Car LCD screens

Modern car LCD screens can be built small enough to fit almost anywhere in the vehicle. LCD screens are the industry standard when it comes to in-vehicle entertainment. They are used in car DVD players, navigation devices and vehicle display systems. Recent developments in LCD technology have allowed for screens to be incredibly small and still provide a sharp, clear picture.

LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display. Liquid crystals were first discovered more than 100 years ago. They were incredibly fascinating, but at the time they did not serve any practical purpose. It wasn’t until around 1970 when something called the twisted nematic field effect was discovered that liquid crystals became viable. Shortly after the discovery, the first digital quartz wrist watch was developed in Japan and an industry was born.

Liquid Crystal Displays may be reflective or possess their own light source. Reflective car LCD screens are comprised of six layers. On the outside is a film which filters and polarizes light as it enters. Next comes a thin piece of glass equipped with electrodes. The shape of the electrodes dictate the dark shapes that will appear on the display. Smooth, slight vertical ridges are etched into the surface of the glass. Within the next layer are the guts of the system: twisted nematic liquid crystals. Behind the crystals another layer of glass features electrode film and a series of horizontal lines. The lines of this glass substrate match up with lines on the next layer: a horizontal filter film. The final layer is a highly reflective surface to send light back through the first five layers. The reflective layer would be a light source in a backlit LCD system.

When shopping for car LCD screens there are several factors of which to become aware. Attributes include:
• Resolution- The best indicator of picture quality, resolution is expressed in terms of pixilation. For example, a screen with a resolution of 1024 x 768 will include 1024 horizontal pixels and 768 vertical pixels.
• Viewable Size (or Active Display Area)- This is exactly what it sounds like, measured diagonally just like standard TVs. Car LCD screens as small as 2.5 inches are not unusual.
• Dot Pitch- Typically the same vertically and horizontally, this is the distance between the centers of two consecutive pixels. A shorter distance will result in a sharper picture.
• Contrast Ratio- Represents the range between the brightest bright and the darkest dark.
• Response time- Generally does not affect normal viewing, this is the amount of time it will take for a pixel to change color or brightness.

Many features of car LCD screens are the same as those of regular television screens. Features like brightness (also known as luminance) are measured the same way regardless of screen size or type. The aspect ratio is a measure of the relationship between width and height. An aspect ratio of 4:3 would indicate that the screen was four units across and three from top to bottom. The ratio will usually be expressed in larger numbers with larger sets because higher values allow for more detail.

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