LCD vs. CRT viewable area?

I currently have a ViewSonic E790 (19" CRT, 18" viewable) and am thinking of finally switching to an LCD. I've been told that a 17" LCD would have the same viewable real estate as the 19" CRT– I figure that's because despite being an inch "smaller", the dimensions of the actual viewable are different?

My question is, if I did go from a 19" CRT to a 17" LCD, is that in fact "the same" viewable size or am I losing some space?

m19

 

LCDs are measured by viewable size only. So, a 17" LCD has 17" of viewable area.

Going from your 19" CRT, it would be 1" less.

 

Yeah, wyatt's right.

Go for a 19" LCD. It'll actually give you an extra inch. You can get some for under $200 after rebate last time I checked Newegg.

My eyes hurt a lot less when I use an LCD.

Check these out:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824179025
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824174033
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824014090
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824014117

Or if you have the extra money, this is a damned nice monitor for $299. I paid that for my regular 19" LCD a year ago.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824014105

 

Go with lcd and if your a gamer get one with tft because ones without it ghost the game screen and the ones with tft don't.

 

PS

Here's the one I've got. Works great for games and Photoshoppin'.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824168005

 

That's exactly what I'm going to use it for, "Photoshoppin' and gaming". I'm hesitant about the links you all've posted so far, as for the most part I've never heard of those brands– I was planning on sticking with ViewSonic (I've used their monitors for years, both at home and work). Some review-reading is in order, methinks.

m19

 

That doesn't mean anything. People tell me I'm using a crappy computer because they've never heard of it. It's an Acer, and their technical support is a lot better than the dealings I've had with Dell and HP. Maybe it's good that they spend their money on paying the technical support guys rather than million dollar TV advertisements.

But anyhow, I will admit that it was a bitch to get my rebate from FujiPlus. I had to call them several times; they kept assuring me it was on the way. Finally I ended up with a hand-written check, indicating that if I'd forgotten about the check, I would've never gotten one.

BenQ is a nice brand. They were pretty popular in Britain I believe before their American debut. BenQ makes excellent monitors and DVD burners, if you want to check those out. That widescreen BenQ is probably what I'd go for if I had to do it again. You want to look for something that has DVI (assuming you have a video card with DVI) as DVI gives a clearer picture.

Anything under 12ms response time will do fine, though some people swear you can tell a difference between 12ms and 8ms, mine is 12ms and I have no problems with games. You'll also want to look for TFT like the previous guy said. And lastly, this may sound stupid, but check out the stands on the LCDs. Mine doesn't move very freely. I'm lucky that I like it the way it is.

Viewsonic makes good monitors... Don't get me wrong. But they're more expensive than a BenQ, and from what I've seen, they aren't worth the extra money. Though it's your hard-earned money, so I won't try to dissuade you from buying what you want

However, you may also want to check out Acer, Samsung, Rosewill, Asus, and AOpen.

Hope this helps. Don't be afraid of the lesser-known. They all started out that way And by the way, don't put ALL of your faith (some, certainly, but not all) into Newegg's reviews. There are some helpful ones, but there are also just some... For lack of a better word, stupid people that post reviews.

Check into those, and you can look at a place like www.tomshardware.com for more information about LCDs. Get whatever you think has the best value for the price. Don't pay more just for a name. Newegg is pretty good about returns if you aren't satisfied.

Lastly, to end this novel I've typed up p) If you see an interesting monitor online, they may have it in a retail store where you can check it out in person. 99% of the time it will cost way more in the store, so I advise you against doing that-- but hey. You never know about that 1% of the time. BenQ, Acer, and Samsungs may be fairly easy to find in stores (CompUSA, Best Buy, etc.) if you want to see it in person. Just don't rule out anything yet!!

Good luck and happy LCD-hunting!

 

Askantik,

I've been reading up on that last monitor you linked to, the BenQ BenQ FP93G. I have to say I'm impressed by what I've been reading so far– not just on NE reviews but also several other sites' reviews, news, etc. on that one. Its specs seem to be right in line with what I'm looking for, and the price is pretty darn good too. Does anyone here have a BenQ FP93G and can vouch for it with personal experience? I'm going to see if I can find it in-store somewhere to actually play around a bit with it, see how I like it in person.

One other question– I see refresh rates are listed on NE's specs for each monitor, but they're all awfully low. I'm used to 100-110 on my CRT; do refresh rates not matter on LCDs, given the low(er) numbers I've been seeing?

m19

 

I went ahead and ordered the BENQ monitor– once it arrives in a few days I'll give it a whirl and post my thoughts here.

m19

 

The FP93G arrived today so I ran home to set it up during my lunch break. From the half-hour or so I had to play around with it, the obvious differences between it and my old CRT are apparent: it's much brighter and it takes up a lot less room. (I have it hooked up to a 7800 GS using the DVI connector.) Most of "things" I've noticed so far are negative, as those are most obvious, but I'm pretty happy with it so far nonetheless.

It's apparent that the monitor has an incredibly tight optimal viewing angle: moving my head much farther than a couple inches in any direction really plays with the image, be it darkening a lot or the colors inching towards the warmer color spectrum (Windows' default grey looks slightly reddish) which is frustrating, but I just have yet to figure out the best angle for using it... Might have to set it up on one of those monitor platforms too, as it's just way too low right now.

I've also noticed a slight flickering onscreen, like it has a dirty connector or something, but I can't figure out why it's doing that. I tried turning off all electrical items in the room and tightening the power and DVI cords to no avail. I think I have to play around with it some more and see if I can get it to go away.

Another odd thing is that colors in general (desktop wallpapers, websites, etc.) seem more banded and JPGs have more artifacts apparent. Color settings are at 32-bit High, so I'm thinking it's just that the new monitor is so bright and sharp that I'm seeing things I couldn't see before. Again, time and usage will tell.

All in all I'm taking my first experience with it cautiously as going from a five-year-old CRT to a brand-new LCD is not an easy transition. I'm used to using Apple's cinema display at work and I know it took a few days to get used to that, too. All in all it's nice to be able to see the regular range of blacks, greys, and whites onscreen among other things, so I'm pleased so far! I'll have some more time to play around with it this week so I'll probably post some more thoughts later.

(By the by, I know it varies by each monitor and user... But can anyone suggest good "average" brightness/contrast settings? Right now brightness is 90 and contrast is 50 and it seems ridiculously bright. Again, I know I need to get used to it, but Windows' greys seem a little too washed out right now.)

m19

 

The overwhelming brightness is one reason I'm not a huge fan of LCD's, as well as the lack of gaming resolutions.

Anyway, there are programs you can use to help you adjust colour, brightness and contrast etc (can't think of the names at the moment sorry).

 

Hello. As for the flickering, I had that problem with my first LCD, and changing the Refresh rate to 75mhz from the default 60 took care of it. I don't know if that will help with the other problems or not.

Another thing you might check - look under the "Color Management" tab and see if there are any profiles listed there . . . I hear some monitors require a file (.icm I think) that tell it how to configure itself. It should be on the installation cd that came with the monitor. I don't have one installed on mine because it works ok without it (except the flickering), but it might make a difference in some cases.

If it hasn't already been mentioned, perhaps you need to upgrade your video drivers. On a few PC's where I work the new Viewsonic LCD's we were issued wouldn't work at all till we upgraded the Video card drivers.

These are all guesses on my part!

Good luck,

 

my monitor came with monitor drivers did you install them , when it was running with the stock xp drivers it was ok but looked much better after i got my updated samsung drivers. http://support.benq.com/front/BenqM...language=all&flag=1&GenMenu=&RootId=undefined

 

Just a quick aside - I was looking on the 'net about your problem, and I think I found out why MY monitor was flickering: It seems that if you use fluorescent lighting (I do in my study) it can cause LCD's to appear to flicker if set at 60hz, since that is the frequency at which fluorescent lights "recycle"
. . . I didn't know this . . .

 

To answer the questions:

- The refresh rate's already at 75 Mhz.

- I've played with Color Management and prefer the default setting. It's not that the colors themselves look poor, but the color variance from the top of the monitor to the bottom is WAY too varied, even when looking straight-on at the optimal viewing angle. The top greys are brownish and the bottom greys are bluish, and not just a little bit.

- Video drivers have been updated within the last month or so; I'd consider that updated.

- I'm using the LCD's drivers, yes.

All in all after using it for a few days, I'm pretty disappointed. The color variance and viewing angle are just killing it for me, so much so that I'm looking into RMAing it and just getting a replacement CRT that I know works the way I want it to.

m19

 

Not using fluorescent lighting– I either don't have lights on at all (during the day) or a regular non-fluorescent lightbulb in a desk lamp.

m19

 

well i don't know what to tell you, when i buy lcd monitors i only buy samsung and i have non of the problems you say, i have had it a 60hz and no flickering what so ever in any light, and i can can be almost parallel with the screen and still read it just fine. not one dead pixels and no color variance what so ever. i would think about a samsung if i was you. but think about it like this you might have gotten a bad monitor.

 

I'll toss in my 2 cents worth.

TFT displays have come a long way. That said a high end CRT will out perform a TFT any day of the week. That said, there are still poor quality TFT's out there and there are some very VERY nice ones as well.

DELL make a wonderful display. NEC / Mitsubishi, Samsung, and Viewsonic are the only brands I have come to trust. These brands make a fine TFTs. The higher end models being of course better. IMO DELLS Ultra Sharp line is one of the very best. BenQ has been known to put out some good CRT's and even some good TFT's but they have been known to put out crap too.

I'm a firm beliver that you get what you pay for and if you want high quality you should pay the price. My bro has a 24" DELL Ultra Sharp TFT and it is absolutely amazing. At work I have used all types of brands and the ones listed above IMO are great.

I don't blame you for wanting a CRT though. Many professionals still use high end CRT's. Performance wise they just can't be beat...yet. TFT's are closing in though. I too have remained a fan and user of CRT's running a top end Viewsonic myself. I do plan to go TFT for my next screen purchase though.

Good luck with the RMA.

 

Call me crazy though, but I've always spent under $50 for each and every CRT I've ever owned (always get them used from computer shows). When I plunked down $215 for this LCD, that is a large chunk of change considering I'm used to paying a quarter of that, which is why this is so frustrating.

Grrr!

m19

 

Call me crazy though, but I've always spent under $50 for each and every CRT I've ever owned (always got them used from computer shows) and they've been great for the few years I use them. When I plunked down $215 for this LCD, that is a large chunk of change considering I'm used to paying a quarter of that, which is why this is especially frustrating.

I guess the Apple cinema display at work has me somewhat biased as it really is great– but I'm not prepared to spend a couple thousand for a home monitor. Ah well, we'll see how the RMA goes.

Grrr!

m19

 

Just got off the phone with NewEgg. They're charging me a $30 restocking fee but the RMA's going through, which is fine. I'm diappointed in how this is panning out, but the light/dark variance from the top to bottom and that darn flickering is just driving me crazy.

Thanks for all your help you guys, I really appreciate it. Looks like it's back to CRT for me!

m19

 

They should only be charging you a restocking fee if it doesn't have a problem and you just changed your mind.

If it's flickering as you say, then they shouldn't be charging you anything.

They should either replace it, or refund the money.

 

Hmm... I thought I was pretty clear to them that it wasn't functioning as it should, but maybe the point needs to be made more. I'll give them a call back and go from there.

m19

 

If you think it's faulty, then they can't charge a restocking fee.

They only charge that when people change their minds, which is fair enough.

Anyway, good luck.

 

Yep. Called them back and the fee was waived, so that's the end of that.

m19

 

you really should drive over to a store next time and see the monitors with your own eyes. This way you can test out the ones you are thinking of buying. Glad to hear you are getting the full refund.