<< Hey Cow,
Here's my thoughts on purchasing a monitor:
1. Look for a manufacturer that also mfg's the CDT (picture tube). This would include Samsung, LG Philips, Sony, Matsushita, Mitsubishi, Hansol, and Hitachi. All of the otehrs including Viewsonic purchase CDT's under an OEM contract basis. So from one month to the next you could be buying the same model but the CDT is different.
2. Look at the brightness figures for that monitor: 330cd/m2 brightness for entertainment, 200cd/m2 brightness for web browsing and 150cd/m2 brightness for word-processing.
3. The technology that is going into CDT's is into the "pure, true, super" flat tubes in the 17", 19" 21" sizes. Otherwise the "bubble" tubes are older technology and will not provide the best image or capabilities as the true flats.
4. Both LG Electronics and Samsung are investing in new CDT facilities for the 19"+ pure flat tubes. So a good start would be with these brands. LG I think are the real values as they don't have the name recognition of Samsung but are great monitors.
5. Warranty should be no less than 3 years. If it's 1 year then forget it.
6. Look for the following symbols: energy2000, tco'99, MPR-II, "energy2000" the newest.
7. Search for "short neck" design which again emphasizes the "age" of the tube you'll be getting. >>
Rarotonga
1. With the exception of maybe Sony, all the other manufactures listed use other brands of CRT?s. Hitachi uses some Samsung tubes. Samsung uses some Chung-wa and Mitsubishi tubes depending on the model. Just because a company is a CRT and monitor manufacturer it does not mean that they always use their own tube. Hitachi shut down their CRT factories last year.
2. Brightness: The average factory setting for monitor brightness is 95 ? 100 Cd/m2. LCD monitor are in the 200 ? 300 range.
3. The so called bubble tubes actually perform better than the newer flat faced models. From what I have seen, the only real benefit of flat-faced monitors is some glare reduction. In general conventional CRT?s tend to give sharper characters for a few reasons. They tend to have a tighter horizontal dot pitch 0.22mm, better convergence specifications and the fact that the tube is curved in two directions makes it easier to adjust focus uniformity and convergence at the factory. This is not to say every conventional monitor will provide better text, these attributes simply increase the odds of getting better text. Monitors vary model to model and lot to lot.
4. Manufactures are investing in LCD factories not CRT factories.
5. Agree, some even offer 5 year warranties
6. Agree
7. I recommend against short neck CRTs. On short neck monitors I have found that focus and convergence, especially in the corners and around the edges is more of a problem.
Short neck monitors have the electron gun positioned closer to the face of the tube. As you move the gun closer to the face of the tube, the angle of deflection of the electron beam increases. Conventional tubes are typically 90-degree deflection, short neck tubes are 100-degree deflection. Deflecting the beam at a greater angle produces a more oblong beam shape especially in the corners and along the edges of the screen.
Try this experiment: Take a flashlight and aim it directly at a wall. You will see the beam shape is small and round. Now aim the light up into the corner near the ceiling. You will notice that the beam shape spreads out. The more acute the angle, the more the beam spreads. As the beam spreads out the focus of the beam is also degraded.
In simple terms, this is basically the same thing that happens in a CRT. This is also why monitors with curved screens on average tend to have better focus and convergence uniformity.
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