Big But Poor I flew economy on Singapore Airlines, one of my favorite airlines, from SFO to ICN (Inchon, South Korea) and was pleasantly surprised to see that the LCD was rather large. I think it is about 10-inches. The last time I flew Singapore about 2 years ago the screens were 7-inches and the quality was quite poor. Unfortunately the 10-inch LCD was most likely a TN variety and exhibited extremely poor viewing angles. Although I was able to easily adjust the vertical angle by pulling the bottom portion of the LCD the viewing angles were quite poor. Colors were less than excellent too. Of course, Singapore Airlines need to watch its cost while providing acceptable technology but as a display guy I was disappointed. Despite the poor LCD quality I was able to enjoy four movies: Watchmen, The International, The Illusionist, and Duplicity.
Cover Plastic One more thing before I sign off and explore Seoul a bit. We landed at ICN on Tuesday and as I was walking through the business and first class sections, I noticed two things. One, the size of the LCD grew. I believe business class is 15.4-inches and first class is around 22-inches. But the problem was that the cover glass used weren’t glass at all–it was plastic. And because of that there were scratched on them that made them look cheap.
Quality So here is what I recommend: spend a bit more money and upgrade the plastic cover glass to real glass. Don’t worry; real glass won’t break easily. But it will add some weight, something airlines will need to be sensitive to. Second, I’m sure all LCDs on the plane were of the TN variety resulting in less-than-ideal viewing experiences. If you want customers to oooh and aaaah, have a look at IPS, PVA, MVA, or ASV LCD panels by LG Display, Samsung, AU Optronics/Chi Mei Optoelectronics or Sharp, respectively. If you work for Singapore Airlines and would like more help, please feel free to contact me.
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Anti-reflective coating + optical bonding; can mke a big difference on a standard TN panel. … Arent these upgrades supposed to be 16:9 …
The sizes (10-inch, 15.4-inch, 22-inch) are just guesses on my part. Since it probably takes a very long time to design into an aircraft like the 777, the LCD design is probably a couple of years old, at least. And that makes me think that these LCDs are PC-geared panels with a 16:10 aspect ratio. Again, just a guess. If anyone knows better please feel free to chime in.
Leonardo: Please share a bit more detail as to how anti-reflective coating and optical bonding can help improve color and viewing angles. I’m very curious. Thanks for the comment Leonardo!
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