Could the day when LCDs were finally able to overtake CRTs in sheer image quality be upon us? According to eCinema, their new "deep color" LCD not only meets the performance levels of a high quality CRT, but surpasses it in some aspects. Capable of supporting up to 48-bit color modes (currently using 36bit modes) and 4000 gray scales, it sounds capable of being able to produce rich colors and good gradients. The new beast also apparently has a contrast ratio of 30,000:1, more than 30 times the standard performance LCD screen. Last but not least, the LCD also apparently is able to do pure blacks with no issue, something that even some CRTs have difficulty with:
"It is well known that LCD displays did not until now produce the same deep blacks that were achievable when using a CRT. Color depth is, of course, the 8 bit bottleneck issue. Images on the screen – at the pixel level – are limited to a best-case of 256 levels between black and white. In other words, if you painted a gray scale you could, at most, see 256 steps. The reality of the matter is that due to calibration and gamma adjustments most displays can't do much better than about 200 steps between black and white."
Whether or not these claims have any merit is going to be completely up to the customer, and while many including myself still trust a CRT over an LCD for the quickest and most accurate imaging, LCDs are making great progress and soon may be the only choice for even gamers.