Kiriani

I've noticed several people requesting lower resolutions are using flat panels. I was debating getting one myself, and I was curious as to what the visual quality was like during gaming. In particular, what's the quality like at a lower resolution than the flat panels native (max) resolution?

I have read many reports that flat panels aren't very great for gaming, unless you don't care about visual quality (not talking performance issues here). I would like to hear it from some real world users.

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Talyns

I've looked at flat panels at the stores and I think looking at em is like looking at a laptop.. IMO anyway

I'm sticking to my flat screen CRT

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Chronwaas

We use a number of Flat panel screens in the office and I can tell you that they are good for Business applications and stuff like that because there is not a great deal of fast screen rewrites involved in that arena. But I have noticed that for video like DVD and stuff it is not so good yet. The refresh rate of the screen is a little slow and so causes the video to be slow. For example: when you are just standing there and you turn your view say 90% to the right. Your CRT graphics keep up with the speed of your video card. But with a Flat Panel the monitor can not keep up with the graphics card and you end up with a blurry picture until the motions stops and it has time to refresh. Now for me this is a problem because my brain does not deal well with the blurring and I have gotten used to the 80Hz refresh rate of the CRT monitors that I use.

But it is all a matter of opinion because not everyone sees the same way and for you the refresh rate might be fine. The best thing to do is investigate the monitor you want to get and see how it performs with motion graphics.

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woodnyc

the reason the Flat panels look like laptops is because for all intent they are laptop displays (LCD). There are very few High Definition Flat panels and those are HIGH priced.

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OjUI

I have a 19" Viewsonic VX-900 LCD flat panel and it is very nice.

The image quality is very good but......still not as good as a high quality CRT. If deskspace is not an issue - I think I'd suggest a high quality CRT if image quality is your main priority.

As a comparison - I upgraded to that Viewsonic LCD from a Hitachi Superscan Elite 751 19" CRT and the image on the Viewsonic LCD is better (the Hitachi was an older model). A good friend recently picked up a Mitsubishi 22" Diamond Pro and it has a much nicer picture than my LCD (we have the same video cards). It just depends on make/model I suppose.

As far as running it in any resolution less than native (mine's 1280 x 1024) there is a slight image degradation. Not terrible but it is noticeable. Also - I now find myself missing the option of using resolutions higher than 1280 x 1024.

I think my next monitor will be a 22" Mitsubishi Diamond Pro aperture grille CRT and I'll slide the LCD over to my secondary machine.

All in all - it was an expensive lesson learned.

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Kuvasie

I am using a 17" Princeton (don't remember model right off the top of my head) and I love it. Then again I haven’t looked at high quality CRTs lately. I haven't noticed any blurring or video quality loss (I run a 75Hrz refresh rate) I have also used it to look at lower res UI's and did not see a degradation in quality. But again, it has been along time since I looked at monitors. I wouldn't go back to a regular monitor, if someone paid me. Then again I like to be away from the screen quite a bit - less strain on my eyes and as much as I have to be on one of these it really helps.

Anyway that IMO as they say.

Kuv

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Azrael

Please do NOT take this as more Apple snobbery, because that is not it's intention.

As mentioned before in these forums, I am sitting with an Apple G4 jus to the left of my HP. And even though I have junked the HP 17" monitor for a flat Screen 19" monitor, it still does not look as sharp as the 17' LCD Apple Studio Display. And judging from applications and important programs I run on both platforms (Diablo I, II rocks) I can say I would much rather play on the Apple. So, this spring (yeah right) when EQ comes out for Mac OS X, I am there. I want to see if the difference will be as dramatic as I expect. However, as said above, the monitor we each use is a matter of personal preference and what we like in relationship to what we can afford. We have to be realistic here. There is going to be a certain percentage of EQers who cannot afford much more than the monitor they got with their machine. Or who's eyesight is not good enough to run at anything higher that 1024. I seem to remember a survey taken here late last year asking about the rez everyone was using. Correct me if I am worng, but 1024 x 768 was used by the vast majority.

Hmm, I wonder if I can run EQ on a 56" TV?

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Dolby

You wont see any professional graphic designers use LCD's just yet. I work for a local NBC Affiliate and the computers that we write scripts on or other business type apps we use LCD but the graphics dept still uses CRT.

Right now nothing can beat a nice Professional Sony Flatscreen CRT. The color and brightness and resolution cant compair.

Plasma is a different animal. Still not as sharp as a CRT but VERY VERY close. We have a 56" Plasma screen for our mastercontrol room and when we pump our HD or Computer into it... it looks awsome.

For the mac guy... Mac/Apple doesnt make those LCD's they only slap there name on them. They are also sold with a standard base for PC users under a different manufactures name.

But for the ever day user LCD's are great becuase they take up alot less space, draw less power, and dont throw off as much heat. I have 3 CRT's here in my computer room and need open a window in winter when there on.

jh76

I have a 15' Samsung SyncMaster 152T and I love it. I don't play many games but I do play EQ, of course, and Jedi Outcast 2. I have a Radeon 9700 pro and this combo seems to work nice. I don't see any fuzzy or blurry effects at all. I do agree LCDs are not as clear as a CRT in somethings, but if you are just play games and not actually doing major graphic work, then a LCD should do. It does matter which LCD monitor you have and you buy the budget/cheapest LCD then you will get what you paid for. A few things to look for when you get a LCD, brightness & Contrast ratio. Average is about 250:1, you want the highest you can get. Also, of course, dot per inch, usally for LCDs are around .29mm, the lower the better. I love my LCD and I plan on getting a wide screen LCD (problably Sony) in a few months.

woodnyc

If you really want to get into the apple debate. Yes the apple HD cinema's are great BUT ...

A companty called ForMac makes a 20" and a 17" monitor that blows ALL apple displays away. And they are half the price of apple displays at the same size. And they work on PC's too

Oh yeah and if you're wondering how I get this information I am a Macintosh Support engineer for the largest publishing house in the world.

OjUI

Just get one of these systems and be done with it!

http://www.9xmedia.com/pages-Build_...igurations.html

Tellgar

Touchy much Azrael? Calm yourself, no rational reason for you to fly off the handle from that one remark.

Ok, if it stopped there I can imagine it could seem offensive. However Dolby goes on with...

Nifty info for someone that might want to look at a PC solution of what you were discussing, since it apparently looks so good.
Relax, breathe, and put on an aquarium screensaver on that LCD!


CRT beats LCD for gaming, video, gd, and any number of other activities. Only people I know that use LCD displays at home are journalists or writers mostly... with some of the new technology for font smoothing, some text can look surprisingly crisp on LCD.

~Tellgar

woodnyc

The standard LCD screens do suck for gaming, vid, etc... but not to sound like an ad for Formac the displays they have on the market are high definition video not standard LCD. One of the strongest points the President of their company gave us during an amazing demo was the fact that Pixar just signed on to have their monitors in place at the Pixar Studio. If it's good enough to create movies on I think it should handle a little game like EQ.

Kiriani

Well, I was browsing about ArsTechnica (I like to release my inner geek for a few days each month) OpenForum, and found a few posts where game performance was brought up.

Apparently, since most games can run in high resolutions, ther are some very sweet flat panels that do quite well for gaming. However, they have a pricetag over $1,000, which is not an option for me these days. I'll stick with my Sony flatscreens for now I guess. They're bulky, they're toasty, and there's no decent 4:3 resolution between 1280X960 and 1600x1200 (I would use the latter if my refresh rate could be higher than 72 with it), but all in all they haven't failled me yet (unless you count the fact that anything between them and the video card creates ghosted images and text, even on the desktop so no extension cable for me).