[TriLUG] LCD displays are 6 bit

[Joseph Mack NA3T via TriLUG]

https://www.tftcentral.co.uk/features.htm#dithering

I had assumed with LCD monitors offering 16777216 colours that they are all 
8-bit.

It turns out that an LCD monitor only has 6-bit colour, giving 262144 colours.
They fake 8 bits with frame rate control.

How much this affects what you see I dont know. If you have an 8 bit stripe of 
each colour, there should be no steps, as the eye can't quite differentiate 8 
bits of intensity (at least for B&W). However the eye can easily differentiate 6 
bits of intensity. Apparently this effect is called "banding"

https://www.tftcentral.co.uk/features.htm#banding

(I'm setting up a new computer and am finding out all sorts of things I didn't 
know.)

Joe

-- 
Joseph Mack NA3T EME(B,D), FM05lw North Carolina
jmack (at) wm7d (dot) net - azimuthal equidistant
map generator at http://www.wm7d.net/azproj.shtml
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