From: utzoo!decvax!pur-ee!uiucdcs!grunwald
Newsgroups: net.works
Title: Re: Display resolution - (nf)
Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.308
Posted: Tue Aug  3 13:28:12 1982
Received: Wed Aug  4 05:17:25 1982

#R:sri-unix:-229300:uiucdcs:13900001:000:1406
uiucdcs!grunwald    Aug  3 12:44:00 1982

Having use plasma panels for 6 years (PLATO rears its ugly head), I'll toss in
what little I know about it:

The main problem with plasma panels is dot density, since when you increase the
density of the dots too much, you get "accidental" firings of some dots. This
also happens when the panels get older. At last report, the Army had a three
foot by three foot panel constructed for high-altitude / high-resolution
applications. I don't know how many pixals wide and high it was, but I imagine
it was either 1024x1024 or 2048x2048.

Additionally, several japenese companies (Nippon Bell is one, I think) are
getting into the plasma panel market. They are trying to get color plasma
panels to work, as well as develope other fast panels. The color panels work
by putting posphores where the dots light up and using that energy to excite
the phosphore (or so they said). The "fast" panels they were working on at the
time they came and talked to us were called "shift panels" -- they were
slightly different in design from the standard panel. They create an image
at the far right on a 16 pixal tall space and then "shift" it over to where it
should be. This causes some really strange effects and seems to only be very
useful for alphanumerics or customized character sets.  Their main advantage
is that they are much flatter than normal plasma panels and it would be
practical to make a plasma based TV.