Viewscreen
A viewscreen (or main viewing screen, main screen, or main viewer) was an audio/visual device used as early as the 2150s aboard starships, space stations, and at planetary facilities by space-faring organizations including Starfleet, the Borg Collective, the Cardassian Union, the Klingon Empire, and the Romulan Star Empire.

These devices were used to display various types of images from sensor data and communications signals.

General specifications

Generally consisting of a large screen or window located on the bridge of a starship (or operations center of a space station or starbase), the viewscreen was an almost universal facet of space exploration and colonization dating as far back as the 22nd century, surviving well into the 23rd and 24th centuries.

Typically used to display images of the area immediately around or in front of a starship, the viewscreen could provide views from all directions, as well as call up data from the library computer. It was also essential in ship-to-ship communication, allowing face-to-face conference if so desired, utilizing subspace and other communications systems. 

Visual contact, however, could only be achieved when in visual range. Intra-ship communications were also possible, though the main viewer was rarely used for this function. (; ; ; ; ) 

When necessary, the image on the viewscreen could be magnified – 24th century starships easily gaining a magnification of 106. The image could also be augmented, with the ship's computer displaying extrapolated images or graphics displaying sensor data. (; ; )

Starfleet

Freedom-class

Installed aboard early Starfleet vessels including  starships, the viewscreen was a rectangular window located on the front bulkhead of the main bridge. Rectangular in shape, the window provided a wide screen view of the exterior space before the ship. Computerized and processed data, such as speed and schematics, could be projected or combined with the view. ()

NX-class

Installed as early as 2151 for  starships, the main viewer aboard these vessels provided a wide screen view of the space around the ship, as well as visual communications. They were capable of processing multiple inputs simultaneously, as was sometimes seen when two or more parties wished to have a joint conversation with Enterprise.

In the year 2152, the crew of  mounted a sophisticated sensor on the grappler arm allowing their sensors to detect and display onscreen cloaked Suliban and Romulan vessels. ()

Kelvin-type

 ships in service during the 2230s were still using window/viewscreen hybrids similar to the earlier . They had three windows for exterior view that could have computer data projected on it. The windows also had digital blinds and could be polarized. ()

Walker-class 

By 2249, Starfleet continued using the window-style viewscreen first used on the Freedom-class starships. Very similar to the Kelvin-type viewers, the  version was also split into three sections. Information could be displayed such as damage reports and incoming enemy ships and was capable of ship to ship communications. The viewer could enhance images that have been scanned by the ships scanners. The windows had a blue tint to them. ()

Crossfield-class 

Continuing a similar style to the Walker-class, the viewer on  ships featured a large window with blue tint around the edges. Unlike the Walker-class it was only a single window and not speared into sections. As part of the 's refit in 3189, programmable matter was integrated into the viewscreen, allowing the computerized overlay to display in 3D. ()

Constitution-class

Returning to the same basic shape of the 22nd century viewscreen, the main viewer utilized aboard such 23rd century Starfleet vessels as the   was mounted at the front of the main bridge and was generally rectangular in shape.

Though a smaller viewscreen (utilized as early as 2254) would be supplanted by a larger one in 2266, the viewscreen aboard the Constitution-class vessel generally displayed images with a blue outline and featured a number of controls mounted to the left and right of the monitor. In 2257, the  was seen with a window-style viewscreen similar to the Crossfield-class. ()

Capable of the same function as previous versions, this viewscreen model could also be used to display sensor data from within the starship, call up cross sectional diagrams of the ship itself, and display data re-routed from other stations. (; ; )

Alternate reality

In the alternate reality caused by Nero's temporal incursion, the 's viewscreen continued the Freedom-class design up to, at least, 2263. The viewer was a single, large window roughly 25 feet wide and 10 feet high that peered out to the top of the primary hull's forward section and into space. Images, video and data could be projected on it. (; ; )

{{bginfo|Screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman created the combination window/viewscreen in order to justify the placement of the bridge at the top of the ship: "...it was based on the odd fact that, although the bridge didn't usually have a window, it was nonetheless situated, much like a naval ship, at a high look out vantage point (which, by the way, seems unnecessarily vulnerable to attack). Rather than move the bridge, we added a window to justify its location." }}

Constitution-class refit

During its refit in 2270, a new viewscreen was placed on the bridge of the Enterprise, this one much larger and sometimes utilized to display alert status. By 2293, refit Constitution-class starships incorporated a digital clock mounted at the top of the screen. When the ship was moored in spacedock, the inactive viewscreen displayed a generic graphic. (; )

Galaxy-class

As early as 2364, Federation vessels including  starships employed holographic viewscreens.

While not projecting solid holographic images, the viewscreen installed on the main bridge of such vessels as the  displayed three-dimensional images, as though observing the image with the naked eye.

Larger than that of the Constitution- or  starships, the viewscreen aboard the Galaxy-class starship featured touch-sensitive controls at the bottom of the screen. Using high resolution, multi-spectral imaging sensor systems and could also be controlled from a panel on the right arm of the command chair or at the ops or tactical stations. ()Galaxy-class starships also had a smaller viewscreen located on the battle bridge. ()

Defiant-class

The viewscreen on  starships was much smaller than those on its contemporary Starfleet vessels to accommodate the limited space on the bridge and was trapezoid in shape.

Intrepid-class

By the year 2371,  starships such as the  were equipped with viewscreens also employing holographic technology.

Slightly smaller in size, the Intrepid-class viewscreen also differed from those of the Galaxy-class in that a hologrid was present behind the displayed image. When damaged or deactivated, a hologrid, much like that in the ship's holodeck, appeared on the bulkhead. ()

Sovereign-class

One of the more unusual viewscreen designs of the 24th century, the main viewer aboard the   utilized a holographic image projected onto the front bulkhead of the main bridge.

While most viewscreens aboard Federation vessels of the era did use holographic technology, the images they displayed were generally projected within a clearly defined screen area. Not so aboard the Enterprise-E, with the viewscreen appearing from only a small area of projection systems near the floor of the forward bulkhead. When deactivated, the image projected disappeared, leaving only a blank wall in its place. ()

By 2375, however, such technology was replaced with a standard format viewscreen installed aboard the Enterprise-E, lasting through 2379 until the forward section of the bridge was destroyed during the Battle in the Bassen Rift. (; )

 California-class 

The California-class' viewscreen consisted of a large window and computerized overlay. Unusually, the overlay filled the screen while in use, completely obscuring the window view. () However, after a minor refit, the viewscreen on the  only displayed overlays on parts of the screen. ()

When the viewscreen was deactivated it became opaque on the  while it remained transparent on the . ()

 Inquiry-class 

In 2399,  starships such as the  utilized a type of viewscreen similar to that of the earlier Walker and Crossfield classes, with a large window and computerized overlay. ()

Borg

Borg cubes were equipped with special viewscreen technology, projecting images onto four free-floating square screens in a cube-shaped pattern somewhere within the ship.

Such a viewer was utilized by Locutus of Borg during the Borg incursion into Sector 001 in 2367. (; )

Cardassian

During the 24th century, starships and space stations constructed by the Cardassian Union utilized unique, holographically projected viewscreens.

Installed aboard  warships and Terok and Empok Nor-type stations, these Cardassian viewers consisted of hollow, oval-shaped frames. Images were projected into these frames, then disappeared when the viewer was deactivated.

This same technology was employed in the construction of Cardassian-type viewers. ()

The operations center aboard Deep Space 9 featured a large viewscreen placed on a wall, which allowed viewing from everywhere in ops. ()

Quark's had the option for a large Cardassian-style viewscreen to be placed directly in front of the large glass mural in the bar. ()

Dominion

Jem'Hadar ships eschewed traditional viewscreens for a virtual sensory display. Instead of occupying the forward wall of the bridge, the "viewscreen" was in fact a display within portable headsets (which only the Vorta supervisor and Jem'Hadar  were allowed to use). The headset was not well-tolerated by Humans, who could typically wear it only for short periods. Cardassians, by contrast, were shown to have similar tolerances to Jem'Hadar and Vorta. ()

Klingon

As with many things Klingon, viewscreens installed aboard Klingon starships including Birds-of-Prey,  warships, and  vessels were distinguished by angular shapes.

Performing the same basic function as their Federation counterparts, 23rd century Klingon viewscreens aboard such ships as the  were able to display tactical information in graphic and photographic formats. (; ; )

Romulan

Viewscreens aboard Romulan starships, including  warbirds functioned very much like their alien counterparts during the 24th century.

Consisting of screens smaller than those used by the Federation and Klingon Empire, Romulan viewscreens (like that of the ) were rounded-off square shapes, accented with green rectangles at the top of the monitor.

As with most starships, the viewscreen was mounted on the forward bulkhead of the main bridge aboard Romulan vessels. ()

The Narada, a Romulan mining vessel, did not appear to have a centralized viewscreen. ()

Vulcan

Civilian vessels

Some civilian vessels, such as La Sirena, featured a window style viewscreen on the front of the ship, used to display tactical, navigational information as well as communications. ()

By the 32nd century, starships like Booker's ship had large window style viewscreens that wrapped around one side of the bridge with a blue tint to them similar to  and  ships. The screen could display incoming projectiles and was capable for ship to ship communication. ()

 Appendices 
 See also 
Holo-communicator
Viewer
Desktop viewer

 Background information 

In early design drafts for both the  and the , the designers contemplated eliminating the viewscreen entirely. Attempts such as the holo-communicator in  and the suspended-in-mid-air viewer in First Contact were made, but ultimately gave way to tradition. The viewscreen was considered an important staple of the Star Trek universe.

Beginning with the 2009  film, the traditional viewscreen was phased out in favor of a large window (or set of windows) with a digital overlay. This type of viewscreen has been featured on every Starfleet vessel appearing on screen since then, including being retconned onto the original .

The  viewscreen was re-used as the viewscreen of the U.A.P. Icarus in Jonathan Frakes' Star Trek spoof Star Patrol!''.

External link 
 

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Communications technology