3 ms·

I'd actually prefer a Bayer panel over the traditional stripes, if it's sufficiently dumb in "native" mode and there exists a post-process shader for the GPU to

by namibj 5y ago

I'd actually prefer a Bayer panel over the traditional stripes, if it's sufficiently dumb in "native" mode and there exists a post-process shader for the GPU to monolithically handle reverse-debayering, overdrive (LCD response speeds are non-linear), dithering, and color-mapping. Ideally, the latter even able to use a head tracker to compensate for viewing-angle-dependent gamma curves (the main pitfall of MVA panels for semi-static content).

BlueTemplar 5y ago
I've been wondering for a while why LCDs have settled on RGB instead of the clearly superior Bayer tiling. Any ideas ?
- namibj 5y ago
  Bayer can't display pixel art at 1:1, just like with bitmap fonts. If you want crisp color, you need to be aware of the Bayer tiling, and ideally you'd want to do the inverse-debayering on the source-side of the display cable, because that way you can save 4x bandwidth (you can treat a Bayer panel like a High-DPI one while rendering, but Bayer-pixels need to match RGB source pixels for crisp results). Do keep in mind that many TV panels are Bayer panels, as they tend to consume yuv420 or yuv422, if fed externally, which greatly reduces the bandwidth penalty of doing the 24bit to 8bit per-pixel color depth conversion in the display's panel-driver-GPU. For text rendering there are some alternative subpixel layouts like Pentile in use for smartphones, but patents and software/hardware integration (software in this case including Freetype or whatever replacement is used) inhibit usage of these for general purpose desktop monitors. One large benefit of these tends to be their vertical/horizontal resolution being matched, allowing both portrait and landscape mode to be crisp. Also, less physical pixels to drive take less power to drive.
  - BlueTemplar 5y ago
    I guess that my question is also why source pixels would be "RGB", when "Bayer" is closer to the human visual system. Because it's easier for people that don't know much about the human visual system to work with a (more) flawed model ? However, while abstractions have a benefit, it's kind of weird that even the "closest to the metal" model seems to often take "Bayer/420/422" as more of an approximation, rather than "RGB" being one ? Do you see how weird it is that the above-mentioned TV panels are NOT (?) Bayer panels physically ?

by namibj 5y ago

BlueTemplar 5y ago

I've been wondering for a while why LCDs have settled on RGB instead of the clearly superior Bayer tiling. Any ideas ?

namibj 5y ago
Bayer can't display pixel art at 1:1, just like with bitmap fonts. If you want crisp color, you need to be aware of the Bayer tiling, and ideally you'd want to do the inverse-debayering on the source-side of the display cable, because that way you can save 4x bandwidth (you can treat a Bayer panel like a High-DPI one while rendering, but Bayer-pixels need to match RGB source pixels for crisp results). Do keep in mind that many TV panels are Bayer panels, as they tend to consume yuv420 or yuv422, if fed externally, which greatly reduces the bandwidth penalty of doing the 24bit to 8bit per-pixel color depth conversion in the display's panel-driver-GPU. For text rendering there are some alternative subpixel layouts like Pentile in use for smartphones, but patents and software/hardware integration (software in this case including Freetype or whatever replacement is used) inhibit usage of these for general purpose desktop monitors. One large benefit of these tends to be their vertical/horizontal resolution being matched, allowing both portrait and landscape mode to be crisp. Also, less physical pixels to drive take less power to drive.
- BlueTemplar 5y ago
  I guess that my question is also why source pixels would be "RGB", when "Bayer" is closer to the human visual system. Because it's easier for people that don't know much about the human visual system to work with a (more) flawed model ? However, while abstractions have a benefit, it's kind of weird that even the "closest to the metal" model seems to often take "Bayer/420/422" as more of an approximation, rather than "RGB" being one ? Do you see how weird it is that the above-mentioned TV panels are NOT (?) Bayer panels physically ?