Screen door effect and fill factor
The share of each pixel's area that actually emits or reflects light. Gaps between pixels cause 'screen door effect' (SDE).
- Unit
- %
- Standard
- Vendor disclosure / microscopy
- ISO 21118
- Extension
- Better
- ↑ Higher
- Status
- Standard reference being re-verified
Resolution
Technology (sets an illustrative fill factor)
Fill factor (illustrative)
Screen diagonal
Seating distance
Pixel pitch (1080p, 16:9)
1.15 mm
87.2″ wide ÷ 1920
Pixel angle at your seat
1.59 arcmin
above 1 arcmin: individually resolvable at 20/20
Gap between pixels
0.26 mm
0.36 arcmin at 2.5 m
Show the numbers
| Formula | pitch = screen width ÷ horizontal pixels; angle = 2·atan(pitch ÷ 2d) |
|---|---|
| Gap model | lit area = fill factor; gap = pitch × (1 − √fill factor) per side pair |
| Fill factor presets | LCoS 93, DLP 90, 3LCD 80, single LCD 60 — illustrative; ordering LCoS > DLP > LCD from the spec registry |
| Acuity | 1 arcmin is the usual 20/20 figure; line gaps can be noticed below it, so this is a rule of thumb |
How to compare it
Fill factor / pixel gap(%)
LCoS > DLP > transmissive LCD. This only matters at a short seating distance relative to screen width, or on cheap LCDs.
Deep cut
Fill factor / pixel gap. Pixel shift partially hides SDE by filling the gaps. Native-1080p LCD at 100″ from 2.5 m is where SDE becomes visible.