What is the black horizontal line on my par monitor?
\par \par The thin black horizontal line visable about two thirds of the \par way down some displays is a restraining wire characteristic of \par Trinitron screens. Most PC monitors use ‘shadow mask’ grills with \par tri-dots through which the coloured phosphors emit their light \par (this is where dot pitch comes from- a measure of the proximity \par of these dots). Trinitron monitors- more commonly sold with Macs- \par used a vertical wire grill instead (the proximity of the wires to \par each other being the strip pitch). This technology produces a \par conical screen shape, which appears flatter to the eye than does \par the spherical shape typical of shadow mask monitors. The ‘cost’ \par of this screen flatness is however the visable restraing wire. In \par practice it is usually only noticable against a white background.
