Viewable image size

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

On a computer monitor, the viewable image size or VIS is the actual amount of screen space that is available to display a picture, without obstruction from the case or other aspects of the unit's design.

On cathode ray tube monitors, VIS differs noticeably from the full tube size, which is generally about 25 mm or one inch larger.

Liquid crystal displays use 100% of their surface to display, thus the VIS is the actual size presented to the viewer.

In the U.S., manufacturers and retailers are allowed to list the tube size, which is misleading and confusing to many customers, especially when comparing both CRT and LCD models together. In many other countries, this practice is prohibited by consumer-protection laws.

The viewable image size (often measured in inches or millimeters) is sometimes called the "physical image size", to distinguish it from the "logical image size" ( display resolution ) (measured in pixels) of various computer display standards.

Further confusion can result from listing the diagonal measurement of a monitor, as the actual viewable area is also dependent on the aspect ratio of the monitor. Below is a helpful chart of some common sizes of LCDs with varying aspect ratios and their actual viewable area.

If the diagonal is D, and the aspect ratio is W:H then the dimensions can be calculated as follows:

$height=\sqrt{\frac{D^2 \times H^2}{W^2+H^2}}$

$width=\frac{W}{H} \times height$

Width, height and viewable area from diagonal measurement and aspect ratio, rounded to centimetres
(in)	(cm)	w (cm)	h (cm)	A (cm²)	w (cm)	h (cm)	A (cm²)	w (cm)	h (cm)	A (cm²)	w (cm)	h (cm)	A (cm²)
Diameter		5:4			4:3			8:5			16:9
7	18	14	11	154	14	11	152	15	9	142	15	9	135
10	25	20	16	315	20	15	310	22	13	290	22	12	276
11	28	22	17	381	22	17	375	24	15	351	24	14	334
14	36	28	22	617	28	21	607	30	19	568	31	17	540
15	38	30	24	708	30	23	697	32	20	652	33	19	620
17	43	34	27	910	35	26	895	37	23	838	38	21	797
19	48	38	30	1136	39	29	1118	41	26	1047	42	24	995
20	51	40	32	1259	41	30	1239	43	27	1160	44	25	1103
21	53	42	33	1388	43	32	1366	45	28	1279	46	26	1216
22	56	44	35	1523	45	34	1499	47	30	1403	49	27	1334
23	58	46	36	1665	47	35	1638	50	31	1534	51	29	1458
24	61	48	38	1813	49	37	1784	52	32	1670	53	30	1588
25	64	50	40	1967	51	38	1935	54	34	1812	55	31	1723
26	66	52	41	2127	53	40	2093	56	35	1960	58	32	1864
27	69	54	43	2294	55	41	2258	58	36	2114	60	34	2010
28	71	56	44	2467	57	43	2428	60	38	2273	62	35	2161
29	74	58	46	2647	59	44	2604	62	39	2439	64	36	2318
30	76	60	48	2832	61	46	2787	65	40	2610	66	37	2481
31	79	61	49	3024	63	47	2976	67	42	2787	69	39	2649
32	81	63	51	3223	65	49	3171	69	43	2969	71	40	2823
33	84	65	52	3427	67	50	3372	71	44	3158	73	41	3002
34	86	67	54	3638	69	52	3580	73	46	3352	75	42	3187
35	89	69	56	3855	71	53	3794	75	47	3552	77	44	3377
36	91	71	57	4079	73	55	4013	78	48	3758	80	45	3573
37	94	73	59	4308	75	56	4239	80	50	3970	82	46	3774
38	97	75	60	4544	77	58	4472	82	51	4187	84	47	3981
39	99	77	62	4787	79	59	4710	84	53	4410	86	49	4193
40	102	79	63	5035	81	61	4955	86	54	4639	89	50	4411
41	104	81	65	5290	83	62	5206	88	55	4874	91	51	4634
42	107	83	67	5552	85	64	5463	90	57	5115	93	52	4863
43	109	85	68	5819	87	66	5726	93	58	5361	95	54	5097
44	112	87	70	6093	89	67	5995	95	59	5614	97	55	5337
45	114	89	71	6373	91	69	6271	97	61	5872	100	56	5582