Discuss the characteristics of a monitor.

Following are the characteristics of a monitor:

a)     Size:

The most important aspect of a monitor is its size. Screen sizes are measured in diagonal inches, the distance from one corner to another opposite corner diagonally.

b)    Resolution:

     The resolution of a monitor indicates how density the pixels are packed. Pixel is short short for picture element. A pixel is a single point in a graphic image. Graphic monitors display pictures by dividing the display screen into millions of pixels arranged in rows and columns. On colour monitor each pixel is actually composed of three dots namely a red, a green, and a blue. The quality of a display monitor largely depends on its resolution.

c)     Band Width:

      The amount of data that can be transmitted in a fixed amount of time. For digital devices, the band width is usually expressed in bits or bytes per second (bps). For analog devices it is expressed in cycle per second or Hertz (Hz).

    d)    Refresh Rate:

       Display monitors must be refresh many times per second. The refresh rate determines how many times per seconds the screen is to be red drawn. The refresh rate of a monitor is measured in Hertz. The faster the refresheris, the less the monitor flickers.

e)     Interlacing:

       It is a technique in which instead of scanning the image one line at a time, it scans alternately i.e. alternate lines are scanned at each pass. It is used to keep band width down. Since inter leaked displaced have been reported to be more flickery, with better technology available, most monitors are non interlaced now.

f)      Dot per Inch:

       It is measured for the actual sharpness of the on screen image. This depends on both the resolution & the size of the image. Practical experience shows that a smaller screen has a sharper image at the same resolution than does a large screen. This is because it will require more dots per inch to display the same number of pixels.

     g)  Dot Pitch:

      A measurement that indicates the vertical distance between each pixel on a display screen. It is measured in millimeter. The dot pitch is one of the principle characteristics that determine the quality of display monitors.

h)  Convergence:

       It refers to how sharply an individual colour pixel on a monitor appears. Each pixel is composed of three dots namely a red, a green and a blue. If the dots are badly mis converged, the pixel will appear blurry.