OT: Best 19" to 22" Monitor

goshep wrote on 12/10/2006, 10:13 AM

I recently purchased a 19" widescreen by LG. Aside from the first one croaking after three days, I'm quite happy with the replacement. 5ms response time and 2000:1 contrast ratio. I challenge you to find better specs at a better price. I paid $220 at Best Buy (regularly $249). It's now my primary monitor and makes my old LCD almost unbearable. If editing is your primary use, you will LOVE the widescreen format. The timeline goes on and on and on....

Tom Pauncz wrote on 12/10/2006, 10:35 AM

I use two ViewSonic VP930Bs (19") in my edit suite. Love them. Paid about $C365 for each a few months back.
Tom

Cheno wrote on 12/10/2006, 10:42 AM

using dual Dell 2005 lcds. At the time I bought, they were rated in the top 2 lcds for the size.

bestbuy had one from gateway, not sure of the model number but on the shelf it was absolutely stunning.

I've actually taken my laptop to best buy and costco and was allowed to plug in the DVI to the monitor to see what it would look like with my stuff.

http://www.anandtech.com/displays/showdoc.aspx?i=2400 - it's almost 2 years old, but this was a great comparison between Dell and Apple displays at the time which were top of the line. You may want to look for similar comparisons more up-to-date.

cheno

Chanimal wrote on 12/10/2006, 11:25 AM

I have had great success with my dual Samsung 204b monitors. The colors are very vibrant--others within the forum have had similar great experience.

Washed out sounds like a configuration issue. Did you do any color adjustments?

Coursedesign wrote on 12/10/2006, 11:27 AM

Did you adjust the screen per the instructions (which are somewhat finicky)?

Did you use DVI or analog to connect the screen?

From one Newegg user review:
truely the best monitor you can buy. the store i buy monitors from has them lined up with photo slideshows running off the same computer, and this one stood out.

The best 19-22" monitor I can think of at Circuit City is the Gateway FPD2185W.

It is a 21" widescreen computer and HD monitor with DVI, analog "VGA", component, S-video, and composite inputs. This means that you can also use it to monitor video, and the picture will blow you away. It even has Faroudja circuitry for pull-down detection to play back 24P DVDs properly.

I have one of these as one of my favorite monitors.

Billy d wrote on 12/10/2006, 12:11 PM

First, thankyou all for replying.
I have tried both digital and analog, both look the same.
My test is a couple of images in Photoshop that look all washed out.
I can't seem to get any sense out of the adjustments. Best I can do is Brightness 38 Contrast 7 on analog. I can't switch back to digital now until I shutdown.
Can't use MagicTune, it won't run (MagicTune has generated errors and will be closed by Windows). Even the latest version off the Samsung web site won't run. Perhaps it's because I have W2K. Who knows.
No instruction book with it so I'm just pressing buttons :-)

DGates wrote on 12/10/2006, 12:32 PM

I have 2 Samsung 203B's. Love 'em. Sorry your experience with the brand was bad.

Billy d wrote on 12/10/2006, 2:24 PM

Well, I've just switched back to digital and spent some time adjusting and it looks almost OK now.
Ended up with Brightness 40 Contrast 0
Now I'm having to redo most of my photo's in Photoshop because they're all too light.
I guess my old analog crt monitor was fooling me by being too dark. I've lived with it for so many years I'd assumed it was fine.
The Samsung still seems a little odd in the way it handles greyscale though.
Thanks for all the comments.

MH_Stevens wrote on 12/10/2006, 2:38 PM

The best monitor between 19" and 22" is the Dell 24" 1920x1200.

Coursedesign wrote on 12/10/2006, 3:18 PM

As long as you're going over the top, why not go for their new 30" then?

Word is that they're releasing it before the end of this year, and that it can reproduce 92% of the NTSC color spectrum (as opposed to the 72% for most screens, including their 2407s).

Right now, they're pushing out their current generation 30" screens for $1,172 with free shipping.

UlfLaursen wrote on 12/10/2006, 9:07 PM

Hi

I have two samsung 203B, and I just love them. Seems to be good value for money.

/Ulf

malowz wrote on 12/10/2006, 10:42 PM

you must buy an lcd with an S-IPS or S-PVA panel, not the TN.

TN are garbage.

S-IPS have great color, great viewing angles. S-PVA is inferior, but far better than a TN panel.

here u can find the panel of LCD's:
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/

ken c wrote on 12/11/2006, 3:48 AM

I have the Dell widescreen (22"/24"?) that someone here had recommended last, year, (thanks! it's been great), powered by a matrox parhelia, and two ViewSonic 19", 1 on each side (just using mastrox g400 pcis, 1 for each of those).

It's been a wonderful setup for video editing, since I can stretch the Vegas timeline on the middle widescreen and one of the 19" ones, and watch w/video preview box in the other viewsonic.

I have a whole basement full of old Sony CRTs, paid a lot for 'em, now I'm (curiously) not using any sony monitors, though I used them exclusively (crts) for many years. Hopefully Sony LCD monitors will become more reasonably priced in the future.

ken

TomE wrote on 12/11/2006, 4:59 AM

Gas Gas,

If you are using an older version of Photoshop you may be suffering from a calibration that was for your CRT and not the LCD. If that is the case discard the profile and do it again (gamma settings etc....) in photoshop.

TomE

logiquem wrote on 12/11/2006, 5:22 AM

I second that. This Dell 24" was the first ever monitor i had no complain against it. Much better than others LCDs i tried. One central monitor in front of you is much less physically harmfull than two side by side, and it is *so* much more productive in Vegas.

Insist also on a DVI link. I use a basic Radeon 550 and it is just perfect for the Dell.

**I forgot to mention the following: i don't know if it's has been modified on the 2407 but the 2405 is very badly adapted to NTSC signals.

craftech wrote on 12/11/2006, 9:01 AM

Gas Gas,

One of the problems with the 931c is the narrow viewing angle. It is narrower than most and the color changes every time you sit in a different position according to some user reports. You need to situate it in a dead on position to your eyes. Of course,
Samsung made that really difficult by not having a tilt or swivel control.

On top of that the colors for some of the samples needed a LOT of tweaking right out of the box. On "Auto" with DVI it can be really off. There is a DVI-VGA adapter, about $8 at Radio Shack or CompUSA. You might try one of those then connect with your VGA cable.

Take MagiColor and remove it. You may have to do that in Safe Mode.

Personally I would stick with a CRT monitor for accurate color correction and calibration.

John

Billy d wrote on 12/11/2006, 4:46 PM

Great food for thought guys, thanks.
No idea what you mean by s-ip whatever and TN etc!
Guess thats the technology used for the LCD matrix.
According to the TFT site the Viewsonic VX2025WM fits my parameters and is available from NCIX (my supplier). When they get stock that is!

FuTz wrote on 12/12/2006, 2:30 AM

...and this Dell 24" monitor, is it a TN or S-IPS / S-PVA panel ? They don't mention it on their site...

Concerning panels in general, do we actually pay for electronics using typically 3-4 brands of panels (like I heard we did with CRT tubes) or nowadays, each brand's got its own proprietary panel?

psg wrote on 12/15/2006, 6:55 PM

I picked up a Samsung 225BW - 22" widescreen at Circuit City for $330 (after 10% coupon). I think the price has since gone up. So far I'm very happy with the it. (supports HDCP). I think newegg still has it for $379 w/free shipping.

The resolution is the same as some of the 20" widescreen (1680 x 1050) monitors but the I like the "bigger pixels"....old eyes!

malowz wrote on 12/15/2006, 9:05 PM

the dell 24" are made with s-pva panels

i will buy mine next month

Steve Mann wrote on 12/16/2006, 2:28 PM

"I guess my old analog crt monitor was fooling me by being too dark. I've lived with it for so many years I'd assumed it was fine. The Samsung still seems a little odd in the way it handles greyscale though."

Wrong, wrong, wrong......

You cannot rely on a consumer LCD for color, brightness and contrast. The brightness and color of "white" depend entirely on the color of the backlight. The contrast is highly dependent on the viewing angle. Black is only an illusion because the LCD shutter cannot go opaque, so some of the backlight shows through.

Your CRT was likely more accurate than the LCD.

Steve M.

FuTz wrote on 12/17/2006, 9:46 AM

Maybe things will be changing soon since there are actually 12-bit LCD monitors (LaCie for one) hitting the market, that can be calibrated ? I notice their response time is really bad but maybe in a year..?
So for now, graphists are already served with these monitors; video people just have to wait a little more, huh?

ref:
http://www.lacie.com/products/range.htm?id=10016

(from the third one down...)

Steve Mann wrote on 12/17/2006, 1:25 PM

Just wait another year, two at the most, and we will finally be able to kiss the CRT goodbye. There's a couple of developments in the works that should be hitting the market soon. Sony already makes an LCD display that has an array of LEDs for the backlight. This one lets the user control the backlight intensity and to a certain extent, the color. It's still a $6000 + monitor, but they are selling it into broadcast use.

Coming up fast is the OLED display. The manufacturers are finally getting the yield of large OLED screens up to production levels. The OLED display answers just about every requirement for video display. Pixel density 2X that of LCDs because each LCD requires a transistor next to it - led's don't. Contrast ratio more than an order of magnitude better. LCD's are good to get a 2,000 to 1 contrast ratio while OLED panels will easily hit 50,000 to 1 because you can turn off the LED, but you can never make the LCD shutter go completely dark. Since you can control the intensity of each color element in each pixel, you can calibrate the display to broadcast standards. And there's a vastly bigger viewing angle. Speed - again an order of magnitude improvement. LCDs have the propogation delay of the transistor that controlls the LCD shutter - which itself is a mechanical device. The crystals in the shutter element move in response to the electrical stimuli, and that takes a finite amount of time. OLEDS are thinner, lighter and consume a fraction of the power that an LCD does.

My prediction is that we will see OLEDs on laptops next Christmas and 19-inch desktop displays under $1,000 about the same time.