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LCD Monitors & Response Times
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 4:03 pm
by jtm55
Hi All,
I have a question concerning LCD Monitors & response times. As I'm sure most of you are aware of, most Manufacturers of these monitors list their response times im the ms range & it's usually measuring the gray to gray response time.
My question is wouldn't it be more accurate to list the response time of these monitors in the time it takes for them to go from black to white or on & off?
I'm stumped, as I'm considering purchasing an LCD, but want one that's going to be good for gaming.
All help provided is greatly appreciated.
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 4:31 pm
by LVCapo
I think that you bring up a very valid point....but the industry uses grey to grey, nothing we can do about it. I've got a pair of Dell monitors, they are both 12ms repsonse, and both are great for gaming.... in my opinion, 16ms is as high as you will want to go.
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 4:33 pm
by kenc51
Responce times don't mean diddly squat... Manufacturers all have their own way of calculating responce times.
With cheap monitors the graphics get blurred. This was the case with older-gen monitors too. Then they said quicker responce times would help, and did, so everyone just tought the lower the ms. the better. Lower is better but you can get bad 12ms monitors!
jtm55 wrote:My question is wouldn't it be more accurate to list the response time of these monitors in the time it takes for them to go from black to white or on & off?
As far as I know it how fast each pixel can be refreshed!
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 4:59 pm
by jtm55
Hi All,
Thanks for the input. Capper, could you tell me which Dell Monitors you recommend? Thanks.
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 5:22 pm
by LVCapo
I have the high end ones... i have the 2005FPW and the 2405FPW, both are incredible.. While their monitors are the best, their customer service is the owrst I've ever seen.
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 5:31 pm
by jtm55
Thanks Capper, I've heard this as well about Dell's Customer Service.
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 6:11 pm
by Bigedmond
When i was a dell customer, i never got service. Just told to change my startup configuration in MSconfig.
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 6:28 pm
by Kerii
Gray-to-gray should be a better measure of how well an LCD does in games.
It's a lot quicker for a pixel to go from black (off / nothing) to white (on / full power) than it is to shift from one color to another.
Yeah, it's more accurate to measure black to white, but in all regards, that spec is just as if not more pointless seeing as the only applications that really stress response time (games) rarely have such dramatic color shifts. That, and different manufacturers' monitors handle gray-to-gray differently as well.
PCWorld did a very good article on the subject some weeks/months ago (I have a print subscription), it might be online too, I don't know.
I do have a PDF link that I saved from searching on the thing ViewSonic was working on in the article called Amplified Impluse Technology.
http://www.viewsonic.com/pdf/wp_4msResp ... 050205.pdf
Basically they jumpstart the pixel with a very brief full on signal and then provide the gradual shift signal, or something like that, I'm not an engineer, lol.
Supposed to be able to handle gray-to-gray transitions up to 8x faster than standard LCDs.
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 6:58 pm
by jtm55
Hi All,
That's an interesting take that you have Kerii. I've seen the Viewsonic monitors @4ms as well as a newer one @3ms, both being grey to grey.
I'm somewhat sceptical about these fantastic numbers though, not to mention the Manufacturers polocies on dead pixels.
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 9:34 pm
by Dragon_Cooler
just to let you know i was in the same boat when i was looking for an lcd. I learned that ms was how fast a pixel turned on and off (dont know if that right) and like the other guy said nothing above 16 or even 12 if you can help it. A lot of companys use that as a selling point and can be misleading.( like someone selling an intel celeron 3gig processor,seems to be fast but isnt)
I was fortunate enough to have a friend that had an lcd monitor that brought it to lans, the samsung syncmaster 730b. there was absolutly no blur and with the dvi cable i gave him, the picture was excellent, crt like. My shopping had ended with that and so i splurged and got impatiente and bought a samsung 930b which is the 19in version. The max resolution on both is 1280x1024 and have a 8ms response time. However, with the max res. the picture is more crisp on my friends 730 and my 930 because the stretches that picture for the extra 2 inches. Barely noticable though. I say all that because i reccomend either one of those montors. you can get them anywhere from 250-300 bucks now, and maybe even cheaper.
and samsung has one of the highest success rates on no dead pixels eithers. the dells i were looking at, people said they had a high dead pixel rate.
***********
IS ANYONE SELLING A LCD MONITOR CARRIER OR KNOW WHERE I CAN GET ONE FOR CHEAP???? i have looked everywhere for a 19in carrier for less than 60 bucks and cant find one anywhere.
Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 6:17 am
by FZ1
capper5016 wrote:I have the high end ones... i have the 2005FPW and the 2405FPW, both are incredible.. While their monitors are the best, their customer service is the owrst I've ever seen.
Ditto. These are great for gaming.
Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 8:37 am
by jtm55
Hi All,
I checked out the Dell monitors the one I'd really want would cause my Wife to kill me. So I did some looking around & came up with this.
http://product.samsung.com/SamsungUSA/A ... 0trans.doc
It's the Samsung 214T a 21.3" LCD Monitor with a 8ms response time(GtoG). From what I've been able to gather this monitor hasn't been released yet but some online retailers have it listed for $760.00 including shipping.
Tell me what you think
Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 9:33 am
by FZ1
Try the Dell outlet store and look at the "refurbished" monitors. They show up in bunches every so often and you can get the 21" widescreens for just over $400. Also, check gotapex.com...they regularly displays Dell specials inclduing sales on monitors.
Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 9:33 am
by Dragon_Cooler
DragonCooler wrote:
The samsung syncmaster 730b. there was absolutly no blur and with the dvi cable i gave him, the picture was excellent, crt like. My shopping had ended with that and so i splurged and got impatiente and bought a samsung 930b which is the 19in version. The max resolution on both is 1280x1024 and have a 8ms response time. However, with the max res. the picture is more crisp on my friends 730 and my 930 because the stretches that picture for the extra 2 inches. Barely noticable though. I say all that because i reccomend either one of those montors. you can get them anywhere from 250-300 bucks now, and maybe even cheaper.
and samsung has one of the highest success rates on no dead pixels eithers. the dells i were looking at, people said they had a high dead pixel rate.
but the one you are looking at looks pretty sweet too. The only problem i had with those huge dells were i felt like my neck was about to fall off moving my head from side to side to see the entire montior while gaming. LOL
Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 10:26 am
by Kerii
Dell has 20%-30% off coupons for their monitors like... every other week.
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/Prod ... sting.aspx
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/Prod ... sting.aspx
If you want a 2405FPW for $760, all you have to do is wait a week or two, and they'll come around on the coupon rotation again, lol.
Edit: Speaking of which...
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/prod ... u=320-4221
Add that to your cart, then click on My Cart and enter 69$8KC79D53S2H for the coupon code.
Should reduce the price to $779.35 before tax and S&H.
Personally I like how the SONY 23" SDM-P234 looks better, but for half the price and 12ms response time, I'd be willing to forgive the looks on the Dell, lol.

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 4:40 pm
by gvblake22
Yeah, well I'm on a 4 year old
Viewsonic VE155b with a
30ms response time!
My "white" now appears more like an off-white...
...and yes, I CAN definately notice the ghosting, even in 2D. Take it from someone looking at a 30ms LCD right now, don't do it!!! Stick to 12ms and under!

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 9:22 pm
by killswitch83
haha, I have an Insignia 17" CRT with a 25ms rate, lol. should have never bought it, but had no choice because the colors were starting to distort somewhat on my old Compaq MV720....of course, this was about 3 months ago when I bought this, but that will be something on my list: an kick-arse LCD; I also heard they are better on your eyes than CRT due to the amount of radiation let out by the pic tube, but that could be misleading....I really don't know.
Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 9:45 pm
by gvblake22
Yes, the LCD's are infact easier on the eyes than CRT.
Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 9:49 pm
by killswitch83
well worth the price then....my eyes aren't getting any better here, lol
Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 9:50 pm
by gvblake22
Yeah, LCD is prettymuch the way to go.