Zenquin
09-06-2005, 02:38 AM
Recently, my beloved 21-in computer monitor died on me, forcing me to use a horrible 16-year-old, 17-in, Gateway 2000 monitor that cannot display better than 1024x768 at 70 hertz. My eyes start to bleed after an hour of staring at this flickering monster.
Therefore, I am now in the market for a new computer monitor. I immediately began looking for a new CRT monitor, but there really are not very many being made anymore. It seems that the world has switched to LCD monitors. Even Sony has completely abandoned consumer level CRT’s.
I find this confusing because as far as I can tell LCD’s still do not match the quality of CRT monitors. I have never seen a LCD monitor that I liked or thought was as good as a CRT. CRT images always look so bright and crisp to me. With CRT’s I can switch between resolutions with no loss in image quality (as I often need to when trying to improve the performance of 3D games), LCD’s look bad outside of their native resolution. A CRT can display an infinite variety of colors, but outside of the extremely expensive models, LCD’s can only display up to 24-bit color. Whenever I have played a fast-paced 3D game (such as Quake or Half-Life) on a LCD, the action was always slightly blurry, and not clear like a CRT. There are very few LCD’s (if any) that can consistently refresh their pixels at 10ms or below. Those that claim so fail to mention that the stated refresh time is only the average, and that the refresh for transitions from black to white, anything to grey and between colors are all very different. I hate how the colors and brightness look different in the corners of the screen and shift if you move your head. Not to mention the fact that LCD’s are still more expensive than CRT’s. It seems that all of the reviews of LCD’s I have read conclude with, “It’s practically as good as a CRT!”
I can understand the use of an LCD monitor in certain cases. If you are exclusively looking at static images then an LCD is a good choice. If heat production and power consumption are a major concern (such as in an office complex) LCD’s are better. Of course, LCD’s look better, weigh less and take up far less space.
So am I wrong in my assessment of LCD’s? Is it time that I joined what seems to be the rest of the world and abandon my search for a new CRT monitor?
Therefore, I am now in the market for a new computer monitor. I immediately began looking for a new CRT monitor, but there really are not very many being made anymore. It seems that the world has switched to LCD monitors. Even Sony has completely abandoned consumer level CRT’s.
I find this confusing because as far as I can tell LCD’s still do not match the quality of CRT monitors. I have never seen a LCD monitor that I liked or thought was as good as a CRT. CRT images always look so bright and crisp to me. With CRT’s I can switch between resolutions with no loss in image quality (as I often need to when trying to improve the performance of 3D games), LCD’s look bad outside of their native resolution. A CRT can display an infinite variety of colors, but outside of the extremely expensive models, LCD’s can only display up to 24-bit color. Whenever I have played a fast-paced 3D game (such as Quake or Half-Life) on a LCD, the action was always slightly blurry, and not clear like a CRT. There are very few LCD’s (if any) that can consistently refresh their pixels at 10ms or below. Those that claim so fail to mention that the stated refresh time is only the average, and that the refresh for transitions from black to white, anything to grey and between colors are all very different. I hate how the colors and brightness look different in the corners of the screen and shift if you move your head. Not to mention the fact that LCD’s are still more expensive than CRT’s. It seems that all of the reviews of LCD’s I have read conclude with, “It’s practically as good as a CRT!”
I can understand the use of an LCD monitor in certain cases. If you are exclusively looking at static images then an LCD is a good choice. If heat production and power consumption are a major concern (such as in an office complex) LCD’s are better. Of course, LCD’s look better, weigh less and take up far less space.
So am I wrong in my assessment of LCD’s? Is it time that I joined what seems to be the rest of the world and abandon my search for a new CRT monitor?