16.2 vs. 16.7 million colors

[Vallybally]

I've read a couple of threads that touched on this question, but there was no clear response or concensus.

Is the difference between 16-bit and 24-bit colors as important as the difference between DVI and Analog?

What is dithering?

Any links out there to this question of what 16.2 million really is? Something tells me it's more sophisticated technology than simply 500k less colors than 16.7 million...

 

[OinkBoink]

no

 

[Theslowone]

Take a look at this page, to find more about the subject.

 

[kylebisme]

16-bit is only 32768 colors and dithering is basicly just using patterns of various colored dots to give the impression of different colors.

 

[Theslowone]

Hey snowman wouldn't it be 655xx colors for 16bit? I might be wrong.

 

[SonicIce]

I've never heard of 16.2 million colors. I do know that 8 bit color is 2^8 or 256 colors. 16 bit color = 2^16 or 65,536 colors. 24 bit is 2^24 or 16,777,216 colors. No idea where 16.2 million came from

 

[JasGamer]

Originally posted by: TheSnowman
16-bit is only 32768 colors and dithering is basicly just using patterns of various colored dots to give the impression of different colors.

...65k colors you mean

 

[Vallybally]

Well, it was an interesting link but not directly related to 16.2 vs 16.7 million colors.

I'm trying to figure out if dithering is some method of 'faking' it to look like 16 million colors when in fact it may be something like blending 65k colors to simulate 16 million.

It's hard to decide between these 2 for gaming purposes:

19" Princeton 25ms 16.7 million true 24-bit LCD ($375 AR)

or

19" BenQ 16ms 16.2 million 18-bit? LCD ($425)



edit: now that I'm looking at 2 dozen 19" LCDs on newegg.com, really BenQ is among the very few who are showing 16.2 million. Most guys are showing 16.7 million... I wonder what's up because BenQ generally get very positive reviews. Maybe it's no biggie after all...

 

[AnnoyedGrunt]

The monitors with 16.7M colors use 8 bits, and the one with 16.2 use 6 bits with dithering.

Whether or not you notice the difference probably depends on what you use your computer for, and how sensitive you are.

You should go to a store and look @ some LCD's in person to see if you notice any difference. I certainly wouldn't want to spend the money on a panel with the lower color reproduction, but that's just me.

-D'oh!

 

[kylebisme]

Originally posted by: Theslowone
Hey snowman wouldn't it be 655xx colors for 16bit? I might be wrong.

you are right, I got it wrong because I was thinking about "16-bit" in photoshop which is really 15-bit.

 

[Mark R]

There are some LCD monitors that do have 16.2 million colours yet use 8 bit colour.

The reason is that their digital-to-analogue converters are unable to use all 256 (0->255) brightness levels that 8 bits give. They only go to 253 (0->252) which means that you lose a bit of detail in either the very lightest parts, or in the very darkest, or both.

 

[McArra]

Originally posted by: Vallybally
Well, it was an interesting link but not directly related to 16.2 vs 16.7 million colors.

I'm trying to figure out if dithering is some method of 'faking' it to look like 16 million colors when in fact it may be something like blending 65k colors to simulate 16 million.

It's hard to decide between these 2 for gaming purposes:

19" Princeton 25ms 16.7 million true 24-bit LCD ($375 AR)

or

19" BenQ 16ms 16.2 million 18-bit? LCD ($425)



edit: now that I'm looking at 2 dozen 19" LCDs on newegg.com, really BenQ is among the very few who are showing 16.2 million. Most guys are showing 16.7 million... I wonder what's up because BenQ generally get very positive reviews. Maybe it's no biggie after all...

The BenQ is far better choice for gaming.

 

[Vallybally]

That's what I'm thinking.

Ok then, how much does a typical DVI cable cost? I've heard anywhere from $10 up to $80!

Cause the 12ms panel seems to include the dvi cable while the 16ms one doesn't...