Pixel Perfect widescreen graphics cards
Widescreen graphics cards allow you to make the most of
your widescreen area by displaying computer images that are not stretched.
This gives you exact control over what is displayed on each pixel of the
screen. They also allow you to use the screen in portrait rather
than landscape mode.
Pixel Perfect cards are often used as the ideal solution for driving
public information systems using wide-screen displays. Examples include
train stations, airports and point of purchase sales information and
advertising.
Fashionable widescreen
The widescreen format is rapidly gaining ground in the corporate and information display
arenas. Stylish plasma display panels and large widescreen LCD monitors lend themselves exceptionally well to the
wide-screen format and are themselves becoming increasingly popular in corporate, public
information display, security observation and electronic signage environments.
Widescreen explained
Standard CRT computer monitors display images with a width-to-height ratio of 4:3.
Widescreen resolution, on the other hand, has a typical ratio of 16:9. See the shape of the pictures at the top of this page.
A 4:3 ratio image displayed on a 16:9 ratio display panel
Widescreen plasmas will ‘stretch’ a 4:3 image
to fill the screen if widescreen resolutions aren’t available. As this distorts the
picture, it isn’t a satisfactory solution.
A 4:3 ratio image stretched to fill a 16:9 ratio display panel
Another alternative is to scale up the
picture to fill the screen. There is no distortion but, as large amounts of picture are
lost with only the centre remaining on view, this is also a less than perfect option.
A 4:3 ratio image scaled up to fill a 16:9 ratio display panel
Pixel Perfect solution
Plasma display panels (PDPs) and large widescreen LCD monitors, driven by PCs containing a Pixel Perfect card, with its specially written drivers,
mean that a distortion free, widescreen image is displayed on the screen.
A native 16:9 image displayed on a 16:9 display panel
PC graphics cards and drivers
The Pixel Perfect graphics card allows you to display your material in
landscape widescreen and portrait widescreen modes on plasma display panels (PDPs)
and large LCD monitors in 'pixel perfect' resolutions. The latest Pixel Perfect cards boast 64MB of SDRAM and are available in
both PCI and AGP formats for Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, NT4 and XP. The
manufacturer
reserves the right to change specifications without notice. <
Perfect Portrait
However, you may not want to use your widescreen display in landscape format
all the time. Many applications, such as advertising and point-of-purchase, are better
suited to a portrait format with an aspect ratio of 9:16.
For a distortion-free picture, the portrait image needs to be rotated
through 90 degrees so it fits correctly onto the active display area when it's scanned in
the standard direction. Pixel Perfect, lets you do this with ease.
Both plasma and CRT displays scan the picture length-wise horizontally. As a result,
displaying a portrait image on hardware designed for landscape display is not simply a
matter of defining a portrait resolution, such as 480 x 852, and waiting for the display
area to fill correctly.
A 42" plasma panel driven at
90 degree rotation with 480x852 resolution
A further complication arises as some
display panels can only be
mounted one way in portrait mode due to the position of their mounting brackets, cooling
fans, etc. This means that the driver must be able to rotate the image not just by +90,
but by -90 degrees as well.
As you would expect, Pixel Perfect handles this rotation requirement with ease. So
whichever way you mount your display panel, you can enjoy a perfect portrait show.
Plasma display panel showing scanning orientation
The picture above illustrates
representation of a plasma display panel showing
scanning orientation. The white circle marks the top left corner of the panel.
Scanning direction: left to right, top to bottom.
Full Rotational Control
As well as 90 and 270 (-90) degree rotation, the card also
allows you to rotate your image by a mid-way 180 degree for applications where there is a
need to invert the display.
Correct orientation for viewing
The picture above shows that each time the physical panel is rotated the image produced by the Pixel Perfect
graphics card can be rotated so that it remains in the correct orientation for
viewing.
Landscape or portrait
Thanks to Pixel Perfect’s drivers, your display will
always be shown in pixel perfect resolution. This is regardless of whether it is the
standard 4:3 or 3:4, or widescreen 16:9 and 9:16 aspect ratios, and regardless, too, of
how the panel is mounted.
Completely accurate display
With the entire Windows desktop rotated, it is not just the image which is displayed
accurately. Mouse movement, too is made appropriate for the orientation being used and all
applications appear and function correctly.
A Windows desktop rotated 90 degrees
displaying 480x853 resolution
Fully Tested
Rigorous testing, in conjunction with many of the major
PDP manufacturers such as JVC, Pioneer and Fujitsu-General ensures that you can rely on
Pixel Perfect for complete stability and intuitive ease of use.
Pixel Perfect in action
Below are examples showing Pixel Perfect in action in a variety of
applications:
Public information systems
As airport traffic increases, so too, does the importance of clear and
effective signage to show flight arrivals, departures and check-in information. Also, with
more and more people travelling, airports become a prime location for advertisers keen to
take advantage of the 24 hours a day, 365 days a year throughput. Widescreen
plasma displays and large widescreen LCD monitors driven by Pixel Perfect graphics cards are the ideal medium to meet these requirements.
Locations such as London Luton and Hong Kong International Airports were among the first
to take advantage of this technology. In the USA, Dallas Fort Worth Airport has over 50
Pixel Perfect cards driving 42” PDPs in its car rental terminal.
Picture below shows a group of 8 Panasonic PDPs show flight arrival
information at London Gatwick Airport. Each display has a resolution of 852 x 480 pixels.
Picture courtesy of Panasonic UK Ltd.
London Gatwick airport
London Luton airport, England
Hong Kong International Airport
Passenger information systems on railway networks are using Pixel Perfect cards to
drive PDPs with up-to-date and clearly readable information for travellers. PCs installed
with Pixel Perfect cards drive remotely mounted PDPs via CAT5 cabling in this main-line
railway station.
Exhibitions
Photokina, held in Cologne, Germany, is the leading trade
exhibition for imaging. JVC Professional Products had an impressive stand at the event
showing their latest state-of- the-art display equipment. One of the main features of the
stand was an avenue of JVC plasma display panels mounted in portrait mode.
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Pixel Perfect at trade exhibitions
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Said Ken Kubota, Managing Director of JVC Professional
Europe, "Our high-tech equipment was being shown to a very discerning audience and we
needed to ensure all displays, without exception, were showing the best possible images.
The Pixel Perfect card helped us to achieve this aim because, besides the image rotation
facility, it also contains specific JVC drivers developed by Pixel Perfect to optimize our
image display quality."
Plasma screens and large widescreen LCD monitors in retail
PDPs and large widescreen LCD monitors, driven by Pixel Perfect cards with widescreen
resolution, inform shoppers about the latest offers and savings, quickens buying decisions
and keeps customers in store longer.
Stunning quality displays are easily achieved with Pixel Perfect cards driving the latest
generation of widescreen in either landscape or portrait modes.
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Pixel Perfect in retail
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Plasma screens with Pixel Perfect in cinemas
Plasma screens in entrance to the Hoyts multiscreen cinema complex
at Bluewater shopping centre.
Developed for Blue-Chip display manufacturers
The Pixel Perfect cards are present and future insured, as they are compatible
with current analogue display technology (VGA) and the flourishing new DVI
(digital vision interface) standard. Leading manufacturers of PDPs,
Fujitsu-General, NEC and Pioneer have endorsed the cards as being unique in
their ability to match and optimise the DVI technological developments that
have been made in their plasma hardware.
By using DVI the display data remains in the digital domain from the PC right
through to the PDP’s display surface. No digital to analogue and analogue to
digital conversions take place so maintaining true display quality and colour
purity, reducing noise to a minimum and eliminating distracting artefacts.
Imagine Graphics works with many of the leading PDP manufacturers who have
given so much help and encouragement in developing the DVI device drivers for
the new Pixel Perfect cards. Drivers have been optimised for each make and
model of new PDP - the display quality on each is truly stunning.
Pixel-perfect images every time!
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