Video Asylum

Posted by David Aiken (A) on April 01, 2010 at 16:12:24

In Reply to: RE: Sharp's new AQUOS with red, green, blue, and YELLOW pixels posted by Brian A on April 01, 2010 at 14:38:43

I haven't seen it but I do have a book on colour in interior decoration. In the appendixes it has a section entitled "How Colour Works" which describes 4 different colour models including the 4 colour RGBY model you refer to which was apparently formulated in 1878 by a German physiologist Ewald Hering. It actually has two 3 colour models, RGB and yellow/red/blue, the 4 colour model you mention, and another 4 colour model, the CMYK model which can be modified into a 6 colour model called Hexachrome by the addition of green and orange to the original 4 colours of cyan, magenta, yellow and black.

As to which model is better, I have no idea. My book indicates that the RGBY model has some advantages when it comes to colour choices for purposes like decoration since it yields a different set of secondary and complementary colours than does a 3 colour model but that doesn't necessarily mean it will be more accurate when used for video technology. A lot of printing apparently uses CMYK but Hexachrome is apparently superior to CMYK if you're prepared to accept the increase in complexity and cost.

A fourth pixel colour will make panel production more complex and probably more expensive as a result so even if the change does produce more accurate results there may well be arguments about the cost effectiveness of such an approach.



David Aiken