CRT vs LCD Monitors

[Don Kayote]

A year ago, I would say CRT is the only way to go. But this year things has changed.

The respond time has doubled from 16ms to 8ms. Eleminating gosting all together.
And the colour range is now as good as CRT and in some cases . Even better.

Like the NEC 1970GX .

[plastic]

:rolleyes:
not again

[circle frame]

Well the big question is: How much money are you willing to spend?

If you are looking for a decent budget monitor then you should definitely go with a CRT screen. Sure they have a lot of cons like power consumption etc. But they are simply great at showing graphics.

16 bits sounds a little low, most lcd screens show at least 24 bits. I would definitely not buy a screen that can only show 65k colors, since the human eye can distinguish at least 100 000 different colors. If you really want to go with a lcd screen I would recommend EIZO (http://www.eizo.com/) screen. They are really good but then again they cost a bit more.

[Viridian]

Why not both? Monitors are fairly cheap these days. I use a medium-quality LCD and a good CRT in a two-monitor setup.

[JasonA]

It really boils down to how much money you want to blow. Personally, I'd stay with CRT, because you get a bigger screen with better color reproduction for lower cost.

Power consumption, size, and weight to me are a non issue. I have a decent sized desk, and I don't have to hold the monitor up with one hand while I work, and my electricity bill isn't much higher than normal :)

If I was spending someone else's money and could afford to get the best, then I'd go with LCD. Otherwise CRT is where the bang for buck is at IMO.

[Goddardl]

The LCD monitor I was looking at is mid-priced and has 24bit colour depth at 16ms response time.

The main reason I was considering a flat screen was the move to Uni and living space issues. I also felt it seemed like a logical step (as one of my CRT monitors recently died) but I don't know what the repercussions of it will be on my painting.

Here is the homepage with the product specs of the monitor I was looking at:

http://www.ctxeurope.com/products/prod.asp?model=S761A

Ultimately I am trying to think ahead aswell and buy a monitor that will last with good results, on a student budget!

Anyones comments on the monitors specs would be very helpful, or on anything else.
Thanks to all of you,
Luke

[Davain]

Don't even consider this monitor for color work. It has the TN matrix, fast but very poor color representation that shift as you change the angle at wich you look at it, its a monitor for gamers.

[nafa]

If you read comparison from any respectable sources (technical), they all maintained that CRT monitors provide better color fidelity. Viewsonic, maker of both, is also of the same opinion (http://www.viewsonic.com/monitoruniversity/lcdvcrt.htm)

Where color accuracy is critical, users should stay with CRT. However, I would be surprised if such criticality is applicable to the great majority of students and freshly gradulated graphics artists.

[LOTK]

If you need to work with colour seriously, then you should go for a CRT.

The reason is that CRTs have nearly no failure in pixels and longer term life (I believe noone disagrees on that, unless your CRT was crappy or one out of a million with a particular problem)

On the other hand CRTs can definately provide more colour information and can give better images, since the LCDs are using lower luminance and chrominance values (and of course less colour info in samples). The eye is not affected much by luminance, but it does by chrominance.

If you have space problems, buy an LCD, if not buy a CRT. Don't forget that good LCDs can cost a lot and some times much more than an equal and better to them CRT. Beware of the CRTs as well though.

Without advertising, I have a simple 19'' flat crystal CRT from Hitachi (CM721FET) for about 4 years now, without a single problem and everytime I visit friends and look at their screens, even CRTs, I feel uncomfortable either from the colour distortions, the blurness or the horizontal lines on the phosphorous panel because they bought their CRTs on low bargains or they were based on no name companies.

Someone said to me one day, no matter if you spend little money on your machine, make sure the most goes for your "eyes" first.

Hope that info helps.

[hitch]

Talking about affordability, Dell is the way to go for an LCD. I just bought a 20-incher, Dell 2001FP, last week for $560 and wish I had waited until this week as they further discounted it down to $507. It is not much more expensive that 21-inch CRT, which are about $400 apiece, and has a lot of nice goodies - viewing angle is about 170 degrees vertical (it doesn't change color to negative like earlier LCDs), rotatable to portrait mode, has 2 USB jacks on its side, etc. The downside is that once you go 20 inches, you are no longer able to work on anything smaller.

Oh yes, check www.dealsea.com regularly for those Dell discounts. Without them, this monitor sells for $700ish. Those discounts are pretty regular, at least every couple of days.

[itsallgoode9]

Just saw you guys talking about that Dell monitor and I think I may pick one of those up now! lol I was in the market for a 19, but ash cheap as you can find that dell i'm def. gonna hit that up. Anyways, I found it on the dell site for $549.00. I'm not really sure why it's that cheap.....if you search for it through the "home and home office" section it is $799.00 but if you search for it in the "small business" section it's 549:shrug: Sorry if i'm terribly stupid and there is somthing I am missing which is making it so much cheaper, but anyways, here's the link for people to check it out.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&sku=320-1578&category_id=4058

[Goddardl]

mmm.. That is one nice TFT.. only problem is that it is ALOT more expensive over here in the UK!

Its a pain that it can't be imported.

Does anyone know of a good way of searching for a LCD monitor with more than 24bit colour?

[OamadeusO]

I'am also in the market for a new screen. At the moment i'am trying to cope with a 14" IBM crt that I borrowed from work.

I've noticed that there is a huge difference between the brands. Also Digital TFT (DVI)is the only way to go. Forget about analogue TFT (RGB/VGA).

My advice is to go to a store where you can test out the screen and then buy of the net.
I've also put together a test page in JPG format on a CD that I take with me. If I see a screen I like I ask them to load it up so I can compare black and white points along with a pantone breakdown.

The Sonys range with "X-black" screens is so far tempting me most. But they are pricey...
The blacks are very black and the whites very white. I've yet to check the pantones with it because the assistant got pissy after I asked her to load up my picture for the 10th time:scream:
I'am going to use it with my graphics work and my attempts to get into 3D

One of the main benifits I find with a TFT is that you get les eye strain. I'am comparing my move from a MAC G4 witha CRT display to a G5 witha TFT display. I no longer get headaches from staring at a screen for 8 hours.

[nafa]

Dell is really making waves in the LCD monitor market. They just released the 24" LCD at $1199. Very enticing.

[itsallgoode9]

deleted my post

[itsallgoode9]

I have only used 1 lcd for graphics work and liked it ok. It was the 1st generation of the Apple Ciniema Disply 23" widescreen. It was nice because of the widescreen ratio and size, but the dark end of the spectrum seemed a little compresed. Also the anti glare screen had a light "sparkly" quality to it. Don't know if my observations are true for all lcd's or just mine i used. Anyways, that's my 2 cents:thumbsup:

[DanSilverman]

The size of the LCD screen is only one consideration. The other major things to look at are the pixel refresh rate and the native screen resolution of the monitor. If the pixel refresh rates are above 16 ms then you can get some "ghosting" when moving things around on screen. This will affect things like moving a 3D object in a 3D view, moving windows across the screen and, of course, playing games. The faster the pixel refresh time the better.

The native screen resolution is also very important. You cannot make the monitor go higher than its native screen resolution and, because there is a set number of pixels on an LCD screen, other screen resolutions (smaller ones) may look a bit off.

Some of these larger monitors are less expensive because they have a lesser features, especially slow pixel response times. I did not dig deep into the Dell site, but I looked at that one 20.1" monitor that someone else mentioned in this thread and they did not list the pixel response rate under the Tech Specs. This is very suspect to me and makes me think that it is possible that monitor has a slower response rate and thus the lower price. I could be wrong, but that is my guess.

[OamadeusO]

Golden rule No. 324.
When buying technology, if a technical spec is not listed it's not because it's too good to mention.

[itsallgoode9]

I believe I read in a review somewhere that it was a .16 response time....i'll see if I can find it.


here is a review of it on toms hardware. they say it's 16ms:shrug:
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/display/20040609/lcd_review-02.html

[Goddardl]

For some reason, the dell uk site hasn't got tech specs at all, however, the us site does..
The 20.1 inch monitor has 16ms response time.

[djmagick]

I used to have a poor opinion of LCD displays in general from having seen image ghosting, however after having used my dad's G5 with the Studio Display from Apple i take it back. It seems that when its fed a proper digital input these things really shine. Also having the advantage of calibration and exact aspect ratio, square pixels, they really can't be beat. But if these are all the things you want then it definitely bumps up the price. Don't be fooled by some of the LCD's on the market that have low prices, theres a reason for everything. The first thing to look for I would say is a digital input. Another important point i think is amount of damage that CRT's cause to your eyes, this is considerably lessened using an LCD display.

[ktamiola]

Well...
I agree... Yesterday I bought stock 30" Apple Display + second hand Dual 1.8 with 2 GB ram. Not for 3d, but for Logic 7 Pro ...

However I totally agree with other members who criticize apple for enormous price/performance ratio. I have run Cinebench 2003 and compared it with results from my PC system - no comments :shrug:

Mac looks great, it is quiet, OSX is very nice and fast and audio/video stream (Logic Pro7, GaradgeBand,iMovie) quiality and performance kicks ass...

As for the screen: it is the best LCD screen I have ever seen and used and the most pricey one :D

Previously I wanted to buy Samsung 243T but after playing with aple 30" screen in local apple store I have fallen in love with it :love:

I have tried to connect it to my GeFroce 6800 Ultra - (PC) but it was not possible. Although there is hardware support for DDL (dual link) in nv40 chip it has to be enabled via hardware (it requires some additional dual timing chips)...

Nevertheless, G5 will serve as an mounting/video/audio post station...

[raijinnfury]

I understand that the bigger LCD's use a better matrix and are therefore better than the cheaper LCD's that use the TN matrix. My question and it might be redundant is if I have a fairly cheap budget, is an LCD worth it? I am looking to buy a monitor that will last me at least a couple years and since i'm a student and can't afford the best, should i do CRT?

What CRT's are good ones to get? Or should I hold off a bit and wait for new technology to come out?

[Ev3rM0r3]

Personally i would only use a LCD for gaming or for word processing because it saves desk space. But I do alot of cgi modeling and on a lcd you get jagged edges, antialiasing doesn't exist on an lcd monitor. Also the resolution limit on lcd's is a drawback as on my 19" CRT Flat i use 1600x1200, most lcd's can't get above 1280x1024.. where thats not horribly bad but its way under my requirments and what im usesd to. Also they are brighter but they look just like a gameboy screen. Take one sometime and look closely at the pixels cuz its the same thing but on a larger scale. Would i get one for graphics, maybe for a dual monitor setup, i'd have all my tools on the lcd screen while i did that actually work on a crt.

Also this is a prime example, go into a tv store and compare any lcd to a tv, you'll most likely notice even the 10,000 dollar lcd's don't have have the crispness of a regular tube television. Kinda sad at this day and age but its the truth.

[erlik]

Also the resolution limit on lcd's is a drawback as on my 19" CRT Flat i use 1600x1200, most lcd's can't get above 1280x1024.. where thats not horribly bad but its way under my requirments and what im usesd to.

The operative word being "most".

Also this is a prime example, go into a tv store and compare any lcd to a tv, you'll most likely notice even the 10,000 dollar lcd's don't have have the crispness of a regular tube television. Kinda sad at this day and age but its the truth.

Sheesh. :rolleyes: Only HDTV has resolution comparable to a really good LCD. NTSC and PAL are not in the same country, even less in the same league. But I still doubt that HDTV has a better picture.

BTW, have you ever seen NEC 2080 LCD? I've got a photo of it at work (I took it myself), everybody who saw the photo thought at first that it was a Photoshop fake, the picture on the screen is so bright and crisp with great colours. And it has 1600x1200 native resolution.

Cheap LCDs are like cheap CRTs. Cheap. Unfortunately, a "cheap" LCD is not nearly as cheap as a cheap CRT.

[DanSilverman]

Ev3rM0r3,

That is about the most misinformation I have seen in a long time. Yeesh.

Personally i would only use a LCD for gaming or for word processing because it saves desk space.

Gaming is not what an LCD is good at unless the pixel response time is high (16 ms or faster) because you will get "ghosting" when things move on the screen.

But I do alot of cgi modeling and on a lcd you get jagged edges, antialiasing doesn't exist on an lcd monitor. Also the resolution limit on lcd's is a drawback as on my 19" CRT Flat i use 1600x1200, most lcd's can't get above 1280x1024

I can tell you have not looked at LCD screens in a while. Many are 1600 x 1200 and some of the wide screen LCD monitors are bigger (from side to side).

I happen to do 3D modeling for a living and I use an LCD screen. The display is beautiful and I fully recommend it for this purpose.

BTW - Anti-Aliasing is more of a function of the application and the video card than the monitor. The LCD monitor will display what it is told to display. I can display anti-aliased lines in 3D Studio MAX fine on my LCD.

Also they are brighter but they look just like a gameboy screen. Take one sometime and look closely at the pixels cuz its the same thing but on a larger scale.

What LCDs have you been looking at? My LCD does not look anything like a Gameboy. It looks smooth and crisp and the display is better than my aging CRT screen.

go into a tv store and compare any lcd to a tv, you'll most likely notice even the 10,000 dollar lcd's don't have have the crispness of a regular tube television.

Again, you have to be kidding me, right? You can actually see the dots on a regular TV screen. The resolution is very low ... something like 320 x 240 (not sure). But an LCD displaying 1600 x 1200 pixels ... the same as a regular TV? Give me a break. Are you sure that wasn't really just a Gameboy you were looking at and was told it was an LCD display?

Kinda sad at this day and age but its the truth.

Yes, and pigs fly, too.

[SheepFactory]

I have been using my dell 2001 fp for gaming , watching movies , animation and modelling and had no problems whatsoever.

There is no ghosting in any game , nor there are jagged lines , nor brightness issues like evermor3 up there says. I guess last time you saw a LCD was in best buy while you were playing with one of those 14" cheapass $250 lcd's they bundle with their computers.

Just the health benefits alone should be reason enough to upgrade to lcd in my opinion.

[bRyaN2003]

Which are the 2 best of the LCD and CRT...(with a decent price to performance ratio)
I personally would love to stay with the 400-800 dollar range...

I would be using said monitor for Digital painting mostly...eventually i will be diving into modelling and animation...

My current monitor is absolutely shot..and i don't want to get a new monitor only to have to replace it 6 months later...

[Borjis]

I recently converted to LCD from CRT so I'll chime in. :)

I bought the 19" Sony SDM-HS94P/S from a local Fry's Electronics aka outpost.com

at $ 699 it cannot be beat IMO.

3 Incentives beyond the high-quality made me purchase this months in advance
of when I was going to.

1. $ 100 rebate

2. Fry's/Outpost is the only option I could find where you buy an extented warranty
from THEM for 70 dollars and if ONE SINGLE PIXEL goes bad within 5 years, they
will replace the unit, no questions asked.

3. 12ms response time.

#2 alone sold me on it. I refuse to buy an LCD from anyone who won't consider
1 pixel bad. Most vendors require multiple bad pixels within a given area on
the screen which is complete bullshit. cnet recently ran a great article on how
peeved people have been about the bad pixel scams the mfg's have been pushing on consumers.


This LCD is Bright. whites are whites and blacks are blacks. I prefer the dimmest preset
personally, but have also customized one setting so I can see CRT comparable contrast
for motion graphics work proofing.

Works great and the eye strain is no more.

The gamma and temperature adjustments work well too.

I love this monitor and would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone looking to
get one for a reasonable price and buy it from fry's/outpost so you can return
it if one pixel goes bad. its the only way to go imo. :)

[JohnnyRandom]

What LCDs have you been looking at? My LCD does not look anything like a Gameboy.

Yes, and pigs fly, too.

Sorry but... LMAO :P

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