Down to 3 LCD's. help me pick the right one.

[PizzaDude]

1. SONY SDM-S73
-17"
-16ms response time
-250 cd brightness
-contrast ratio 400:1 typical?, 500:1 max?
-$424 shipped


2. NEC 1760V
-17"
-16ms response
-260 cd brightness
-contrast ratio 450:1
-$450 shipped


3. NEC/Mitsubishi ASLCD71V
-17"
-16ms response
-250 cd brightness
-contrast ratio 450:1
-$435 shipped



All 3 of them are Analog connections, which is fine with me. I've narrowed it down to these 3 cause they are in my price range and I want a black, 17 inch LCD with 16ms response. I do web surfing, dvd copying, image editing, typing in word, and enough gaming that the ghosting issue matters to me. I'm running a GeForce4 Ti4200. To help me decide, I need a couple questions answered.

-How much of a difference would I notice between a 250 and 260 brightness rating? How important is it?

-What about the contrast ratio? How much of a difference is there between 400:1 and 450:1? What does the 400:1 typical and 500:1 max on the Sony mean?

-What's the difference between the NEC's when considering "AccuSync" and "MultiSync"?

 

[x3m]

Now I'm gonna confuse you even more.

Response time isn't everything. Actually, all those LCD's are using the same panel, from AU Optronics. The "problem" is that it has only 262K colours, so if u are playing a game not using those colours - the others must be "mixed" by the existing; equals slower performance. Test results are showing that the Hydis' 20ms-panel is a better panel. It is found in i.e Hercules Prophetview 920Pro (Dvi model is recommended and it's black ), or Hyundai Q17.

And Samsung has a new model called 172X. Dunno anything by its "real life" peformance, but Samsung claims a 12-ms panel is used. I've also seen Benq (=Acer?) using a 12-ms panel.

If you read Anand's TFT reviews (and others ofcourse) you'll find a lot of interesting reading about TFT displays. One thing is for sure - specifications isn't the key for the right answers.

Good luck.

 

[fredtam]

^
What he said. Also if your going to get an LCD with AU panel (they are fine) I would go for a Hitachi instead. Its the same LCD as those cost less and has DVI. DVI IMO is essential for an LCD. You don't want ghosting but its ok for the image to look like crap.


From review.

?I am looking for a mid range LCD good for some games and internet? ? Probably the best choice is back in the 16ms 17" LCDs. It might seem like overkill because of the low response time, but in actuality, since there are so many different competitors with the same substrate, these are the lowest priced monitors. You will still have to spend about $450 for a good monitor. Just keep in mind that you should definitely spend the extra money on a DVI connection. The difference between the DVI and analog cable will be night and day, even if you just casually use the computer. Other good LCDs in the $450 range include the Samsung 171N and the Samsung 172B/W/T.

 

[Kingofcomputer]

Why you must buy from newegg?
Dell often has good deals, not only the Dell brand.

 

[PizzaDude]

Thanks guys. Any more input?

 

[Viper96720]

Go with the Hitachi CML174SXW instead of those. Same pretty much but has DVI also.

 

[Aganack1]

You have to use DVI... its a world of differnce. I would suggest looking at Dell's 1703. you should be able to find it on sale for about the same price if you can wait a few weeks.

 

[Kingofcomputer]

Similar price, pick the one with better warranty.

 

[sugarkang]

i saw the sony panel in real life, and it's got bad viewing from angles.
and if all those lcds use the same panel, then they've all got bad viewing angles.

the 172x by samsung was recalled just a couple weeks after they were put on the market. people were complaining about performance being worse than 25ms lcds.

there IS HOWEVER a new samsung 12ms model that is out in korea, but not in the states or elsewhere.

click pictures for even larger pictures.

unfortunately it's only analog. the price is around $500 US.

i talked to a samsung representative, who seems very knowledgeable about his samsung products, and he said a bunch of 12ms panels will be coming out this year. i'm waiting for one with the dvi, and i'll make the switch (finally) from crt.

my friend has a good 16ms monitor from LG, and it's got just a slight bit of ghosting with ut2003. and UT2003 is supposedly the one to check your monitor for ghosting. figure the 12ms will get rid of it completely.

 

[TStep]

Got a Hitachi CML174SXW (too long of a name) from Newegg last week ($414 shipped). Did alot of research and chose this one. NO dead pixels were found (very important to me, an annoyance like a rock in a shoe).

Basically it came down to who made the cheapest AU panel w/DVI since the $150 premium for the Prophetview or the unavailable Q17 was too much for me. Maybe they are slightly better, but I was trying to work with a $375 budget. I just could not choke down a 25ms response time knowing it is signicantly worse in grey-grey response time.

BenQ has refurbished ones for about $350 when they are available. But I thought maybe they are refurbished because they are returns due to dead pixels but still within the 8 dead pixel warranty that the manufacturers provide. I didn't want to take the chance on the refurb.

Just got it yesterday, so I have limited time with it. But I can say the brightness is very bright. I toned it down quite a bit, so I would not make that one of your concerns. Colors seem vibrant enough. Text in Windows and the internet looked very good also.

Didn't get a chance to do much action stuff to look for ghosting, but did run some 3DMark2001/03 benchmarks looking for it. Couldn't detect any but maybe with time I will. Also played a DVD and that looked very good.

I will say that if 1280x1024 resolution is not for you, do not buy one of these (or maybe any 17" with this native resolution). There is very noticable text blurring, almost like you are drunk or you need glasses. Tried it with 3DMark2001/03, and did not seem to be as bad but noticable.

Also this is a 5:4 ratio screen rather than the 4:3 ratio screen that most everyone is used to. This bothered me when ordering, but when i got it, I was pleased. It is helpful when viewing web since it shows about a 1/2" more of each page.

All in all, I'm extremely pleased with the upgrade from a 17" Mag crt. If or when I notice ghosting, I'll update.

 

[PizzaDude]

OK. Thanks. I think now I'm leaning towards the NEC 1760NX. It's the same as the 1760V I was looking at before, except it's got DVI, which I have decided I really want. I'm gonna have to stretch my budget for this, but oh well.

 

[digitalsm]

What he said. Also if your going to get an LCD with AU panel (they are fine) I would go for a Hitachi instead. Its the same LCD as those cost less and has DVI. DVI IMO is essential for an LCD. You don't want ghosting but its ok for the image to look like crap.

Analog can be properly adjusted to look just as good as DVI, and it would have better color accuracy to boot.

 

[Viper96720]

DVI is better analog the signal from the video card has to be converted to digital by the monitor. Slowing down the response while DVI it's already digital no need for converting.