What is a TFT Monitor?
- Written By: R. Kayne
- Edited By: Niki Foster
-
Copyright Protected:
2003-2013 Conjecture Corporation
A TFT monitor uses thin-film transistor technology for the ultimate LCD display. LCD monitors, also called flat panel displays, are replacing the old style cathode ray tubes (CRTs) as the displays of choice. Nearly all LCD monitors today use TFT technology.
The benefit of a TFT monitor is a separate, tiny transistor for each pixel on the display. Because each transistor is so small, the amount of charge needed to control it is also small. This allows for very fast re-drawing of the display, as the image is re-painted or refreshed several times per second.
Prior to TFT, passive matrix LCD displays could not keep up with fast moving images. A mouse dragged across the screen, for example, from point A to point B, would disappear between the two points. A TFT monitor can track the mouse, resulting in a display that can be used for video, gaming and all forms of multimedia.
A typical 17-inch TFT monitor has about 1.3 million pixels and 1.3 million transistors. That leaves a significant chance for a malfunctioning transistor or two on the panel. Upon delivery, a TFT monitor can have "dead pixels" for this reason. A dead pixel is a pixel whose transistor has failed, thereby creating no display image. On a solid black background, dead pixels will stand out as tiny dots of red, white or blue. Most manufacturers will not replace a TFT monitor that has less than 11 dead pixels. Often, a TFT monitor won't have any dead pixels —- always the hope for any buyer, though dead pixels are not noticeable unless located in a critical position on the screen.
There are only a handful of TFT factories that turn out panels for all brands of TFT monitors. Since there is a given failure rate -- considering how many transistors are on each panel -- only so many of the displays come out bearing no dead pixels, while a certain percentage bear an acceptable number of dead pixels and other panels are unusable. The panels that bear some dead pixels are often sold to be used in discount models. If looking for a TFT monitor, it is a good idea to read feedback provided by buyers at popular online retail sites. By scanning the reviews for several brands, it is easy to get a feel for which models have consistently good panels that rarely bear dead pixels.
A TFT monitor delivers crisp text, vibrant color and an improved response time for multimedia applications. If interested in gaming, video editing or other multimedia applications, look for a TFT monitor with a response rate of 16ms or less.
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Discuss this Article
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JanHegarty
Post 50 |
We have a 15" TFT LCD monitor in our caravan. Will this receive HD TV? If not, what do we need to do? |
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anon165736
Post 48 |
What are the advantages of tft over lcd and crt? |
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anon165735
Post 47 |
how can i connect a tv card in a tft monitor? |
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anon155912
Post 46 |
what is the currently used monitor? this site is more informative. |
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anon137823
Post 45 |
what is a pixel? |
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anon109554
Post 44 |
Seems like half the people here didn't even bother to read the article. Pfft. Anyway, I found it very helpful. thanks. |
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anon80394
Post 42 |
Hi can someone explain what would be the difference of a TFT display and an HD display and which would be a better specification? |
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anon77643
Post 41 |
what is the difference between TFT monitors and LCD monitors? |
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anon66002
Post 38 |
What is the difference between a TFT monitor and CRT monitor? - Shoukat |
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anon52789
Post 35 |
I have not found this site useful. I came here looking to find out what a TFT was. Instead there's just too much jargon on here. this only helps those who have an idea of what computers are and not the everyday person who does not know the difference between a CLI and a GUI. |
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nsmoorthi
Post 34 |
i have bought a new TFT monitor. My problem is that the screen suddenly disappears and for a moment the screen is blank. But then it comes again and is working properly. When i typed this post it happened twice in the span of just a minute. Please do explain it to me.
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anon51756
Post 32 |
What is the full form of LCD. --RGCSK |
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anon47504
Post 30 |
Please tell me the working principle of tft monitor with diagram. |
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anon45850
Post 29 |
From this article I understand that TFT monitor means Thin Film Transistor Monitor. For all of you who are looking for the full form of TFT. |
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anon44593
Post 28 |
what is the full form of a tft screen? |
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anon42828
Post 27 |
i want to buy a monitor. Please let me know the difference between LCD, TFT and CRT. Suggest to me the best one now and the advantages too. Venkat |
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anon42484
Post 26 |
what is the full form of tft screen? |
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anon41876
Post 25 |
What would be the power consumption of a standard TFT monitor and a digital monitor? How much would I be able to save on electricity consumption unit wise? |
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anon35557
Post 24 |
I love your article. It provided me very good information on TFT Monitors. It is good to know that the TFT Monitors consist of separate transistors for Separate Dot Pixel. Even in my cousin's home on his LCD he got 2 black dots. I think it is dead transistors. So this is not good if some transistor fail it will corrupt whole display. What is the solution for this? |
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anon35541
Post 23 |
What is the full form of TFT in use with monitor? |
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anon29721
Post 22 |
A TFT monitor is also a mounter on a fire truck with a deck gun on top to spray water on the fire. |
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anon29390
Post 21 |
i am going to buy a new pc. should i buy TFT or CRT? |
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anon24501
Post 20 |
this is a good site! |
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anon24293
Post 19 |
How it is possible to implement 1.3million transistors on a single 17 inch TFT monitor??? Are transistors available in such a tiny size??? |
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anon21885
Post 18 |
Waht would be the power consumption of a standard TFT monitor and a digital monitor? How much would i be able to save on Electricity consumption unit wise? |
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anon19912
Post 17 |
Which directive for CE used in LCD-TFT screen? |
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anon17943
Post 16 |
what is the difference between TFT monitors and LCD monitors? |
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anon15563
Post 15 |
what is the full form of TFT?????
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anon9518
Post 13 |
i have +2.5 power so it becomes very difficult for me to sit in front of computer regularly for seven to nine hours. is there any tft monitor on which i can sit regularly for more than ten hours? due to this reason i resigned three previous jobs. Asif dhanbad |
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anon8276
Post 12 |
you've been had by the people who sold the monitors to you, I've had mine for quite a while and it works wonderfully to me. |
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anon5631
Post 10 |
I have a 19" TFT monitor that is working properly, but on the right edge of the monitor the display is very light.
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anon5079
Post 9 |
check the black light. |
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craigmd49
Post 3 |
I have a 17" drop down TFT monitor that I installed in my boat. It starts up fine, but after about two or three minutes, the picture freezes and then the unit turns its self off. Any idea what might be wrong with it? |
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charma1ne
Post 2 |
Hi there, I would like to know if it is possible to watch the TV thru a tft moniter. Thank you. Charmaine |
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chandru
Post 1 |
i have bought new TFT monitor. My problem is that the screen suddenly disappears and for a moment screen is blank. But then it comes again and is working properly. When i typed this post it happened twice in the span of just a minute. Please do explain it to me. |
