OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor??
 

I'm looking to buy a 19" LCD monitor, and I'm wondering what I need to know before buying. Things like response time, characteristics LCD's have that aren't issues with CRT monitors, pixel pitch, contrast ratio, resolution limitations, etc. I know very little about any of the above, so anything you can tell me, or any helpful websites you can point me to would be awesome. I'm not a techno-idiot, but just haven't looked into LCD's yet in my internet travels. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif Any opinions of optimal characteristics given would be very helpful as well. Thanks!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor
 

Usually future shop or tigerdirect.ca have some good technical primers on these kinds of things.

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor
 

One more thing; what are the big, trusted names in LCD's, and which brands should I avoid?

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor
 

I'd avoid Sony out of principle. Dell tends to make fairly good LCDs from what I gather.

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor
 

I have a Hyundai and it working well for me.

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor
 

Apple Cinema Display... they're puuuurrrdy.

I got a no-name Taiwainese LCD three years ago. It's served me pretty well, only issues are due to not handling it very well during transport (thumbprint sized dark spot, where the screen is a little darder, little scratches, etc). If you can find one that promises zero dead pixels, take it. Most will only take back an LCD if there are 8+ dead pixels. Also, I have yet to find any LCD that handles dark video well. Doom3 is already hard enough with a CRT, but in some places, the varying levels of darkness are imperceptable on an LCD. At times, something that's supposed to be absolutely black will be brighter than something that's supposed to be a color like navy blue. Just some things to consider...

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor
 

acer makes good ones. Just remember to check the native resolution and refresh rate

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor
 

I have a MAG innovision display. I am happy to say that I have 0 dead pixels.

Also, there's programs avaliable to fix the colors on a LCD. I used the Monitor Calibration Wizard and the colors on my monitor are now a lot crisper. Stuff that's supposed to be absolute black are actually absolute black on my screen, after running that program.

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor
 

Samsung make some pretty nice ones too, you can get a nice one with 700:1 contrast ratio & 4ms response time for around $460CAD. Or, if the response time isn't such a big issue for you, there's a 1000:1 constrast ratio with 8ms response time aronund $690CAD. Although the prices I'm quoting are conversions from GBP to CAD, so you can probably get them cheaper on your side of the Atlantic.

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor??
 

I noticed an LCD monitor on retail display that looked fairly good (I'm an LCD skeptic), but then I noticed that it had a very wide aspect ratio. Since LCD's don't seem to do very well at other than their native resolution, this sort of had me wondering how that was supposed to work with things other than wide-screen movies and desktop applications. In SE4, for example, I guess you'd just have a lot of black to the side(s) of the application... hopefully it wouldn't stretch everything.

I had also just seen some modern expensive TV's on display and I have yet to be impressed by those, either. They _were_ stretching things to fit their aspect ratio, which looked awful (welcome to the WIDE Wide Wide Wide World of Sports...), and like an LCD the display was dark unless viewed from just the right direction (which gets harder for a huge screen), and the resolution really doesn't impress me, especially with so much video these days being compressed digital for cable or DVD instead of analog, so more resolution gives a better view of how crappy the encoding and format are, with jaggy lines, pixelated movement, rectangular compression artifacts... crap, just give me a CRT.

PvK

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor??
 

hehe I have noticed this too, I go over to peoples houses and I am like this is all stretched out and then they are like "its widescreen". So I just shake my head and try not to care. No one has any idea how to even setup their own TV correctly anymore, its kinda sad http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor??
 

LOL! Ya, that can be an issue with DVD player settings too. No wonder some people "don't like letterbox" http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Apparently, some retail stores also don't know how to set up their TV's.

PvK

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor
 

We've bought two Samsungs in the last year, 930B and 940B. The only differences are cosmetic as far as I can tell. 930B has green LED with buttons on the bottom of the front of the screen. THe 940B has blue LED buttons on the front - which make the computer I built, but was completely unintentional.

The first monitor arrived with no problems from the store (Comp USA), the second I got from NewEgg, was DOA and had to have another one sent to me.

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor
 

With some of the comments tending towards a negative impression of LCD's (I don't have any experience with them), I'm now wondering if it's worth spending a few hundred dollars to switch from 17" CRT to 17" LCD. Besides space considerations, is the image quality actually better, with the possibility of dead pixels, etc? I guess I'm asking; Is it worth it??

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor
 

Image quality is generally worse, unless you are buying newer $1000 LCDs. There is no flicker, if that is a concern of CRT to you, and they use about one third as much power, or less. And forget about high resolution...

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor
 

My natural resolution is 1280x1024. I think that that's the perfect resolution. It's not too graphics-intensive, and it doesn't look blocky.

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor
 

Wow, that actually worked pretty good. It's easier to watch dark movies on mine now... Seems that the straight linear signal map was causing blues and reds to not become visible until around 10% brightness. Thanks for the link!

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor
 

No problem. That's what you find when you're bored, and tired of how your monitor works... It works for all monitors too, so try it on your CRT screen if you have one.

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor??
 

I just bought 50 Acer AL1914 LCD displays for the company I work for and am very happy with them. Only spent $270 each for them (1 year ago they would have been more than $500 each for them). However, I suggest you don't spend any extra for an LCD without getting a decent video card for them. It does absolutely make a difference IMO.

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor
 

I too was a skeptic, and for good reason, since early LCD's sucked ***. And I would assume, Fyron, that you don't have one.

I recently posted in another thread though, that both my CRT's crapped out ( I run a 2 monitor setup ) and I decided to do some research and "modernize." Fact: LCD's do have good resolution if you run them at their native resolution. Fact: They're nice and bright and use less power. Fact: With today's 8ms and 4ms refresh rates, the "ghosting factor" is becoming a non-issue.

I now have two Samsung 17" 740B's (black) with 0 dead pixels each. I spent less than 600 on the pair at Buy.com.
I'm happy with them and I have a crapload more room on my desk now.

T

EDIT: Just remembered about some news I heard concerning any LCD computer monitor over 17" not being a good idea. Something to do with the Native Resolution idea. I'll post a linky when I find it. ~T~

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor
 

I've seen a number of newer LCDs. The affordable ones aren't worth the money to me, since I do not like low resolutions. I can spend under $60 on a 19 inch CRT and comfortably run it at 1600x1200 or higher (maybe $80-100 for 21 inch CRT), or ~$300 on a low resolution 17 inch LCD. The $200 or so models are pretty crappy, not worth considering.

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor
 

I'm starting to really want to get an LCD panel as well. My eyes are starting to bug more and more when working on computers with CRT monitors, and I could really use the space on my desk at home. One of the computer labs at school just underwent a renovation and is now nicely loaded with widescreen panels that I think are really good, which is no good considering I don't really have $ to spend at this time. Ugh.

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor
 

Fyron, have you ever actually compared them side-by-side? Again, I say I bought 19" LCD's that are far superior to the CRT displays out today. And in high rez too.

The price difference is not as drastic or dramatic as you indicate unless you're comparing a new LCD to a 19" CRT coming off a lease.

I think you've been reading 2 year old magazine reviews again. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor
 

The price difference is certainly dramatic. There is no reason to throw money away on a new CRT when you can get perfectly working used CRTs that are just the same for dirt cheap from computer fairs or people looking to dump their old monitor after buying a LCD... Certainly you have to be careful not to buy a poorly refurbished monitor, but that is pretty easy to determine just by looking at it in action.

I haven't read any reviews on monitors, and wouldn't put much stock in them anyways. I have looked at CRTs and LCDs side by side. I have not seen a non-overly-expensive LCD that I could label as superior, much less to say far superior.

What resolution is your monitor supporting natively, and what was its price?

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor
 

LCD monitors have perfect geometry, easy on your eyes, cool to look at, crisp color, good contrast, and the picture on one is very precise. For gaming, it's great, I don't think you can get a better picture.

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor
 

If you buy an expensive LCD, yes. The same can be said about much cheaper CRTs.

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor
 

Fyron, you seemed to have your mind made up. That's OK, some prefer Dodge, some prefer Ford, some prefer Honda, etc., etc.

Since you asked, here is a CNET review of the AL1914 LCD:

http://shopper.cnet.com/Acer_AL1914_...-31383600.html

It has a native of 1280x1024 and I bought it for $264 except I got the black bezel version (the specs are identical). I have 3 other 19" CRT's and none of them are on my desk - only the LCD and IMO it was worth the extra money.

Re: OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor
 

See, I'm looking for at least 1600x1200 resolution, so the 1280x1024 models aren't cutting it. LCDs that can support high resolutions (where 1280x1024 is a medium resolution) are quite expensive. I think that may be the problem here. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif