A given monitor or TV has a given range of scan rates (H&V) and a given video bandwidth, so there is a limit to the picture QUALITY that can be displayed on that monitor. You can, however, display either a progressive scan or interlace scan picture on the monitor, if it has SOME scan rate flexibility, and, flicker aside (which may or may not be an issue), the interlaced picture gives twice the vertical resolution in exchange for half the vertical frame rate (which can cause flicker, but won't necessarily). There are other variables also, for example the quality of the electron beam focus -- it does no good to successfully produce scan lines 1/20th of an inch apart if the electron beam is 1/10th of an inch in diameter, it will just smear everything together anyway. Related to this also, in a color system, is the physical characteristics of the color CRT's dot pitch or aperature grill size -- everything else aside, there is a limiting smallest item that a CRT can display (driving circuitry aside).
All of that said, however, in principle you can display any picture on any CRT, you just might not be able to see all of the detail; this is much more critical for computer graphics than it is for watching a football game, since the detail producing ability of almost any device will be sufficient to, for example, watch a football game or a soap opera, even if you don't see all of the detail (or even the full height or width) of the picture that is broadcast. |
