Monitor time

[Yegolev]

What's wrong with this monitor?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254005

I don't need speakers in the monitor.  This thing has a rating and a ridiculous price, so where's the catch?

[Trippy]

It's a TN panel. May even be 6-bit as well.

[Yegolev]

Great, I have to learn more... stuff.  Be back later, meanwhile suggestions are welcome.

[Trippy]

Why do you want such a small monitor?

[schild]

No! I know what you need. 2MS LG monitor. Lemme get the model #. I bought it. Fucking HEAVEN.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824005098

17", but awesome on a stick. I play all games on it now and use my 22" widescreen as a map screen :)

[Grand Design]

I have the 19 inch version of that LG monitor.

The 2ms response time sold me on it.

I love mine and would recommend it.

[cmlancas]

I have two of this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824112007

I got them for around $160 on Black Friday last year, and they are everything I wanted them to be for $160 plus a little more. I'm sure you're not upgrading from a 17" CRT Yeg, but I was freakin' astounded by the quality for such an inexpensive piece of equipment. Plus there's a two year warranty or something like that. I didn't send in the card, but I'm coming up on a year of owning these and they have no problems to date.

I'm looking at getting http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16889112013 later in the year due to the quality of the monitors -- possibly financing it on Black Friday if it drops to around $1000.

[Yegolev]

Actually my current monitor is a 17" Samsung CRT, which I got sometime during the Clinton administration.  It might not make Baby Jesus cry, but it does make him squint.  It worked well enough (well, it has other issues) when I was on D-SUB but using the DVI->D-SUB converter makes things too dark, especially green.  This means I cannot see certain icons in Dwarf Fortress or sarcasm text on f13.net.  Baby Jesus says I should go with this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824005096

[Yegolev]

Why do you want such a small monitor?

Because property taxes are due this month?

[Salamok]

Great, I have to learn more... stuff.  Be back later, meanwhile suggestions are welcome.

here is an informative post  (on another board) covering the different panel technologies and what manufacturers use them:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1039222

Personally I don't think you could notice with the naked eye the ghosting difference between a 2ms and a 12ms panel with any real world application.

I have a dell 2407 and it is hands down the single best peice of computer equipment I have ever owned in my 20 years of owning a lot of computer equipment.  I'll take awesome color, eye scorching brightness and tons of real estate over debatably noticable response time any day of the week.   You can pick this up for under $600 if you shop and it is worth every penny.  4 months or so after I purchased mine they came out with the 27" and I am sorely tempted to see if it increases on the awesomeness of the 24" the same way the 24" did on the 20".

Yes I can understand wanting to acheive mind melting frame rates on a more traditional 1280x1024 reso but a lot of these new games are increasing your field of view with widescreen, combine that with the ability of a fairly current graphics card to push out decent frame rates at 1920x1200 and it is simply a better experience.

[Yegolev]

That was a somewhat informative link.  I don't care about viewing angle due to how I will use it; I predict that I will be directly in front of my monitor.  Colors and contrast are important, though.  What do you think would be the minimum response time that a gamer would notice, then?  12ms?

I'm going to have to just look at a few in some store somewhere.

[schild]

You'll notice a difference between 12 and 2 on anything twitch that your computer can run well.

[Salamok]

That was a somewhat informative link.  I don't care about viewing angle due to how I will use it; I predict that I will be directly in front of my monitor.  Colors and contrast are important, though.  What do you think would be the minimum response time that a gamer would notice, then?  12ms?

I'm going to have to just look at a few in some store somewhere.

I would think you are safe at least up to the 16ms range maybe even 18.  Call me a fanboi but I just love Dell's ultrasharp stuff, the contrast is always great, they are pretty bright and colors are very vibrant (maybe not 100% accurate for the professional print ppl out there but way more appealing to the web oriented folks).  

Currently you can still get dell 1907's from dell small business for $249 (or get the latest version "1908" for $309) , they rate them at 8ms response time and have a native resolution of 1280x1024.  Thats inclusiveof their 3 year warranty.  We have 6 or so of these at work and they are pretty nice.

You'll notice a difference between 12 and 2 on anything twitch that your computer can run well.

how about the difference between 2 and 8.  Also, we are talking about GHOSTING not retina burning scan lines/flicker you will see on shitty CRT's.  I would still say 12ms ghosting is not noticable and if you are noticing it then you are actively looking for it and not paying attention to the game.  This is nothing that is going to cause you to get fragged for lack of comp performance or anything.

[schild]

Yea, but there's absolutely no reason to get a 12ms monitor when you can get a 2ms one. Also, the color and brightness and contrast ratio on these new LGs are fucking amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing. It absolutely blows away my Dell stuff.

[Yegolev]

Also, the color and brightness and contrast ratio on these new LGs are fucking amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing. It absolutely blows away my Dell stuff.

Noted.  I need some contrast.  Sharp colors are good but contrast is great; I tend to play dark shadowy games.

[schild]

Also, the color and brightness and contrast ratio on these new LGs are fucking amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing. It absolutely blows away my Dell stuff.

Noted.  I need some contrast.  Sharp colors are good but contrast is great; I tend to play dark shadowy games.

Then you need this monitor. I can't vouch for the 22" though, only the 17".

[Morfiend]

Buy a widescreen. Square monitors are old tech. I second the Dell recommendation.

[Murgos]

8 ms or greater LCD's (i.e. my laptop) give me a headache and eyestrain after a while.  Anything sub 8 is golden for all day use though.

[Nerf]

What about those monitors that have that anti-glare shiny coating?  I see them at frys all the time and for some reason they make everything look better to me, anyone have any experience with em?

The family rental house closes escrow around thanksgiving and I'm finally getting a new computer, new monitor to replace my enivision 19" 5ms lcd sometime after new year, am I wrong for leaning towards the shiny coating?

[MrHat]

That shiny coating is NOT anti-glare.

Seriously. If you get any light in the room you won't be able to see anything.

That said, they do put off some sexy looking screens.

[Trippy]

Response time is a misleading figure especially for gamers playing twitchy games. Many panels decrease response time by using an "overdrive" system which creates noticable input lag -- i.e. your mouse movements lag on screen (actually everything on screen is lagging but it's most noticable by comparing what your mouse is doing to what you see on the screen).

TN can offer very low response times (the lowest currently possible) without needing an overdrive system however their viewing angles suck so badly that they make baby Jesus cry. TN panels are almost always 6-bit as well meaning they can't properly display the full range of colors that 8-bit panels can meaning you either get lots of lovely banding or more typically these days lots of lovely dithering.

MVA and PVA panels have much better viewing angels than TN panels but often need overdrive systems to get low response times which means you can have noticable input lag. Color reproduction is very good and they typically have the best blacks. The best can match IPS panels in overall color reproduction though if you turn your heard the colors will shift which for some people will defeat the purpose.

IPS panels typically have the worst response times on paper but because of the way the technology works the "smearing"/ghosting effect you get on all LCDs is comparable to the PVA and MVA panel types. Viewing angles on IPS panels are the best as is their color reproduction and they typically have no overdrive at all meaning no input lag. You also pay more for IPS panels because they are currently the best overall consumer level LCD panel type and you are much more limited in terms of selection and sizes.

If all you care about is smooth gaming and don't care if your colors are whacked out and constantly shift as your head twitches TN panels are super cheap. If that's not acceptable then things get really complicated and you'll probably want to do research on the HardOCP display forum to understand the pros and cons of each monitor model.

[Trippy]

That shiny coating is NOT anti-glare.

Seriously. If you get any light in the room you won't be able to see anything.

That said, they do put off some sexy looking screens.

Glossy screens look better as long as you don't see any reflections. Colors displayed through an anti-glare screen/coating look less "vibrant" compared to their untreated counterparts. If you go to the Apple MacBook Pro forum on the Apple site you can read the endless debates about which is better (the MB Pro offers both types).

[Nerf]

That shiny coating is NOT anti-glare.

Seriously. If you get any light in the room you won't be able to see anything.

That said, they do put off some sexy looking screens.

Glossy screens look better as long as you don't see any reflections. Colors displayed through an anti-glare screen/coating look less "vibrant" compared to their untreated counterparts. If you go to the Apple MacBook Pro forum on the Apple site you can read the endless debates about which is better (the MB Pro offers both types).

That I understand..the post above it.....

[Trippy]

Like I said it's really complicated. It's one of those things where the more you know the more confusing it gets. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. I've been doing research for months now trying to find a replacement for my dying CRT and I still haven't found something I really like.

[Nerf]

See, this is why I post on forums, to find someone else who already did a bunch of mindnumbingly boring research, and buy what they do.  So far my research has consisted of yelling 'Jesus fucking christ that's expensive!' at various 20"+ monitors, and wondering why I am forced to get a widescreen if I want somthing reasonably priced above 19".

[SnakeCharmer]

This is the monitor I have, and absolutely love it.  Looks great either with PC or the 360.  For the money, I just don't think it can be beat.  If I were to do it again, I MIGHT get the 22inch version.

[Trippy]

BTW I forgot to mention that you shouldn't buy from Newegg if you can at all avoid it -- their dead/stuck pixel return policy sucks big time.

[Trippy]

This is the monitor I have, and absolutely love it.  Looks great either with PC or the 360.  For the money, I just don't think it can be beat.  If I were to do it again, I MIGHT get the 22inch version.

Another TN panel.

[Yegolev]

Like I said it's really complicated. It's one of those things where the more you know the more confusing it gets. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. I've been doing research for months now trying to find a replacement for my dying CRT and I still haven't found something I really like.

I love understanding technology, but I've pretty much decided that my research at this point is going to consist of looking at some monitors at the local Best Buy and deciding what I like or can deal with.  Since this seems like one of those situations where each of the three types sucks/is awesome in some way, I will just pick based on looks.  Or I'll get schild's monitor since I have seen him play SiN on that and it looked dandy.  Nice and dark, and the motion was not blurry or otherwise a lot of balls.

[schild]

LG. Telling you. Get it. Love it.

[schild]

On that note: I am looking for a monitor that can do hi-def (as in 1920x1080 minimum), has HDMI (HDCP compliant) and Component inputs.

[Trippy]

You'll have to move up to a 24" monitor with 1920 x 1200 native for that. There are a bunch at that size that qualify (Dell, BenQ, Samsung, and so on). You'll need to research very very careful and make sure the monitor's firmware can do 1:1 pixel mapping properly otherwise it'll stretch your 1920 x 1080 PS3 output to 1920 x 1200 or worse.

[schild]

I can only find one. It doesn't have component-in. Heh. I'm sure we'll see some soon.

I wanted it to play PSP also.

[Engels]

Trippy, have you had a look at the NEC 20WMGX2? I saw one on display next to a bunch of others, even some very vaunted Samsung monitors, and it just looked so infinitely better. I hadda have it and didn't regret the sticker price I payed nearly half a year ago.

Its one of them IPS ones, but to be honest, I've never noticed the response lag on it. The colors are just to die for. Oh, and its ostensibly HD 1080p. Its also has a built in TV tuner, and other bells and whistles. I've recently been jonesing for a 26"+ monitor, but every time I come back home from window shopping and look at my NEC, I just can't bite the bullet and buy what always seems so sub par by comparison.

Of course, the sticker price on it seems nasty, considering that for $600 you can score a 24" Dell, but really, its just a swank-ass screen.

[Trippy]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824014124
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824005099 (no DVI you'll need HDMI adapter and switcher)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001246 (lots of input lag, beware)

The Dell 2407 doesn't have HDMI but you can just get an HDMI adapter and switcher.

Edit:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824116079 (also no DVI)