32-Bit Color and Monitors

[xbnmx]

Someone around here said that LCD monitors can't display 32-Bit color, even though you can select it in the display properties, is this true?

[WayneHu]

So?

Can you find any VGA adapter that can send 32bit color signal to the monitor via DB-15 or DVI-I ?

[xbnmx]

Umm...

Any modern VGA adapter...

[Wombat]

Nope. VGA does 24 bit color. 8-bits for red/green/blue, converted to analog before they go to the monitor.

[xbnmx]

?

So what does it mean when a videocard claims to have 32-Bit color?

[Wombat]

Generally, the same thing as claiming 24-bit color. 8 bits for red/green/blue.
If the video card has the space, it's better to put this data in

xxxxxRED xxxGREEN xxxxBLUE xEMPTYXX
xxxxxRED xxxGREEN xxxxBLUE xEMPTYXX

So that it can be addressed faster than trying to cram all the data in as tight as possible. Some image formats use those spare 8 bits for an alpha channel, but that's not what we're talking about here.

[Maggi]

the 4th 8bits can be used as an alpha channel (256 shades of grey) in order to represent transparencies ...