expertec Posted January 26, 2006 Report Share Posted January 26, 2006 I am not even sure whether CRT monitors are manufactured anymore?Yes they are, and are offered with computer packages by company's like Dell.Yes, but at least one (and possibly others) major monitor manufacturer has stopped making CRTs.Yep! If you can live with/accomodate the huge footprint it is the only way to go. :)And the huge power consumption. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted January 26, 2006 Report Share Posted January 26, 2006 I read in the papers over the week-end that the CEO of a major retailer (I think Comet - but could have been Curry's) forecasts that by the end of 2006 they will no longer stock CRT TV's other than small bedroom models. They will all be superceded by TFT (and Plasma). This trend will aalso apply to computer monitors Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expertec Posted January 26, 2006 Report Share Posted January 26, 2006 Sounds like Dixons... they no longer sell film cameras or VCRs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted January 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2006 No more problems since twiddling the on off switch as mentioned earlier. Fingers crossed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djohn Posted January 26, 2006 Report Share Posted January 26, 2006 Yes, CRT monitors are still made, just no new models in the past couple of years. I have the Viewsonic 19" VP930 TFT, it cost me a fraction under £400 a couple of months back but its superb and knocks the spots off any CRT monitor of which I've had a few top quality ones.TN is generally the fastest at refreshing the image but PVA is catching up fast, mine is a PVA model with 8 ms response time. TN panels are 6 bit with only 16.2 million colours, PVA are 8 bit true colour with 16.7 million colours and a much wider viewing angle. Very important for any photo work.Be careful on checking the viewing angles in the specs as some TN panels say 160 degrees vertical/horizontal but this is taken at 5% measurement. PVA panels go up to a genuine 178 degrees at the full 10% measurement.My monitor has a viewing angle of 170 degrees which equates to almost as good as a CRT monitor and the colours are deep and true for any graphic work or photo editing. TFT panels are stated to have twice the life time of a CRT. This is taken from Viewsonics FAQ's page and they still sell CRT's. all come with at least 3 years warranty, Dell models bought from OCUK have a 4 year warranty and Viewsonic are the only manufacture at this moment to swap out a panel for just 1 dead pixel, most makes are 3 or more. Running a 19" TFT at its native resolution of 1280x1024 is a very pleasant experience and I can have 4 equal sized widows open at the same time if I want to and still read them in comfort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted January 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2006 I have put this topic into My Favourites for possible future reference. Many thanks for all the advice folks. I am happy to say that at present, since twiddling with the on off switch, my monitor has behaved itself. I would obviously enjoy having a new one, but will save the expense if this one carries on OK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djohn Posted January 27, 2006 Report Share Posted January 27, 2006 If you do need to buy a new one andsome this is a good shop to compare monitors even if you buy elsewhere. Remember that the PVA ones are better for viewing angles and colour quality. :) OCUK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted January 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2006 Many thanks again, but where does the PVA come into the equation? How do you know which ones are PVA and what does it mean? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djohn Posted January 27, 2006 Report Share Posted January 27, 2006 Here you go andsome, some reading for you. :) A. A. TN film (Twisted Nematic) panels where the first panels to be used and are still widely implemented in many TFT’s today, especially mid to low end screens. This is due to the low manufacturing costs of TN panels. However, they are not always very good at displaying blacks and also there is a problem with pixels dying and becoming a bright colour rather than just completely going out (black). The main restriction of TN film panels is that they have restrictive viewing angles of up to about 140 horizontal. Vertical viewing angles are very poor generally. TN film panel traditionally offer the fastest pixel response times, and with the implementation of "overdrive" technologies, the grey to grey transitions are becoming even faster.IPS (In Plane Switching) was introduced to try and improve on some of these drawbacks. It was developed by Hitachi and was dubbed “super TFT”. They improved on viewing angles up to about 170H. This was done by controlling liquid crystal alignment slightly differently, but unfortunately, can affect response rate of the pixels. As such they are not as good for gaming as TN panels. They didn’t make any improvements on black reproduction really either, but dead pixels only show as black, not bright colours. IPS panels were later developed into Super-IPS (S-IPS) panels and production costs were lowered which has meant they have become more widely used. S-IPS offer perhaps the most accurate colour reproduction available in the TFT panel market, but response times and black levels remain inferior to those of MVA/PVA technology.The third type is VA (Vertical Alignment) panels. The early VA panels have been scrapped due to poor viewing angles, and in their place came the MVA and PVA panels. These offer superior colour reproduction compared with TN film, but not quite as good as IPS / S-IPS. They do however have the advantage of being able to show good black levels and viewing angles are also very good . This is done by having all the colour elements of the panel split into cells or zones. These are formed by ridges on an internal surface of filters. The purpose of this design is to enable liquid crystals to move in opposite direction to their neighbours. It allows the observer to see the same shade of color irrespective of a viewing angle. There have been improvements to the MVA (Multidomain VA) and PVA (Patterned VA) technologies which has given birth to the Premium-MVA (P-MVA) and Super-PVA (S-PVA) technologies. More info on all of these can be found here.With the implementation of overdrive features, panel manufacturers including AUO and Samsung have managed to lower response times of P-MVA and PVA panels significantly in order to make gaming more enjoyable. This has allowed these panels to even compete with TN film panels in terms of pixel response, at least across grey to grey transitions.Above taken from a guide given by a respected reviewer from OCUK. Scroll down to the third question.Monitor review Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted January 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2006 VERY interesting and illuminating thank. As I said I have put this page into My favourites, I have done the same for your link. At present my old monitor is still behaving after my knob twiddle, so here's keeping my fingers crossed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted February 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2006 Many thanks again to all who replied. My monitor has been playing up again. After sending a PM to djohn, he very kindly made specific recommendations, and I have ordered an AOC 729-16. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted February 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Ordered Friday and delivered 8-05am this morning. I am WELL pleased with it. Thanks again djohn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvw Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Ordered Friday and delivered 8-05am this morning. I am WELL pleased with it. Thanks again djohn.That was quick :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted February 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Ordered Friday and delivered 8-05am this morning. I am WELL pleased with it. Thanks again djohn.That was quick :)It's a next working day service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deuces wild Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Congratulation andsome and enjoy it. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djohn Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Your welcome andsome, I'm pleased I could help. Its always a difficult task recommending something to another person but the service i received from this company and the quality of the product compared to others in the same price range was and is, outstanding. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rong Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Where dose it tell you the type TN PVA etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted February 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 I particularly like the ability to turn the monitor and run it in Portrait mode, very useful for some applications. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djohn Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Hello rong. You'll find it under the specifications of the monitor, but an easy way to tell is one of two methods.TN will always say 16.2 million colours. MVA or PVA will be 16.7 million colours.TN panels will vary in viewing angles from 140 to 160 degrees and can be different for vertical and horizontal. IE: 150 vertical 160 horizontal.MVA/PVA will be 170 degrees in both directions.TN are generally that bit better at games as they are a 6 bit panel and react to changes quicker. MVA are 8 bit panels and generally give better blacks and colours in general but slightly slower and some ardent gamers say they can see slight ghosting in fast moving games.Both types of panel are getting better and closer to each other as the months go by, but MVA is still considered the best for photo or image editing because three or four people can view the image at the same time and each one see the exact same image. TN panels don't have this advantage as the viewing angles are more acute but they can be less than half the price of a PVA panel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rong Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Thank you, I have been looking on different sights and have not found any mention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djohn Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Your welcome rong. Here's a 27 page guide to TFT monitors, should be able to find what you need there but please ask and I'll try to help if I can. :) Parameters and Characteristics of TFT monitors Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted February 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 One little query djohn. The link that you sent me to AOC has a link on it to download DRIVERS. I have never heard of a monitor needing drives, and this one runs a treat without. I downloaded from the site just for curiousity, and unzipped the folder. This is the result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djohn Posted February 7, 2006 Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 Morning andsome. Yes, monitors will work fine without drivers but always best to download and install one if available. They are not drivers as such, more a .ini file that tells windows the make and model of monitor you have. There should have been a CD with your monitor and that will have the drivers on it.When you right click on the desktop and choose properties/display/advanced/monitor. It should say the type of monitor you have connected, IE: AOC LM 729-16. If it does then all is fine. If not then download the driver, unzip and click on the appropriate one for your monitor. The ones in your screen shot are incorrect.Go back to the page for your monitor then downloads and click on LCD drivers, you'll end up with the same as my screen shot. I've marked in red the file you need to double click on to install.File to download, second image is the file to open. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted February 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 All done now thanks. It was not clear when looking at the CD or the installation leaflet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deuces wild Posted February 11, 2006 Report Share Posted February 11, 2006 What would you recommend for a 19" LCD monitor djohn? I am thinking of purchasing one for my daughter. I can get a Dell UltraSharp 1905FP 19" Flat panel with height adjustment and 3 year warranty for $300 plus tax and shipping. Is this a decent monitor (she is not a gamer)? And if we decide on a 17" am I correct in assuming you recommend the AOC LM729 LCD? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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