LCD PC monitors

I've so far yet to be really convinced by LCD as a technology for computer display monitors, but seeing as I had some spare cash to throw at a new monitor and that my old Iiyama 17 inch Vision Master Pro CRT display was in need of replacement due only to a few annoyingly visible blotchy scratch marks on the screen which can't be removed I thought I'd take my chance with an LCD.

Took delivery of a Hyundai L72D just before the weekend. Now while screen refresh and colour inconsistancy issues that have always plagued LCD technology don't seem to be an issue as far as I'm concerend here, there still remains an old bug bear for me, blacks, whites and certain solid patches of colour don't look as they do on a CRT. Things tend to look pasty and less vivid compared to a CRT. Also being able to see the back light on the dispay really bothers me, as well as the shimmering effect you get as you move your head around to scan the screen. I've noticed that the display does actually look much better if you sit back a certain distance further away than I would normally sit, but due to being extremely short sighted I have to view very closely and that's where I have focusing issues with my eyes which react badly with brightness inconsistancies across the screen caused by the backlight. Due to the way my eyes are, I'm not in the least bit sensitive to refresh flicker from CRT's, but I reckon my eyes are starting to feel tired from using this LCD!

So, I'm thinking of returning or selling this LCD and gettng a brand new 19 inch CRT instead, as the extended real estate on the 17 LCD is actual most welcome but I've always found 21 inch CRTs to be just a bit too big for what I need.

Just wondering if the newer Samsung, Sony X-Black or Iiyama LCD's may be worth a go before giving up totally on LCD?

Have noticed though that CRT based PC monitors are getting very hard to get hold of now, especially as I'd be looking at either a Sony Trintron or Iiyama Diamondtron, as they're the ones I've always had the best experinces with in the past.

 

I think you need to try a better quality LCD, like I said to you on Thurs go into the Sony Centre and see if they have anything that you like, if all else fails take a trip out to PC World, I know its quite a trek now (H2 and D will get you out there), again just as a reckie, I think your basing your opinion on LCD's from the lower end of the market, try the top models and if they don't do it for you then get a CRT, if you can still buy them!

See I had the oposite expeience, I had a Sony Trinitron 17" CRT which I've replaced with a really cheap 17" LCD and the LCD is miles clearer than the CRT, I find its very sharp, but I do agree with you re colours, they do seem washed out, I think its a problem with LCD Technology having to use a backlight seems to really effect the colours, but I'm not too bothered about that, its much better than it used to be, and you can adjust it, good luck mate, but again I'd recommend doing a bit of research before you decide.

 

You need a better quality LCD mate.

The Sonys are good as are LG as are Apples. Check them out. A little more expensive but you will get the full colour gamut and blacks and whites as they should be.

 

I've just got a Dell 24" widescreen LCD, it rocks

 

LG have tied up with Philips, so are a sound bet. I'd also rate Samsung highly - in fact I'm pretty sure that Sony and Samsung also have a tie up. I'm using a 17" Acer LCD that was £150 from Comet. Image quality is sharp and clear and colours don't seem too washed out either.

 

I've never yet come across an LCD that can hold a candle to my sony CRT for colour fidelity. For working on photographs it's an absolute must.

For what I do at work (Word proc, Schematic design and Layout, etc) LCD is better, although the limited resolution on the 17" I have is a pain for layout (I'd like a 1600x1200 21" for that sort of work).

CRTs are better for: Gaming, DVDs, Photo editing and DTP
LCD are better for: Office apps, internet, simple graphical (eg SPICE, PCB tools, etc).

So, I have two 21" CRTs sat on my desk (This only gives you vertigo for about a year before you get used to it).

 

FYI - LG and Philips do share factory space and some production facilities, but LG is not 'Philips but a bit cheaper'.

LCD screen substrate is made in big sheets then cut up for individual screens. Philips takes the highest quality, LG uses the remainder. That's why Philips can give warranties guaranteeing no dead pixels.

For an idea what Philips can do with their screens have a look at the 170X5 or 190X5 at your local PC World. Both screens have a feature called LightFrame. It can selectively boost parts of the screen that are displaying pictures or video without affecting the text quality. Very clever.

I use a pair of Philips 19" business monitors for my desktop. I would have had the X5's in a heartbeat if they'd have put a DVI on the chassis.

Regards

 

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the responses, I was a bit surprised when no one initially had any opinions on this subject.

I ended up sendng the Hyundai back for a refund in the end. I really did try and live with it but in the end it was a relief to back to my trusty Iiyama 17 inch CRT which to my own eyes is so much clearer and easier for me to focus on - remember I'm not sensitive to interlace flicker - not even at 60Hz refresh!

The Hyundai was about £180 and bearing in mind you can get 17 inch LCDs for about £100 it's not cheap but certainly not the most expensive. The specs at 8ms refresh and 700:1 contrast ratio looked good on paper, although of course it doesn't tell the whole story as I should have know but there you go! Correct me if I'm wrong but having done a quick price check, between £300 - £350 is about the most you can pay out for a 17 LCD monitor (without any fancy bits like TV tuner etc which I wouldn't need)? I'm perfectly happy to spend that sort of money if that's what it takes to match a decent CRT.

Was in town earlier on this afternoon and had a look at a few LCD TVs and LCD displays on laptops. The Hyundai I sent packing was easily better than a lot of what I saw on display. The Sony and Samsung LCD TVs were probably the best of what I saw today, but I'd still go for a CRT (or probably a DLP if we're talking TVs ). The Sony I saw had the better colour purity, whilst the Samsung seemed a bit clearer defined on image detail, although the video signal being fed into them wasn't all that great. Also saw a Sharp Aquos LCD TV in Sevenoaks which look absolutely appaling, very washed out with blacks which were exceptional grey and colours with translucunt tinges; the Sharp Aquos range I've personally rated as among the best LCD TV's I've seen in the past so this was a bit of turnaround.

There isn't a Sony Centre in the high street in Exeter any longer and there aren't any other places which sell/display LCD computer monitors (the only places which sell PC only sell laptops not full size PCs) so it looks like a painful trip on public transport to the out of town emporiums at some point like PC World etc. Might just make a day trip up to London one day anyway.

Just a bit off topic, but are there any CRT displays designed for computer use that also have DVI inputs?

I'd be looking at getting either a 17 inch LCD or 19 inch CRT and running it at 1024x768 (anything higher is just too small for my eye sight). I'm mainly an internet/office apps user, but if colour/photo images don't look like they do on a good Sony Trinitron / Mitsubishi Dimondtron / equivalent (which is my personal reference) then I'm not interested.

 

Hi Henry,

If you want to go back to CRT, then there is a Dell 19" trinitron monitor here which is an absolute steal at £94 (midnight gray one)

It was on discount a couple of weeks ago at £75, shame the sale is over.

Robbo

 

RS are doing a 19" lcd for £169+vat worth a look

 

Hi Harry, Wow a man who knows what he wants a heck I didn't know the Sony Centre had gone, is the Pany Centre still around? Your right Exeter is heading the way of most Cities now, having out of town shopping warehouses only accessible via car, should be illegal or they should be forced to provide transport, anyway subject for another time.
I guess this is your only option, as other people will only be able to tell you what they see and it may not suit your eye sight, the only thing you can do it go and test for yourself, no you can't rely on paper specs, they usually don't tell the whole store anyway.

Where can you get a 17" LCD for £100?? Cheapest I've seen is £150 inc vat, which puts the one you got just above the low end of the market, but then 700:1 Contrast shoudl be good (mine only a 400:1 with 250 brightness and its fine).

I thought the LCD TV's we saw at the hifi show in Feb where pritty good, I remember you commenting on how good they look to what you had expected.

Don't know who said Samsung where good, they use Samsung at work and my NEC 18" wipes the floor with them, and its an 2 year old model and still out performs them even the new ones,. Actually that might be worth a look Harry, the NEC's are usually at the expensive end of the market, I think it is what Dom uses at work too, the only reason I don't have one at home is because of their price, the work one was £500 inc vat a in 2003 and it was still that last year it is a very good monitor. Put it this way in the design suite at work they use Macs (yuck!) but run NEC LCD's off the back of them, they used to run 21" CRT's this has to say something. NEC LCD1770NX

 

In short the answer is no. CRT monitors are analogue. This type of display can't be driven digitally.

Many of the graphics cards with DVI sockets will give out either digital or analogue signals depending on the type of monitor connected.

 

my dad has an acer 17" tft- the 1711. The quality is appalling, like the Hyundai you mention.

My Iiyama 431s , connected with DVi is like a breath of fresh air and gives nothing away except for a tiny bit of motion blurring to my old Sony 17" CRT. The response time is 16ms on this one btw.

 

As I am sure has been mentioned, you buy cheap you get cheap.

I will never go back to CRT.

 

Wow, £75! Gutted I missed that but even for that price (£110 including delivery) it's still a bargain and seeing as Sony branded monitors are no longer available anywhere this is a no brainer for me. I've ordered one already!! Cheers for that Neil.

Yeah, that'll be the latest Aquos range from Sharp. Like I said, saw one in Sevenoaks yesterday and it looked really bad, don't know if it was maybe an older or lower range model.

OK, fair enough. It's just that I seem to remember reading a lot of articles a while back about CRTs eventually coming out with DVI inputs (and obviously for the digital to analgoue conversion to take place inside the monitor itself).

.......

Must admit, I never did try the Hyundai with its DVI input before sending it back, I just couldn't imgaine it making any difference with the issues I had with it.

In the meantime, I suspect this will now end up being a long term investigative project, but I'll see if I can get a look at some decent state-of-the-art examples of LCD technology, so any other suggestions for makes/model numbers to look coming from personal experience are most welcome.

 

Henry,

Sorry, but I think I have given you some duff info I have been looking further into this monitor as I am thinking of buying it too and it appears that it is a shadow mask monitor and not a trinitron. It's not too late to cancel the order is it?

If you still decide to have it, I guess you still have 7 days to return it for a full refund if you dont like it. It may well be a great monitor though. Shadow mask monitors are pretty good now.

 

Neil,

Thanks for the info. Had a bit of a think about this and I'm going to take a chance with it. I've used various Dell flat screen CRTs at a number of places that I've worked at in the past and have always been satisfied with the image quality. I believe this model (993) replaced a Trinitron model (991), so I hope they'd be at least identical in performance.

 

See what you mean with that Dell (that saves me some money then )...

This NEC panel at work is still going strong 4 years on - the odd "purple meanie" on colder days (where you get a mild purple afterglow on some dark areas when moving to white), but nothing too major, and there's NEVER any motion blur - I reckon this one'd be good for games

I intend to get an NEC when I have the funds.

 

What's the model number of your (or "the" fabled ) NEC screen then Dom? And if it was money no object, would you rather have an LCD or CRT monitor for use at home?

Too late to go back on the Dell CRT now, just got an email saying it's been dispached, although it will just sit in the courier's warehouse as I won't be able to take delivery until Friday.

 

OK Henry.

Let me know if the monitor is any good!