LCD Monitors and gaming and DVDs

[The PIT]

Now these aren't supposed to be good for games or watching films producing a blurry image when things get fast. Are there any goods ones or is the CRT still main stay for this.

[isochar]

LCDs don't stand a chance against a CRT. For the price of a large LCD you can buy a top-of-the-line Diamondtron or Trinitron monitor.

[Gurm]

It has to do with pixel response. To bring a dark pixel from full off to full on - how fast is that?

The BEST LCD's (brand new technology, available only in the past couple months) in the world can do it in 25ms AVERAGE. That means that the BEST you can possibly get is 40 color changes per second. Bear in mind, that you seldom will actually get that. And even if you did, it doesn't translate to FPS.

The pixel response on a CRT, in contrast, is whatever you set the refresh rate to (I'm not going to go into phosphor response, I'll leave that to someone else).

- Gurm

[Wombat]

My main problem with LCDs is that they are made for a certain resolution, and the interpolation to hit other resolutions usually doesn't look so great.

[Gurm]

actually it's not so bad any more. i played with a viewsonic panel for a while (until it crapped out on me - long story) and it was very nice.

My Father-in-law has a new dell 17" panel and it's got great interpolation.

- Gurm

[cjolley]

I recently set up a guy with a G550 and a Veiwsonic V151 (15 in).
Using the digital inputs the DVD picture was FANTASTIC!
I couldn't see any artifacts at all.
We didn't try any high fps games though, so I couldn't say about that.
Chuck

[Sasq]

I have a mid range LCD and a cheap 17" LG crt. The LCD actually looks better for movie playback then the cheap CRT (of course its a cheap CRT) at the moment due to space reasons I'm looking at going all LCD.

I also find the eye strain is much less, and most pc's in this country are now sold with LCD displays so the price here is comming down dramitically.

Dan

[Reverend Maynard]

Just this morning I almost posted this same topic. I have been thinking of picking up a 17" Samsung lcd. I am waiting on a response from Samsung concerning the pixel response time on the monitor we have at work, which I can probably get for sub $400.

In my case, it would be used as a secondary (dvd's and movies mainly)/lan monitor, so if it has a high pixel response time I won't bother with it, even if I can get it cheap.

Btw, anyone happen to know the response time on the Samsung 760tft?

[Gurm]

Yeah, the 760tft is 50ms...

Which translates to average fps of 15-ish. (yuck)

And SERIOUS ghosting.

BUT, VERY crisp display.

I dunno who makes Dell's display, but the response ain't bad and it has a digital in!

- Gurm

[Reverend Maynard]

Well then, looks like the Samsung is out of the question. I have had my eye on the Cornerstone F1200, but it is a little out of my price range at this point.

[The PIT]

Keep the info coming chaps. So it's looking like more like a CRT

[Sasq]

The best advice regarding buying an LCD monitor I can give, is to go to a big pc shop somewhere where they have a wall of monitors including a selection of LCD screens.

Here they are usually playing video music clips on them.

Have a look, if you like the look of one or two, as to try that monitor on a pc and try a fps game on it.

Mine has a 40ms delay time (checked the stats) and honestly UT runs fine with minimal ghosting. As always don't forget you are doing a trade off between the quick response of a CRT v's the benifits of an LCD display (less desktop realestate, less power and less heat).

But I'd really recomend going and having a look for yourself.

Dan

[The PIT]

Good suggestion however there isn't any in Sheffield that will do that. The biggest store Pcworld only stocks about five and most of these 15 inchers. They also play crap Pcworld demos or most likely a crap screen saver.

[Sasq]

Hmm. In Australia I had a few trade accounts, with a few of the companies I could ask for a demo unit. Might be worth narrowing down you selection and pulling a favour or two and getting one to play with for a few days to see if you like it.

[orangejulius]

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