[Starman01]

Hey there,

since there is so much stuff out, I need some help from technical interested people. Sofar, I'm still using a CRT Monitor, and that for a certain reason :

For years I'm using the CRT Monitors from ViewSonic, because of 1 Feature only : The UltraBrite Function.

When I enable this feature via a button press on the monitor, the entire screen brightens up, and the colours are more clearer. This is supposed to be created for gaming purpose. Normal is for office (quite calm for the eyes to watch), 3x for games, and 5x for videos (a little brighter than 3x, but I never used it).

Here is a screen that shows the difference, and should show what's important to me :

http://wcsaga.hard-light.net/team/Starman/pics/screen01.jpg

Well, I'm sure this "feature" is now already outdated by all monitor technologies, and CRT's are dead anyway. Also I fear, this CRT won't last forever, and I don't want to end with a bad colour screen when I buy a new one. Also I have a little colour weakness with my eyes mostly red/green, but I don't think that this matter here (the weaknees is noticable otherwise).

So, here is what I want :

A good TFT monitor, as big as possible, but for max 250,- € (not USD !)
It should have excellent bright gaming colours
It should have a 10 ms reaction time (I heard that's good for fast moving games like Egoshooters)
Good gurantee options.
I doesn't need speakers, or any other fancy stuff, just a good view for games and should be running easy 16 hours a day, 24/7

I would appreciate if you could give me some advice

Thanks

Starman

[Satellight]

Maybe you could google for the Samsung PX2370 ?

~250€
1920 * 1080 23"
VGA-DVI-HDMI (more possibilities)
2 ms reaction time (10 ms is a little bit too much IMO)

[Mongoose]

Man, I'd love to have a simple button like that on my CRT.  I have the brightness set at 10% by default to go easy on my eyes, but I always have to crank it up when I'm playing certain games.

[Starman01]

Yeah, that Ultrabright feature is really something special. I once bought another CRT which had none (CRT were already on the verge of extincton) and the colours just sucked. Then I found luckily this monitor here. But now I'm quite a little unsure what to buy, because I do not want to waste money again for bad colour experience. Technically, I only want a bigger monitor, I would even buy another CRT if there would be any.

I'm not sure about the Samsung PX2370. I only read a few comments on major seller sites so far. While 70% praise that thing very high, the other 30% complain about bad colour field and bright fields, escpecially in black area's

[BloodEagle]

It looks to me like the ultra-light feature is just a hotkey for 1.5x Gamma.  NVidia's control panel will allow for the same thing, albeit with a few mouse clicks instead of a single button press.

[Nuke]

i own a samsung PX2570 and it has some of the best color that ive ever seen on an lcd screen.

[Tyrian]

I recently went through the same deal looking for a decent monitor.  I'd highly recommend the Viewsonic VX2450wm LED monitor.  Excellent colors, 5ms typical response, 1000:1 ISO contrast ratio.  It's 1080p, to boot.  Link. 

[Klaustrophobia]

i miss CRTs.  i wonder if i could even still find a nice big one that i could perma-mount somewhere the size isn't an issue.

[Grizzly]

My Samsung Syncmaster 2494 has that sort of thing too. Although it is an 24 inch 1080P behemoth, it does cost under the 250 euro's.

[Starman01]

I recently went through the same deal looking for a decent monitor.  I'd highly recommend the Viewsonic VX2450wm LED monitor.  Excellent colors, 5ms typical response, 1000:1 ISO contrast ratio.  It's 1080p, to boot.  Link.

Hey Tyrian,

this looks interesting. Since I'm using a viewsonic product for so many years, I'm quite a fan of that company. The referense also reads really good for this monitor.

Please tell me something : As I have learned, Plasma and LCD Television have problems with pure black. While I can more or less live with that, how is this with TFT's, especially this one ? I play lots of space games, and I don't want to play in only grey.

Is the colour due to the background LED technics worth to be called black ?

Anything else you could tell me about this monitor ?

Is the missing HDMI a problem ?  And do I have to fear dead pixels ? How many do you have to accept before you get a replacement ?

[Fury]

For years I'm using the CRT Monitors from ViewSonic, because of 1 Feature only : The UltraBrite Function.

I haven't seen any LCD monitor that wouldn't have something equivalent to this. If you can wait, I'd keep an eye out for 120Hz LED monitors. Better yet, 120Hz LED monitors with S-IPS panel.

[pecenipicek]

i have a NEC 1970NX 19" LCD. S-IPS panel, one of the older ones. You know the **** about them being slower? bull. i havent seen a single instance of ghosting of any sort on it.

[Mika]

One thing that I recently found out is worth mentioning here: DVI and HDMI should be the same, except that they aren't. DVI knows the real resolution of the monitor being used, while HDMI does not, and when connected to HDMI, the monitor will probably use over scan to achieve 1080. The resulting screen is over- or under filled, and getting rid of this means browsing through several menus of your monitor and display driver software. DVI works from the start.

I also have some image sharpness issues with HDMI that are non-existent with DVI and haven't been able to find the causes yet. The monitor I use is Samsung B2430. So for me it seems that DVI is actually better than HDMI, even if DVI doesn't carry sound.

Now I'm irritated that I had to spent 20 € on a HDMI-Mini - HDMI cable that I don't need.

[Starman01]

I haven't seen any LCD monitor that wouldn't have something equivalent to this. If you can wait, I'd keep an eye out for 120Hz LED monitors. Better yet, 120Hz LED monitors with S-IPS panel.

Well, atm there is no hurry, my CRT is working (but now that I said that, I'm sure it will die in a few days ) So if it's worth waiting, I could.

You know the **** about them being slower? bull. i havent seen a single instance of ghosting of any sort on it

I've read that a few times, and still don't get the meaning of what you are trying to say. Could you please explain a little to me ?

Sofar, the one from Viewsonic still looks interesting for me. Strange though, that one the biggest online sellers in germany (alternate.de) doesn't offer that one.....

[pecenipicek]

response time. this one is at 10 or even more ms if i read the reviews correctly. no ghosting noticed. nor input lag.

[BloodEagle]

Technically, anything at or under 16.67ms shouldn't ghost.  And from what I've heard, some of the cheaper 2ms monitors cheat to get that rating, and create noise in the picture.  Of course, all hardware makers lie (this is a known fact), so your mileage may vary.

[Starman01]

Ah, now I understand what is meant with ghosting. Yep, all I know sofar from TFT's, is that I should get one with 10 ms or below. I read that in my PC magazine where they made some compares in FPS games. Though I was quite suprised that the one mentioned seems to have 2ms even

[Mikes]

Ah, now I understand what is meant with ghosting. Yep, all I know sofar from TFT's, is that I should get one with 10 ms or below. I read that in my PC magazine where they made some compares in FPS games. Though I was quite suprised that the one mentioned seems to have 2ms even

2ms is not possible even with TN panels.... so whenever you read 2ms it means they are using some kind of "overdrive" technology (i.e. electrical current) to accelerate the panel.
The problem with overdrive is that it causes different ugly artifacts (afterglow in moving scenes) and even worse: Input lag. (i.e. what blood eagle said).

My recommendation would be to forget any idiotic manufacturer claims. As far as TFT panels go there is no substitute to reading in depth reviews.
(prad.de for example is a good place to start - be warned tho... the more you read, the more likely you will end up buying something more expensive. On the other hand... it will then be money well spent   )

The main question you should ask yourself.... is how much do i want to pay for image quality? TN Panels are always said to be "best" for gaming because they are cheap and fast....   they are also outright ugly/flat as far as colors go when compared to a panel with IPS technology. IPS however are slower on average... so you will have to shop around to find a good "gaming quality" IPS panel.... which usually costs quite a bit more, if you want that.

A monitor however is one of the few hardware pieces that actually stays with you for several years - usually... so personally i can only recommend not be stingy on that part. I cringe everytime i see a highend multithousand dollar gaming rig (that will be obsolete in 1-2 years) hooked up to a cheap 200 dollar TN panel LOL.

As far as value for money goes, i would recommend HPs ZR24W. Why is it good? I's IPS based, decent speed and is one of the few IPS panels which is not "wide color gamut" but native RGB (which is something you want for gaming - or watching DVDs....  wide color gamut monitors are often prone to display wierd colors when displaying RGB content.)
Nec also has a nice 23"" model although the name escapes me right now. (Make sure to read reviews so you get the right one and don t end up with a slow graphic artists panel).

If money is not an issue then you will be hard pressed to find a better panel than Eizos CG243W. Perfect image quality with perfect gaming speed (5ms without overdrive and insignificant input lag). Doesn't get better than that. Also hardly doesn't get any more expensive,... but oh well

If at all possible... try to compare monitors in a store...   best with lighting conditions similar to what you have at home.
How much you actually "like" what a monitor looks like is often a very personal thing. Even ghosting and overdrive artifacts get perceived differently (or not at all) by different people.

[T-LoW]

The 24inches Syncmaster by Samsung is a great deal

The best monitor I've ever had. And there are many price categories of it.

[Ghostavo]

One thing that I recently found out is worth mentioning here: DVI and HDMI should be the same, except that they aren't. DVI knows the real resolution of the monitor being used, while HDMI does not, and when connected to HDMI, the monitor will probably use over scan to achieve 1080. The resulting screen is over- or under filled, and getting rid of this means browsing through several menus of your monitor and display driver software. DVI works from the start.

I also have some image sharpness issues with HDMI that are non-existent with DVI and haven't been able to find the causes yet. The monitor I use is Samsung B2430. So for me it seems that DVI is actually better than HDMI, even if DVI doesn't carry sound.

Now I'm irritated that I had to spent 20 € on a HDMI-Mini - HDMI cable that I don't need.

Since HDMI is basically DVI with audio, I assume your monitor/software is at fault, not the standard itself.