Hey all,

Can anyone suggest a great resource for buying an LCD monitor? Where
it covers what:
1. is a good refresh rate
2. is a good viewing angle
3. is a good dot pitch
4. TFT (thin film transistor) is?
5. what brightness is good
6. what res is good
etc

Maybe even a site that has user-ratings of hundreds of different LCD
monitors, and allows you to sort by the best rated ones?

I've googled a bit, but haven't found a whole lot, so any help would be
appreciated.

Thanks.

Rob

Rob wrote:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...%2B+guide&meta

Results 1 - 10 of about 7,860,000 for monitor + buying + guide

"Rob" <robertborgersen@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1162573430.409967.289770@m73g2000cwd.googlegr oups.com...
The short answer: buy NEC

The longer answer: Ignore ALL published specifications, especially
brightness and contrast. Pick a monitor with your own eyes only, as it's
easy to tell that most user reviews are written by people who are legally
blind. If you compare NEC to any other brand though (and assuming you
aren't legally blind) you will end up buying NEC. -Dave

Mike T., 11/3/2006, 1:44:44 PM,
<454b8e1d$0$97248$892e7fe2@authen.yellow.readfreen ews.net> wrote:

I like NEC also but Princeton makes good monitors too.

--
"Unfortunately I can not totally agree with comrade Stalin." ~ Famous
Last Words

Yeah, there are some other good brands (I'd second your recommendation of
Princeton). But of the good ones, NEC is easiest to find. Should be
carried in most of the local shops that sell LCD monitors. Oh, and a
monitor is the one thing that you should buy *locally*, especially an LCD
monitor. That's because you might have to exchange it 2 or 3 times to find
a good one. But if you buy NEC, that really shouldn't be an issue, as their
quality control seems to be way above average. -Dave

"Rob" <robertborgersen@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1162573430.409967.289770@m73g2000cwd.googlegr oups.com...

Here's a good guide:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...nterth read=y

"Rob" <robertborgersen@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1162573430.409967.289770@m73g2000cwd.googlegr oups.com...
look for something re 'consumer reviews' or 'comparison' - eg the below
link - that should keep you reading for a few days -

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en... +Search&meta=

OR, note all makes in general, find your nearest dealers and go take a
look - as I said - your own eyes are the ones to satisfy first and your
wallet second.
Happy hunting.
Antioch

Mike T. wrote:
I agree. They just appear much sharper. You go look at LCDs in the stores
and the NECs just standout.

--
<Bill>

Brought to you from Anchorage, Alaska.

I second that. My NEC 19" LCD is the sharpest and clearest monitor I've ever
used. I also love my SONY 23" Wide Screen, too.

On Fri, 3 Nov 2006 12:21:33 -0900, "Bill Bradshaw" <bradshaw@gci.net> wrote:

| I agree. They just appear much sharper. You go look at LCDs in the stores
| and the NECs just standout.

They do, but I have bad history with NEC products I've bought. A TV and VCR
years ago were both crap. A DVD burner I bought early this year turned out to
be the same thing. That kind of experience tends to make one a bit wary.

Larc



§§§ - Change planet to earth to reply by email - §§§

Larc wrote:
crt's being the standard setting monitors.

Samsung also makes good LCD monitors. Few yrs ago I bought a 19-inch
Viewsonic but wasn't impressed with it so replaced it with a 21-inch
Samsung which is exceptional.

You can't go wrong over at AVSFORUM.COM

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=9

Rob wrote:

"Larc" <larc-news@jupiterlink.net> wrote in message
news:r9aok2t00v19vmef39qmu3cq1s35kk4nfn@4ax.com...
You must have really shitty luck then. The best DVD burners on the market
at the moment are NEC brand. I'd be curious what kind of media you were
using with it, as brand of media makes a huge difference, and that is not
just a NEC thing (all brands of DVD burners are at least somewhat picky
about brand of media used). If you use a NEC DVD burner with maxell or
ritek / ridata brand media, you will never burn a coaster. Never. -Dave

I'm not as impressed with samsung. Regardless of published specs (this is
why I said ignore them), the Samsungs tend to look dark and washed out
compared to several other brands. Ironically, viewsonic tends to be better
than average though. -Dave

On Sat, 4 Nov 2006 11:16:13 -0500, "Dave" <never@not.invalid> wrote:

| > They do, but I have bad history with NEC products I've bought. A TV and
| > VCR
| > years ago were both crap. A DVD burner I bought early this year turned
| > out to
| > be the same thing. That kind of experience tends to make one a bit wary.
| >
| > Larc
|
| You must have really shitty luck then. The best DVD burners on the market
| at the moment are NEC brand.

A lot of people would disagree with you on that. My 3550A causes high PIF
spikes when it recalibrates as it burns. Using the same chipset, the Pioneer
111D doesn't have that problem. It doesn't require much looking in the CD
Freaks forum to find other disillusioned NEC burner owners.

http://club.cdfreaks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=86

My main burners are BenQ 1650 and Pioneer 111D now. A Lite-On 160P6S fills in
on certain media. All beat my NEC 3550A hands down, although I did have a 3520A
that did a fairly good job.

| I'd be curious what kind of media you were
| using with it, as brand of media makes a huge difference, and that is not
| just a NEC thing (all brands of DVD burners are at least somewhat picky
| about brand of media used). If you use a NEC DVD burner with maxell or
| ritek / ridata brand media, you will never burn a coaster. Never.

Check your burns with Nero CD-DVD Speed if you have a burner it's compatible
with. Later NECs are somewhat, but not fully. Media brands matter, but the
actual manufacturers matter more.

I've now trimmed DVD media brands mainly down to Taiyo-Yuden and Verbatim, the
latter depending on the manufacturer. Also some RicohJpnR03. Ritek and Ridata
except for RicohJpn varieties aren't very good for archiving since they tend to
degrade rather quickly. I've been able to retain virtually none much past a
year (again excepting RicohJpn varieties), but have been forced to replace a far
larger percentage of Ritek and Ridata discs by reburning than all other brands
I've used combined.

Sorry to stray so far from the main topic of this thread, but there were
questions that seemed to need answering.

Larc



§§§ - Change planet to earth to reply by email - §§§

Tomcat (Tom) wrote:

I've had a 19" Samsung SyncMaster 930B for about 9 months now.
Great LCD monitor. No dead pixels. No problems whatsoever.

Dave wrote:

Dark? Washed out? I had to turn *down* the brightness on my 930B. Any
monitor requires proper initial setup. Samsung's automated programs
make it a breeze.

On Sat, 4 Nov 2006 11:17:43 -0500, "Dave"
<never@not.invalid> wrote:


To get a good idea of what's accurate versus overly high
saturation and contrast, it can be necessary to compare a
real picture. People tend to think a monitor looks better
when it isn't actually accurately reproducing what it should
have shown onscreen... which is fine, if that's the goal,
but it might not be.

Then there's the issue of cost versus size. Some would
rather a lower resolution or smaller panel with higher
image quality and others a larger panel for similar price.

On 4-Nov-2006, "Dave" <never@not.invalid> wrote:

I have a Samsung 970P with a PVA with RTA panel and me tell you I haven't
found a 19 inch LCD monitor that looks better. Samsung makes different
panels and it makes a big difference in viewing. I don't like the TN panel
which I had before. http://www.samsung.com/pdf/lcd_line2005.pdf

On 3 Nov 2006 09:03:50 -0800, "Rob" <robertborgersen@gmail.com> wrote:

If you want a really good monitor, then go for Eizo, but expect to pay
a lot. At my place people preffer LG and Samsung (and Phillips
perhaps) among the cheap lcd monitors.