LCD monitors

[Adam Russell]

Ive been thinking about getting an LCD monitor because I heard its easier on
the eyes. I would be using it for gaming and web browsing (text). I went
down to frys and they had a bunch on display with movies playing. The
movies looked great, but I noticed that the text showing in the title bar of
the movie window looked kind of crappy. Every one of them it seemed like
the colors did not all line up correctly so the characters werent black but
a mix of offset color. Is this a problem in general with LCD tech or were
they just not setup correctly?

 

[Grinder]

Ive been thinking about getting an LCD monitor because
I heard its easier on the eyes.

That's not necessarily true. LCD monitors are, in general, brighter
than CRT monitors, but whether or not that's easier on your eyes is
highly subjective. I know several people in both camps.

I would be using it for gaming and web browsing (text).

You have to be cautious that you get an LCD with fast enough response
time. If you don't, you will experience "ghosting" in fast action
games. It's a sort of a motion blur because the LCD monitor cannot turn
a pixel off as fast as a CRT monitor. Although there appears to be some
subjectivity to this as well, response times of 8ms or less appear to be
sufficient for gaming. (There is also a bit of chicanery involved in
measuring and testing these values as well.)

I went down to frys and they had a bunch on display with
movies playing. The movies looked great, but I noticed
that the text showing in the title bar of the movie window
looked kind of crappy. Every one of them it seemed like
the colors did not all line up correctly so the characters
werent black but a mix of offset color.

Two things might be happening there:

1) The monitor was not using its "native resolution."

Unlike CRT monitors, LCD monitors have a specific resolution endemic to
the hardware. A 17-19" monitor, for instance, typically has a native
resolution of 1280x1024. If the monitor is set to any other resolution,
the output is effectively resampled to match that resolution. So, for
instance, if you set the output to 800x600, single pixel lines will land
on a couple of pixels, neither of which will be the color intended for
that line.

I'm making it sound worse that it is, but it is a noticeable effect. If
I had to guess what you're seeing, it's probably non native resolution
scaling rather than the next cause...

2) The system was set to use Clear type.

LCD monitors, also because of their discrete pixels, and take advantage
of sub-pixel anti-aliasing. Basically, it's a smoothing technique that
exploits the fact that each "pixel" is in fact produced from three RGB
sub-pixels. By tweaking the output a bit you can reduce the effect of
jaggies in output--specifically in textual output.

I've generally been unimpressed with the technology, but admit to using
the scheme in Acrobat Reader. That is until I got a pivoting monitor
and the font smoothing looked terrible when rotated 90 degrees.

Is this a problem in general with LCD tech or were they just not
setup correctly?

Well, I guess it's a bit of both. If it's one of the two causes listed
above, you're noticing the effect because of how the system is setup,
but it springs from the specific constraints of the hardware.

Personally I'm a gamer and I completely prefer the LCD over CRT
monitors, but you'll just have to decide what you like the best.

 

[Paul]

Ive been thinking about getting an LCD monitor because I heard its easier on
the eyes. I would be using it for gaming and web browsing (text). I went
down to frys and they had a bunch on display with movies playing. The
movies looked great, but I noticed that the text showing in the title bar of
the movie window looked kind of crappy. Every one of them it seemed like
the colors did not all line up correctly so the characters werent black but
a mix of offset color. Is this a problem in general with LCD tech or were
they just not setup correctly?

I'll be honest with you. There are times that I want my CRT back
(on my LCD monitor, I cannot turn the intensity down low enough).
But the CRT uses 200W of electricity, and this LCD only uses 36W max.
And you definitely want to test each unit with text. Any LCD looks
good with a movie playing on it, which is why all the big box stores
play movies. I bought my LCD from the store that allowed customers to
play with the units on display - you could disable the movie and
bring up the Windows desktop on all monitors simultaneously. That
made finding the one I wanted, easy.

Paul

 

[kony]

Ive been thinking about getting an LCD monitor because I heard its easier on
the eyes. I would be using it for gaming and web browsing (text). I went
down to frys and they had a bunch on display with movies playing. The
movies looked great, but I noticed that the text showing in the title bar of
the movie window looked kind of crappy. Every one of them it seemed like
the colors did not all line up correctly so the characters werent black but
a mix of offset color. Is this a problem in general with LCD tech or were
they just not setup correctly?

LCDs have lower contrast in general, if the contrast ratio
isn't high, and honest, blacks may look a bit worse. The
movie itself might have been less than great quality too, an
LCD will also show more flaws in video that a CRT may tend
to blurr together... we'd have to see the movie playing and
maybe in a video editor to know what accounts for it, if not
a combination of factors.

I don't know what you mean by colos not lining up correctly,
some 6 bit panels may have display glitches in color
gradients, but not all do and some will do a reasonable job
of offsetting this with intelligent dithering.

It's also quite possible they weren't set up correctly, or
that the best, profit leaders were set up better. I have to
wonder why you are comparing movies if you want to use it
for text and gaming. Drag a salesman over and have them
accomdate you with some more applicable demos.

 

[Noozer]

99% of the time, the monitors on display at the store are NOT running at
their native resolution. That means that the picture will never really look
as good as it should.

Find a shop with a no hassle return policy, or one where they will let you
see the monitor hooked directly to a PC, at it's proper resolution.

These days, there really is no reason not to go with an LCD unless money is
SUPER tight and you can grab a CRT for $25.