Display device - Definition and Overview

A display device is a device for visual presentation of images (including text) acquired, stored, or transmitted in various forms. Some of them are called simply displays.

Common types of display devices are:

• Analog electronic displays
  • CRT display (earlier)
• Digital electronic displays
  • Nixie tube displays (now obsolete)
  • LED displays (later)
  • LCD (most recent)
    • HPA display
    • TFT display
  • OLED (forthcoming)
• Projectors
  • Analog projectors
    • Movie projector
    • Slide projector
  • Digital projectors
    • Digital projector
• Several obsolete mechanical types, such as:
  • Ticker tape
  • "Departure board" display (see talk page)

Segment displays

Some displays can show only digits or alphanumeric characters. They are called segment displays, because they are composed of several segments that switch on and off to give appearance of desired glyph. The segments are usually single LEDs or liquid crystals. They are mostly used in digital watches and pocket calculators. There are several types:

• Seven segment display (most common, digits only)
• Fourteen segment display
• Sixteen segment display

See also: computer display, graphical output device