TFT Monitors?

Obviously, I want the best quality for the cheapest price.

I'm looking for a 17" , 75hz and wonder if anyone has any recommendations of a good model? Also, are there any do's / don'ts / known issues etc.. with these .. I'm kinda used to using the big mothers ;)

Cheers
Stevie

Why 75hz? Refresh rate really isn't an issue with TFT monitors - you don't get flicker even at 60hz as you would with a CRT.

If you want it for games then the most important thing you'd have to watch out for is the latency/response time. Anything 8ms or below should be fine. Other than that I'd guess you'd want as many supported resolutions as possible, although TFT monitors are happy at their 'native' resolution - normally but not always 1280x1024.

I'd recommend CCL for anything PC: http://www.cclonline.com/

Go for a model with a rapid response rate and high constrast/brightness. Slower response rate models give ghosting effects when everythings moving around.
If possible go in store (Currys, PC World) and look at a bank of TFT's on display.
Some look really poor (bad backlighting) a give a dull/greyish look to images. Therefore, try to get one which features X-Black (I think this a Sony term?)
Also, one with DVI input for a much sharper image.

For reference, heres mine:

Sony SDM-HS75P
==============
* X-Black
* Brightness: 420 cd/m3
* Response: 8 m/secs
* Inputs: VGA + DVI
* Constrast: 600:1
* viewing angle: 160 degrees

Is viewing angle an issue actually? I'm usually at a single spot watching my TFT. Or is it meant for kama sutra ppl who need to be able to read their KS.PDF at all angles? :D

Thanks guys.

I thought 75hz was standard that's all. I noticed that most seem to only support 1280x1024 but that's what my current monitor goes to so not an issue.

Most are showing repsonse of 1-12ms ... so assume this is normal too?

What sort of price do you think is good?

[EDIT ] Oh and is there any issues with displaying resolutions as low as 640x480 on these things?

This is what I got, and have had no probs with it :

Samsung SyncMaster 730b
----
8ms refresh rate
1280x1024px native rez
75hz
600:1 contrast ratio
0.264mm dot pitch
300nits brightness value
160° viewing angle
Uses 34W of power
------------------

Costed me about $300 CDN during last X-Mas, monitor works great, very sharp screen display, great for games, no stuck pixels (...yet, though I've had a few stuck ones that easily went away via pressure, or turning off the monitor for a bit),.

Only other flat-screen monitors I've had a hands-on experiance are the standard Dell ones my high-school uses, and all I can say is, they're crap, 16ms refresh and primary colors bleed.


CS_TBL, depends on how you sit, I tend to slouch down in my chair, and if I cant see a clear picture from that position half-way below the monitor, then I be ticked. My monitor works well in that situation, though I notice a bit of whiteness at the top of the screen like that.

Mine was £300 at the time (about 4 months ago) but looking at similar models like the ViewSonic prices have dropped. The one linked here is £185 and features a 3ms response time! ViewSonic seem to have a good reputation too.

Yeah, I've noticed a good few viewsonic ones kicking about.

What about the contrast ratio? What exactly does this affect?

This looks not bad for £130 ex VAT ..

These are like the one I've got. Power without the price and all that.

Cheers. What can you do with DVI that you can't with just VGA?

Get a sharp, digital picture. After using DVI at home, the picture on the VGA screen at work looks a bit diffuse. It's not normally noticable, unless you're reading/writting a lot of text tho' (like if you where a programmer).

Hyundai ImageQuest L90D+ is now £200 - the price of most 17" monitors except it has wide viewing angles, incredible 8ms gaming response and is 19".

It's also 75hz.

And yes, 75hz does look smoother than 60hz. The difference has nothing to do with flicker and everything to do with how fast the entire screen is capped when changing.

When using a cheap TFT of 16ms response, you will not benefit from a 75hz refresh because the monitor is already ghosting at "60fps". Lower than this, and 75hz (which isn't to be confused with flickering but page refresh) - is smoother.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Products.ASP?CatID=27&FilterCategories=161&Thumbnails=yes

Viewsonic

17" ViewSonic VX724 3ms response time! Anybody else got one of these?

Pay the little extra for a DVI port.

Couple of thoughts:

1) Make sure you know what the dead-pixel return policy is for whatever place you buy it from. Many, many vendors will ONLY accept a LCD as a return if you have 8 or more dead or stuck pixels, or >4 adjecent ones. Needless to say, having 7 dead pixels would be a MAJOR annoyance/distraction, but depending on the vendor it may be a case of "too bad". Just know what you're getting yourself into.

2) There are different grades of screens. The 'high end' ones will cost a little more, but are pretty much guaranteed to have no dead pixels. The bargain bin brands are very likely to have one or two, since they can save a lot of money by buying lower grade (=semi-rejects) from the LCD screen manufacturer
I have a no-name (advueue) myself, with one pixel permanently stuck to red. But the price was right, so can't complain too much..
If you stick with the big names, you have much less chance of dead pixels than when you go for the budget brands or the never-heard-of-them-before ones.

3) High contrast and fast response time are big selling points, high brightness not so much. My screen is 400cd/m2, and it's so ungodly bright that I have to turn it all the way down and do a software gamma adjustment over it to keep my eyes from burning out. It's great after that. ;-)
If you haven't used them much, be aware that a stand-alone LCD monitor will typically be much brighter than a laptop LCD screen, since power conservation is much less of an issue when you're not running off a battery.

4) DVI will give you a much crisper screen than VGA, since it doesn't have to do a digital -> analog -> digital conversion, with all the assosiated fuzzyness. with VGA, it will look at the signal and try to figure out where the pixel boundaries are, etc. With DVI it knows *exactly* where each pixel is located, and you won't have color bleeding and such which can occur with analog VGA, where one pixel may interfere with the next).

If you are planning to get one at a brick-and-mortar store, you may want to see if they are willing to hook it up for you to check for defects first, can save you a LOT of headaches later, depending on the return policies.

(That's also one advantage of buying one at a non-techie store such as a large department store -- you have a much smaller selection and all that, but most of those will accept returns for any reason, so you can typically bring 'em back even if you 'only' have one dead pixel, because you 'didn't like the color' or whatever.)