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Monitor ABCs
Dot pitch
Ghost / Burn
Minimum resolution
Resolution
Refresh
LCD
Video definitions

MONITOR ABCs

The monitor is a hardware device which physically connects to your video card. The monitor allows information and current status be be visually outputted similar to a TV.

Like most TVs, the computer monitor has a CRT, or Cathode Ray Tube, which is found inside the computer monitor as illustrated in the above picture. The CRT is the main component and most expensive part within your computer monitor. Within the CRT are three electron guns, Red, Green and Blue. Each of these guns streams a steady flow of electrons, left to right, for each line of your monitor. As the electrons hit the phosphors on the CRT, the phosphor will glow certain intensities. As a new line begins, the guns will then begin at the left and continue right; these guns will repeat this process sometimes thousands of times until the screen has been completely drawn line by line. Once the phosphors on the CRT have been hit with an electron they will only glow for a short period of time; because of this, the CRT must be refreshed, which means the process will be repeated as explained above. If the video card's refresh rate is not set high enough, you may encounter a flicker or a noticeable steady line scrolling from the top to the bottom of your screen. If you are encountering this issue, resolutions have been described on our video card page.

The dot pitch is a measurement measured in millimeters, which is the amount of space between the phosphors on a computer monitor screen. The smaller the number of dot pitches, the sharper the image.

GHOST / BURN

If monitors, especially older CGA / EGA monitors, are left on for long durations, the electron beams cause the phosphors to glow. If the electron guns continue to do this for thousands of hours refreshing the same images, this can cause the images to be burnt into the CRT surface causing a ghost image to appear. This image will become permanently displayed on your monitor for the duration of its life.

A resolution to this problem are screen savers, which are programs that generate a random set of images, lines or other methods of allowing the image to not remain static while the computer is not being used.

While new monitors (VGA / SVGA) do not have this issue, screen savers are still commonly used today; you can find screen savers in our screen saver download section.

MINIMUM RESOLUTION

The size is an important factor of the computer's running resolution. When picking the resolution, try basing it off the monitor's size for best use.