Fill Factor

[Richard]

Fill factor is the black void between pixels. A good fill factor is defined as your inability to see these voids or spaces at a specific viewing distance.

Any display that uses a fixed pixel based technology has fill factor. These are direct view CRT, plasma, LCD, DLP and DiLA. DiLA has the best fill factor meeting the requirements of HDTV. Direct view CRT is close behind also meeting HDTV specs. DLP does ok with LCD and plasma being the worst and in most applications these do not meet the spec for HDTV.

HDTV pixel structure is defined by a 2.5 to 3.2 screen height viewing distance that requires you being unable to make out any picture structure or in simple terms, you should not be able to discern the individual pixels. Pixel based displays may be hard pressed to meet 2.5 but some will definitely pass at 3.2.

CRT projection front or rear is the only technology that does not use pixels. With these displays A pixel is defined by how small of a spot can be reproduced. Properly setup these displays can meet 2.5-3.2 screen heights which is required to fully discern all the detail being delivered to your screen.