The best TFT..

BadCharlie

Im looking to buy a TFT i thought it be easy to pick one out. But the more i look into it the harder im finding it to pick the right TFT monitor for me. There just seems to be so many TFT on the market its kind of hard to pick the right one. And if your going to pay 500euro and more for one you dont want to make a mistake.

What im looking for is a 17" TFT or maybe 19" if its worth it.

What i be using it for is
1. Alot of gaming. "Condition Zero, UT2004, BF and much more"
2. Watching Movies.
3. Just surfing the net.
I dont want this ghosting i hear about when playing games.

Elara have a hell of alot of TFT's compared to komplett so i guess Elara is the company i be buying off.

So if anyone could help me pls, or people know of good TFT's that i should think of buying.

Thanks

CombatCow

Ghosting will most likely happen with a response time of 25ms on tft's.I doubt you will find a 19" atm with a low response time such as 16ms " which is suppost to be ok for gaming".Having said that i did see a review of a really nice 19'' iiyama with a low response time,dont think there on sale yet iirc.I'll find the link l8r.


CombatCow

leeroybrown

There should be lots of threads about TFT's on this forum if you search.

A few quick pointers:

1) Get one with DVI input (not Analog)
2) The bigger the screen you buy the higher the response time will be
3) Response time is important but TFT's vary greatly in terms of image quality. Ultimately you need to read plenty of reviews before you buy.
4) Bear in mind that dead pixles are a possibility when you buy a TFT and that most warranties do not cover replacement if they are below a certain number.

LegacyUser

viewsonic vp171s - the one i use. Excellent monitor.

Slutmonkey57b

TFTs are ****e for gaming and movies, it's the tradeoff for not having 3 tons of CRT on your desk. Either you go with the resolution and quality of a CRT or you bask in the feng shui of a TFT. Make your choice.

BadCharlie

TFTs are ****e for gaming and movies

Hmmm that dont sound to good at all.

Yeah will do a search later on tonight and c what i can dig up.

hostyle

Originally posted by Slutmonkey57b
TFTs are ****e for gaming and movies,

Thats complete arse. I'm not a gamer, so I can't speak for TFTs on that side, but I am an avid movie watcher. TFTs are perfectly fine for watching movies. I've a Hansol H711 17" - I play the odd Blizzard game on it and watch all my DVDs on it. No problems of any sort.

Stephen

That should be rephrased:

cheap TFT's are ****e for games and movies, expensive high end ones are fine.

neokenzo

The LG L1710B is good too. I have it and I have no complains. Play games and watch movies is excellent with it so far.

BadCharlie

Thanks for the replys guys.

The LG L1710B on pczone mag recommends that TFT monitor also. So i'll keep that in mind when i do buy a TFT.

center15

The IIYAMA E431S is a great 17" TFT monitor, It's won loads of awards and has a 16ms response time, There's a big waiting list for them most places, check it out here
It's cheaper on MicroAid.ie

netman

I've just recently moved from a CRT to a LCD, and I've gone through the same stuff.
Couldn't decide which monitor was right, whatever I looked at had some bad points.

Reading up the reviews on the net will give you a good idea, there are two places that are especially good for LCD reviews:
http://www.tomshardware.com
http://www.anandtech.com

A few things to look at when you're buying a LCD:
1) Response time - lower is better generally, but they can be misleading. Don't take response time as the word of law.
2) Warranty - dead pixel tolerance is the main thing to look at. Manufacturers are getting friendlier in this respect, usually they will replace the monitor if you get 3 or more dead or stuck pixels.
3) DVI - Don't buy a monitor with an analog port. There's simply too much signal interference on the analog cable for running high resolution.
4) Color depth - some panels cannot display all the colors and use dithering to get those "in between" colors. This is a nice concept that generally doesn't work well and in some cases looks absolutely horrible. Look for a true 24-bit color screen. (16mil colors)

Personally, I went for the Dell 2001FP, 20.1" 16ms monitor. It's absolutely fabulous, a bit pricey but well worth it. I think they're about 1400, but I got mine off ebay for about 950. The same guy is still selling them (brand new, unpacked), so if you're interested in them let me know and I'll send you the details.

There's a preview of it here.

Watching movies is just an unbelievable experience... There's no ghosting and the picture is so sharp and vivid it's simply a joy to watch any movie on this screen. It also has a S-Video input, so you can connect a VCR or DVD to it, and in the case of a VCR you can also watch TV through it. Front panel buttons give you easy access to switch between different inputs, and the monitor also features a "picture in picture" mode. So you can watch telly through the VCR and have your desktop opened at the same time.

Gaming is a bit different, it wouldn't be fair to say there's no ghosting. Having said that, ghosting is so minimal that it doesn't affect gameplay, and it's something you get used to. I'm playing fast paced action games like Halo, Return to Castle Wolfenstein etc and the monitor performs really well. I guess there will always be a degree of ghosting on an LCD monitor, the important thing is to have it reduced to the bare minimum so that you don't notice it. 2001FP does a damn good job at that!

Another big thing for LCD monitors is interpolation. They're only really built to support one resolution - ie. there's a fixed amount of pixels on the screen. The problem arises when you change the resolution, for example if the monitor is built for 1600x1200 and you're playing games in 1024x768. Some LCD monitors were just plain atrocious in the way they handled different resolutions. I'm very happy with this one, interpolation works quite well and in most resolutions you can't see a difference in games. Some resolutions are better than others, so generally speaking you might have to try a few different ones to see which works better - 1024x768, 1280x960, 1154x864 etc.

Just before you spend your money, make sure you know what you're expecting. LCD is a tradeoff, you get some features and you loose some.

Clinical Waste

BenQ have a 17" model with a 12ms response time.

(1280 x 1024; 500:1 contrast ratio and 300cd/m2 brightness)

[Model FP767-12]

Havent seen this in the flesh but appears to be a potentially good choice for ghost free gaming.

koneko

I love the way some people just talk out of their arses sometimes.

Like Stephen said, CHEAP TFTs aren't great for gaming/movies. I have a 19" TFT with 25ms response time and it's great for games, no problems with it so far. Ghosting is absolute minimum and I don't notice it at all. The reponse time on it's own won't give you the full picture. Another 19" TFT with 25ms reponse time might have a lot worse ghosting. Best thing you can do is read reviews, check the newsgroups to see what people say and if you can try it out (though you probably won't have this opportunity), even better.

Plus TFTs are SO much handier for LANs. Never will I go back to lugging a big ole CRT around.

CyberGhost

go with Samsung syncmaster 19" TFT , there are many models dunno what one is the best, you'll have to read reviews but.....

.....many people love em!

Clinical Waste

Originally posted by koneko
I love the way some people just talk out of their arses sometimes.

Like Stephen said, CHEAP TFTs aren't great for gaming/movies. I have a 19" TFT with 25ms response time and it's great for games, no problems with it so far. Ghosting is absolute minimum and I don't notice it at all. The reponse time on it's own won't give you the full picture. Another 19" TFT with 25ms reponse time might have a lot worse ghosting. Best thing you can do is read reviews, check the newsgroups to see what people say and if you can try it out (though you probably won't have this opportunity), even better.

Plus TFTs are SO much handier for LANs. Never will I go back to lugging a big ole CRT around.

Hope you not talking bout me?

(clarified my statement a bit more just in case)

BTW I use a Hercules Phophet and whilst it does shadow a bit (apparently) I have no complaints with it, and have lanned with it for quite a while now.

How the picture looks to you is the ultimate decision maker.

koneko

Lol, Oh god geez no (*cough* Slutmonkey *cough*)

BadCharlie

Ok the BenQ FP783 will be geting my vote. Was also looking at a samsung 17" with a 12ms responce time also, But on www.tomshardware.com web site they went for the Benq monitor over the samsung.

Thanks for brining the BenQ monitor to my attension it looks like its what i exactly wanted .

I'll let you all know how i get on. Hope to be placing order at the weekend.

BadCharlie

Thanks for all that info netman btw. Looks like a great TFT monitor but just out of my price range. Trying to save up for a house but if i keep spending like i have been ill be out on the street before i know it.

Woden

also interested in this thread as i may be in the market for a 17inch one soon with the same requirements for gaming and movies.

actually i've been thinking of getting a big ass CRT instead as i feel it will be such a hassle to get a TFT that i will be happy with on all fronts. however the mother wants a TFT and she is the one that said she'd pay for it so we'll see

data

LegacyUser

That BenQ doesn't have DVI though does it?

BadCharlie

Well spoted
(Input connector Analog input)

Dont know much about DVI and Analog Myself. But as yee guys have said dont get Analog TFT's i will follow your advice.

Chowley

Has anyone used a TFT playing CS on 800x600 or 1024 res ? I was going to get the black Hitachi one cant remember the model number but its a great monitor, but after reading about the interpolation stuff, im starting to think i cant play CS on a tft, theres no way I could play CS on a 1280 res I just couldnt get used to it.

aaf

The Hercules Prophetview 920 Pro DVI is supposed to be the bees knees but I tried to get one when I was building a few months ago but couldn't get one for love nor money. I think the screens were not being manufactured anymore. So I went for the Hyundai ImageQuest Q17 17" TFT Monitor - Silver . No complaints.

Originally posted by Dataisgod
also interested in this thread as i may be in the market for a 17inch one soon with the same requirements for gaming and movies.

actually i've been thinking of getting a big ass CRT instead as i feel it will be such a hassle to get a TFT that i will be happy with on all fronts. however the mother wants a TFT and she is the one that said she'd pay for it so we'll see

data

Mrs Data, lol

Woden

Originally posted by aaf


Mrs Data, lol

Aye i'm whipped