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Abstract

Flat liquid crystal display (LCD) panels are the dominating computer monitor technology today, but these devices have not yet been assessed for requirements of vision research. Most vision scientists avoid these devices for their experiments in favor of cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors the timing and color characteristics of which are well known for decades. On the other hand, the production of most CRT monitors lines has been discontinued. Based on systematic measurements of timing and color characteristics of eight LCD monitors, we analyze their temporal signals and color spaces with respect to the requirements of vision scientists. Temporal signals are shown to be fundamentally different from CRT signals and determined by more than one hardware parameter. Although LCD timing controllability is less flexible compared to CRT characteristics, such technologies as overdrive may allow visual experiments with high precision under certain conditions. Due to their wider luminance range LCDs provide a larger color gamut while violating certain assumptions which so far held for the calibration of CRT monitors. We give suggestions to experimenters for the applicability of LCD panels and expose possible pitfalls.