best LCD

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
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so I am going to be in the market for an LCD, preferably 17" but a 19" will do fine as long as you can't tell that the image is stretched (.29 pitch compared to a 17"s .26 pitch).
the LCD will be for gaming, so low latency is a must. But I also need great colors if those two are possible together. Accurate colors and a deep black, great contrast.

And there is one I am interested in particularily, mostly because its widescreen:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824116373

the other one I am interested in, because it sounds like a great monitor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824001213

thanks

oh and it needs to be under $300
 

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
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any one else with other ideas?
not that that may not be a great monitor, just want to get a general opinion
 

xtknight

Elite Member
Oct 15, 2004
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Sorry to burst your bubble but it's impossible to find all that for under $300.

When you say great colors, do you mean you're a photo editor who needs each shade accurate, or just somebody who doesn't want the colors to look unlifelike?
 

Cookie Monster

Diamond Member
May 7, 2005
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Right, my bad i was under the impression that he wanted the best 17" or 19" monitor. But then the 193p is one awesome LCD panel, plus with its updated 8ms response time.
 

xtknight

Elite Member
Oct 15, 2004
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Unfortunately you're gonna have to make trade-offs here but the closest I think you'd consider is the Viewsonic VP191b or Viewsonic VP930b. Both will run you higher than $400. Assuming you don't need photo-accuracy, try for a fast TN.

Samsung 740B looks appealing.
Samsung 713BM isn't that bad but the 740B is probably better.

Originally posted by: Nextman916
LoL xtnight what is it about lcd threads that attracts us so much?

I keep up with LCD tech every day and I love answering questions on it. I love monitors and all these 'best lcd' threads. They're attractive as........... .. well... not that much :p I've probably said 'S-PVA with overdrive' 5000 times.

Wait a minute...I think I just gouged my eyes out. Is this a PVA with 8ms.?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824001213

Edit: No...it was a misprint...:(
 

xtknight

Elite Member
Oct 15, 2004
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Easiest way to tell if a panel is S-PVA/P-MVA with overdrive is if all these three are true. I think that covers all known VA/od panels.

6ms. or 8ms. response time
178/178 viewing angle
16.7 million colors

For TN:
2ms., 3ms., 4ms., 5ms., 8ms., 12ms. usually
160/160 viewing angle
16.2 million colors (sometimes listed as 16.7 though)

As for S-IPS, it's probably going to have an insane price so you can usually distinguish it. After you make your conjecture usually (but not always) this site is right. http://www.flatpanels.dk/panels.php
 

Nextman916

Golden Member
Aug 2, 2005
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THX alot you seem to possess alot of knowledge on lcd's. is it possible for a TN panel to have greater viewing angles than 160? or is that max?
 

xtknight

Elite Member
Oct 15, 2004
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Originally posted by: Nextman916
THX alot you seem to possess alot of knowledge on lcd's. is it possible for a TN panel to have greater viewing angles than 160? or is that max?

160 is max as far as I know, or else it's inflated. Well 160 itself is inflated. I'm pretty sure it means 80 degrees in each direction, horizontal up/down, vertical up/down. Then 80 is inflated, lol.
 

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
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well im not any kind of pro photo editor or anything, I am just very obsessive compulsive, just don't have the money to back that problem up with lol
i like having the best I can afford, and I do want a quality CRT but the space of the desk in my room does not support that. so LCD it is, but I still want quality colors.
and yea, that samsung 713 is confusing the hell out of me, everywhere is typos.
newegg lists at PVA but with 16.2m colors
http://product.samsung.com/cgi-bin/nabc...t_detail.jsp?prod_id=LS17MJSKS%252fXAA
samsung lists as typical TN specs
but click on specs, and it's all different, looking like the va/od panels u mentioned
which i know about the overdrive, but are they PVA panels, or what? (just in reference to VA/OD)

it doesn't seem possible to determine the true specs of that monitor, although price and speculation would lead to believe its what NewEgg lists, just a TN panel.

so, basically: if staying under $300 means losing a slight bit of color accuracy, I can handle it I guess. But I'd prefer not too. Even though I am slightly color-blind, I can still tell the difference between a monitor with good color accuracy and not so good. Maybe its all in the color temperature. Either way, if nothing else, I do want deep blacks with true-white, good contrast and great color. Accurate or not..... just as long as it looks vibrant.
And please tell me the panels in laptops aren't good. because if this panel in my Dell Inspiron 9100 is good, then I do not want an LCD and will make sacrifices and get a CRT, although it might be difficult. But if this panel is just bad, because it almost looks.. how to describe it... not washed out, but far from vibrant. contrast has got to be horribly low too.
 

xtknight

Elite Member
Oct 15, 2004
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Originally posted by: destrekor
well im not any kind of pro photo editor or anything, I am just very obsessive compulsive, just don't have the money to back that problem up with lol

Heheh...I have OCD and color-blind as well. Scary... Take it from someone who has it, it won't bother you that much. You'll want a fast TN probably, even if the colors aren't quite as good. The colors are VIBRANT as hell. Just that gradients are not smooth, but nor will an 8-bit's be, because only 10-bit gamma LUT ones (hint: Eizo/$$$$$$$$) deliver smooth gradients.

By "VA/od" I meant S-PVA with overdrive or P-MVA with overdrive, basically the same thing.

The 713BM CERTAINLY is a TN because it would not be that cheap. Also on Samsung's site it has 16.2m colors, 160/160, a-si TFT/LCD (usually TN in Samsung's case).

so, basically: if staying under $300 means losing a slight bit of color accuracy, I can handle it I guess. But I'd prefer not too. Even though I am slightly color-blind, I can still tell the difference between a monitor with good color accuracy and not so good. Maybe its all in the color temperature. Either way, if nothing else, I do want deep blacks with true-white, good contrast and great color. Accurate or not..... just as long as it looks vibrant.
And please tell me the panels in laptops aren't good. because if this panel in my Dell Inspiron 9100 is good, then I do not want an LCD and will make sacrifices and get a CRT, although it might be difficult. But if this panel is just bad, because it almost looks.. how to describe it... not washed out, but far from vibrant. contrast has got to be horribly low too.

Yeah, they tend to have a bluish cast. That's from the CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent backlight). They'll all have that, except super-expensive LED backlit ones. Usually turning up the red balance with the LCD's OSD helps a lot though. It does for me.

LCDs in laptops (at least even the new ones I've used), with a couple exceptions, blow serious donkey balls and I'm not kidding. ;)
 

Nextman916

Golden Member
Aug 2, 2005
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My advice to you is to take a trip to comp usa or BB and look at their panels. I went to a comp usa friday and suprisingly they had all these monitors i was thinking of purchasing online, more expensive of course. You can judge for yourself the difference between TN and PVA which isnt really that big(most of the lcd's there are TN) and they look just as vibrant to me. You will probably also see the sonys Xbrite/Nec's Opticlear coating on some and drool over those. I know i still am....and best of all i got a sneak preview of a 940b on display!!!!
 

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
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i'll have to head over to best buy and judge similar models I guess....
what bums me is like no one has experience and there are no reviews of the ViewSonic VA1912.

is the color banding in gradients noticeable during games?

and how come some reviews say that a lot of LCDs have issues with noise during movie playback, but gaming is fine. how is noise only added during one type of monitor use and not others.
 

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
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i dont want to take a chance with that one because i've seen a lot of reports of them developing some vertical lines.
 

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
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yea i've been watching that topic but its hard to trust, so many people rave the worst of monitors. i wish there was a professional review on that monitor.
and i had made a post similar to this one at hardforum, and well.... didn't get much help at all.. so far i've gotten more here, that's for sure.
 

xtknight

Elite Member
Oct 15, 2004
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Originally posted by: destrekor
i'll have to head over to best buy and judge similar models I guess....
what bums me is like no one has experience and there are no reviews of the ViewSonic VA1912.

is the color banding in gradients noticeable during games?

and how come some reviews say that a lot of LCDs have issues with noise during movie playback, but gaming is fine. how is noise only added during one type of monitor use and not others.

Well movies tend to have skin tones so a lot more of the same color in one spot and make things really evident. Not sure about this noise. If they're talking about pixel overdrive overshoot, then Tom's Hardware Guide has a rating for that particular issue. 6-bit LCDs implement dithering and that may be a source of noise. Using VGA can also be a source of noise. DVI, 8-bit S-PVA with no overshoot on its overdrive such as the VP191B and VP930B are very compelling choices.

Color banding is not noticeable in games, no, 99.9% of the time. I've never came across it in my year of gaming with this LCD.

Originally posted by: destrekor
i dont want to take a chance with that one because i've seen a lot of reports of them developing some vertical lines.

?? you mean dead pixels? Odd it would be just that one in particular.
 

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
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its not really lines of dead pixels, its more or less the electronics, creates a series of pixel-thin yellowish lines running vertically, using in just a section of the panel and not all the way across.
otherwise a great monitor, as it has like hundreds of reviews at newegg and a 4star rating: mostly 4-5 stars for the monitor and quite a few very low ratings because of the vertical-line issue.
 

Nextman916

Golden Member
Aug 2, 2005
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Yeh i looked into the L90D+ when i was browsing for a monitor, it seems the vertical line issue is still alive and it wasnt just a batch. That FP91G+ is a nice monitor i was very close to buying it, i would strongly recommend it to you destrekor especially for you price range, but still $30 more and the 940b could be had.