Took the plunge - TFT and lovin' it!

[Paulr]

Well I took the plunge and purchased a TFT display and I'm loving it.
As I posted a week or so ago I was looking at purchasing the 16ms response time Hitachi that everybody seems to be raving about.
However due to nowhere having it in stock I actually went for this NEC 1760NX instead as it uses exactly the same panel etc.

I really find it hard to put into words what using a TFT is like.
This display is crystal clear from corner to corner.
The screen and colours are bright and vibrant - it truly is the best screen I've ever had the pleasure to use.
The biggest fear I had was with games as ghosting is the reason a lot of other people haven't made the move.
I don't play many FPS games, however I do have JK2 and I managed to find my old copy of Quake2 and gave those a go.
I honestly could not see any ghosting what so ever - I'm sure there was probably some there, but if there was my eyes soon got used to them (to the point where I don't see them).
The panel actually booted up the very first time with a single dead pixel (blue on a black screen) which was a little bit frustrating.
However when I changed from the recommended 60hz to the maximum supported 75hz this deal pixel totally vanished - no explanation on that, must have been "lazy" rather than dead.

I'm currently using the D-Sub connection to my Crucial Radeon 9700Pro (my DVI cable will arrive tomorrow) so I can only assume things will improve more so once I'm on a true digital signal, although how you improve on perfection I really don't know!
I know LCD isn't for all, but if anybody is considering one this really is a great display.
I paid £435inc VAT, Delivery and DVI cable - yes more expensive than a larger CRT, but I'd had enough of that old technology

[Gurm]

Yeah, modern panels (the nice ones) are really getting there.

The most noticeable place to see ghosting, truthfully, is in Word.

Fire up a 50-page document, and hold down the "scroll down" button on the scrollbar. If the ghosting is there, you'll see it then.

- Gurm

P.S. When you switch to DVI-D, it'll be even better.

[Kooldino]

Glad your happy with it, Paul. And yes, TFT is coming a long way. And will be far better a year from now. But they have some obstacles to overcome before I'll buy one.

-too many dead pixels
-ghosting, and other visual anomolies and distortions
-response time is still not as good as a CRT
-contrast is getting good, but will never match a CRT
-A lot of TFTs have "hot spots" and "cold spots"
-price
-perfect scaling when not running in its native res

I'm very demanding. :-)

Side note: With your display (according to an Anandtech article), some visual properties were actually better with the analog connection, IIRC.

[The PIT]

No Eighteen inch model with fast response time.

[DentyCracker]

Too expensive, even though I can afford it.

[GT98]

Originally posted by The PIT
No Eighteen inch model with fast response time.

Could move up to a 20 inch display...no problems with my Dell 2000FP

[The PIT]

GT98 and whats it's response time??

Found it 25ms too slow.

[Gurm]

There's a Dell 1800FP as well, but again nobody knows the response time. I'm guessing, based on my father in law's 1700FP, that it's around 25ms. Not bad but not great.

- Gurm

[Paulr]

I really don't know why the larger panels don't have really fast response rates.
I am guessing that at the price they are they consider them "luxury" items for general workstation PC's and not something a "hardcore gamer" would want - when you think about it 25ms, probably even 40ms is fast enough for general work on an LCD.
16ms is currently the quickest available, on the NEC I've got and also on the Hitachi - although Hitachi have dropped their number of colours to 250k as opposed to the 16.2m on the NEC to get that kind of response rate, that really wasn't such a good idea.
If NEC can get 16ms on 16.2m I don't know why Hitachi can only get 16ms on 250k colours.

25ms is fast enough for games but you will see ghosting although you would get used to it.
There is no denying that the majority of LCD's will give you some kind of ghosting once you move into very fast moving graphics, but if you use it all the time your brain will just learn to ignore it.
20ms is of course better, but I don't think there is a panel 18"+ that can offer that kind of response time