TFT/LCD Monitors

[Ant1981]

I'm in the market for one of these or two, as I want a dual monitor set up. I had a thread about this a long time ago, which I can't find, but as I'm now in the market, I thought I'd try this one, with a few more things.

I'm apprehensive about the flat panels, namely due to colours, contrast and speed. Have always used CRT monitors for years.

Things I've been told, go for high contrast ratios, 2000:1 is better than 1000:1. The better monitors that have the better panels such as PVA/MVA or S-IPS panels are the ones to go for, for absoulte quality and will be viewabe at angles of 178/178 and get very expensive, such as the NEC MultiSync® 24WMGX³.

I want good blacks, good colours, good contrasts. I want one that will be pleasing for a gamer, photos etc.

The problem I have is that with monitors, it's not often you'll find alot on display at a store to see what there is. Usually only the cheaper ones on display that don't look all that good.

Can anybody point me in the right direction here? What can you reccomend, what do you have, what do you think of it? If you were buying again, what would you buy?

[darco]

I've had a Dell 2005FPW at home for the past 3 years and I'm still impressed with how good it looks.

I recently shopped around for a 24" for work. My first purchase was a Samsung 2443BW that was on sale at the local store for around $200CAN, and I had to return it. I just wasn't able to get a picture anywhere comparable to my Dell. The colors were washed out.

I ended up getting a Dell 2408FPW, and again, very satisfied. They will run you a bit more than your average 24" panel (around $500CAN), but I think you get what you pay for. I don't know about Dell in England, but in Canada, their panels often go on sale. You can usually get a 20-30% off sale if you're patient enough.

[Algiman]

I've been using a pair of Hanns-G HW191D screens for a while now. They've been excellent value.

[dougj7]

I'm using dual gateway 19" widescreens with a nvidia 8800gt. One monitor is a FPD1976W and one is a FPD1975W. The only difference between the two monitors is that one is glossy and one is antiglare. They are set to 1440x900 Resolution.

[newbieguitarmaker]

I love my BenQ FP241vw, just I'd like some more options on adjusting it. But I like having component, hdmi, dvi and other inputs in it.

What I learned is that 22" screens generally have the cheaper panels so go below that or above that if you want the best of the best.

This helps
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/specs.htm

[jemsite]

if you're doing industry specific video stuff then you need to look at pro 10-bit monitors from Eizo or Lacie like this
http://www.vistek.ca/store/ProPhotoD...bit-whood.aspx

any decent consumer LCD panel will be very good. i can't imagine your current CRT being very good for gaming vs an LCD. Not sure what's sold overseas but check contrast ratio, panel type & refresh. They're all basically 8-bit and most similar sized monitors are the same actual panel.


all newer LCDs have good view angles, but what do you need severe view angles for a PC monitor? TV on the wall, sure but desktop monitor?

also you might find a 24-26" 1920x1200 panel more useful than two smaller 19" 1440x900. I don't like 1440x900 at all myself, except for 14" laptop. just not enough resolution on one continuous space. YMMV... glen

[dex]

Any brand name LCD monitor you buy today (unless we're talking no brand name £79 ASDA special) is going to be good enough colour and response wise.

What sort of size and budget are we talking?

If you can stretch to £215 get this

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149662

Unless you have very specific requirements where you need a second monitor just get one of these Dell monitors and call it a day.

If you need two monitors get two 22" monitors (should be able to get 2 for around £250) just make sure they have DVI-D in so something like this.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151862

Then just play with the colour settings until you're happy and call it a day.

[dex]

Just noticed people are slating the LG monitors I posted a link to, unless you're going to use them in total darkness you won't notice any light bleed or lack of contrast.

[Clint Fastfood]

Hey,

just got myself a Samsung SyncMaster T220 Widescreen LCD and I'm glad i chose to buy that one.
It's got a 20.000:1 resolution and about 2ms response time.

I also like the fact, that you can turn every option like color, contrast etc. on "Dynamic" so it'll adjust itself to what's displayed on the screen, I don't know how common that is among LCDs though, since my last monitors were CRTs aswell.

However, it's quite cheap (225€ here in Germany) so it might be worth a look.

[Ant1981]

Thanks for the responses guys. Exactly what I wanted to see what people were using.

Generally, I'll pay what it takes. I have seen all sorts out there. Of what I have seen, that costs £100 and something or even £200 and something is a load of crap out. I've seen nothing that can match a CRT at the moment, since CRT is pure rays of light. I looked at what was on display at PC World and just thought to myself, there's no way I could have that on my desktop. Also I saw the Samsung T220 and T240 on display and was not impressed at all.

There are a few out there costing £400-£600 which have the spec that is supposed to be the good ones. I'll have to see if I can see before I buy, of the ones with the higher spec.

Things I have noted are that with a viewing angle of 178/178, image and colour will be more clearer. It's not necessarily that I want to be at an angle, but with two monitors it's something to consider. I'm looking for two 22-24" at least, as to display the work I need at once, one larger screen that would fit on the desk still wouldn't fit what I want displayed. Also not all screens use the same panel, even if they are the same size or not. Most consumer screens use the TN active matrix panel where as the more costly ones use PVA/MVA or S-IPS active matrix panels that are supposed to be alot better, the kind of spec I may be looking for.

[dex]

One thing to note is that PC World run 10 different monitors from the same PC none at the optimal resolution and none calibrated.

Not even the DELL and HP PCs in a box are running the optimal resolution, for some reason PC World only employ muppets who don't even know how to select the resolution the monitor is supposed to be running at.

At the correct resolution (also known as optimal resolution) today's LCD monitors are pin sharp and do colours very well.
Unless you have a side by side comparison or posses the visual equivalent of perfect pitch (i.e. can distinguish between thousands of colours without reference) you will not be able to tell the difference.
Honest.

[Ant1981]

So I go and buy the NEC Multisync 24WMGX3. I cannot believe the dead pixels on a screen of this price. It shall be going back!

[newbieguitarmaker]

You must be bad luck, I know plenty of people with NEC's and they didn't have dead pixels

[Ant1981]

It's class two in terms of tolerance, one of the clusters is pretty big really, you can notice it quite well. I've read that there are programs you can run to bring the dead pixel alive again. I wonder if they work.

[newbieguitarmaker]

Sometimes the programs work, other times they don't. I had to fix a friend's screen once and I ran it and ran it, and it never worked. Then like a month later the pixel just fixed. Weird business with those dead/stuck pixels