retroborg Posted February 8, 2007 Posted February 8, 2007 I’m thinking about buying this TFT/LCD EIZO S1911SH: http://www.eizo.com/products/lcd/s1911_01/spec.asp Brightness / Contrast 300 cd/m2 / 700:1 On/Off Response Time: 6 ms (typical) Midtone Response Time: 2 ms (typical) It will be used for for watching Anime, Macross series/movies (DVD/DivX/Xvid) and 2D/3D games (emulators, Doom3) The specs & quality look good, but I’m rather skeptical about the low contrast: 700:1. It seems a bit low, as I’ve seen other monitors with higher contrast, 1000:1 – 2000:1. (LG) Will Doom3 look too dark on this monitor? Or should I go for this EIZO S1931 instead: http://www.eizo.com/products/lcd/s1931_21/spec.asp It has a higher contrast 1000:1, but lower brightness 280 cd/m2 and worse response times: On/Off Response Time: 16 ms, Midtone Response Time: 8 ms Any opinions will be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Area88 Posted February 9, 2007 Posted February 9, 2007 It should be adequate, remember 700:1 is just a statistic and thus not a true reflection of the monitor's black levels. A monitor with 500:1 contrast could have a better picture than a 700:1. In terms of quality picture, there is still nothing that can beat a CRT. I recommend checking lots of reviews sites and forums for the best 19 inch monitor.
Chewie Posted February 9, 2007 Posted February 9, 2007 (edited) I have this and am soon buying another. One of THE best lcds I have ever used. LG Flatron Wide $249.99 at Best Buy. Edited February 9, 2007 by Chewie
ComicKaze Posted February 9, 2007 Posted February 9, 2007 (edited) I have this and am soon buying another. One of THE best lcds I have ever used. LG Flatron Wide $249.99 at Best Buy. I just bought the 20.1" model here in Canada, the LG204WT. It cost me roughly the same in U.S. dollars, about $250. Retroborg, why do you want an Eizo monitor? I've found that will more obscure brands (even if they are higher quality), you have more difficulty getting support or with RMAs, etc. Before my most recent purchase, I've had all obscure or rare LCDs in my life and I've sometimes regretted it. Contrast ratio and brightness are pretty worthless statistics. Anything above 500:1 and 250 candles is perfectly fine for gaming or watching movies. I've had about 5 different LCDs in my life ranging from 17-22" and with all sorts of specs but you'll know that response time is the most utterly vital part of the equation. In fact, if I were you, I'ld go look for a true 2ms (grey to grey = typical ) LCD. If your LCD has low response times, you'll know instantly and you'll regret it. Even 8ms is too slow in my opinion. I can see the motion blurring and my brain picks up the changes and it gives me headaches and nausea. That Eizo is 6ms grey to grey). The 2ms midtone spec is misleading and useless. The 4 most vital things to look for in an LCD: 1. Response time (2ms preferably), this will stand out the most in gaming, especially FPS games. If you are one of those people that can easily detect motion blurring, response time will be obvious to you and be bad for your eyes and your brain (I've had perfect vision all my life until I bought a 12ms monitor once and it completely ruined my eyes in 2 months and I had to get glasses). 2. Good black level - LCDs all use flourescent backlights to light the screen, but that causes blacks to never be black but be a shimmering, shiny grey. Some LCDs are better than others but if you watch dark movies, it might drive you nuts that there are no true blacks. Night scenes will all look reflective, etc. 3. Backlight Bleed - Another symptom of the previous issues is that most LCDs will have some backlight bleed, you want to find a unit with the least bleed - that is, light from the backlight leaks through the side of the bezel into the screen and you get brighter edges or corners 4. Color reproduction - Most fast LCDs are 6-bit only, they can only reproduce around 260,000 colors naturally and all the rest are interpolated. If proper color reproduction and range are important to you, find an 8-bit panel. The key to many of these things is to see one in action or to try it yourself for a few days, if you can't do that, unfortunately many LCD companies never mention what type of screen they have. There are several types of LCD screens (TN, IPS, etc.) that all have different characteristics and all manufacturers use these. Figure out what kind of screen is in the LCD that you have. Also, 95% of all LCDs in the world are basically made by the same 3-4 chinese/taiwanese companies. If you find a good screen, you may be able to find it underneath a different brand quite easily. Edited February 9, 2007 by ComicKaze
Hurin Posted February 9, 2007 Posted February 9, 2007 I've had my eyes on the Benq 24". Best full-featured widescreen LCD monitor for my money. But just make sure that if you consider it, you get the latest release with the firmware that supports 1:1 pixel mapping.
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