HD66300T
1507
NTSC System TV Signals and LCD
A TV screen display, which is updated 30 times per second, is called a “frame” and is composed of 525
scanning lines. One frame contains two fields; scanning lines 1 to 262.5 scan the display in the first field,
and scanning lines 262.5 to 525 scan the display in the second field to fill the gaps which are left
unscanned in the first field. This scanning mode is called an “interlace scan.”
The time period in which one scanning line scans the display is called a “horizontal scanning period” and
is about 63.5 μs. Within the horizontal scanning period, the time period that display operation is actually
performed is called the “valid display period.” The other period is called the “horizontal retrace period.”
There are two modes for displaying a TV screen image on an LCD panel. In the first mode, each
scanning line in the two fields is assigned to one line of the LCD panel; thus, each of the 240 lines of the
panel are driven by the positive signal in the first field and by the negative signal in the second field.
Here, 30-Hz alternating frequency is available, but the number of vertical pixels is limited to 240.
(Single-rate sequential drive mode)
In the second mode, every other line of the LCD panel can be driven by the first field and the remaining
lines can be driven likewise by the second field. In this case, if one pixel of the LCD panel is considered,
it is recognized that the pixel is driven by signals with opposite polarity every frame. This lowers the
alternating frequency to 15 MHz, which is only half of the frame frequency. Driving LCD elements with
signals of such low alternating frequency causes flickering and degrades display quality. To raise the
alternating frequency to 30 MHz, a method can be employed in which LCD elements are driven once
every field instead of once every frame.
Specifically, in the first field, the first and second lines of the LCD panel are driven respectively during
the first half and second half of the complete horizontal scanning period. The same rule is repeated for
the following lines. In the second field, on the other hand, the combination of two lines is different. The
first line is driven during the second half of the horizontal scanning period, and then the second and third
lines are driven respectively during the first and second half of the following horizontal scanning period.
The same rule is repeated for the following lines.
Employing this method enables the implementation of 480 vertical pixels.
(Double-rate sequential drive mode)