So my old CRT died

[ShivaX]

And I'll be looking at getting a new monitor.

Heres the thing... I had my old CRT for 10 years and have no idea what the hell specs on monitors even mean anymore. Any hints, tips, websites or whatever? I'm using my mother's cheapy monitor atm and theres a lot of things I'm not crazy about with it, so I'd like to avoid those things when I get my own.

[Stoke]

And I'll be looking at getting a new monitor.

Heres the thing... I had my old CRT for 10 years and have no idea what the hell specs on monitors even mean anymore. Any hints, tips, websites or whatever? I'm using my mother's cheapy monitor atm and theres a lot of things I'm not crazy about with it, so I'd like to avoid those things when I get my own.

Letting us know the things you want to avoid will help us help you to avoid them. ;)

But if you were using a 10 year old CRT it's hard to believe you wouldn't be pleased with just about any mid-range or better LCD. I picked this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236053) up for really cheap last summer and it has done excellently.

[The Continental]

I'll second Stoke and say that you can throw down $150-$200 on just about any widescreen LCD in that price range and it'll be like night and day compared to your old CRT.

[Panthera]

I'll tell you right now, you're going to miss it. CRT screens are just plain better in a lot of ways - better colour representation, better black levels, and no native resolution you have to worry about. It's too bad you can't buy good CRT screens anymore.

[AntonThaGreat]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009192

I use a variation of this, it's dirt cheap and gets the job done well. I even design on it with no problems what-so-ever. Can't go wrong with it.

[Spectre-7]

I'll tell you right now, you're going to miss it. CRT screens are just plain better in a lot of ways - better colour representation, better black levels, and no native resolution you have to worry about. It's too bad you can't buy good CRT screens anymore.

Agreed. And to expand a bit on that, LCDs have a really strange natural gamma response curve (which is view dependent, none-the-less) and are programmed to mimic CRTs, but do so poorly unless you buy a fairly high-end model.

The annoying flip-side to this is that game art is being tuned to LCDs' crummy gamma, resulting in whole sections of games with palettes scrunched down into the bottom 10% brightness levels, which happen to look like the inside of a sleeping bag in a closet at midnight on decently calibrated CRTs if there's any ambient light in the room. Damn my monitor for having true black!

[/rant]

I'm really sad that OLED isn't taking off like it was hyped to a couple years ago.

[nabokovfan87]

Let me see if I can find it...

it is really not about just resolution. things to look for in a monitor (in order of importance)

size (for use), type of screen (tft vs. others), pixel pitch, refresh rate, contrast ratio, resolution, and extra goodies (sound quality/hookups/etc.)

So essentially to help, just post what you would be doing with the monitor (gaming, video editing, AutoCAD/3d modeling, etc.) and I can recommend from there, but the main thing is get the size you want, find the smallest pixel pitch (pixels per inch) and then if you have a few with the same stat use contrast ratio (static not dynamic) and native resolution to decide which is right for you.

Based on the one I just purchased, you best bet is going to be 1920x1080 with a .26 to .27 pixel pitch and a contrast ratio (static) of typically 1000:1 but some have up to 1500:1. It's amazing how in both of these I forgot to mention refresh rate, but lower is better 5 ms is typical (5ms black to black = 2ms gtg, grey to grey)

As far as websites, amazon.com is the best bet (free ship and no tax) use newegg to do the research and be sure to check out reviews. Just make sure you avoid Viewsonic, I would suggest either Asus or Samsung, just depends on your personal styling prefence.

This is the one I just purchased: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001380

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4061/4490750482_8828f40531_b.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4031/4490750604_dabaafc482_b.jpg

[muddi900]

I'm really sad that OLED isn't taking off like it was hyped to a couple years ago.

Making big panels is a bitch. They are getting there. Hopefully by 2012 we'll have decent OLED screens for reasonable prices.

[nabokovfan87]

kind of the same reason we all dont have solar panels powering everything.

[Savok]

Welcome to the wonderful world of input lag where everything is misery.

[carnage11]

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Newegg still carries the monitor I bought last year. It was a really good deal, and the monitor has been wonderful.

Acer 23" 1080p Widescreen = $180

Couldn't beat the price. I play my 360 through it and it's awesome. Especially, considering I was playing the 360 on an old 36" SDTV. I have dual monitors set up, the 23" is my main with 1080p resolution and next to it I have a 15" Dell LCD in 1024x768, in which I use as a secondary.

[Sazime]

I'm late to this party, but I have a 22" 16:9 and a 24" 16:10, both are Viewsonic. I love them both, even though black levels are not the best in the world.

If you're really jonsing for a CRT, I have a 19" VS that you could have, if you could figure out shipping from California. :) Srsly, I don't need it. It's just collecting dust.

EDIT: It's a v90f.

[ShivaX]

I'm still thinking about what I'm going to do.

I've somewhat gotten used to the LCD I'm borrowing, though in a lot of ways I think a CRT is better. Widescreen is kinda nice to have though. Seems for the most part theres not a huge variation in whats out there. The whole contrast thing is still fairly confusing since there doesn't seem to be any sort of standard for it.

[Sazime]

I'm still thinking about what I'm going to do.

I've somewhat gotten used to the LCD I'm borrowing, though in a lot of ways I think a CRT is better. Widescreen is kinda nice to have though. Seems for the most part theres not a huge variation in whats out there. The whole contrast thing is still fairly confusing since there doesn't seem to be any sort of standard for it.
Yeah, it's half marketing crap and half "real world" numbers for both response time and contrast ratio.

[Krispy]

The contrast ratios don't mean anything for two reasons:

Every company uses it's own metric to measure contrast ratio which essentially means it is a meangliness number to begin with.
To exasperate things, companies will add dynamic contrast to their overall contrast rating. Dynamic contrast just means the panel tries to boost the backlight depending on the overall brightness of the image but as you can imagine it has some pretty terrible after effects as the detection isn't instant.

If you want a good TV you'll have to spend some money, probably upward $500, but if you can settle for lower end LCD models or smaller screen sizes you should end up fine.

[Khrymsyn]

Slight side topic...

I just picked up this guy at Best Buy for 199 (yes, 10$ cheaper than newegg)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009162&Tpk=h233h

It actually was not the monitor I originally wanted (there was a LED Samsung and a 24" ASUS I was more interested in), but that dirt cheap price for a 23" 1080p monitor, and I figured with the return policy, why not take a chance?

So far, been pleasantly suprised of what it offers for the price. HDMI, DVI-D, and VGA inputs, and CABLES ARE INCLUDED. Tilt, but no "height" or "level" adjustments. It has speakers but I haven't tried them. Fairly bright, and color doesn't seem bad at all (I have a color test image I used for 1080p displays and I didn't notice any major banding/gradients). The only real downsides are the blacks aren't really "black" (common issue with LCDs), and it doesn't seem to handle the very darkest stuff (bottom 5%) too well (tough to tell if you're looking at dark grey, blue, green or red), but the colors are so vivid and bright (calibrated it seems to not even do much color crush), unless you're looking for theater quality blu-ray watching, you likely won't notice. I've read a couple of complaints about back-lighting bleed, but mine doesn't appear to have a hint of it.

Something to consider because of the fairly low risk (cost) associated with such a large-ish monitor.

[nabokovfan87]

Slight side topic...

I just picked up this guy at Best Buy for 199 (yes, 10$ cheaper than newegg)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009162&Tpk=h233h

It actually was not the monitor I originally wanted (there was a LED Samsung and a 24" ASUS I was more interested in), but that dirt cheap price for a 23" 1080p monitor, and I figured with the return policy, why not take a chance?

So far, been pleasantly suprised of what it offers for the price. HDMI, DVI-D, and VGA inputs, and CABLES ARE INCLUDED. Tilt, but no "height" or "level" adjustments. It has speakers but I haven't tried them. Fairly bright, and color doesn't seem bad at all (I have a color test image I used for 1080p displays and I didn't notice any major banding/gradients). The only real downsides are the blacks aren't really "black" (common issue with LCDs), and it doesn't seem to handle the very darkest stuff (bottom 5%) too well (tough to tell if you're looking at dark grey, blue, green or red), but the colors are so vivid and bright (calibrated it seems to not even do much color crush), unless you're looking for theater quality blu-ray watching, you likely won't notice. I've read a couple of complaints about back-lighting bleed, but mine doesn't appear to have a hint of it.

Something to consider because of the fairly low risk (cost) associated with such a large-ish monitor.

I hear bleed all the time followed by the picture but never see it. Quite honestly the only issue with the one I got was that the stand is shit compared to my old one (just shakes a lot during earthquakes, lol). I like the one you got, very good pixel pitch, any dead pixels?

As far as black go, try messing with the OSD/display drivers, I have been watching hd nation and learned a lot about calibrating and what not. Might want to check them out.

[Khrymsyn]

I hear bleed all the time followed by the picture but never see it. Quite honestly the only issue with the one I got was that the stand is shit compared to my old one (just shakes a lot during earthquakes, lol). I like the one you got, very good pixel pitch, any dead pixels?

None that I could see. Generally I've gotten into a kick lately with video devices that I go through these steps of testing... first thing I do is check a fully black screen for dead pixels (stuck on) and evenness of the backlighting. Which the backlight isn't the most even I've seen, it's definitely not the worst either. There were no "stuck on" pixels. I then also run 4 screens of solid colors, red, blue, green, and white, and did not notice any "stuck off" pixels either. Then I checked my color bands, and adjusted the brightness/contrast and color "temperature" to make sure there wasn't a lot of high end color crush while still trying to keep the low end color reproduction as good as possible (and it also helps me determine how good color repro is... no banding = yay!).

BTW, funny you mentioned the stand. Mine's just this really light piece of plastic that clips into the bottom of the monitor. I was completely concerned it was going to be a piece of garbage, but once it clicked in, it seems solid/stable enough and I haven't found a problem. Plus, it's sparkly.... ooooo
=)
hehe


As far as black go, try messing with the OSD/display drivers, I have been watching hd nation and learned a lot about calibrating and what not. Might want to check them out.

I'll go back in and check it out. I sit in a pretty dark-ish room usually when using my monitor though so I've kind of chalked up the "black level" issues more towards the environment and the fact that it's a LCD than anything else.

[nabokovfan87]

I'll go back in and check it out. I sit in a pretty dark-ish room usually when using my monitor though so I've kind of chalked up the "black level" issues more towards the environment and the fact that it's a LCD than anything else.

One of the mods I saw to get a darker picture, glossier screen finish, a "lighting mod" behind the tv, and just plain calibration/blocking outside light sources.

light mod: http://revision3.com/hdnation/koreatrip
calibration: (@15:00) http://revision3.com/hdnation/welcome

that points to here, which is a full on walkthrough...

http://revision3.com/systm/HDTVcalibration

[kyrieee]

When my CRT dies I'll walk over corpses to replace it :P