Jason: In this lesson,
we're going to talk about some video quality issues
that are going to affect your computer display, TV displays,
as well as projectors.
This includes things like dim images, fuzzy images,
flashing screens, dead pixels, burn-in
and incorrect color displays.
First, we have dim images.
Now, we're not talking about a dim image here.
This is the kind of dim image
that's going to affect all three of your types of displays.
The reason these dim images can occur on your screen
is because you don't have the right brightness
or color contrast control set to make sure
you can adequately view the video on your displays.
Now, to be able to fix this,
you're going to use the onscreen display,
or the buttons on your monitors, TVs, or projectors
to be able to increase the brightness
and increase the contrast.
If these controls are set at a low level,
your screen is going to be very dimmed to your eyes
and it's going to be very hard to see what is on the display.
So always make sure if you have a dim image,
you're looking at the contrast controls
and brightness controls on that system
to ensure that are adequately set at the right levels.
Second, we have fuzzy images.
That's right, some of our displays will have a fuzzy image,
and normally, this happens when the output resolution
that's being sent from the computer
is lower than what the display can actually use.
For example, if you have a computer monitor
that's capable of doing 4K or AK displays,
but you're only sending it a signal at 1920 by 1080 pixels,
this is a lower resolution than they can support
and your image is going to look blurry.
This is because it has to take that smaller amount of pixels
and spread it out across a larger screen
that has a higher pixel density,
and so, that one pixel
may now be four pixels when it's displayed,
and that gives you that blurry or fuzzy image effect
that we're talking about.
To fix this issue,
you simply want to change the output resolution
from your graphics card
to make sure it's giving what the moderate is expecting.
Another thing to keep in mind
is that every type of display has its own default resolution
that it's designed to support.
Now, you can use one that is lower or higher than this,
but in those cases it has to scale up or scale down
to match its default resolution.
So if you have a moderate that by default
will support 1920 by 1080 pixels
and you sent in an image that's only 1280 by 720 pixels,
this is going to require that smaller resolution
to be stretched out across that 1920 by 1080 pixels
to fill the entire screen.
Instead, if you sent it at the default resolution,
you're going to see a much clearer and crisper image
than if you sent a lower quality image
that now has to be scaled up
across that larger pixel density of 1920 by 1080 pixels
on your computer monitor.
Another issue you may come across is flashing screens.
Now, when you're looking at a display
and you have a flashing screen,
normally, this means that the cable
is not properly seated into the connector.
Because of this, you're intermittently getting the picture
and then it's going away again.
This is one of those things that happens
because we're using digital signals over a cable,
and if the cable's not properly seated
and it's wiggling inside the connector,
this can cause the connection to go on or off, on or off,
and this causes that flashing image on the screen.
To solve this, check the cable,
make sure it is properly seated,
and if you find that the cable was properly seated
and you're still having this issue,
I recommend you change out that cable for a known good one
and see if that solves the problem.
The next issue we have is what's known as dead pixels.
Now, when we're dealing with LED and LCD displays,
these are made up of pixels.
And on your screen, if you see a dead pixel,
this means you have a pixel or picture element
that is no longer lighting up.
So if you're looking at your entire screen,
you have lots and lots of pixels.
But if you start seeing one spot
that is always black or always dark,
this means you have a dead pixel on the screen.
One of the best ways to troubleshoot this
is to take your mouse cursor, which is normally white,
and place it over that spot on the monitor.
If you now see that there is a black spot
inside of that white cursor,
this is a good indication that you have a dead pixel.
Now, unfortunately, there is no fix for a dead pixel.
You can't actually solve that dead pixel and replace it.
Instead, you have to replace the entire display.
If it's on a laptop display,
this means you're going to actually have
to take apart the entire laptop, buy a new display,
and then install it.
If you're using a desktop computer, this is a lot easier,
because you can simply replace your monitor.
Now, most people will not replace a monitor
over a single dead pixel.
But once you have one dead pixel,
usually you're going to start seeing more pop up over time.
And when that happens and it gets too annoying,
that's when you're going to want to replace the display.
Now, another display issue you may come across
is what's known as burn-in.
Now, burn-in occurs when you have the same static picture
being displayed for a very long time
on a particular screen or display.
For example, if you've ever gone into a sports bar
or restaurant that always has a certain TV channel on,
that watermark logo in the upper right corner
will actually burn in.
And when you turn off that monitor,
you're still going to see the logo from that TV station
in the upper right corner
because it is now part of that display permanently.
This is sometimes referred to as a ghost image
or a burnt in image.
Either way, it becomes now permanently part of your display
and the only way to solve this
is to actually replace that display.
When it comes to displays for computers,
the most susceptible to this are plasma screens,
which are an older technology,
or OLED, or organic LED displays.
If you're using a TFT or LED display instead,
they're not nearly as susceptible to burn-in.
To be able to prevent burn-in,
you're going to use a screensaver
or some sort of an animated thing
that's going to move on the screen
and make sure you don't have something static
on your screen at all times.
Another thing you can do is set your display to turn off
after three to five minutes of inactivity.
This can help prevent burn and it will also save you energy.
The final issue we're going to talk about
is incorrect color displays.
Now, when you're dealing with a computer's display,
there are several different things that can go wrong
and cause you to have the incorrect colors being displayed.
Now, the biggest one is if you have the wrong color bit set.
Now, what I mean by color bit is the actual amount
of colors that can be displayed on a given monitor.
This is normally referred to by the number of bits
that make up the color palette.
For example, if you have an eight-bit color palette,
this means you have 256 different options
because you have two to the eighth power of color options.
If you're using a 16-bit color display,
this means you have 32,768 colors
that could be represented on that screen.
If you're using a 24-bit color display,
we call this a true color display,
and this means you can have 16,777,216 color variations,
which is two to the 24th power.
Now, the final one we have is what's known
as a 32-bit color display.
Now, if you have a 32-bit color display,
this is what we refer to as a deep color display,
and this has over one billion different color options.
This makes it so you can have lots of different choices.
Now, most people with the naked eye
can't really tell the difference between a 24-bit display
and a 32-bit color display,
because we're talking about 16 million
versus one billion different color combinations.
But you will definitely see the difference
if you go down into a 16-bit or an eight-bit display.
It is extremely obvious.
So if you have the wrong color depth setting,
you're going to have a lot less colors
and you're going to be able to notice this
really easily on the display
and you'll be able to see
that this has an incorrect color to it.
Now, the other thing that might go wrong with color displays
is what's known as the color profile.
If you select the wrong color profile
in your system's settings,
this will actually display colors differently
based on that color profile.
For example, there are a couple of main color profiles
that are usually used by people, including the Adobe RGB,
the sRGB IEC version, and Display P3.
Now, for most of us as the average user,
you probably aren't going to be too particular
about the color profile you're using,
but if you are working in graphics, design,
video editing or things like that,
you really need to make sure
you're using the same color profile
as the other people in your work environment,
because otherwise, if your computer is set to Adobe RGB
and your coworker's are set to Display P3,
you're both going to be seeing the same file
with different colors because there's different shading
and different displays based on these color profiles.
So you need to keep that in mind as well,
especially if you're supporting some kind of a company
that does artistic works like game studios,
printers, publishers, video editors,
graphic designers, and things like that.
So remember, when it comes to video display issues,
there are lots of things that can go wrong,
including dim images, fuzzy images, flashing screens,
dead pixels, burn-in or incorrect color displays being used,
and you're going to be expected to troubleshoot and fix
all these different issues in the field.