: the
computer converts stored text in voices.

Videoconferencing
Videoconferencing is a method whereby people in different
geographical locations can have a meeting seeing and hearing
each other using computers and communication software.

Simulators
These are devices that mimic real life scenarios. Virtual reality
simulation technologies are applied in training (bus drivers,
pilots, air traffic controllers and surgeons in training).
Robots

Voice output is used in telephone number change information

systems, in banking and credit inquiry, in automobile system
warning devices and weather reporting applications.

Robots are computer controlled machines that produce output

which mimic human behaviour or perform tasks that are
normally performed by human beings.

SOUND OUTPUT DEVICES

Sound output devices produce digitized sounds, ranging from
beeps and chirps to music. All these sounds are nonverbal such
as the screeching of a car. Sound output requires the necessary
software and sound card or digital audio circuit board.

Data Projectors

These project the images from the computer screen onto a wall.
One use of data projectors (multimedia projectors) is to conduct
slide presentations using a microcomputer and appropriate
software, for example, Microsoft PowerPoint.