C O M P U T E R G RA P H I C S

VIDEO DISPL AY DEVIC ES

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 In a graphic system, the video monitor is a primary output device and the
operation of most the video monitors is based on the Cathode Ray
Tube.
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 In a cathode-ray tube a beam of electrons, emitted by an electron gun,

passes through focusing and deflection systems, that direct the beam
towards a specific position on the phosphor-coated screen. The part of
the phosphor screen emits light where the electron beam strikes it. The
light emitted by the phosphor fades very rapidly, one way to keep the
phosphor glowing is to redraw the picture repeatedly by quickly directing
the electron beam back over the same points. This type of display is
called a refresh CRT. Computer monitors often have a maximum refresh
rate. This number, measured in hertz (Hz), determines how many times
the screen is redrawn each second. Typical refresh rates for CRT monitors
include 60, 75, and 85 Hz.
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 The primary components of an electron gun in a CRT are the heated

metal cathode and a control grid. Heat is supplied to the cathode by
directing a current through a coil of wire, called the filament, inside the
cylindrical cathode structure. This causes electrons to be boiled off the
hot cathode surface. In the vacuum inside the CRT envelope, the free
negatively charged electrons are then accelerated towards the phosphor
coating by a high positive voltage. The amount of light emitted by the
phosphor coating depends on the number of electrons striking the
screen. We specify the intensity level for individual screen positions with
graphics software commands
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 Note: A computer monitor's resolution refers to the approximate number

of pixels the device is capable of displaying. It's expressed as the number
of horizontal dots by the number of vertical dots; for example, an 800 x
600 resolution means the device can show 800 pixels across by 600
pixels down. In total, this screen displays 480,000 pixels. The aspect ratio
is the ratio between the width and height of the screen. Eg: 32:9, 21:9,
16:9 etc.
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 are the most common type of graphics monitor which employs CRT. It is
based on television technology.
 In a raster scan system electron beam sweeps across the screen, from
top to bottom covering one row at a time. A pattern of illuminated
pattern of spots is created by turning beam intensity on and off as it
moves across each row.
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 A memory area called refresh buffer or frame buffer stores picture

definition. This memory area holds intensity values for all screen points.
Stored intensity values are restored from the frame buffer and painted on-
screen taking one row at a time. Each screen point is referred to as a pixel
or pel (shortened form of picture element).
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 Refresh rate
(or "vertical refresh rate", "vertical scan rate") is the number of times per
second that a raster-based display device redraws images. On cathode
ray tube (CRT) displays, higher refresh rates produce less flickering,
thereby reducing eye strain. In raster scan systems refreshing is done at a
rate of 60-80 frames per second. Refresh rates are also sometimes
described in units of cycles per second / Hertz (Hz).
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 Refresh rate
At the end of each scan line, the electron beam begins to display the next
scan line after returning to the left side of the screen. The return to the
left of the screen after the refresh of each scan line is known as the
horizontal retrace of the electron beam. At the end of each frame, the
electron beam returns to the top left corner and begins the next frame,
this movement is known as vertical retrace.
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 In addition to the central processing unit, a special purpose processor

called the video controller or video display controller is used to control the
operation of the display device . A fixed area of the system memory is
reserved for the frame buffer, and the video controller is given direct
access to the frame buffer memory. Frame buffer locations and
corresponding screen positions are referenced in Cartesian coordinates.
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 Basic video controller refresh operations

Note: Scanning start from top left corner, so coordinate for first pixel is
(xmin,ymax) .
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 Basic video controller refresh operations

Two registers are used to store the coordinates of the screen pixels.
Initially, the x registers are used to store the coordinates of the screen
pixels. Initially x register is set to 0 and y register is set to ymax .The
value stored in the frame buffer for this pixel position is then retrieved
and used to set the intensity of the CRT beam . Then the x register is
incremented by 1, and the process is repeated for the next pixel on the
top scan line.
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 After cycling through all pixels along the bottom can line (y=0), the video
controller resets the registers to the first-pixel position on the top scan
line and the refresh process starts over. Usually, cycle time is too slow if
processing pixels one after another, to speed up pixel processing, video
controllers can retrieve multiple pixel values from the refresh buffer on
each pass. The multiple pixel intensities are then stored in a separate
register and used to control the CRT beam intensity for a group of
adjacent pixels. When that group of pixels has been processed, the next
block of pixel values is retrieved from the frame buffer.
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 Note: In high-quality systems, for example, two frame buffers are often
provided so that one buffer can be used for refreshing while the other is
being filled with intensity values.
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 Raster -Scan Display Processor

a raster system containing a separate display processor, referred to as a
graphics controller or a display coprocessor. The purpose of the display
processor is to free the CPU from the graphics chores. In addition to the
system memory, a separate display processor memory area can also be
provided.
A major task of the display processor is digitizing a picture definition
given in an application program into a set of pixel intensity values for
storage in the frame buffer. This digitization process is called scan
conversion.
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 Random Scan Display

In Random-Scan Display electron beam is directed only to the areas of
screen where a picture has to be drawn. It is also called vector display, as
it draws picture one line at time. It can draw and refresh component lines
of a picture in any specified sequence. Pen plotter is an example of
random-scan displays. The number of lines regulates refresh rate on
random-scan displays. An area of memory called refresh display files
stores picture definition as a set of line drawing commands. The system
returns back to the first-line command in the list after all the drawing
commands have been processed. High-quality vector systems can handle
around 100, 00 short lines at this refresh rate. Faster refreshing can burn
phosphor. To avoid this every refresh cycle is delayed to prevent a refresh
rate greater than 60 frames per second.
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 Random Scan System

Input in the form of an application program is stored in the system
memory along with graphics package. Graphics package translates the
graphic commands in the application program into a display file stored in
system memory. This display file is then accessed by the display
processor to refresh the screen. The display processor cycles through
each command in the display file program. Sometimes the display
processor in a random scan is referred to as Display Processing Unit /
Graphics Controller.
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 Color CRT Monitors

CRT monitor displays colour pictures by using a combination of phosphors
that emit different coloured light. By combining the emitted light from the
different phosphors, a range of colours can be generated. The two basic
techniques for producing colour displays with a CRT are the beam-
penetration method and the shadow-mask method.
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 The Beam Penetration Method

It is used with random scan monitors. Two layers of phosphor , usually red
and green , are coated on to the inside of the CRT screen, and the
displayed color depends on how far the electron beam penetrates into the
phosphor layers. A beam of slow electrons excites only the outer red
layer. A beam of very fast electrons penetrates through the red layer and
excites the inner green layer. At intermediate beam speeds ,
combinations of red and green light are emitted to show two additional
colours, orange and yellow.The screen colour at any point, is controlled by
the beam acceleration voltage.Beam penetration has been an inexpensive
way to produce colour in random scan monitors. But only four colors are
possible, and the quality of pictures is not as good as with other methods.
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 The Shadow-Mask Method

It is commonly used in raster scan systems (including color TV) because
they produce a much wider range of colors than the beam penetration
method.A shadow mask CRT has three phosphor color dots at each pixel
position.One phosphor dot emits a red light, another emits a green light,
and the third emits a blue light.This type of CRT has three electron guns,
one for each color dot, and a shadow-mask grid just behind the phosphor-
coated screen. .
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 Delta-Delta Shadow Mask Method

Commonly used in color CRT systems. The three electron beams are
deflected and focused as a group onto the shadow mask, which contains a
series of holes aligned with the phosphor dot patterns.
W H AT I S C O M P U T E R
G RA P H I C S
“ A P I C T U R E I S W O RT H A
THOUSAND WORDS”
 W H AT I S C O M P U T E R G RA P H I C S ?

 Computer graphics generally refers to the specific creation, storage, and

manipulation of image data using a digital computer with the help of a
specialized graphical system.
 Which studies methods for digitally synthesizing and manipulating visual
content.
 T H A N K YO U

Brita Tamm

502-555-0152

[email protected]

www.firstupconsultants.com