Chapter 3

Video and Sound

McGraw-Hill Technology Education

 Monitors
• Most common output device
• Monitors are categorized by the
technology they use:
❖ Cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors
❖Flat-panel displays

• Also Categorized by color output

– Monochrome
• One color with black background
– Grayscale
• Varying degrees of gray
– Color
• Display 16 to 16 million colors
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 Monitors

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 Monitors
• Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)
–Most common type of monitor
–Electrons fired from the back at
phosphor dots on the screen.
–Electrons causes phosphor to
glow
–Phosphor is arranged in dots
called pixels
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 Monitors
• CRT color
– Phosphor dots arranged in triangles
– Red, green, and blue dots
– Three colors blend to make colors
– Varying the intensity creates new colors

B+G

R+B
R+B+G

R+G
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 Monitors

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 Monitors
• CRT drawbacks
– Very large
– Very heavy
– Uses a lot of electricity

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 Monitors
• Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)
– Commonly found on laptops
– Desktop versions exist
– Solve the problems of CRT
– Fluorescent lights provide
illumination

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 Monitors
• Passive matrix LCD
– Pixels arranged in a grid
– Pixels are activated indirectly
• (transistor for each row and
column )
– Animation can be blurry

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 Monitors
• Active matrix LCD
– Each pixel is activated directly
– Pixels have 4 transistors
• One each for red, green, blue
• One for opaqueness
– Transistors arranged in a Thin Film
(TFT Thin Film Transistor)
– Animation is crisp and clean

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 Monitors

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 Monitors
• Drawbacks to LCD
– More expensive than CRT
– Must sit directly in front of screen
– Can be more fragile than CRT

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 Factors for comparing Monitors
• When comparing Monitors
• When comparing monitors, consider four
features:
• Size

• Resolution

• Refresh rate

• Dot pitch

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 Monitors
• Size of monitor
– Measured in inches
– Measured diagonally
– Actual size
• Distance from corner to corner

The diagonal
size (often 15”)

– Viewable size
3-14 • Useable portion of the screen
 Monitors and Video Cards
• Resolution
– Number of pixels on the screen
– 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1152x864
1280x1024
– Determined by video controller not by
monitor
– Higher number creates sharper images
– Higher number creates smaller images
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 Monitors and Video Cards
• Refresh rate
– Refresh rate is the number of times
each second that the electron guns
scan the screen's pixels.

– Refresh rate is measured in Hertz

(Hz), or cycles per second.

– Look for a refresh rate of 72 Hz or

higher. A slower rate may
cause eyestrain.
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 Refresh Rate

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Fast scanning = Quick refresh (less flicker)
 Monitors and Video Cards
• Dot pitch
– Distance between the same color dots
– Ranges between .15 mm and .40 mm
– Smaller creates a finer picture
– Should be less than .22

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 Video Cards- Video Controller
• The video controller is an interface between
the monitor and the CPU.
• The video controller determines many
aspects of a monitor's performance, such
as resolution or the number of colors
displayed.
• The video controller contains its own on-
board processor and memory, called video
RAM (VRAM).
• Modern cards have up to 512 MB RAM
• Sometimes we call it VGA or SVGA card
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 Video Cards- Video Controller

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 Data Projectors
• Replaced overhead and slide projectors
• Project image onto wall or screen
• LCD projectors
– Most common type of projector
– Small LCD screen
– Very bright light
– Require a darkened room

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 Sound Systems
• Multimedia PCs come with a sound
card, speakers, and a CD-ROM or
DVD drive.
• A sound card translates digital
signals into analog ones that drive
the speakers.
• With the right software, you can
use your PC to edit sounds and
create special sound effects.
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 Sound Systems
• Sound card
– Device between the CPU and speakers
– Convert sound waves into digital
– Converts digital sounds to analog

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 Sound Systems
• Headphones and headsets
– Replacement for speakers and

microphones

– Offer privacy

– Headsets have speakers and a

microphone

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 Printing

McGraw-Hill Technology Education

 Commonly Used Printers
• Impact printers
– Generate output by striking the paper
– Uses an inked ribbon

• Non-impact printers
– Use methods other than force
– Tend to be quiet and fast

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 Commonly Used Printers
• Dot matrix printers
– Impact printer
– Used to print to multi-
sheet pages
– Print head strikes inked
ribbon
– Line printers
– Band printers
– Speed measured in
characters per second
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 Dot Matrix Print Head

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 Dot Matrix Print Head

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 Impact printers
• Line printers print one complete line of output
at a time
– Impact printer
– Are extremely fast
– Capable of reaching speeds of 3,000 lines per
minute
• Band printers
– Impact printer
– Rotate a band of characters
– When the desired letter is reached, a hammer
press the letter to the page
– Output quality is excellent
– Speed is capable of reaching 2,000 lines per
3-30 minute
 Commonly Used Printers
• Ink-jet printers
– Non-impact printer
– Inexpensive home printer
– Color output common using CMYK
• Cyan, magenta, yellow, black
– Sprays ink onto paper through tiny nozzles
– Speed measured in pages per minute
– Quality expressed as dots per inch

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 Commonly Used Printers

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 Commonly Used Printers

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 Commonly Used Printers

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 Dots Per Inch

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 Commonly Used Printers
• Laser printer
– Non-impact printer
– Produces high quality
documents
– Color or black and white
– Print process
• Laser draws text on page
• Toner sticks to text
• Toner melted to page
– Speed measured in pages
per minute
– Quality expressed as dots
per inch
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 Laser printer

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 Commonly Used Printers
• All-in-one peripherals
– Scanner, copier, printer and fax
– Popular in home offices
– Prices are very reasonable

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 High-Quality Printers
• Special purpose printers
– Used by a print shop
– Output is professional grade
– Prints to a variety of surfaces

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 High-Quality Printers
• Photo printers
– Produces film quality pictures
– Prints very slow
– Prints a variety of sizes

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 High-Quality Printers
• Plotters
– Large high quality blueprints
– Older models draw with pens
– Operational costs are low
– Output is very slow

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 Overview of Printers - Evaluating Printers

When evaluating printers, consider four criteria:

• Image quality – Measured in dots per inch
(dpi). Most printers produce 300 – 600 dpi.
• Speed – Measured in pages per minute (ppm)
or characters per second (cps).
• Initial cost – Consumer printers cost $250 or
less, but professional printers can cost
thousands of dollars.
• Cost of operation – This refers to the cost of
supplies used by the printer.
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 Chapter 3

End of Chapter

McGraw-Hill Technology Education