CHAPTER 4

Output Devices

UCCS1613 Computer Systems and Applications 1

What Is Output?

Output is data that has been processed into a useful form. That is, co
mputers process data (input) into information (output). An output devi
ce is any type of hardware component that conveys information to on
e or more people. Very often, a single form of output, such as a Web p
age, includes more than one of these types of output:

• Text: Examples of output that primarily contain text are memos, lett
ers, press releases, reports, classified advertisements, envelopes,
mailing labels, and text messages.
• Graphics: Many forms of output include graphics to enhance visual
appeal and convey information.
• Audio: Users download their favorite songs from iTunes and listen t
o the music while working on the computer.
• Video: As with audio, software and Web sites often include video cli
ps to enhance understanding.

2
Four types of Output are Text, Graphics, Audio,
and Video

3
Four types of Output are Text, Graphics, Audio,
and Video

4
Display Devices

Display Device: A display device, or simply display, is an output devic

e that visually conveys text, graphics, and video information. Informat
ion on a display device, sometimes called soft copy, exists electronic
ally and appears for a temporary period.

• A monitor is a display device that is packaged as a separate periph

eral. Two types of display devices are flat-panel displays and CRT
monitors:
 flat-panel display is a lightweight display device with a shall
ow depth and flat screen that typically uses LCD (liquid cryst
al display) or gas plasma technology.

 The cathode ray tube (CRT) is a vacuum tube that contains o

ne or more electron guns and a phosphorescent screen, and
is used to display images.

5
Display Devices

Display Device: A display device, or simply display, is an output devic

e that visually conveys text, graphics, and video information. Informat
ion on a display device, sometimes called soft copy, exists electronic
ally and appears for a temporary period. (Cont.)

• Televisions:
 The best analog televisions have a resolution of only 520 X
400 pixels.
 Thus, users are turning to digital television (DTV) for crisper,
higher-quality output on their LCD or plasma televisions.
 HDTV (high-definition television) is the most advanced form
of digital television.

Can you view the output from your display remotely?

With a television streaming media device, you can view and control a
home DVR or television from a remote computer or mobile device.

6
LCD Monitor

7
Multiple Monitor

8
Plasma Monitor

9
Smart TV

10
Display Devices: LCD Quality

The quality of an LCD monitor or LCD screen depends primarily on its

resolution, response time, brightness, dot pitch, and contrast ratio.

• Resolution is the number of horizontal and vertical pixels in a displ

ay device. For example, a monitor that has a 1440 X 900 resolution
displays up to 1440 pixels per horizontal row and 900 pixels per ver
tical row, for a total of 1,296,000 pixels to create a screen image.
• Brightness of an LCD monitor or LCD screen is measured in nits. A
nit is a unit of visible light intensity equal to one candela (formerly
called candlepower) per square meter. The candela is the standard
unit of luminous intensity.
• Dot pitch, sometimes called pixel pitch, is the distance in millimeter
s between pixels on a display device.
• Contrast ratio describes the difference in light intensity between th
e brightest white and darkest black that can be displayed on an LC
D monitor.
• Response time is the time it takes your monitor to shift from one co
lor to another.
11
Screen Resolution

(a)

12
Screen Resolution

(b)

13
Screen Resolution

(c)

Elements on the screen

become smaller when the
resolution is increased from
1400 X 1050 (a) to 1920 X
1440 (b) but at the higher
resolution more content
shows on the screen. To
change screen resolution,
right-click the desktop, click
Screen resolution on the
shortcut menu, and then
make desired changes in
the ‘Change the appearance
of your displays’ window
(c).
14
Popular Video Standards

15
Display Devices: Graphics Chips, Ports, and LCD Monitors

This chip, called the graphics processing unit (GPU), controls the man
ipulation and display of graphics on a display device.

A VGA port is useful for sending a laptop image to your TV and it is an

d older analog display input. To display the highest quality images, an
LCD monitor should plug in (digital) a DVI port, an HDMI port, or a Dis
playPort.
• A DVI (Digital Video Interface) port enables digital signals to transm
it directly to the LCD monitor.
• An HDMI (High-Definition Media Interface) port combines DVI with h
igh-definition (HD) television and video.
• The DisplayPort is an alternative to DVI that also supports HDMI.

They also may have a standard monitor port (also known as VGA)[ana
log] and an S-video port [analog], allowing users to connect external a
nalog devices such as a television, DVD/Blu-ray Disc player, or video r
ecorder, to the computer.
16
Video Port Converter

17
Video Card Ports

18
VGA, HDMI, DispayPort and DVI Connectors

Analog

Digital

19
Television

20
CRT Monitor

21
LCD Monitor

22
Display Devices: Display Technology

An LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) sandwiches a liquid compound betwe

en two sheets of material that presents sharp, flicker-free images on a
screen when illuminated. The light source, called the backlight often u
ses either:
• CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent lamp)
• LED (light-emitting diode) technology.
Advantages and Disadvantages of LED display:
A display that uses LED for the backlight often is called an LED displa
y or an LED LCD display. LED displays consume less power, last long
er, and are thinner, lighter, and brighter than a display that uses CCFL
technology, but they also may be more expensive. Screens in laptops
and mobile devices often use LED backlight technology.
Advantages and Disadvantages of OLED display:
Instead of LCD or traditional LED, some displays use OLED technolog
y. OLED (organic LED) uses organic molecules that are self-illuminati
ng and, thus, do not require a backlight OLED displays consume less
power and produce an even brighter, easier-to-read display than LCD
or LED displays, but they can have a shorter Life span. OLEDs also ca
n be fabricated on thin, flexible surfaces.
23
Display Devices: Display Technology

Many mobile computers and devices use either:

• AMOLED: An AMOLED (active-matrix OLED) screen uses both activ

e-matrix and AMOLED technologies, combining the benefits of high
-quality viewing from all angles with lower power consumption. Vari
ations of AMOLED provide different levels of viewing quality.

• Retina Display technology: Retina Display, developed by Apple, pro

duces vibrant colors and supports viewing from all angles because
the LCD technology is built into the screen instead of behind it and
contains more pixels per inch of display.

Recall that a pixel (short for picture element) is a single point in an ele
ctronic image.

24
LCD, OLED and AMOLED

25
Printers

Printer: A printer is an output device that produces text and graphics

on a physical medium such as paper. Printed information, called hard
copy, exists physically and is a more permanent form of output than t
hat presented on a display device (soft copy).

What affects the printing quality?

Printer resolution is measured by the number of dots per inch (dpi) a
printer can print.

• Two types of printers:

 Nonimpact Printers: A nonimpact printer forms characters
and graphics on a piece of paper without actually striking t
he paper. Some spray ink, while others use heat or pressur
e to create images.
 Impact Printers: An impact printer forms characters and gr
aphics on a piece of paper by striking a mechanism agains
t an inked ribbon that physically contacts the paper.

26
Printers: Nonimpact Printers

Nonimpact Printers: A nonimpact printer forms characters and graphi

cs on a piece of paper without actually striking the paper. Some spray
ink, while others use heat or pressure to create images.
• Ink-Jet Printer: An ink-jet printer is a type of nonimpact printer that
forms characters and graphics by spraying tiny drops of liquid ink
onto a piece of paper.
• Laser Printer: a printer linked to a computer producing
good-quality printed material by using a laser to form a pattern of
electrostatically charged dots on a light-sensitive drum, which
attract toner (or dry ink powder). The toner is transferred to a piece
of paper and fixed by a heating process.
• Photo Printers: A photo printer is a color printer that produces
photo-lab-quality pictures.
• Thermal Printers: A thermal printer generates images by pushing
electrically heated pins against heat sensitive paper.
• All-in-One Printers: A single print device that serves several functio
ns, including printing, faxing, scanning, and copying. Also called a
multifunction printer (MFP). All-in-one is often abbreviated as AiO.

27
Printers: Nonimpact Printers

Nonimpact Printers: A nonimpact printer forms characters and graphi

cs on a piece of paper without actually striking the paper. Some spray
ink, while others use heat or pressure to create images. (Cont.)
• Label and Postage Printers: A label printer is a small printer that
prints on an adhesive-type material that can be placed on a variety
of items such as envelopes, packages, optical discs, photos, file
folders, and toys.
• Mobile Printer: Print anytime, anywhere and this compact, portable
printer fits into a briefcase or backpack and sets up out of the box
in a snap.
• Plotters and Large-Format Printers: Plotters are sophisticated print
ers used to produce high-quality drawings such as blueprints,
maps, and circuit diagrams. Using ink-jet printer technology, but on
a much larger scale, a large-format printer creates
photo-realistic-quality color prints.
• 3D Printer: The 3D printing process builds a three-dimensional
object from a computer-aided design model, usually by
successively adding material layer by layer, which is why it is also
called additive manufacturing.
28
Printers: Impact Printers

Impact Printers: An impact printer forms characters and graphics on a

piece of paper by striking a mechanism against an inked ribbon that p
hysically contacts the paper.

• A dot-matrix printer produces printed images when tiny wire pins on

a print head mechanism strike an inked ribbon.
• A line printer is a high-speed impact printer that prints an entire line
at a time.

29
Printers

Who uses all-in-one printers?

Small/home office users have all-in-one printers because these device
s require less space than having a separate printer, scanner, copy ma
chine. and fax machine. Another advantage of these devices is they ar
e significantly less expensive than if you purchase each device separa
tely. if the device breaks down, however, you lose all four functions, w
hich is the primary disadvantage.

Can you print documents and photos from a mobile computer and dev
ice without physically contacting to the printer with a cable?
Yes. Many printers contain memory card slots, so that you can remov
e the memory card horn a camera, insert it in the printer, and print pho
tos directly from the card. You also can connect a printer to a wireless
network so that devices with a Wi-Fi connection can print wirelessly.
With Bluetooth printing, a computer or other device transmits output t
o a printer via radio waves, The computer or other device and the prin
ter do not need to be aligned with each other, rather, they need to be
within an approximate 30-foot range.

30
Various Ways to Print

31
Inkjet Printer

32
DPI

33
How an Ink-Jet Printer Works

34
Laser Printer

35
How a Black-and-White Laser Printer Works

36
Multifunction Peripheral

37
Mobile Printer

38
Label Printer

39
Large-Format Printer

40
3-D Printer

41
Dot-Matrix Printer

42
Speakers, Headphones, and Earbuds

Audio Output Device - An audio output device is a component of a

computer that produces music, speech, or other sounds, such as
beeps. Three commonly used audio output devices are:
• Speakers: Many users attach surround sound speakers or speaker
systems to their computers, including game consoles and mobile
devices, to generate higher-quality sounds for playing games, inter
acting with multimedia presentations, listening to music, and
viewing movies.
• Headphones: A headset is a device that functions as both
headphones and a microphone. Computer and smart phone users
wear a headset to free their hands for typing and other activities
while talking or listening to audio output.
• Earbuds: whereas earbuds, or earphones, rest inside the ear canal.
Both headphones and earbuds usually include noise-cancelling
technology to reduce the interference of sounds from the
surrounding environment.

43
Speakers, Headphones, and Earbuds

S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) is a type of digital audio

interconnect used in consumer audio equipment to output audio over
reasonably short distances. The signal is transmitted over either a
coaxial cable with RCA connectors or a fiber optic cable with
TOSLINK connectors. S/PDIF interconnects components in home
theaters and other digital high-fidelity systems.

Audio over USB-C and a traditional 3.5mm audio jack should be

identical, with the only difference being the 3.5mm jack is an analog
signal and USB-C is digital.

What do the numbers mean in surround sound configurations

(speakers)?
The first number refers to the number of speakers, and the second
number refers to the number of subwoofers.
For example, a 2.1 speaker system contains two speakers and one s
ubwoofer. A 5.1 speaker system has five speakers (i.e, four satellite s
peakers, one center speaker) and one subwoofer. A 7.2 speaker
system has seven speakers (i.e, four satellite speakers, two side
44
speakers, one center speaker) and two subwoofers.
Speakers

45
Headphone

46
Earphone vs Earbud
Wireless Earphone

Earbud Earphone

Wireless Earphone

47
Wireless Speaker

48
Type-C USB and 3.5 Audio Jack

Type-C USB
(Digital)

3.5 Audio Jack

(Analog)

49
SPIDF Cable SPIDF TOSLINK cable

Coaxial TOSLINK

50
Other Output Devices

Data Projectors: A data projector is a device that takes the text and
images displaying on a computer screen and projects them on a
larger screen so that an audience can see the image clearly.

Interactive Whiteboards: An interactive whiteboard is a

touch-sensitive device, resembling a dry-erase board, that displays
the image on connected computer screen.

Force-Feedback Game Controllers and Tactile Output: Today’s

joysticks, wheels, game pads, and motion-sensing game controllers
also include force feedback, which is a technology that sends
resistance to the device in response to actions of the user.

51
Data Projector

52
Interactive Whiteboard

53
Gaming Force Feedback

54
Output Devices for Physically Challenged Users

For users with mobility, hearing, or vision disabilities, many different

types of output devices are available.

Hearing-impaired users, for example, can instruct programs to display

words instead of sounds.

The Magnifier, for example, enlarges text and other items in a window
on the screen.

Visually impaired users can change Windows settings, such as

increasing the size or changing the color of the text to make the
words easier to read.

Instead of using a monitor, blind users can work with voice output
via Windows Narrator.

Another alternative is a Braille printer, which prints information on

paper in Braille. 55
Magnifier

The Magnifier
in Windows
enlarges text
and other on-
screen items
for visually
impaired
users.

56
A Braille Printer

57
- The End -
Thank you for paying attention!

"Life is not about finding yourself. Life is about

creating yourself.“ -- Lolly Daskal

58