G5 G6 G7 means what?

[MadAd]

I see more and more mention of ever increasing generations of LCD TFT screens and wonder if anyone knows what the difference is, or how to tell them apart?

Eg what the difference between a G6 LCD and a G5?? How can we find out what generation are what?

Googling brought up many manufacturers but no explanations or charts of what gen panels are - can anyone explain please? (or better, point me to a chart)

Thanks a lot

 

[xtknight]

A newer generation generally means different size LCD glass but I'm not completely sure. I do know with each new generation they can build bigger and bigger LCD panels. As far as I know, a new generation is usually just a new way of automating things, not necessarily improvements in the end product, though that it may yield that eventually. For example, instead of somebody themselves putting a color filter over the substrate by hand, it's done by a robot. Obviously just an example, I have no clue if a human or robot does it currently.

 

[A5]

Yeah - the generations refer to manufacturing technologies. Essentially, each new generation means cheaper panels.

 

[KristopherKubicki]

It just means the glass size.

Kristopher

 

[MadAd]

Thanks everyone, Kris im sure has the definitive answer there, thanks for the reply Kris however does that mean that say a G7 plant will only make glass in size X and if a company produces a range of say, 27" 32" 40" 48" screens, would the 27" come from an older G plant than say, the 48" screen? If it only means glass size then any improvements on the overall design (eg better film rolling, improvements to scaling/tuners etc) would be retrospectivly applied to all sizes (generations) as we go forward in model ranges? or would they?

So to get the latest generation screen youd have to buy a monster? What about G's across Plasma and LCD plants? Since LCDs have traditionally lagged behind plasmas in size on the marketplace, are the generations comparable or do all the say, 37" screens, plasma or lcd, come out of the same G plant? Perhaps plasma and lcd production is mutually exclusive?


I guess as time goes on more and more people will ask questions like this and more faq and primer type pages will go up to explain the progress in panel technology but at the moment its all company babble which makes it hard for the average user to understand what we get for our money.

 

[zephyrprime]

I believe the difference between the generations is the size of the glass that is used. As far as I know, a regular panel is just one piece of a really large panel of glass. Having a larger piece of glass is beneficial because it allows you to make more LCDs at a time. Also, I believe that the only LCDs that are made on a single piece of glass are the really big ones. Even if you have a small panel, it could be from a generation 8 plant because multiple small panelscome from one big sheet of glass.

 

[MadAd]

of course, cut small ones out of a bigger piece, duh! That makes complete sense, ty

So thats it, the mystery is almost unravelled - finding out what size glass is what generation is just icing on the cake now, ty all for your help