LCD monitor recoomendations/reviews? Colour accuracy and viewingangle more important than response t

[spodosaurus]

Hi all,

Due to space constraints my wife wants to get a 17" LCD monitor to
replace her 17" CRT monitor. I've been put in charge of getting it for
her. If it were me, I'd be looking at response time for gaming, but
that's not her thing. She'll be doing office work, some video editting,
and graphic design/photo editting with it. So, response time isn't the
key issue, it's viewing angle and accurate colour reproduction. The new
gaming monitors use dithering to make up for some of their flaws in
colour rendering, but this doesn't come close to being suitable for her.

Do any of you have any recommendations on monitors I should check out
(price is an issue here)? What about reviews? Tomshardware hasn't done a
recent enough review of 17" LCD monitors, and neither have many of the
other places I usually check for hardware reviews.

TIA,

Ari

--
spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/

 

[Bioboffin]

Hi all,

Due to space constraints my wife wants to get a 17" LCD monitor to
replace her 17" CRT monitor. I've been put in charge of getting it for
her. If it were me, I'd be looking at response time for gaming, but
that's not her thing. She'll be doing office work, some video
editting, and graphic design/photo editting with it. So, response
time isn't the key issue, it's viewing angle and accurate colour
reproduction. The new gaming monitors use dithering to make up for
some of their flaws in colour rendering, but this doesn't come close
to being suitable for her.
Do any of you have any recommendations on monitors I should check out
(price is an issue here)? What about reviews? Tomshardware hasn't
done a recent enough review of 17" LCD monitors, and neither have
many of the other places I usually check for hardware reviews.

TIA,

Ari

You're going to get a whole lot of 'my monitor is great' messages so I
thought I'd start the ball rolling:

I have an Iiyama LCD screen. It is 20.1" and has a reasonable response time
and excellent viewing angle. Colour accuracy is good. (note not perfect).

Here is a review:

http://www20.graphics.tomshardware.com/display/20040609/lcd_review-04.html

It may be too expensive for what you want, but the screen is easy to read at
1600x1200 resolution, which gives you a huge amount of on-screen real
estate.

My only criticism of it (although I haven't used the built in speakers) is
that the back light occasionally flashes a bit (about once a fortnight - not
too frequent) and this worries me a bit; and the screen is not superbly
evenly lit when showing a black screen - there are lighter bits.

To do better you'd need to pay a lot more for an Eizo.

Reviews of Iiyama 17" screens have also been very good. Might be worth
considering.

John.

 

[spodosaurus]

You're going to get a whole lot of 'my monitor is great' messages so I
thought I'd start the ball rolling:

I have an Iiyama LCD screen. It is 20.1" and has a reasonable response time
and excellent viewing angle. Colour accuracy is good. (note not perfect).

Here is a review:

http://www20.graphics.tomshardware.com/display/20040609/lcd_review-04.html

It may be too expensive for what you want, but the screen is easy to read at
1600x1200 resolution, which gives you a huge amount of on-screen real
estate.

My only criticism of it (although I haven't used the built in speakers) is
that the back light occasionally flashes a bit (about once a fortnight - not
too frequent) and this worries me a bit; and the screen is not superbly
evenly lit when showing a black screen - there are lighter bits.

To do better you'd need to pay a lot more for an Eizo.

Reviews of Iiyama 17" screens have also been very good. Might be worth
considering.

John.

Thanks John. Finding iiyama monitors in Australia is not easy. In fact,
I know of no major retailer or e-tailer that sells them here. The
reviews I've seen, though, have them using 6-bit with dithering for
colour, whereas I would need 8-bit.

Ari


--
spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/

 

[johns]

Well, she is basically out to lunch regards what she wants.
LCD monitors are at about the technology level of
"Technicolor". It is not that I minded Doris Day looking
like Minnie Mouse, but if she is thinking about color
editing, that is the best she will get with an LCD monitor.
As for "dithering" ... that smooths digital lines, and there
is nothing wrong with that. Then she turns around and
says that she doesn't have room for a 19 inch monitor,
and wants a dinky monitor for color editing ??? Again,
she is off base regards how an LCD monitor is used.
Most of the 17 inch monitors are not very bright ..
meaning she has to view them in reduced room light,
and up close. The newer 19 inch LCD monitors are
much brighter, and therefor they are meant to be used
in high room light, and pushed further away to the
back of the desk. That is the only way to reduce their
grainy look, but it works fairly well. The LCD monitor
that will get the job done is one of two: the 19 inch
AOC ... or the IBM / DELL 21 inch. I predict, based
on her lack of experience with these LCD monitors,
that no matter what you buy her, she will swear that it
is no good, and it will be your fault. What she really
needs is a very nice 21 inch HP CRT monitor, or again
the 19 inch AOC flat screen .21 dot pitch CRT. Both
have very good color resolution. Then .. she needs a
very good video card designed for her work. I recommend a good gaming card
rather than one of those
FireGLs. I don't like the FireGLs, but the Architects do.
Good luck. You are about to take a beating

johns

 

[spodosaurus]

Well, she is basically out to lunch regards what she wants.

She wants a flat panel monitor if there is one that *I* determine meets
her needs. If there's no LCD currently available that meets her needs as
I've defined them, she's happy to stay with her CRT until technology
improves. She wanted me to look into this for her to see if it is possible.

LCD monitors are at about the technology level of
"Technicolor". It is not that I minded Doris Day looking
like Minnie Mouse, but if she is thinking about color
editing, that is the best she will get with an LCD monitor.
As for "dithering" ... that smooths digital lines, and there
is nothing wrong with that.

There's a big difference when some LCDs use 8-bit colour rendering and
some use 6-bit with dithering to try and make up the difference. Very
few come right out and say "we're using 6-bit", and that makes my job
all the more difficult, so yes, I think there is something wrong with that.

Then she turns around and
says that she doesn't have room for a 19 inch monitor,
and wants a dinky monitor for color editing ???

Please take a look at my post and tell me where you got this from? 19"
monitors, either TFT or CRT, were not mentioned at all. Personally, I'd
love a 19" LCD

Again,
she is off base regards how an LCD monitor is used.

No, she isn't. It's used to view either an analog or digital video
signal from her video card. That's all she needs to know, the rest is up
to me to determine if there's a monitor out there that meets her needs
and can help reduce the desktop real estate taken up by her current CRT.

Most of the 17 inch monitors are not very bright ..
meaning she has to view them in reduced room light,
and up close. The newer 19 inch LCD monitors are
much brighter, and therefor they are meant to be used
in high room light, and pushed further away to the
back of the desk. That is the only way to reduce their
grainy look, but it works fairly well. The LCD monitor
that will get the job done is one of two: the 19 inch
AOC ... or the IBM / DELL 21 inch.

There is no Dell branded 21" monitor available here in Australia.
Monitors of similar size are priced at over $1000 AUD, and are out of
our price range (hence the focus on 17" TFTs, which will be an
improvement in terms of viewable area over her 17" flat screen CRT).

I predict, based
on her lack of experience with these LCD monitors,
that no matter what you buy her, she will swear that it
is no good, and it will be your fault.

And if I bought one without doing research and asking questions, then it
WOULD be my fault! Which is why I'm reading reviews and looking at
colour rendering and how differently made TFT screens give better colour
but poor response time and vice versa.

What she really
needs is a very nice 21 inch HP CRT monitor, or again
the 19 inch AOC flat screen .21 dot pitch CRT.

I think, once she gets her new desk, that the absolute best I could
convince her to move to would be a 19" CRT. Even with the new desk with
almost twice the space, things will still be a little cramped.

Both
have very good color resolution. Then .. she needs a
very good video card designed for her work. I recommend a good gaming card
rather than one of those
FireGLs.

Seeing as I'm not finding much in the sub-$1000AUD range in terms of TFT
screens, I'm thinking of putting the money set aside for this into
getting her set up for video editting from VHS and DVD at home. This is
yet another area that I have to research, and so far I've been told
three different things:

1. stand alone DVD burner (though sometimes these won't let you record
to DVD from VHS)
2. IDE DVD burner and a USB video in adapter such as the Belkin USB 2.0
video capture adapter.
3. PCI video capture card with hardware MPEG-2

I don't like the FireGLs, but the Architects do.
Good luck. You are about to take a beating

Only when I ask her to

johns

--
spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/

 

[Mxsmanic]

Well, she is basically out to lunch regards what she wants.
LCD monitors are at about the technology level of
"Technicolor".

You realize that Technicolor is the gold standard of color in motion
pictures, right? Traditional Technicolor isn't used today because it is
awkward and expensive, but it provides beautiful results. Probably the
classic examples are _The Wizard of Oz_ and _Gone with the Wind_.

 

[Leon Manfredi]

AnandTech.com has good LCD reviews.....

Thanks John. Finding iiyama monitors in Australia is not easy. In fact,
I know of no major retailer or e-tailer that sells them here. The
reviews I've seen, though, have them using 6-bit with dithering for
colour, whereas I would need 8-bit.

Ari

 

[spodosaurus]

AnandTech.com has good LCD reviews.....

Thanks, I'll check them out.


--
spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/