Ratio

I have been looking at LCD monitors lately and have been confused by one mention in the specs catagorey:

Ratio. I have seen one with a 450 to 1 ratio and some others with 700:1 ratios. Which would be the better ratio?

Here are the two i am looking at getting. Both are 19 inch, both are 16ms, etc...

Which would anyone here recommend?

BenQ

ViewSonic

 

Then Benq hands down. Much higher level of quality production from that manufactor!

 

Than Viewsonic?

Hmmm, I was under the impression that Viewsonic was superior in the monitor market.

 

I know the name Viewsonic, and had never heard of BenQ, but it does seem that the BenQ is a better value. But that is again why I am asking because I have never owned a flat panel before.

Also I still have no clue about contrast ratios. Is 450:1 better than 700:1 or vice versa?

Thanks all.

 

I'm not a 100 percent sure on this but I think it's the contrast of the screen where the higher value is the better. It's the illumination of the screen so to speak, the higher the value the brighter the screen.

 

Thanks Phasta, that is what i have found out. I did find a pretty cool 19" LCD Monitor from BenQ that has a 700:1 contrast ratio, but the lag time is 25MS. That doesn't seem like much difference from the 16MS of the other monitor I was looking at but from what I have read it is all the difference when gaming.

SO I am still not really sure which monitor to buy, but I have a few of my questions answered. Thanks, all.

 

No probs, good luck with your purchase.

Everyone talks about flatscreens being slow when gaming, and maybe I don't game all that much to see the problem but I haven't seen one screen that have been slow in any way... Would really like to see that one day, until then it's all rumours to me

But of course logic says the lag time gets higher the bigger screen it is so that much I can agree with. Ideal for you would be a 17" CRT in that case, if you're serious about gaming.

 

I have a 17" crt right now. I want to gain some space here on my desk, and the way my desk is set up it would be very easy for me to mount the monitor on the wall and gain back the space from the big monitor. I thought of perhaps getting a 20+ inch CRT but that is not really an option for this setup.

I don't play many games, but I do have some and would hate for the games I do play to be unplayable. I guess if worse comes to worse I could use both monitors

Thanks again for the help.

 

Yeah TFT's are wonderful for space saving and they usually look twice as good as well. Try playing at a freinds or something first and see if you like it.

 

my samsung syncmaster 912n has a 800:1 ratio and a 25ms refresh time and it has great performance. The color is amazing.

 

Really? Are you a big gamer? Do you ever get what is reffered to as ghosting? I understand it is not DVI, is that correct? Any dead pixels?

 

That is a great idea, but most of the people I know have either CRT monitors or 15" screens. I may make the trek to Best Buy or Circuit city to see these in action. But even that is misleading as they all seem to have screen savers on all the time, and what can you tell from that?

 

I'm getting ready to buy "19 LCD, I'll do little research before I lay out the cash.

For gaming, Look for response time of 12ms, nothing more.
Viewsonic & BenQ have a few models comming out that are 8ms.

Looking for any tip's on what other feature's that make one LCD excell from the other's.

 

Not one dead pixel. It is not DVI and there is a little ghosting but it's not noticeable during game play. I was only offering an opinion on my syncmaster. I would suggest a DVI with 16ms but mine was a gift , hence I'm not going to complain

 

12ms. Wow, that is going to be tough, as most of them are way out of my price range.

I did take a look at the FP937 from BenQ which has a 12ms time. It would seem that for the ms time to come down to 12 and 16 one must sacrifice contrast ratios. In this model you have a 500:1 ratio wheras the one that Kodo has, has a 800:1 ratio. The FP31 that I was considering has 16ms with 500:1. I am just wondering I guess how much of a difference this contrast ratio really makes.

Then we have ViewSonic, which if truth be told I could afford i would have gotten a ViewSonic already. The VP912b looks incredible on the website and it carries an incredible MSRP of $675. SO I am not looking at Viewsonic unless I get the VX910.

Samsung has some pretty cool ideas in monitors. When I went to look up the model that Kodo has, I found a couple that were pretty affordable. It has a pretty wide viewing angle as well (170 as opposed to the 140 range I have been looking at). The only reason why i would not buy it, is because it only has the analog option. I want one with both options. Otherwise the monitor looks very impressive.

Anyway that is as far as I got on the monitor search. I am going to be looking at NEC and LG Philips as well later today.

 

Hey that was no opinion that was bragging Do you do alot of graphics work? How would you compare the colors with that of a CRT? Just curious.

 

Yep, I do graphics for sites that I build. That's why such a high ratio. Colors look awesome. Very crisp and bright. I would suggest a minimum of 600:1 if you do graphics. 700:1 or higher suggested.

 

Great, that is what I am looking for. Gaming is an after thought, for me so, that really helps. Thanks Kodo!

 

Bud,

I use the Samsung Syncmaster 712n. here is a description of it:

also has a 12ms response time.

I play BF1942 (DCX), Halo, CoD, and Farcry, and I absolutely love it. colors are amazing, and I do not notice any ghosting while gaming (even though there may be some).

just thought i would share as well.

 

Pkay so a 12ms time sounds pretty good for gamnes then. Since I will be using the card you currently have in that computer, perhaps i should consider a 17". The price looks comparable to the BenQ I was loking at, and with a rebate it is like $299. Man.

Man I am conflicted now. I think I am heading down to Best Buy this weekend to take a look for myself at these puppies.

Thanks AJ

 

Well I went out and looked at monitors today and was blown away by this one:

Sony HS94P/S 19"

People if you can get a chance to look at one (they have them at Best Buy), wow, is all I can say. Hands down it was the best in picture quality, with no monitor even being a close second.

I will never be able to afford it but it made me decide to stick with what I have until these are common place, or more affordable.