LCD Monitor

[Peter H]

Hi Guys

i am in the market for an LCD monitor as our current monitor is going to god.

i have seen one at our local stor by Acer.

it is 17 inch with an 8 ms response time.

the only thing is that it hasnt got DVI it only has VGA.

does this matter?

is there any other considerations when looking at LCD monitors?

thanks

[waheed]

If your graphics card has DVI, then go for one with a DVI. DVI produces a sharper image than VGA.

(Unfortunately, when i bought my 17" TFT 3 years ago, I bought one with VGA only )

[guns1inger]

If your use this PC to do video work, my advice is to get a good CRT instead. LCD just doesn't cut it for quality - contrast is too low, they cannot display true black, they are soft and low definition devices. If you primarily use your PC for typing word documents, then lack of DVI won't matter. Personally, LCDs are great for office work, and poor for anything else (games, video etc). I still can't believe people are buying them as televisions.

[dipstick]

I agree with guns1inger.

I just bought a nice Laptop that I planned to do my Video editing on. I was surprised how poorly video was displayed on the 15.4" WideScreen it had during high action and panning. Fortunately iit allows you to use an external monitor, so I plan on hooking up a CRT to it when I do my Video and Image editing on it.

The other day, I was watching a video display on an LCD TV in Best Buy. I couldn't believe how poorly it looked when panning and during high action. The only time the picture was good, was when there was no action.

[andie41]

My experience (6 weeks) with my Samsung 713N is very positive. It also has 8ms response and 600:1 contrast and 300 cd/m2 brightness. If anything, it is too contrasty and I have turned it down to under 50%. As to level of black, mine is excellent- I see no problem.

I don't know about playing games, or problems with fast action/panning, as I generally don't watch movies on my computer; however I have watched recorded TV shows, music videos and edited my own video, without noticing any issue.

As to editing and working with video, unless it is to be viewed soley on the computer, the computer monitor (CRT or LCD) should not be used for more than general observation anyway.

I would certainly recommend looking carefully in the store and/or having the ability to return it, if unsatisfactory.

[Peter H]

My machine is really an all rounder.

i play a few games, view photos that i have taken and i am starting to dabble in video editing.

the spec of the monitor i am looking aat are

Display Size: 17" (338x270mm),
Dot Pitch: 0.264mm,
Resolution: 1280 x 1024,
Brightness: 300 cd⁄m,
Contrast Ratio: 500:1,
Max. Refresh Rate: 1280x1024@75Hz

we are really looking at the LCD because of space.

[Cobra]

You'll be fine with an LCD display. They've come a long way, and in my opinion have left CRTs behind. They're now just as bright, and provide equal contrast. They're flat, they are kind to the eyes, much more compact...

Of course, this is personal preference. I know other people who say CRTs are still the best, but I believe LCDs are easily the better technology. The first generation of LCDs were dogged by problems, but these have nearly all been cleared up.

I'm using a Sharp LL-T17A3-B just now, and have done for 18 months. It's a 17" monitor with a 25ms response time. I use it for everything - working with video, photos and when at university it doubles as my TV and DVD player. It's perfect. The monitor you are looking at is easily more advanced than mine.

With regards to VGA vs DVI, DVI is certainly a little better. My monitor supports VGA only, and if you look very closely you can see a "dancing" effect where colours seem to lighten and darken rapidly. You might well need a magnifying glass to see this - it's barely noticable to the naked eye, and certainly shouldn't put you off a VGA connection. The other monitor we have in the house is DVI. I don't notice a lot of difference, but upon very close inspection there is no distortion at all present. It's got a very slight edge, but not much of one. I wouldn't worry.

Why not take a look at an LCD beside a CRT, and decide for yourself?

[b1tchm4gn3t]

I went through the properties on my 128 mb Nvidia card and adjusted for 'overlay', which I am assuming is just for video and made a few minor adjustments and my lcd looks real good now. It actually looked quite well before. I guess LCD vs. CRT is a matter of personal preference. I know I wouldnt trade mine in for a CRT for many reasons.

[Epicurus8a]

I just bought an Envision 17" widescreen from Costco online. The picture quality is ok (not great). I wish I could have gotten a bigger screen, but I don't have enough space on my desk.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11043901&whse=BC&topnav=&cat=3316&hierPath=79*3316*