My POS 19" KDS better than my Compaq P910?

[Yzzim]

I just got a Compaq P910 (from CDW, through Hot Deals) and hooked it up today. I turned the monitor on and everything seemed fine, but when I got into Windows I noticed that the text isn't as crisp as my old KDS VS-195 19" monitor (P910 uses diamontron tube, KDS uses a POS tube) . The text on the P910 looks blurry on the right and a little on the left (maybe just the corners?). It's not a huge difference, but I notice it.
Out of curiosity I hooked the VS-195 up right next to the P910 and I can tell that the VS-195 looks just a little better than the P910.

Now the question, do you think I have a bad monitor? I don't want to call Compaq tech support and be on hold for 8 hours, so I thought I'd ask you guys first. Just by typing this my eyes are hurting, though the refresh rate is set at 85hz....? Never hurt by looking at my VS-195.

BTW, I did play around with the settings a bit. I turned the Contrast and Brightness down a bit, and while that did help on the overall look, the corners (esp the right) are still blurry. Oh, and I have an ATI 8500 if you need to know the video card.

Thanks

 

[IanthePez]

I would try a monitor adjustment utility. I know there is one by nokia that lets you check all the settings and that cleared up my sligh blurriness.

Here's a link I found for it - Link

 

[Yzzim]

Thanks for the link. I downloaded it and tried it out...it's a very confusing software.

It seemed to help the color settings a bit, but the edges are still slightly blurred.

 

[Lars]

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
My P910 will arrive later this week. Hopefully it will be better than my Samsung 955 DF.

 

[Dogsbody]

Something doesn't sound right to me. I've had probably a dozen monitors over the past four or five years (including one KDS), and the three Compaq P10's I've picked up in the past couple of months are as good if not better than any of the others. The text is consistenty sharp and the color is great. I've never had to use Compaq's tech support. Maybe you can try emailing them?

 

[Doomguy]

There is no such thing as a perfect monitor. Have you tried adjusting the convergence?

Your KDS is a shadow mask, your Compaq is a Diamondtron. Shadow masks have better text quality than Trintron/Diamondtron monitors, so I wouldn't be suprised if the text didn't look as good on your Compaq.

 

[bcterps]

I just got my Compaq P910 and I think the picture quality is great. I am upgrading from a 17" KDS Avitron (also Diamondtron tube I think), and I find that the quality is as good or better than my previous monitor. It didnt come that way out of the box though, I used the Colorific software that came with it to calibrate the monitor and it looks great. Take some time to calibrate the monitor and you should have better results. What resolution are you running at?

The only problem that I had is the the drivers for the monitor are very poorly written, I couldnt get them to install on my computer since my boot drive is labeled "F:" and I think the drivers are trying to install on the "C:" drive. For some reason I cant seem to extract the CAB files to find the exact INF files, oh well. It's not a big deal though, I dont think drivers would really make that much of a difference, I'm running at 1280x1024@85hz and its beautiful.

--Ben

 

[V00DOO]

Just got my Compaq P910 from CDW and the quality of the monitor is comparable to my Samsung 900NF. My setting is 1280x1024 @85Hertz on my Geforce 3 TI200.

 

[Yzzim]

Originally posted by: Doomguy
There is no such thing as a perfect monitor. Have you tried adjusting the convergence?

Your KDS is a shadow mask, your Compaq is a Diamondtron. Shadow masks have better text quality than Trintron/Diamondtron monitors, so I wouldn't be suprised if the text didn't look as good on your Compaq.

Haven't tried adjusting the convergence....in fact, I'm not even sure what that means.

The text in the middle of the monitor looks good, but the text on the corners looks blurry and hard to read.

 

[Yzzim]

Originally posted by: V00DOO
Just got my Compaq P910 from CDW and the quality of the monitor is comparable to my Samsung 900NF. My setting is 1280x1024 @85Hertz on my Geforce 3 TI200.

How's the text on the corners of the screen?

 

[Yzzim]

still blurry on the corners

I'm going to give Compaq Tech Support a call in an hour or so.

 

[Yzzim]

I called Compaq and they asked me some questions about my video card and if I played with the monitor settings. Asked about 5 questions total and then the guy said "ok, we'll ship you out a different monitor"
So that was cool, until he said "but I can't promise you it's going to be new, it might be a refurb." So WTF is up with that. I buy a new monitor, but since it doesn't work they send me out a USED one? What the hell.

I hung up and decided to give CDW (the place I bought it from) a call and they asked me a few questions about trying to fix it. The guy said I needed a new monitor, but he needed to transfer me to a CSR. The CSR tells me that he needs to OK the new monitor shipment with a Sales Rep, but none are in the office. The Sales Rep will send me an email by Monday or Tuesday.

Jeppers, this better be worth it :|