Monitors: CRT vs LCD

[Felix The Assassin]

As with many other peripherals there are way to many to discuss here. However, start with the 3 main, then check into their sub product lines. Then price here for shopping. http://www.pricewatch.com/

Top 3 major US market.
Sony
NEC
Mitsubishi

All other brands are minor, and use either direct build, or factory parts from the 3 major.
Normally Sharp, Panasonic, and KDS have good price to product ratio.

On your side of the equator, Philips will also be a major. Hercules may have a footing their as well.

In the 17" group, look out for the consumer builds that give you built in audio. Unless you absolutely need it, don't get it. Opt for better performance instead.

For your wants, your looking @ $450 on the US open market.

I have only professional use experience with LCDs, but Maximum PC claims Sharp to be a 'Kick Ass' award recipient.

[Memnoch]

Thanks, Felix. So do you think I'll be happy with LCD based on my usage requirements? What about Samsung, they're quite popular here in OZ.

[Felix The Assassin]

No biggie.
Yes.
I can only say Samsung has the memory (RAM) plant. Here in the US market they have lost some ground, and their products seem to only pull 3-4 star ratings. Which is good for middle of the road, as long as it's not due to lack of support or product life cycle.

Oh, yea'll check here for reviews. http://www.nextag.com/

[ 05-11-2004, 01:33 AM: Message edited by: Felix The Assassin ]

[Thoran]

Originally posted by Felix The Assassin: As with many other peripherals there are way to many to discuss here. However, start with the 3 main, then check into their sub product lines. Then price here for shopping. http://www.pricewatch.com/ Top 3 major US market. Sony NEC Mitsubishi All other brands are minor, and use either direct build, or factory parts from the 3 major. Normally Sharp, Panasonic, and KDS have good price to product ratio. On your side of the equator, Philips will also be a major. Hercules may have a footing their as well. In the 17" group, look out for the consumer builds that give you built in audio. Unless you absolutely need it, don't get it. Opt for better performance instead. For your wants, your looking @ $450 on the US open market. I have only professional use experience with LCDs, but Maximum PC claims Sharp to be a 'Kick Ass' award recipient.

The last time I checked, the largest supplier of Flat panels is Samsung, followed by LG Phillips and Sharp. The key to getting a quality product is knowing what panel the monitor manufacturer is using, because all the rest is window dressing (for the most part).

Sharp is big in the LCD TV Segment, Samsung and LG Phillips are big in the Notebook and PC Display Segments.

My company (Corning Inc.) ownes the technology that makes the glass for the majority of LCD panels. Personally I prefer Samsung panels (mostly because I know their manufacturing process is world class), but all the top brands these days will make you happy. This is a fast evolving market, the product you purchase today is significantly superior to that produced a year ago (as well as being more affordable).

I was checking out the viewing angle on my 18" panel last night, even from a crazy horizontal angle (over 70 degrees off tangent) the display is bright and totally readable (comparable to a crt). Vertical was not as good, showing the typical LCD falloff when the angle passed a certain point (maybe 30 or 40 degrees off tangent). On my Compaq laptop (15" screen, 1400x1050 res) vertical angle is much better than horizontal.

Both those panels play games like Far Cry and Call of Duty(great first person shooters) with no blur, and FPS's are IMO by far the most demanding games when it comes to sensitivity to ghosting.

Color reproduction is noticeably better on my 19" and 22" CRT's when you put them side by side with the LCD's and show the same image. Saturation is better and accuracy is better, but that's not to say the LCD's LOOK bad, they just aren't quite up to CRT standards (would be a concern if you were into desktop publishing and graphics)

[ 05-11-2004, 09:44 AM: Message edited by: Thoran ]

[Memnoch]

That's good info, Thoran! So how much would your LCDs be worth?

[Memnoch]

And one other thing...how much does the quality of the video card influence the clarity of the on-screen display for LCD?

[Thoran]

Originally posted by Memnoch: That's good info, Thoran! So how much would your LCDs be worth?

I paid a bit over $400 for my 18" LCD Desktop Display, the laptop cost about $5000... not sure how much of that was the cost of the display. I've been happy with both. For me the biggest downside to LCD technology is the limited resolution, I routinely run my CRT's at 1600x1200... and that's out of the question with panels (unless you spend big $$$).

[Thoran]

Originally posted by Memnoch: And one other thing...how much does the quality of the video card influence the clarity of the on-screen display for LCD?

Well, if you can find a card that has Digital outputs (DVI), and a Panel that has DVI inputs... then you will have optimum image quality (image stays digital from PC to Panel). For the rest of us the image goes through a D/A conversion in the card, travels accross the VGA cable and is then converted back to Digital in the Panel... and every time you convert a signal you introduce errors. It's possible that you'd notice the difference if you had two side-by-side, but for the most part, if your graphics card is a solid vendor and relatively new I'd be very surprised if you'd notice any big problem with the image quality. In my experience VGA cables can be a bigger problem than the card. A junk cable (or a very long cable) can introduce all sorts of garbage into the image.

[Memnoch]

Well...it took a month and a half of stuffing around but I've finally decided on what I'll be getting - the Samsung 710N - it's a 12ms 17" flat panel from Samsung, same panel used on the 172X and the 710T except it's only analogue, not DVI - I thought of spending an extra $150 to get the 172X, but then I would've also had to spend an extra $150+ on a DVI video card and considering what I'm using it for I couldn't justify it. I heard some good things about this 710N and so have decided to take the plunge on it. Fingers crossed I don't get any dead pixels. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Hivetyrant]

Are you still considering a TV card?
I have a Winfast TV2000 XP Expert in my computer, and the TV program, is always the most used program on my computer. I find it extremely handy, because it allows lazy people like me to just press a button on a remote and I can listen to the radio, watch TV, record TV into a variety of formats, or I cantake screenshots of anything. I use it for all my consoles now, so the TV in my room is gone, leaving more space for crap with no use [img]smile.gif[/img]
But I do really think that a TV card is a wise investment for most people, because with a moniter like yours, you will get just as much quality as a regular TV, and most non-digital TV cards cost around $90 dollars, well mine did anyway, and it is great.