what's 6-bit, 8-bit mean?

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frankyk

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a lot of people ask if it's 6-bit or 8-bit for monitors, what's it mean?
 
it's related to the colour depth of the monitor. 6 Bit colour depth means that the screen can only show 262k colours, but many 6 Bit screens use a process called Frame Rate Control (FRC) or "Dithering" to simulate around 16.2 million colours, or even 16.7 million in modern displays. 8 Bit panels can show a true 16.7 million colours without the need for any of this 'trickery' as some people refer to it :) Panel technology plays a large part in whether a panel is 6 bit or 8 bit, with TN Film traditionally being 6 bit+FRC and IPS, PVA and MVA being 8-bit. This is changing a bit nowadays, but that is still generally a rule of thumb.

See here for more info as well
 
All TN panels have been 6bit, but the latest LG's offering on is true 8bit.
 
is the 2007 fpw and the 19" westinghouse (the one for 159.99 on hot deals) 6 bit or 8 bit?
 
The human eye can see millions and millions of colors up around 10 million or so. It varies from person to person... so with the 'trickery' in use, I doubt many people can tell the difference in the colors of 16.2m versus 16.7m.
 
Tetrahedron said:
The human eye can see millions and millions of colors up around 10 million or so. It varies from person to person... so with the 'trickery' in use, I doubt many people can tell the difference in the colors of 16.2m versus 16.7m.
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Yeah but those 16.2m on 6-bit panels are simulated. So are you telling me if there was a an exact photograph on both an 6-bit and an 8-bit 19" LCD sitting next to each other...I would have trouble deciphering between the two? or is the quality of the picture different? I am wondering this because this is my first LCD monitor and it is indeed 6bit.
 
Tetrahedron said:
The human eye can see millions and millions of colors up around 10 million or so. It varies from person to person... so with the 'trickery' in use, I doubt many people can tell the difference in the colors of 16.2m versus 16.7m.
Click to expand...

true, but on the other hand people most certainly CAN see the difference between 262,144 colors (the REAL number of colors a 6-bit panel can do) and 16.7 million colors.
 
Eva_Unit_0 said:
true, but on the other hand people most certainly CAN see the difference between 262,144 colors (the REAL number of colors a 6-bit panel can do) and 16.7 million colors.
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yes they can, but the trickery 6-bit LCDs use to acheive 16.2m does work, cause it surely doesnt look like 262k to me. Cause most people can tell the difference between 262k and 16.x mill
 
Tetrahedron said:
yes they can, but the trickery 6-bit LCDs use to acheive 16.2m does work, cause it surely doesnt look like 262k to me. Cause most people can tell the difference between 262k and 16.x mill
Click to expand...

problem is some displays seem to do this very poorly (i.e. 2007FPW), in which case people can notice the difference. I guess as long as the panel does a decent job of dithering it's okay.

I haven't spent large amounts of time on any 6-bit panels in 24-bit color mode...my Hyundai L90D+ is an 8-bit panel, and my two thinkpads have 6-bit panels but they run in 16-bit color mode so it doesn't matter.
 
Eva_Unit_0 said:
problem is some displays seem to do this very poorly (i.e. 2007FPW), in which case people can notice the difference. I guess as long as the panel does a decent job of dithering it's okay.
Click to expand...

What are you talking about? The 2007wfp is an 8 bit panel and is a freaking awesome monitor.
 
To achieve 16.2mil colours, the 6 bit displays I have heard about, flash between 2 colours as quick as they can to simulate the required colour.

I have read about in game flickering problems on certain colours reported due to this.
 
I have had both type of panels.
There is a slight difference, but nothing dying over imo.

It all depends of the priorities however. If you are a design artist, then the 8 bits panel is for you. If you are a gamer and want minimum or no ghosting, then the 6bits is for you as they offer slightly better response time.
 
xenogears said:
What are you talking about? The 2007wfp is an 8 bit panel and is a freaking awesome monitor.
Click to expand...

hmmm...I didn't know it was 8-bit. What causes the banding issues then?
 
deanx0r said:
I have had both type of panels.
There is a slight difference, but nothing dying over imo.

It all depends of the priorities however. If you are a design artist, then the 8 bits panel is for you. If you are a gamer and want minimum or no ghosting, then the 6bits is for you as they offer slightly better response time.
Click to expand...

extacly.. I have a vx922 and love it very much, cept sometimes I can see the pixels aka screen door effect i believe
 
So, why does it matter 16.2 vs 16.8 when, for example, there's only
1920 x 1200 = 2.304 mil pixels?

Monty
 
Most of the time you probably wont notice the difference unless compared side by side.
Hope you dont have the flickering issue.
I dont use a 6 bit panel for general use so dont know if its a common problem.

I'm having a dilemma building a HDTV projector from laptop LCDs because of this.
I know I can get a 6 bit panel cheap but am trying to source a decent 8 bit panel thats cheap also. Hard work getting some specs too!
When everything is blown up on 3 metre screen, I am worried I will notice the way colour is presented on the 6 bit LCD too much.

Does anyone know how often the colour dithering on 6 bit panels can be seen and when?
 
If you know what to look for, you will easily see the dithering. Many people notice dithering but do not know what it is. Once you notice it, it will bug the hell out of you because you will see it nearly all the time.
 
MrMonty said:
So, why does it matter 16.2 vs 16.8 when, for example, there's only
1920 x 1200 = 2.304 mil pixels?

Monty
Click to expand...

I'm assuming you're serious here...

16.2 million/16.7 million is the number of colors the monitor will be able to display on each pixel on the screen. It has nothing to do with how many pixels there are on the panel.
 
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