Wide screen monitors

[Mr P]

My 21" CRT is in for repair after a lightning strike close to our house. I may have to replace it. RIP. Reluctantly, I may have to abandon the CRT world, despite its many advantages.

Would appreciate hearing experiences, pros/cons, prejudices, opinions, specification recommendations on wide-screen TFTs. I don't particularly have price-range hangups; the problem here is more likely to be availabilty based on what gets imported.
Mr P

[verdesardog]

I'm much happier with my now older acer 18" LCD screen than I was with any CRT. The newer LCD screens are using LED's instead of florescent back lights so they are much more energy efficient than even the older LCD screens. With the new non CTR's there are no focus, convergence or pincussion issues and no balooning with different screen brightnesses. And of course they are much thinner taking up less desk space.

The brightness, contrast and screen temeperature all all adjustable for calibrating you system. I would never go back to a CRT for any reason.

[Mr P]

The main reason I like my CRT is the ability to switch resolutions because there is no such thing as 'native resolution'. I don't normally go smaller than 1600 x 1280 otherwise I can't read it, but it will go much further and still with a respectable non-flicker refresh rate.

Mr P

Afterthought edit: nevertheless if it is RIP than I shall go wide screen

[PaulT]

As Gary said in "the other place", LG and Samsung are good

[Mr P]

Ta. Still awaiting a diagnosis from the repair-man. There was that 'sudden sharp intake of breath....' and a comment that secondary damage can be extensive !

Mr P

[Mr Mikey]

I dumped my 21" crt about 5 years ago, went with an Dell optiplex, it is still running strong with good color, don't let the name on the outside make you decide which is best, most of them use the same screens inside.
I always used viewsonic crt monitors. but the dell optiplex which is not the standard dell monitor has been great, it is not the widescreen though so i will be looking for a wide screen since the newer photoshops seem to work better on a single wide screen. I use pcworld.com reviews for some good all around information on computer equipment.

[JDArt]

Originally Posted by Mr P

My 21" CRT is in for repair after a lightning strike close to our house. I may have to replace it. RIP. Reluctantly, I may have to abandon the CRT world, despite its many advantages.

Would appreciate hearing experiences, pros/cons, prejudices, opinions, specification recommendations on wide-screen TFTs.

First of all, I see no advantages of a CRT over a good LCD. None. Zippo. Unless you like a lot of weight and a hideous monstrosity on your desk, CRTs are worse than pointless today. If you need multiple resolutions, get two LCDs. I'd bet there are software solutions to the multiple resolution issue (for developers).

I've used LCDs for many years for color-critical work, and my results were never better with CRTs. In fact, they were worse.

Now, as to which model: Obviously as a 21-inch CRT user you are used to spending a lot of money on a monitor. That's good because the best CRTs for color work will cost you a bit more. I recommend no less than a 25.5-inch LCD, not only for the screen real estate horizontally but also because the widescreen monitors squeeze you a bit vertically. So a 25.5-inch LCD gives you a good size vertically. I use NEC monitors almost exclusively, although I'm sure there are others that are good. My current favorite is the 2690WUXi, now out in a "2" version, I believe. Follow the link in the preceding sentence.

And welcome to the future. You'll wonder why it took you so long to get there.

[Mr P]

Originally Posted by JDArt

If you need multiple resolutions, get two LCDs...
... I use NEC monitors almost exclusively, although I'm sure there are others that are good...
... And welcome to the future. You'll wonder why it took you so long to get there.

Thanks for the comments. I would reply thus:
1) For multiple resolutions one needs multiple LCDs when sticking with native resolution. Otherwise one is sufficient if you can put up with loss of quality. I have no idea if working at other resolutions can damage the monitor. Possibly doesn't do it any good.
2) Unfortunately I have to stick with what is available and covered by warranties here and NEC is not one of them. HP, LG and Samsung are available, although not their whole ranges.
3) I do appreciate the difference between TFT and CRT, already having one PC with a 19" TFT and a laptop. However, you're absolutely right about bulk - my 21" Samsung is enormous.

Thanks again

Mr P

[Douglas]

At work I have a 22" widescreen dell monitor and at home a 22"widescreen Hannspree monitor. Love them both. My home monitor is also HDMI 1080p compatible, so I ditched my 2 ton tv and use this monitor for my computer and DVD watching.

[Mr P]

Some additional conclusions based on what I have heard and read -

1) As I don't intend to use the monitor for games or watching TV (although perhaps DVDs full of photo archives), any response time less than 10ms is sufficient and 5 is more than adequate.
2) For dealing with photographs, the higher the contrast and brilliance, the better.
3) Not only tilt adjustment but also height adjustment is not a bad thing, especially if more than one person might look at the screen.
4) 24" monitors seem to come with resolutions of 1920x1200 or 1920x1080. I would imagine that the differences in vertical resolution simply govern the degree to which you have to scroll vertically.

What I don't know is whether the various resolutions cause distortion, in that if you draw a circle in a graphics package whether it looks like a circle or an ellipse on the screen. Certainly, on my CRT, if I use resolutions of other than its 4x3 aspect ratio there is distortion.

Mr P

[seab3]

Originally Posted by Mr P

What I don't know is whether the various resolutions cause distortion, in that if you draw a circle in a graphics package whether it looks like a circle or an ellipse on the screen. Certainly, on my CRT, if I use resolutions of other than its 4x3 aspect ratio there is distortion.

That will only be an issue if your video card does not support the aspect ratio. I've seen people get wide screen monitors but not consider their video card. It' leads to pretty lousy looking displays.

[Mr P]

@seab3: Thanks for the tip. I'll check (as soon as I can hook up a monitor to look with )

Mr P

[CanadianRocky]

When I got my Dell 24 in monitor I also got an ATI RAdeon HD 2400 Display adaptor.

The images are clear and accurate. I use it as my main monitor (for all applications and including Photoshop) and I have a 17 in that I use for my Icons, email, folders, etc.

I like the set up a lot. I am going to build a new system this winter for my home office and will probably get three 24 in or larger monitors. One for email, word, WWW, etc, and two for images.

[iconoclast]

I got myself a couple 21" CRTs...! used they're very cheep, people even give them away.

Once people start talking about brightness, gamma, temp etc etc etc I must ask if you calibrate your monitor(s)? If you're that concerned about the output perhaps a calibration device is in order....

If you have a video card with lousy 2D then the type of monitor probably isn't going to help. Most current embedded options will do a fair job on a 21" monitor.

[Mr P]

I want to thank everyone for their comments. Being impatient, I've not waited for my 21" crt to be repaired, but when that is done it will be relegated to our 'spare' PC. I bought a rather pricey 24" HP w2408h with an excellent specification that delivers 1900x1200. Beautiful deep colour. Its self-calibration ability seems to match my Spyder.

I still have to get accustomed to turning my head from side to side to see everything.

Mr P

[Rense]

now you got a whole lot of testing to do Mr P!

[Dirk]

i only have one lcd a viewsonic va1912w2 and on the game pc a sony / compaq p700 crt

[Mr P]

Originally Posted by Rense

now you got a whole lot of testing to do Mr P!

Thanks Rense. A useful link. The monitor's self-calibration matched all the tests well.

It has a higher brilliance (400cd/m2) than others that I looked at. Also height adjustment (which most don't have) and an ambient light sensor to control the brightness. 5ms response time is sufficient for a non-game-player like me. Also funny is that the screen can be rotated 90º to give a 1200x1920 resolution (automatically rotated.) All in all, expensive, good, and I won't be buying another for a while.

I now see where I have to fix some of my photos.

Mr P