Help me understand Color Depth on displays

[BusyBeaverHP]

I work with Photoshop RGB, and know that each R, G, and B has 8-bits of gradient between pure color and black (0-255). Given that there are three 8-bit colors, the possible color spectrum is 24-bit (16.7 million colors) by math.

I am wondering if 8-bit displays are able to this by pixel (instead of dithering). More specifically, are each of the R, G, and B components in the pixel of a 8-bit color display able to dim themselves in 255 increments to emulate the RGB I see on-screen, or are the RGB components in my display show up as strictly on-or-off?

As for 6-bit color, like my TN panels, how does this work in terms of RGB components in the pixel?

 

[kevinsbane]

8 bit means that each individual subpixel (R, G, B) can have up to 255 levels of "brightness". All true 8 bit displays can control each individual subpixel with these 255 levels. 6 bit displays only have 63 levels of brightness for each pixel, which means a maximum of ~262 000 colours. A true 8 bit panel would theoretically work exactly the same as the photoshop RGB levels.

By the way, this is different from colour gamut, which is how red, how blue, and how green a subpixel can be. Usually higher gamut means more bit depth, but although correlated, they are not dependent.

 

[BusyBeaverHP]

That was rather easy to understand, thanks!