LCD Monitors Pro's and Cons

dougal

Thinking of buying an LCD monitor to replace my 17" CRT (takes up too much desk space).
What are the Pro's and Cons of LCD and are there anything in particular to look out for when choosing one?

PPC

Read lots and lots of reviews.
I have the hercules 720 one and its excellent, looks great and practically no ghosting in games and movies.
I swapped from a 22" monitor to this and i dont find a big difference

dougal

Thanks, PPC

Was thinking of going for the Hercules 920 so that sounds like it will be a good purchase.
I will use it mostly for working at home and will play the odd game but nothing too hectic in that department.

irishgeo

i have been meaning to upgrade as well but its on the lsit and i think i might be saving for a laptop so the tft screen just been put back.

I have a crappy 17" monitor and looking for a flat screen one. Is there any places that sell second hand ones like ones from bansk etc who seen to have new screens everytime i walk into one.

PPC

I heard there's problems with the 17" version with some ghosting, but the 15" has the same viewable area as a 17" crt.
Samsung are ment to be good too.

po0k

there is a certain manufacturing tolerance on most TFT flatpanels which allow for the product to have between 3 and 5 (varies from manufacturer to manufacturer) dead pixels on the screen.
even one in the middle can be annoying.
Inspect the flatpanel before you hand over your cash

koneko

If you are going to be using it for games or DVDs/films, check out the response time first.

The lower it is, the better. Check out reviews if you can. Mmmm that's where Google comes in handy.

rabbitinlights

I also bought the hercules 720 about 6 months ago and i love it, it has a viewing size of 16.9" and has never given me any problems,
also in my opinion its the best looking LCD out there.
If your so inclined you could also buy a VGA box so you could run DVDs, Sky, PS2 through it?
Handy if your PC's in your room and you dont have a Tv to run these through?
Good luck.

Lucutus

I have a Samsung 191T.

In 2d applications everything works perfectly, very crisp image, even better than my old CRT.

In 3d apps, such as games, there is minimal ghosting, more or less, depending on the app.

For DVD and other video, there's a little ghosting during fast action.

Ghosting:

There's no perfect LCD panels in respect to reponse time out there atm, I think Hitachi or someone have a 12.5ms response time panel out, but not sure on that.

You get used to ghosting after a time, but if you really, really want no ghosting, stick to a CRT.

If you are buying an LCD in the near future, prioritise your requirements.

Style,
Viewable Area,
Space Saving,
Performance,
Price.

These things in this order, led me personally to the 191T.

Oh and another thing, if you want to use a DVI cable interface with your gfx card, make sure there's one included! I think I bought Peats' last one there a while back

Luc

oneweb

They're really cool as a look on a desk, they generate a hell of a lot less heat. (I figured that's one of the reasons why they got systems with TFTs in college - they save money in the long term on air-con, of which there is none in the new comp rooms, and on electricity) Plus, they don't shoot anywhere near as much electrons at you as a CRT would. They make you look like you've loads of €€€ to spare.

Be aware though, that the refresh rate isn't fantastic (fine in general but animations/movies appear a bit less distinct) They're not great for image processing - you will notice some pixelation given the nature of TFTs (even with smoth fonts enabled) And finally, if a single pixel goes kaput, you'll notice nothing more than that permanent red/green/blue/black or white pixel somewhere on the screen. Or possibly even a full, very fine vertical or horizontal line of black going the whole way across the screen (as I've seen on a €10,000-odd TFT television behind a shop register in town). But that's pretty rare given the ever-improving manufacturing process and materials used.

So, in all - if you can afford it and have nothing else to get in favour such as HD, memory etc, you might as well splash out on a good quality TFT. Otherwise CRT monitors will beat TFTs hands down for on-screen image quality.

Matt Simis

Originally posted by oneweb
.

Be aware though, that the refresh rate isn't fantastic (fine in general but animations/movies appear a bit less distinct) They're not great for image processing - you will notice some pixelation given the nature of TFTs (even with smoth fonts enabled) And finally, if a single pixel goes kaput, you'll notice nothing more than that permanent red/green/blue/black or white pixel somewhere on the screen. Or possibly even a full, very fine vertical or horizontal line of black going the whole way across the screen (as I've seen on a €10,000-odd TFT television behind a shop register in town). But that's pretty rare given the ever-improving manufacturing process and materials used.

So, in all - if you can afford it and have nothing else to get in favour such as HD, memory etc, you might as well splash out on a good quality TFT. Otherwise CRT monitors will beat TFTs hands down for on-screen image quality.

Lot of half truths there.

TFTs dont use "refresh rates", they are purely a CRT term. You can set a TFT to 60 or 75hz (usually) and if you are using a DVI cable (like you should be) then there is no difference in quality or Pixel Response rate. The reason if allows a choice of refresh rates is for graphics card compatibility.

TFTs have longer warranties than CRTs and longer MTBF, which would mean they are more reliable, not less. Anything can break, but listing and knowing all the things that can go wrong with TFTs doesnt make them anymore likely to break.

TFTs and CRT both have very specific strengths and weaknesses in regards to image quality. With the exception of Color reproduction, TFTs are generally accepted to have superior image quality. They also offer many other advantages listed above and elsewhere over CRTs.

That "€10,000-odd TFT television " was probably a Plasma screen btw, which are more prone to failure and are comparitive power hogs (generate lotsa heat too).



Matt

oneweb

thanks for the corrections.
When I said refresh rate, I meant response rate,
I never said they were less reliable

<if a single pixel goes kaput...> But that's pretty rare

Indeed it was a Plasma screen.

in college we have TFTs and CRTs. The CRTs there aren't great - they're "flatscreens" <not flat panel> (which seem to make the image concave), with two stupid fine lines going horizontally across the screen. The TFTs aren't great, but they have a perfectly flat view, and they're a novelty. At home I have a CRT and with the exception of desk space occupied, I prefer it by far!

Boston

My understandign that TFT monitors dont shoot any electrons "at you" but rather work be sending a current accross an electrolyte.

Anyway some TFT monitors can be crap. But to be honest i prefere them over most crt monitors. I've been looking at the 191t. Its actually seems quiet good, and for it's size its not badly pricesd at about 938 euro. I think overclockers sell the new 17" lcd for 450 euro. Not bad at all. i have it. Kinda the mid range of LCD's better then most crt monitors but not top performance

Gavin

Originally posted by oneweb
thanks for the corrections.
When I said refresh rate, I meant response rate,
I never said they were less reliable
Indeed it was a Plasma screen.

in college we have TFTs and CRTs. The CRTs there aren't great - they're "flatscreens" <not flat panel> (which seem to make the image concave), with two stupid fine lines going horizontally across the screen. The TFTs aren't great, but they have a perfectly flat view, and they're a novelty. At home I have a CRT and with the exception of desk space occupied, I prefer it by far!

Seemingly these are two wires behind the screen holding a cage of come shape or form. This is how you tell a quality trinitron I have been told.

oneweb

I wasn't certain about that. Indeed there's a backlight, but I don't know if that does. I heard those wires were to keep the image aligned, but to me they rubbish the monitor. A quality monitor should not have a single image-affecting property.