HDTV Image Gallery HDTV Image Gallery  A Sharp Triple-
directional viewing LCD panel. Depending on the direction from
which you're viewing it, you can see one of three different
images. See more HDTV pictures.  Image courtesy Sharp
Corporation  You probably use items containing an LCD (liquid
crystal display) every day. They are all around us -- in laptop
computers, digital clocks and watches, microwave ovens, CD
players and many other electronic devices. LCDs are common
because they offer some real advantages over other display
technologies. They are thinner and lighter and draw much less
power than cathode ray tubes (CRTs), for example.  But just what
are these things called liquid crystals? The name "liquid
crystal" sounds like a contradiction. We think of a crystal as a
solid material like quartz, usually as hard as rock, and a
liquid is obviously different. How could any material combine
the two?  We learned in school that there are three common
states of matter: solid, liquid or gaseous. Solids act the w