Is this possible

[FMX]

I got to thinking... is there a way to display an image in one large pixel? As in, displaying the image all at once instead of it being comprised of many dots. Maybe this is what projection already does, but I am not sure.

I am confused on why there has to be pixels, instead of just one big image.

 

[Åndhrimnir]

A pixel is a display unit, and can be lit in any of several million colors. Images are made of lots of pixels. If you wanted an image where you couldn't see the pixels, no matter how close you looked, then you'd want infinite pixels, not one.

A one pixel monitor could only display images with a solid color.

And projectors work basically by shining a light through an LCD - they have pixels too.

EDIT: for clarification, this is an oversimplification, as I'm not an expert on any of this. point still stands though - you want more pixels for a higher-resolution image, as a pixel can only display one color.

 

[mlewis]

Images on monitors are made up of pixels. Each individual pixel displays 1 colour.

 

[Mr_Coffee]

If it's digital you need pixels. To store or display an image digitally you need a way of breaking it down into numbers. The only way to do this is to break the image into dots of color (pixels) and represent each with a value. There is no way around this for a computer or any digital device.

The converse usually true; if it's not digital you don't need pixels. I'm being vague because this applies to all sorts of things: film, print media, etc. Heck, an Etch-a-Sketch is a good example of a purely analogue display.

If you're looking for the pros and cons for various tech it gets a little more complex. Just remember that there will always be limitations for anything.

And projectors work basically by shining a light through an LCD - they have pixels too.

Film projectors do not make use of pixels, 99.9% of everything else does.