Anyone using LCD Monitors?

[eX-one]

The better LCDs wont distort that much when you look at them from different angles, but one thing for sure, you can't get proper black from one.

If you're getting headaches from your CRT I'm gonna guess that your refresh rate is stuck at 60Hz. There's various tweakers (depending on your brand of videocard) to bring it back to at least 85Hz (where most people agree it's the minimum you should have it set to for mimimal eye strain) .. But if you're on W2K or XP, then the issue is with MS, and hopefully with a new service pack they'll finally fix the refresh problem.

[UrbanFuturistic]

Oi! Erik! No! (sorry, mild drunkeness)

LCD monitors do look pretty sweet in action but...

...if you're monitor's giving you headaches, like eX-one and about 20 odd people in a thread I can't currently find said, it's not because it's CRT but because your refresh rate sucks. S U C K S sucks.

However, you will get a top 19" CRT for less money than an average 17" TFT flat panel (yup, the proper name for LCD) which, taking into account viewable area, is still an extra inch on the diagonal!!! Plus the colour representation will be much better.

Go CRT!!!

Just make sure the refresh rate at 1024x768 (or preferred resolution) is at least 85Hz.
Me? I'm still waiting for someone to perfect Field Emmision Display technology... roll on 2089!!! :bounce:
regards, Paulhttp://homepage.ntlworld.com/odubtaig/smilies/coffee.gif

PS Iiyama and LaCie (the Electron Blue range) have been particularly recommended.

[VonDrake]

I'm putting together a system myself (see my post "What do you think of this System?") and I'm planning to get a 17" LCD monitor. I haven't made my final decision yet, but here's what I've come up with:

For animation, you want as little "smearing" or ghosting as possible while watching movement-so look at the specs for a "Pixel Response Rate" of 25 or less (this is often not listed)

Samsung has 2 models that seem to be winners review-wise
Syncmaster 170T, and the Syncmaster 170P (for Porsche-designed, looks soo super cool but costs $150 more)

NEC Multisync 1700V or 1700M plus- these are well reviewed as well.

Dell makes their own 17" Flat Panel LCD-I've used it-it's beautiful to look at and seems OK as far as motion on the screen goes, but I have no idea what the spec is on that and no one at Dell will tell me. Also it's very popular thus out of stock at the moment.

Hope this helps- Cheers!:beer:

[kreno]

odubtaig - Are you high? 1024x768 @ 85Hz? That's a crappy monitor man....

What you want is a 19" monitor that will do at least 75Hz @ 1600x1200, and 85Hz @ 1280x1024.

Otherwise you're going to have some major headaches at high resolutions!

I agree though, CRT's are much better still... TFT's are catching up, but they're not quite there yet... Give em another year or so.

[UrbanFuturistic]

High? Rarely
Drunk? Often :beer:

I was going for an absolute bare minimum on that one... honest :D

Or it's possible I confused what I was supposed to say with my monitor... and yeah, it's crappy, it's 15", it's four years old and it's on the way out :rolleyes:
regards, Paulhttp://homepage.ntlworld.com/odubtaig/smilies/coffee.gif

[kreno]

lmao, odubtaig... 15"? You're joking with me right? Right? Please be kidding....


Anywho.... Yeah....

[UrbanFuturistic]

I wish :cry: fifteen inch diagonal.

Not the most frustrating part though, I'm quite anxious to upgrade from my GeForce DDR :argh: I've given up on my current project until I can get something better... something that might allow the manipulation of lots of 3D stuff at more than 2-3 FPS :annoyed:

If I were a rich man, dubu dubu dubu dubu dubu dubu dubu dooo...
regards, Paulhttp://homepage.ntlworld.com/odubtaig/smilies/coffee.gif

[ZrO-1]

I'm currently using dual 19" CRTs. One is an older Gateway VX900 (Sony Trinitron I think) which I run off of my onboard mobo's vid chip (ATI Rage XL w/4MB). The second monitor is a newer Samsung SyncMaster 955DF which I'm running off of a GeForce 3. I run both monitors @ 1152x864 with an 85Hz refresh (which is about max for the mobo vid chip).
By the way I don't know if you guys are aware of this but 1280x1024 is not a standard ratio. 1280x1024 is a 5:4 aspect ratio where standard TV is 4:3 aspect ratio. When you are making an animation that will be viewed on any sort of video device if you have your PC at a 5:4 aspect ratio it will become distorted when converted to a 4:3 ratio. Just something I thought you might want to know about.

Anyway, I would say that you could use a TFT flat panel for just about all of your work with a few considerations. First you want to run it off of one of the latest graphics cards and using the DVI port. You will absolutely loose color accuracy if you run it off of an analogue HD-15 port. And second, you would want to run it through a full calibration program. That will get the screen producing pretty accurate colors once you get it dialed in. To be honest you should calibrate any monitor you are using. I've seen some people using monitors that were so far off it wasn't even funny.
Just be aware that you will get ghosting of pixels with anything over 60-70 frames per second on just about any LCD on the market today.

Just my 2 cents.

[Asorson]

Thanks for the info, I'm gonna be getting a TI-4200 with DVI so that shouldn't be a problem.

Where might a find the resources needed to calibrate my monitor?

[ZrO-1]

I think (but I'm not sure) you can download a calibration program from C|net's (http://www.download.com) download center. Look for utilities/Monitors/LCD in the search.

[Dave Hackett]

Sorry guys, if your going to stare at something all day, it's gotta be this. (The monitor, not the car.) Your eyes are worth every penny. Everyone who ever has seen mine, comments on it.
Dave

[kreno]

The Silicon Graphics LCD monitor is an exception... That sucker is badass!

[ZrO-1]

I'd put it up to the new Samsung and Viewsonic LCD thin screens any day. ;) :D

[kandyman]

I have a Samsung SyncMaster 181T 18.1" TFT with 500:1 contrast, and so far it's extremely nice. No more headaches or sore eyes after an all-nighter. It also has a pretty low latency, so gaming / video playback is fine.

At work I have a Sony 19" Trinitron that has a slightly smaller screen than my TFT at home, running 1280 @ 100Hz, and I still prefer the TFT.

I'm thinking about getting a TFT for at work on my own money... after all it's my eyes... :)

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