For decades, colour-critical video monitoring for broadcast and post production applications was performed on a reference (grade 1) CRT monitor, or a reference projector for cinema applications. Flat panel displays, although having clear advantages in terms of depth, longevity and insensitivity to magnetic fields, have until recently failed to produce accurate and stable pictures as required for true grade 1 monitoring. Various LCD artifacts stood in the way of accepting LCD as the next technology for colour critical applications: insufficient viewing angle causing a drop in contrast, a colour shift or even a colour inversion; crushed dark levels and clipped highlights; over-saturated colors, skin tone errors and colour cast errors; motion blurring, deinterlacing problems, jaggies, and motion judder; unstable colours and unstable brightness.

Only recently have flat panel displays started to find their way into this arena, helped by the obsolescence of the cathode ray tube (CRT), and also because flat panel technology has matured technically. Flat panels are now the viable alternative to CRTs.

This paper discusses the state-of-the-art regarding LCD technology, sheds light on its positive and negative aspects, and defends the point that if LCDs are designed into a monitor with proper care, the result can be a very acceptable reference monitor. The results of an implementation of these technologies in a real-world product are then shown and discussed.

Barco: Technology for Grade 1 LCDs