Selecting a LCD Monitor?

[Brosco]

I would really appreciate some help in selecting a LCD monitor for my PC.

I live in a small flat, and so my PC is my entire entertainment system - music, TV (DVB), DVD player, etc.

Sitting at my desk, the monitor/pc is mainly used for Internet - but when I go bed, I turn my monitor around to face the bed so that I can watch TV for a while. Currently my 17" monitor is just a little too small to watch from the extra distance - its fine for movies except say, if there are subtitles - I can read them but I have to strain a little. I am on a budget and so I think that a 19" should do the trick.

Q1: 19" does mean the size of the diagonal just as it did for TVs?
Q2: I am not a gamer - so the most demanding use of the screen is dvb-tv (card in the puter) and dvd playback - so is a 5ms response time fast enough - or should I find the extra $$$ for 2ms?
Q3: Would TFT have much significance for me. From what I have read the main benifit is possibly a longer lasting monitor - are there other significant issues?
Q4: My video card does have a DVI out as well as the older VGA. Does this make a significant difference? or can I save a few bucks by getting a monitor that only has VGA? (I probably wont - this is more curiousity)
Q5: My video card has 256MB of memory, but can be upgraded to 512MB (its a 7300gs) - would this have any significance for my use?

Any other considerations?


Searching the net on questions like this the advice was all rather vague. The most common advice was to go to a computer store and find one that seems to look good to your own eyes. Maybe I don't have a discerning eye, as all monitors on display looked fine to me. And because of my budget limitations I will be buying off ebay - so I will be relying more from technical specs rather than visual assessment.


Additional info: Intel P4 3.3ghz - 512MB memory - WinXP-pro-sp1

I apologise if there is a guide or similar questions posted here - I did some searches and didn't find anything.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Brosco

[Krispy Kritter]

In a nutshell, for everyday use, any of the current LCD's will suit you just fine. Gaming is about the only reason to get picky of types and specs of current screens. Most of the current models can play games fine without the refresh/ghosting issues many of the earlier models suffered from.

Most LCD screens have dual input (VGA and DVI). If given the choice, stick with DVI.

[Soopafresh]

Q4: My video card does have a DVI out as well as the older VGA. Does this make a significant difference? or can I save a few bucks by getting a monitor that only has VGA? (I probably wont - this is more curiousity)

DVI looks much clearer. You might wish to consider a wide screen flat panel monitor if you're watching TV on it. Dunno about the availability of certain brands in Oz, but Samsung and LG make pretty good monitors. The Samsung 245BW has a really great, very bright and vibrant display. Been running one at work for the past 4 months. Everyone loves the image. Around $500 US. Worth the dough, however. You use your system for several purposes - invest the $, you won't regret it

http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/detail/detail.do?group=computersperipherals&type=mo...LS24HUBCFV/XAA

[wulf109]

LCD's produce a smaller image. A 19" WS would have picture height about equal to your 17" CRT. If you want a larger picture in standard 4:3 you need something larger than 19" WS LCD. Also if you were running 1280x1024 you'll also get "shorter" image.Most 19"WS LCD's being 1440x900. FYI

[rallynavvie]

LCD's produce a smaller image. A 19" WS would have picture height about equal to your 17" CRT. If you want a larger picture in standard 4:3 you need something larger than 19" WS LCD. Also if you were running 1280x1024 you'll also get "shorter" image.Most 19"WS LCD's being 1440x900. FYI

That is if he meant a widescreen LCD.

If you can afford it I'd look at getting a 22" widescreen. I've seen some sales on them at local retailers that had great pricing on them. They'll have about the same vertical picture as a 19" but you'll be able to watch widescreen DVDs in a better (larger) format.

Don't bother with the extra memory on your video card, it's really only useful for games. I would check to make sure you're using an MPEG2 codec that supports the hardware decoding that's built in to your card though. An easy way to check is to play a DVD and watch your CPU use. It should only require 1-3% CPU utilization when playing MPEG2 if the card is doing the decoding.

Another thing you may want to consider is using both monitors if your current one is in good shape. Your card may have a VGA and DVI port and you should be able to use both at the same time. I often watch TV on one screen while working on the other.

[edDV]

I'll add a vote for Samsung. I got the 226BW (LCD 22" wide screen). It has good blacks, 2ms response and HDCP. HDCP here allows it to be fed at 720p directly from a cable or sat box over DVI. The monitor properly scales 720p to it's native 1650x1050 display resolution. I haven't tried a 1080p source yet.

[videobread]

Samsung makes 80% of the screens on the market no matter who puts their name on them. They are now the industry leader. I lucked out and bought a Samsung 42" plasma HD TV about a year and a half ago and love it.

[Brosco]

Thanks for all the great advice here - its truly appreciated.

I use PowerDVD to play DVDs and in the Config section it seems to recognize my video card and CPU usage during playback varies between 3-10% - not quite as low as mentioned above, but seems OK to me.

Thanks for the thought about dual monitors. I had not considered that option. I hadn't realised that the DVI and VGA connectors would support independant monitors simultaneously. That would certainly be a bonus which would work extremely well for my usage.

In looking in Windows' Settings just one monitor shows - which I guess this is because I have only one monitor available for now. If it allows my to configure 2 once I buy the LCD I will will be delighted.

Also while looking at the settings there was one thing that bothered me. There is an option to display 'All available resolutions' (on the adapters tab). While it has a very large range available, it does not include some of the precise preset resolutions of some of LCDs I have been considering. Is this list only showing what resolutions are available for my existing monitor (it is plug and play and recognised by windows) or is it showing the complete list that the graphics card supports? - and thus I should restrict my choice to an lcd with a resolution in the list?

Thanks for the comments about the picture size on a lcd widescreen - it appears that I should spend the extra and go for a 22" - while a 19" might suffice for now, it would certainly be a minimal solution and thus would find myself wanting to upgrade again in a few months.

Thanks again for all the help and suggestions - I am confident they have prevented me from making some disappointing decisions.

Regards to all

[rallynavvie]

Also while looking at the settings there was one thing that bothered me. There is an option to display 'All available resolutions' (on the adapters tab). While it has a very large range available, it does not include some of the precise preset resolutions of some of LCDs I have been considering. Is this list only showing what resolutions are available for my existing monitor (it is plug and play and recognised by windows) or is it showing the complete list that the graphics card supports? - and thus I should restrict my choice to an lcd with a resolution in the list?

This should be resolved either when you plug in your new monitor for the first time or with a driver update for your video card.

I would hope the 7300 can support two monitors. The mobile version of the 7400 I have on my laptop allows me to use the onboard LCD and attach an external monitor and run both independently of the other.

[TBoneit]

LCD's produce a smaller image. A 19" WS would have picture height about equal to your 17" CRT. If you want a larger picture in standard 4:3 you need something larger than 19" WS LCD. Also if you were running 1280x1024 you'll also get "shorter" image.Most 19"WS LCD's being 1440x900. FYI

I'll gently disagree with that statement as 4:3 19" LCDs also exist.

a 19" CRT will approx 18" diag., whereas a 19" LCD will be 19" Diag.

The thing to think about is are you only watching 4:3 content? then a 4:3 LCD will be better for you. If however you are watching more Widescreen then a 16:9 will be much better for you.

[edDV]

Another consideration, a 22" wide screen has approximately the same vertical height and type size as a 19" 4:3.

Resolution pairings would be

1366x768 (wide) vs. 1024x768 (4:3)
1650x1050 (wide) vs. 1280x1024 (4:3)

[Brosco]

Again I thank all for the feedback.

At first I thought I was asking a very simplistic question - something that could be taken for granted - but as I read the answers it clearly is no where near as simple as I thought.

I know I have recieved lots of food for thought from these answers and will hopefully make a more intelligent choice. I hope others also benifited from the answers - spending a few hundred dollars on a flatscreen warrants some research - and this forum has provided more info than the many pages returned by a google search.

A very sincere thanks to all that responded

Brosco

[jollyjohn]

After reading some brands' specs on google I decided on a "Chimey" 19'' WS 2MS $232.00 from msy.com.au. It came with a 7 day bright and dead pixel guarrantee. I'm very happy with it.