A curved screen is an electronic display device that, contrasting with the

flat-panel display A flat-panel display (FPD) is an electronic display used to display visual content such as text or images. It is present in consumer, medical, transportation, and industrial equipment. Flat-panel displays are thin, lightweight, provide better li ...

, features a concave viewing surface. Curved screen TVs were introduced to the consumer market in 2013, primarily due to the efforts of

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

companies

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

and LG, while curved screen projection displays, such as the Cinerama, have existed since the 1950s.

Analysis

Curved screens are often marketed as being able to provide an "immersive" experience, and allowing a wider field of view. However, the

field of view The field of view (FoV) is the extent of the observable world that is seen at any given moment. In the case of optical instruments or sensors it is a solid angle through which a detector is sensitive to electromagnetic radiation. Humans a ...

(FoV) is the extent of the observable world that is seen. This type of screen is an

optical instrument An optical instrument (or "optic" for short) is a device that processes light waves (or photons), either to enhance an image for viewing or to analyze and determine their characteristic properties. Common examples include periscopes, microscopes ...

with a

solid angle In geometry, a solid angle (symbol: ) is a measure of the amount of the field of view from some particular point that a given object covers. That is, it is a measure of how large the object appears to an observer looking from that point. The poi ...

through which we can see what's happening inside the "computer world". If a screen is curved, the FoV of a person who looks at a picture on screen would not change. Most curved screens are made with wide (16:9), ultra-wide (21:9 / 64:27) or super ultra-wide (32:9 or 18:5) aspect ratio. Wider screens provide a wider angle of view, field of view. Field of view calculations are the reason wider screens are able to display more information on this type of screen, not curvature in and of itself. The optimal position of viewing a screen is directly along the central axis of the TV with the central point of the screen at eye level. Other viewing positions or angles may cause degradations in picture quality ranging anywhere from minor to severe, the most notable being trapezoidal distortion. Manufacturers suggest that curved screens allow greater range in satisfactory viewing angles and offer minimal trapezoidal distortion in comparison to flat-screens. This claim is heavily disputed by another claim that a substantial offset from the center provides greater viewing distortion than that of a flat screen. However, the equidistant claim by manufacturers of the various parts of the screen from a centered view is supported. Additionally, curved TVs supposedly offer minimized glare from ambient light.

Applications

To reduce outer edge distortions and provide a panoramic view, large curved screens accomplish this free of bezel lines framing each screen, and the alternative was to use multiple flat-screen monitors around the viewer. Curved screens and multi-screens have applications in gaming. Backward curved screens have the potential to be used as

digital signage Digital signage is a segment of electronic signage. Digital displays use technologies such as LCD, LED, projection and e-paper to display digital images, video, web pages, weather data, restaurant menus, or text. They can be found in public ...

that can be installed at various locations to produce marketing exposure.

Projection screens

When projecting images onto a completely flat screen, the distance light has to travel from its point of origin (i.e., the projector) increases the farther away the destination point is from the screen's center. This variance in the distance traveled results in a distortion phenomenon known as the pincushion effect, where the image at the left and right edges of the screen becomes bowed inwards and stretched vertically, making the entire image appear blurry. Curved screens are also widely used in

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme F ...

and standard movie theaters for their ability to produce natural expressions and draw the audience deeper into the scene. In about 2009,

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

Alienware Alienware is an American computer hardware subsidiary of Dell. Their product range is dedicated to gaming computers which can be identified by their alien-themed designs. Alienware was founded in 1996 by Nelson Gonzalez and Alex Aguila, and is ...

together with Ostendo Technologies, Inc. (based in Carlsbad, CA) were offering a curved (concave) monitor that allows better viewing angles near the edges, covering 75% of

peripheral vision Peripheral vision, or ''indirect vision'', is vision as it occurs outside the point of fixation, i.e. away from the center of gaze or, when viewed at large angles, in (or out of) the "corner of one's eye". The vast majority of the area in the ...

in the horizontal direction. This monitor had 2880x900 resolution, 4 DLP rear projection systems with LED light sources and was marketed as suitable both for gaming and office work, while for $6499 it was rather expensive.

Touch on curved screen

One of the issues in the use of the curved screen in commercial electronics is how accurately it can work with a touch-sensor. To drive the solution, LG electronics has developed Infrared-based touch solutions for the curved display.

History

The first curved screen was the

Cinerama Cinerama is a widescreen process that originally projected images simultaneously from three synchronized 35mm projectors onto a huge, deeply curved screen, subtending 146° of arc. The trademarked process was marketed by the Cinerama corporati ...

, which debuted in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in 1952. Multiple theaters, including the Cinerama Dome in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

began to use horizontally curved screens to counter image distortions associated with super-wide formats such as 23:9

CinemaScope CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...

21:9 aspect ratio monitors were developed in order to display the maximum amount of information on a single screen. However, the extreme wideness of the screen created severe distortions on the left and right edges of the screen. Curved 21:9 monitors were then developed to address this issue and provide a distortion-free, wide-angle viewing environment.

Manufacturing process

The first curved panels were produced by bending flat panels that had already been manufactured. This technique resulted in performance issues, such as oval mura (clouding effect) and color mixture (which causes color impurity and image distortion) observed at its curved edges. Since the introduction of flexible glass, liquid crystal displays (LCDs) can be applied to curved surfaces without bending existing panels. The screen technologies used to create curved LCD screens are Vertical Alignment, which helps to reduce any white glow that may affect an angular view, and IPS Panels, which are more susceptible to distortion.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{citation, title=The flat-out truth on curved TVs, url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/01/whats-the-deal-with-curved-tvs/, publisher=Ars Technica, author=Johnston, Casey, date=January 12, 2014 {{cite news, author= Andrew Tarantola, title= Why curved TVs Aren't Just Another Gimmick, newspaper= Gizmodo, date= January 23, 2014, url= https://gizmodo.com/why-curved-tvs-arent-just-another-gimmick-1502249372 Television technology Display technology