Pixels, Resolution,..???

Discussion in 'The Lounge - Off Topic' started by stuPeas, Jun 15, 2007.

  1. stuPeas

    stuPeas Megabyte Poster

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    I am confused as to the whole topic of resolution and pixels. This maybe because of my days studying electronics. I was taught that a "pixel" is a physical entity on the phosphor of a TV screen. Each pixel is part of a group of three that each receive a stream of electrons from one of the three electron guns at the base of the CRT. Now...."resolution" is simply the total number of pixels on the screen. You cannot "change" the resolution of the screen (by all means you can go and buy another telly with a bigger screen), and you also cannot make a screen show "more" pixels per inch because the number of pixels is fixed at manufacture.

    With regard to computers and the web it appears to be different, but because my brain has been hardwired with the above information, I simply cannot get my head around it.

    How can it be possible to increase/decrease the number of ppi, and therefore increase/decrease resolution??

    PLEASE HELP ME...(my brain hurts!!)
    :(
     
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  2. Phoenix
    Honorary Member

    Phoenix 53656e696f7220 4d6f64

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    There is some corking info on the subject here
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel

    I'm not just fobbing you off, I dont have much understanding of the EE side of things, but this does make some effort to explain the concepts of old and new together
    hope it helps :)
     
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  3. stuPeas

    stuPeas Megabyte Poster

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    Cheers, I'll give it a read now.

    EDIT: Wow, there's enough links in there to keep me busy all night, Nice one Phoenix
     
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  4. dmarsh
    Honorary Member 500 Likes Award

    dmarsh Petabyte Poster

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    You are correct, CRTs, LCD's and Printers all have a physical maximum resolution, lower resolutions can however be created by interpolation. This is basically a sort of average of the adjacent pixels from the lower resolution source.

    CRT's are limited by the holes in the shadow mask.

    LCD's are limited by the physical number of diodes.

    Ink Jet Printers are limited by the smallest dot the ink can produce on the paper.

    How Stuff Works is a good web site that explains alot of stuff !
     
  5. stuPeas

    stuPeas Megabyte Poster

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    Thanx.
    I think my problem stemmed from equating the "pixel" to the phosphor "triads" on a CRT screen.

    However, It appears that the concept of the "pixel" in the context of monitors (LCD or CRT) should be visualized more along the lines of a "sample" of the image, and can therefore encompass more of these triads (and NO..no jokes about the Chinese mafia please..) giving a lower resolution. In other words,for a graphic of a particular dimension, decreasing the monitor resolution has the effect of increasing the DISPLAYED size of the graphic by DECREASING the number of pixels (that the monitor displays) per inch.

    You are right about "how stuff works". The very first book I bought to learn about the Internet:biggrin was "How the Internet Works, 7th Edition". It gave me a good start.

    Thanx
    Stuart.
     
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