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How to buy a monitor


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What to look for & what not to.....

 

 

BASICS:

 

KNOW YOUR TARGET:

Ask yourself what you want? I want it all (the most expensive option), I want it for gaming, I want it for multimedia, I want it for browsing, I want an all round performer with good wide angle viewing.

 

PANELS:

 

* S-IPS/H-IPS panels are generally considered the best all around panel type, but they are more expensive and very few are made. High end, expensive.

* S-PVA/MVA panels offer better color reproduction and viewing angles than TN panels, have slightly worse response times than TN or S-IPS, offer the best contrast ratios, may suffer from color shifting or input lag and have higher availability than S-IPS panels. Mid range, fair price.

* TN panels are very cheap and have the fastest response times, but suffer from inferior color reproduction, contrast ratios and viewing angles. Low end, inexpensive.

 

 

 

FIRST:

 

The most important factor for 90% of buyers, PRICE, it's pointless deciding to check out every monitor if you have a PRICE limit, so set your price & look within it.

 

SECOND:

 

Depending what your main target is, use the following as primary specifications.

 

COLOUR GAMUT

VIEWING ANGLES

RESPONSE

RESOLUTION

CONTRAST

BRIGHTNESS

 

 

The most neglected value but also one of the most important is COLOUR GAMUT, that is how much of the actual colour pallet the monitor can reproduce. It's ok saying it's 16.7 million colours or 24 / 32bit but if the panels screen can only show 50% of it then your wasting your money. The monitor is made of two main components, the driver circuit & the panel, the driver circuit is normally quoted as the COLOUR SPEC (being 16.7Million colours or 32bit) but the true spec is only measured in real tests using calibrated colour spectrometers.

 

HOW to find out about colour? well the only real way is to use a good review site that does these tests, buy your own $3000 spectrometer or see it for real & judge for yourself.

 

Viewing angle is the second most important as you will not always be viewing from the perfect position & the same is true for visitors. Many manufactures quote (once again) the actual panel specs but without tolerances (reference to anything), meaning you can view it @ 170 degrees but they don't say you will loose 50% of the brightness & 20% of the overall colour, overcareful, this all goes back to the actual panel type.

 

Response time is important for fast moving action in video & games but it can be shown in a deceitful way. Normal it would be quoted as the time for a pixel to go from black to white & all the way back to black but one manufactures panel looked so bad that they changed it to the time it took a pixel to go from not black but GREY to white & all the way to GREY, cutting some 50% of the actual true black to black figure originally used, so was born the sub 8mS panels !!

 

 

Once you got the basics, then it's time for resolution, buy as big a resolution as you can afford as the size of every pixel will be smaller & tighter in the same matrix (same size panel). The best compromise is around 1920x1080 on a 16:9 ration panel or 1920x1200 on a 16:10 panel, the best value panels live in the 1080 vertical pixel resolution today & if you find a sweet IPS type panel, your on a winner.

 

Contrast, or contrast ration (the difference from darkest to lightest in a ratio) will give the picture punch but more important define the blacks in the picture. The problem with cheaper panels & circuits is they have a delay on/off or don't have the ability to switch off the pixel 100% so allowing a point to remain partly lit (not true black). This is vary important as black can define the amount of detail you will or will not see.

 

 

Brightness, used in the Milli candle measurement (mcd) tells you how bright the monitor is, Cold cathode panels & newer LED do a good job with LED have the advantage of longer life, cleaner (less tainted) colours & cooler running. Look for a reasonable bright screen as the brightness (especially with cold cathode) will diminish over time. I've always said 300mcd is a good base point & anything above is a big plus.

 

KEY PITFALLS (YOUR TEST)

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct....948&subcat=

 

The listed monitor is a ell IN2010N 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor, nothing special, the specs listed on the retail site are:

 

 

- Screen Size: 20" Widescreen

- Resolution: 1600x900

- Contrast Ratio: 1000:1

- Brightness: 250cd/m²

- Response Time: 5ms

- Viewing Angles (H/V): 160°/160°

- Colours: 16.7 Million

- Inputs: 1x Analogue

- Dimensions: 453.7mm x 344.0mm x 204.8mm

- Weight: 4.1kg

- Warranty: 3 Years On-Site

 

Lets see how much is true & what they are not telling us......... first a quick google to find the manufactures website & spec sheet. http://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna/produ...&sku=213281

 

(hopefully the links are working but if not I will add the details).

 

WHAT DELL SAYS

Performance without High Cost

 

Now you can own a gorgeous widescreen monitor without paying a high price.

 

* 1600 x 900 resolution provides sharp details and saturated colours.

* A contrast ratio of 1000:1 (typical) delivers vibrant blacks, bright whites and stunning colours.

* 2 lamp direct backlit system for as much as 25% energy savings compared to similar monitors using 4 lamps 1.

 

Notice the use of words like Vibrant blacks & bright whites, all done to get you thinking it's got great black & white values...

 

so into the tech specs

 

Panel Size:

20"

Aspect Ratio

Widescreen

Panel Type:

TN - Twisted Nematic

Max Resolution:

1600 x 900 at 60 Hz

Contrast Ratio:

1000:1 standard contrast ratio (typical)

Brightness:

250 cd/m2 (typical)

Response Time:

5 ms (typical)

Viewing Angle

160° (vertical), 160° (horizontal)

Colour Support:

16.7 million colours

Pixel Pitch:

0.2768mm

Display Type

Anti-glare with hard coating 3H

Device Type

Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor

 

Analog VGA

 

 

Not much but already an alarm bell.... The manufacture site confirms this is a VGA port only monitor NO DVI, VGA is the old analogue input, meaning everything was done digitally in your computer, converted to analogue by your graphics card to send it to the monitor on the vga port. DVI is a pure digital signal/cable system & much better than vga, cost cutting point one.

 

But the manufacturers site does not give full specs.....

 

also, the monitor is not fully compliant with auto resolution.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/moni.../ug/optimal.htm

 

but it takes some real digging.....

http://i.dell.com/images/emea/products/mon...tor_2_pager.pdf

 

User posted image

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Colour gamut of only 85% while not bad is not great either........ plus clause 4

 

The trash talk....

User posted image

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CIE 1976

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lab_color_space

 

CIE 1931

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIE_1931_color_space

 

 

CIE 1976 is about the range of colour a computer panel can generate.

 

 

If the panel can accept 16.7 million colours then it would show, 85% of them therefore loosing around 2.5 million colours. So you get the idea, the colour gamut is very important and a good value is above 90% excellent above 95% & exceptional 98%.

 

 

READ THIS:

 

 

YOUR TEST SUBJECT

A small test, read about this monitor and guess if it's good or bad & why, then after watch the video.......

 

 

 

 

THE MONITOR 'DELL 2009 W' 20" widescreen see links below...

 

LINK 1: Dell

 

http://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna/produ...&sku=151077

 

Dell spec sheet (from dell)

http://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna/produ...&sku=151077

 

 

LINK 2: engaget (preview)

 

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/14/dell-bu...harp-2009w-lcd/

Not feeling enough LCD love from Dell lately? How about this new UltraSharp 2009W? The new 20-inch 16:10 widescreen monitor does up a 1680 x 1050 resolution, with 36% more pixel content than Dell's 19-incher. The display also outperforms its budget friendly E207WFP predecessor with a 102% color gamut, 2000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 5ms response time, and four USB 2.0 ports. Only inputs available are DVI with HDCP and VGA, but perhaps all can be forgiven with that $289 pricetag. It's available now.

 

 

 

END OF TEST

 

How did you do ???????

_______________________________

 

Did you pass ???????

 

 

TN panel colour / angle of view, this panel is a TN rated @ 167 horz/ 160 vert degrees

 

DELL 2009W

 

 

Panel Type

TN - Twisted Nematic

 

__________________________________________

 

 

On the flip side, a high end IPS monitor

 

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechS...ectID=c01502799

 

 

Notice this monitor has a 12mS black to white (24mS black to black) but costs much more than most 24" monitors and out specs 99% of other monitors........ Why?

 

 

I guarantee you can play games on it too with no problems....

 

 

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/hp_lp2475w.htm

 

http://www.trustedreviews.com/monitors/rev...-IPS-Display/p1

 

user reviews

 

http://review.zdnet.com/product/lcd-monito...tft-24/33255713

 

http://www.testfreaks.co.uk/monitors/hp-lp2475w/

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct....3-HP&tool=3

 

 

 

HIGH COLOUR SCREENS

 

http://compreviews.about.com/od/monitors/tp/GraphicsLCDs.htm

 

 

 

 

FINALLY

 

GOOD REVIEW SITES (they do the bizz).

 

 

http://www.trustedreviews.com/monitors/

 

 

 

http://hardforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=78

 

 

 

have fun.......

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I was looking at a laptop with 17.3 inch screen at 1600 by 900 pixels, it seems clear and crisp.

Although my 24 inch desktop monitor is a 1920 by 1080 and is 2ms gtg. (probably 4 or 5ms btb) I noticed a huge improvement with eye fatigue using this 24 inch monitor and it is much easier to pick out targets on the screen.

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This monitor

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct....949&subcat=

 

 

Colour gamut 68%

Always read the small print/ tech specs & references.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

+++++++++++++++++++++

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abit more for you zath....

 

 

e-IPS monitor (that's the panel type) Vs TN + polarizer film

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3fgwawRBnk&feature=fvw

 

 

TN Vs IPS monitors

 

 

 

hope it helps you choosing a monitor Zath.......

 

 

Dell 2209WA vs. Samsung 226BW

DELL on the LEFT

 

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My wife and I have been moving stuff around while doing some spring cleaning. We decided to switch the tvs we have in the bedroom and the office. The bedroom has this older tube style tv that is just way out of date but still has a pretty good non-HD (not even 480i) tv that has lasted, plus we got it free from somewhere. The one in the office is my old gaming monitor, a 27" NetTV Multimedia Monitor. I was shooting bad guys in Rogue Spear on a 27" before HDMI and DVI connections even came out.

Anyways, the motivation for this was that we have DirecTV HD channels that look like crap on that old POS, so I switched and used the NetTVs 480i resolution through a component connection to see those in more quality. The difference between the non HD and HD channels is vast. Even though 480i isnt true HD, it is still a huge improvement ove the other tv. A bonus is that this NetTV has a sound system that could rival a BOSE Wave system. Not as good, but it's close. So ultimately, the sound quality is better as well. Having paid what I paid for it (around a grand, plus the separate and optional tuner card for watching tv, another $180, it is worth keeping around until it goes tit up on its own.)

 

The moral of the story is that I now have an old tv in my office that has outlived its usefulness and will soon be relegated to the dumpster if I have my way. Viiiper's tutorial and videos will prove invaluable when it comes time to upgrade. Thanks.

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Just one other thing (after reading Medic's post), the power consumption of older CRT's & heat dissipation is a good reason to get them replaced, I did mine awhile ago but can remember selling it for £20 ($30).

 

This is the problem I'm having with my thoughts on ATI5870 v NV480GTX, the nvidia GTX graphics card is using some 30% more power and today wall socket power is expensive... as I run my PC 12-24hrs / day

 

100W extra / hour that's about 2Kwh / day @ 15pence UK =30 pence total per day or £2.10 / week (about £8 a month).

think about it !!!

 

monitor ext there all the same

 

My PC has a WATT meter (I showed you all last year) remember?

http://www.legionofspartans.com/forums/ind...?showtopic=4215

 

 

 

Anyway it used 220Watts approx, we pay 15 pence UK for 1 killowatt hour of power (a 1000watts of usage for one hour)

so my PC costs a fraction of that 220/1000 = 0.22 KWh x £0.15 (price for 1kwh) COST 3.3 pence per hour. Does not seem alot till !!!!

 

 

3.3 x 24hrs = 79 pence to run all day

79x 7 days = £5.54 to run for the week

79pence x 365 days = £289 to run it for a year and this excludes my monitor.....

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi ,

 

Im after a new monitor and ive read your post but to be frank i havent a clue what or where to get the right one.

 

My budget is £100-150 and im looking at a 22" TN.

Im running a Q6600 Quad and a Geforce 9800GTX so i dont think the higher res should be a problem.

Any ideas cus im LOST!!!!!!!

 

Cheers.

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