Page orientation 2

For the first computing devices a screen was built to operate in only portrait or landscape mode, and changing between orientations was not possible. Typically a custom video controller board was needed to support the unusual screen orientation, and software often needed to be custom-written in order to support the tall, narrow screen layout.

As video display technology advanced, eventually the video display board was able to accommodate rotation of the display and a variety of differing resolutions and scan rates. After several years of producing the first Macintosh portrait display, Radius introduced the Radius Pivot CRT monitor, that could be freely rotated between landscape and portrait with automatic orientation changes done by the video controller.

Rotation is now a common feature of modern video cards, and is still sometimes used in tablet PCs, and by writers, layout artists, etc. Operating systems and drivers do not always support it; for example, Windows XP Service Pack 3 conflicts with monitor rotation on many graphics cards using ATI's Catalyst control software, Nvidia's proprietary drivers for Linux do not support screen rotation unless manual changes are made to its configuration.

Orientation of Video Game Displays

Portrait mode is popular with arcade games that involve a vertically oriented playing area, such as Pac Man and Donkey Kong. The vertical orientation allows greater detail along the vertical axis while conserving detail on the sides.

The conversion of early popular arcade games to home consoles was difficult not only because the home computing capability was lower, but also the screen orientation was wrong and the home user could not be expected to set their television on its side to show the game correctly. This is why most early home versions of arcade games have a wide, squashed appearance compared to the full-quality arcade versions.

Page orientation 1

Page orientation is the way in which a rectangular page is oriented for normal viewing. The two most common types of orientation are portrait and landscape. The specific word definition comes from the fact that a close-up portrait of a person's face and upper body is more fitting for a canvas or photo where the height of the display area is greater than the width, and is more common for the pages of books. Landscape originally described artistic outdoor scenes where a wide view area is needed, but the upper part of the painting would be mostly sky and so is omitted.

Page orientation is also used to describe the dimensions of a video display. The most common video display orientation is landscape mode, especially the 4:3 ratio, which is 4 units wide and 3 units tall, and the more recent 16:9 widescreen landscape display mode.

Portrait screen orientation does exist for computers, but until the introduction of Apple's iPad only popularly used in mobile devices. Portrait is preferred for editing page-layout work in order to view the entire page on the screen at once without wasted space along the sides.
 
History

Orientation of Computer Displays

Portrait mode was first used on the Xerox Alto computer, which was considered technologically well ahead of its time when the system was first developed. Xerox product marketers did not understand how revolutionary the system was, and the portrait display faded away while common landscape-display televisions were appropriated for use as an inexpensive early microcomputer display.

When the Macintosh computer was introduced, WYSIWYG page layout using Aldus PageMaker became popular. The Macintosh rekindled interest in portrait displays, and the first portrait displays for it were developed by Radius Corporation.

Wireless Home Digital Interface

Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI) is a consumer electronic standard for a wireless HDTV connectivity throughout the home. It is being driven by AMIMON, Hitachi Ltd., LG Electronics, Motorola, Samsung Group, Sharp Corporation and Sony.

WHDI enables uncompressed delivery of high-definition video over a wireless radio channel, allowing consumers to connect any source in the home to any display device.

Versions

The WHDI 1.0 standard specification was finalized in December 2009.Sharp Corporation will be one of the first companies to roll out wireless HDTVs.AT CES 2010 LG Electronics announced a WHDI wireless HDTV product line.

In June 2010, WHDI announced an update to WHDI 1.0 which allows support for stereoscopic 3D, and WHDI 2.0 specification to be completed in Q2 2011.

Technology

WHDI 1.0 provides a high-quality, uncompressed wireless link which supports data rates of up to 3Gbit/s (allowing 1080p) in a 40 MHz channel, and data rates of up to 1.5Gbit/s (allowing 1080i and 720p) in a single 20 MHz channel of the 5 GHz unlicensed band, conforming to FCC regulations and worldwide 5 GHz spectrum regulations. Range is beyond 100 feet (30 m), through walls, and latency is less than one millisecond.

WHDI 3D update due in Q4 2010 will allow support for 3D formats defined in HDMI 1.4a specification

WHDI 2.0 will increase available bandwidth even further, allowing additional 3D formats such as "dual 1080p60", and support for 4K x 2K resolutions.

Supporters

Promoters WHDI Official Site

    * AMIMON

    * Hitachi Ltd.

    * LG Electronics

    * Motorola

    * Samsung Group

    * Sharp Corporation

    * Sony

Contributors

    * Haier

    * Maxim

    * Mitsubishi Electric

    * Toshiba

Adopters

    * AmTRAN

    * Domo Technologies

    * Elmo

    * Gemtek

    * Gospell Smarthome Electronics

    * Hosiden

    * Murata Manufacturing

    * Quanta Microsystems, Inc. (QMI)

    * Rohde & Schwarz

    * Seamon Science International

    * TDK

    * Zinwell

Computer display standard 7

Display resolution prefixes

Although the common standard prefixes super and ultra do not indicate specific modifiers to base standard resolutions, several others do:

Quarter (Q or q)

    A quarter of the base resolution. E.g. QVGA, a term for a 320×240 resolution, half the width and height of VGA, hence the quarter total resolution. The "Q" prefix usually indicates "Quad" (4 times as many, not 1/4 times as many) in higher resolutions, and sometimes "q" is used instead of "Q" to specify quarter (by analogy with SI prefixes like k/K, m/M), but this usage is not consistent.

Wide (W)

    The base resolution increased by increasing the width and keeping the height constant, for square or near-square pixels on a widescreen display, usually with an aspect ratio of either 16:9 or 16:10.

Quad(ruple) (Q)

    Four times as many pixels compared to the base resolution, i.e. twice the horizontal and vertical resolution respectively.

Hex(adecatuple) (H)

    Sixteen times as many pixels compared to the base resolution, i.e. four times the horizontal and vertical resolutions respectively.

Ultra (U)

eXtended (X)

These prefixes are also often combined, as in WQXGA or WHUXGA.

Other resolutions

There are also some other 4:3 ratio resolutions such as 1400×1050 SXGA+ and unnamed ones like 1152×864 (sometimes referred to as XGA+).

Computer display standard 6

WQSXGA	Wide Quad Super Extended Graphics Array		3200×2048 (6554k)	25:16	32 bpp
QUXGA	Quad Ultra Extended Graphics Array		3200×2400 (7680k)	4:3	32 bpp
WQUXGA	Wide Quad Ultra Extended Graphics Array	The IBM T220/T221 LCD monitors supported this resolution, but they are no longer available.	3840×2400 (9216k)	16:10	32 bpp
4K	DLP Cinema Technology	Digital Film Projection	4096×1716 (7029k)	2.39	48 bpp (at 24 FPS)
HXGA	Hex[adecatuple] Extended Graphics Array		4096×3072 (12583k)	4:3	32 bpp
WHXGA	Wide Hex[adecatuple] Extended Graphics Array		5120×3200 (16384k)	16:10	32 bpp
HSXGA	Hex[adecatuple] Super Extended Graphics Array		5120×4096 (20972k)	5:4	32 bpp
WHSXGA	Wide Hex[adecatuple] Super Extended Graphics Array		6400×4096 (26214k)	25:16	32 bpp
HUXGA	Hex[adecatuple] Ultra Extended Graphics Array		6400×4800 (30720k)	4:3	32 bpp
Ultra High Definition Television	Ultra High Definition Television		7680×4320 (33177k)	16:9	32 bpp
WHUXGA	Wide Hex[adecatuple] Ultra Extended Graphics Array		7680×4800 (36864k)	16:10	32 bpp

Computer display standard 5

unnamed	unnamed	A common size for LCDs manufactured for small consumer electronics and mobile phones, typically in a 1.7" to 1.9" diagonal size. This LCD is often used in the portrait (128×160) orientation. The unusual 5:4 aspect ratio makes the display slightly different from the QQVGA dimensions.	160×128 (20k)	5:4
WXGA	Widescreen Extended Graphics Array	A version of the XGA format. This display aspect ratio is becoming popular in some recent notebook computers.	1280×720 (922k) 1280×800 (1024k) 1440×900 (1296k)	16:9 or 16:10	32 bpp
HD+	High Definition Plus (900p)	This display aspect ratio is becoming popular in recent notebook computers and desktop widescreens.	1600×900 (1440k)	16:9	32 bpp
SXGA	Super Extended Graphics Array	A widely used de facto 32 bit Truecolor standard, with an unusual aspect ratio of 5:4 (1.25:1) instead of the more common 4:3 (1.33:1), which means that 4:3 pictures and video will appear letterboxed on the narrower 5:4 screens. This is generally the physical aspect ratio & native resolution of standard 17" and 19" LCD monitors.Some manufacturers, noting that the de facto industry standard was VGA (Video Graphics Array), termed this the Extended Video Graphics Array or XVGA.	1280×1024 (1310k)	5:4	32 bpp
SXGA+	Super Extended Graphics Array PLUS	Used on 14 inch and 15 inch notebook LCD screens and a few smaller screens.	1400×1050 (1470k)	4:3	32 bpp
WXGA+,    or WXGA, (or WSXGA)	Widescreen Extended Graphics Array PLUS	A version of the WXGA format. This display aspect ratio is becoming popular in some recent notebook computers, and is the native resolution for many 19" widescreen LCD monitors.	1440×900 (1296k)	16:10	32 bpp

Computer display standard 4

unnamed	unnamed	A common size for LCDs manufactured for small consumer electronics and mobile phones, typically in a 1.7" to 1.9" diagonal size. This LCD is often used in the portrait (128×160) orientation. The unusual 5:4 aspect ratio makes the display slightly different from the QQVGA dimensions.	160×128 (20k)	5:4
WXGA	Widescreen Extended Graphics Array	A version of the XGA format. This display aspect ratio is becoming popular in some recent notebook computers.	1280×720 (922k) 1280×800 (1024k) 1440×900 (1296k)	16:9 or 16:10	32 bpp
HD+	High Definition Plus (900p)	This display aspect ratio is becoming popular in recent notebook computers and desktop widescreens.	1600×900 (1440k)	16:9	32 bpp
SXGA	Super Extended Graphics Array	A widely used de facto 32 bit Truecolor standard, with an unusual aspect ratio of 5:4 (1.25:1) instead of the more common 4:3 (1.33:1), which means that 4:3 pictures and video will appear letterboxed on the narrower 5:4 screens. This is generally the physical aspect ratio & native resolution of standard 17" and 19" LCD monitors. Some manufacturers, noting that the de facto industry standard was VGA (Video Graphics Array), termed this the Extended Video Graphics Array or XVGA.	1280×1024 (1310k)	5:4	32 bpp
SXGA+	Super Extended Graphics Array PLUS	Used on 14 inch and 15 inch notebook LCD screens and a few smaller screens.	1400×1050 (1470k)	4:3	32 bpp
WXGA+, or WXGA, (or WSXGA)	Widescreen Extended Graphics Array PLUS	A version of the WXGA format. This display aspect ratio is becoming popular in some recent notebook computers, and is the native resolution for many 19" widescreen LCD monitors.	1440×900 (1296k)	16:10	32 bpp
UXGA	Ultra Extended Graphics Array	A de facto Truecolor standard. This is the native resolution for many 20" LCD monitors.	1600×1200 (1920k)	4:3	32 bpp
WSXGA+	Widescreen Super Extended Graphics Array Plus	A version of the WXGA format. This is the native resolution for many 22" widescreen LCD monitors.	1680×1050 (1764k)	16:10	32 bpp