Interesting discussion. I have a 21" Silicon Graphics CRT that works great. I listed it twice on www.craigslist.com for ever decreasing prices and didn't get a single bite.  It will run for many more years.  I just thought it was because no one wanted CRT's anymore.  I had replaced it with the Dell 2405 LCD, so I wound up giving it to my secretary to replace her 17" company CRT. Nevertheless, she likes my 2405 better than the CRT.




John Sproule <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>You may not be able to find an LCD monitor that is better than a high
>quality CRT, though I'm a bit surprised that you preferred even your 15" CRT
>over some LCDs.  I think it will come down to what you look for in a
>monitor, i.e., what your criteria are for judging whether you like a
>particular monitor or not.
>
>Generally, the least expensive LCDs use a TN panel and they have only a VGA
>connector available.  Both of these work against the quality of the LCD
>image.  TN panels are only capable of 6-bit color depth, while the
>alternative MVA/PVA and IPS panels can produce a true 8-bit color range.
>Better LCDs are capable of using a digital or DVI connection to the video
>card, though your video card will also need a DVI port.  This improves image
>quality somewhat since there is no need to put the video signal through a
>couple of transitions (from digital to analog and back to digital).  With a
>DVI connection, a LCD monitor can work directly with the video card's
>digital video signal.
>
>Unfortunately, manufactures rarely tell you what sort of panel they are
>using in their LCD and the specifications that they do provide are so
>non-standardized that they are virtually useless for comparing one LCD to
>another.  You pretty much have to rely upon professional reviews as well as
>your own experience with various monitors to determine which ones are the
>better monitors and what their individual strengths and weaknesses are.
>
>(X-bit Labs has a pretty detailed article on the various types of panels
>used in LCDs and what their strengths and weaknesses are.
>http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/lcd-guide.html
>Unfortunately, their site seems to be down at the moment.  Hopefully, this
>is just temporary.)
>
>Or, if their size and weight really isn't an issue for you, you can stick
>with CRTs.  Unfortunately, the manufacturers have pretty much stopped making
>the better quality aperture grill monitors (the Trinitron and Diamontron
>tubes), but you may still be able to find some around.  Newegg, for example,
>had a few Sony Trinitron based monitors back in stock, which I'm guessing is
>some old stock that they got their hands on (perhaps a big company never
>used a bunch of monitors that they bought at one time, and these have been
>put back into reseller circulation).  There are also a couple of companies
>that specialize in the sale of used and reconditioned monitors, such as
>Azatek, www.azatek.com, and AccurateIT, www.accurateit.com.
>
>As for setting up an LCD monitor, I do find that it is not always easy to
>get the brightness and the contrast settings adjusted to their most optimal
>settings, which will depend upon your lighting conditions.  You might find
>some monitor testing applications helpful for this.  A couple that you might
>look for, and should be able to find through Google, are the Nokia Monitor
>Test and the Displaymate Demo.  Also, your monitor may have come with a
>similar sort of program on it's CD.
>
>Which particular Samsung monitor model did you buy?  Samsung makes some that
>use their PVA panels and some that use their TN panels.  For example, the
>Samsung 910T with the PVA panel is probably a better choice than say their
>915N, which uses a TN panel and lacks a DVI option (unless you are
>interested in playing fast action computer games, then the PVA panel will be
>too slow with regard to its response time).
>
>John Sproule
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Diane Kroeckel" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2005 11:21 PM
>Subject: [PCBUILD] Monitor
>
>
>>I just switched from a 15" CRT to a 19" LCD monitor.  I've tried two, a
>> KDS and a Samsung.  Neither one looks as nice as the CRT.  They are both
>> too bright.  And the text doesn't look crisp enough.  I've used Clear
>> Type, but it hasn't helped.
>>
>> I'm using a year old HP computer running WinXP2.
>>
>> Should I spend more money.  Are there minimum settings I should be
>> looking for?  Any ideas?
>>
>>

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