Jump to content

Looking for a new monitor - need input


bushwack

Recommended Posts

So I'm looking to get a new monitor between now and Christmas. If it was up to me I'd get it now but my wife likes me to wait for things. Maybe we can meet half way. :mwink: I have a 19" Samsung CRT while it's been good to me it's time to can it. What im interested in is either a 20" std. (1600x1200) or a 22" widescreen (1680 x 1050) LCD. I figure they both have about the same real estate.

 

Here's a few facts:

a) I like old games and hardware. Anywhere from the mid 90's to now. Yes I have a dedicated DOS/Win95 machine.

b ) I run a KVM switch.

c) I have a 50" Panny in the living room so im not worried about watching movies on the new screen.

 

How do the widescreens react to older games and hardware? What happens if I fire up Duke Nukem 3D in DOS or GLQuake on a 3Dfx Voodoo card? Any driver issues with Dos/Win95, widescreen or std.?

 

Anyone run a KVM switch with their LCD? Is it possible to select the input on these monitors? Can you use the DVI for my Win XP comp and the VGA input for the KVM?

 

Any personal experiences would be great. BTW I figure on spending around $300. Those 22" Chimei's are so cheap I could almost get 2 hehe.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 51
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

yes about the inputs. you can switch back and forth. old games will work fine. it's all driver settings. you can have them stretch or maintain aspect ratio. go widescreen without hesitation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Think I'm going to grab one of these LG L226WTQ.

 

My question is with the 4:3 aspect ratio with widescreens. This LG you have to go into the OSD and hit several buttons to force 4:3, are all monitors this difficult to force? I was kinda hoping on just maybe a 1 button press next to the power button to switch back and forth between forcing aspect ratios. :prplwacko:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Forcing the aspect ratio is something I have never really seen, it's probably unique to LG (maybe?).

 

While you can set a 4:3 (5:4 for 1280x1024) ratios through software, it really only sets the resolution to that ratio and won't generally let you actually set the aspect ratio (ie it stretches the information instead of giving you black bars)

 

Really I would want to know why you want to be able to use 4:3/5:4 ratio? I can't think of a reason other than the SC one :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am running dual monitors at work... and then I have a KVM off of the vga off the second monitor. I just have to switch the input and I'm there. I do use two keyboards though... one for my pc, and one for the kvm... mainly because other people use my kvm as well. Otherwise I would run a splitter on my keyboard and mouse too.

 

20" WS Dell, and a 17" Dell.

Edited by benjester
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's a StarCraft thing as you put it. While it's been years since I have played SC, I play older games on older systems through a KVM. I have a P200 (430TX) Win95/DOS machine and a Celeron 300A (440BX) Win98SE machine.

 

It's a toss up between the LG L226WTQ and Samsung's 204B 22 incher. On newegg they are rated about the same if not a little higher for the LG. There are not many reviews of the LG, I think the model is only a few months old while the Samsung is well over a year. The model number of the LG is one digit off at the end but can't be found on the LG site, guess it's a newegg exclusive. Bestbuy has the LG on sale this week for $279, I would have picked one up in town by now but they are sold out.

 

I'd like to have a 24" but I'm limited to 300 bux right now, and I need a new one now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just finished ordering the LG, taking the chance with it. I just need to pick it up sometime this weekend. That LG 24" was a different display type if i'm not mistaken and it didn't seem to be a good monitor by the review. Good thing about Bestbuy, if im not happy with the monitor i'll just take it back and get the Samsung.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Member
(edited)

Picked up the LG a few hours ago and been playing with it about a half an hour. So far the monitor is awesome. This thing totally blows my old Samsung 19" away, but it was made in 2001. Totally happy with my purchase, I'll give my review tomorrow. What does everyone run the brightness at? This thing is burning my retinas.

Edited by bushwack
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Picked up the LG a few hours ago and been playing with it about a half an hour. So far the monitor is awesome. This thing totally blows my old Samsung 19" away, but it was made in 2001. Totally happy with my purchase, I'll give my review tomorrow. What does everyone run the brightness at? This thing is burning my retinas.

I think you'll be very happy with it. One thing I found right away with mine (Acer, same panels though) is that it doesn't like Windows turning off the monitor (you know you can set windows to power off the monitor after a certain amount of time)...it had an adverse effect on my monitors power supply it seems.

 

I cranked the brightness way down on mine...otherwise I would get a tan (god forbid)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was totally happy with the monitor till I went to use the magic 4:3 ratio button in the monitors OSD. Well it's not there. To find it I downloaded the online manual to see if I was overlooking it. Nope says it's there. So I looked at the manual on the CD that the driver was on and it doesn't mention the force 4:3 option. Eh? Maybe I got an earlier model the before they added that feature, Still waiting for LG to email me back.

 

Second issue is ghosting, I guess that's what it is, this is my first LCD. Playing the Crysis demo, Flat Out 2, HOMM5 and watching movies I didn't notice anything. But playing UT 2004 looking around fast causes a slight smudging and I don't care for it, it's throwing my game off. (I still play 1-2 hours a day) It's like I'm not getting 60+ FPS anymore while I know I am. This is the first time I've seen an LCD in a gaming session so I don't know what to go by. Lex said he can't tell the difference between his LCD and CRT, can anyone else?

 

Good thing I got it at Bestbuy, I'm going to take it back and get another one and hope these two issues are fixed with a replacement. If not I guess I'll grab the Samsung. If the "smudging" doesn't go away then I may just get another CRT.

 

Otherwise the monitor rocks, glad I didn't get a 24" it would be too big -I would have to push it to the back of my desk. No dead pixels, it's crisp and has great colors right out of the box, just had to turn the brightness down. The base is on a lazy susan but it's not necessary, the horizontal viewing is is crazy, the vertical is typical. And now I can play anytime of the day (bay window in my comp room in the west).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had a super high end 22" flat aperture CRT from NEC...was rockin. However, I love WS format and I really like the extra real estate of a WS monitor.

 

Like I said...the ACER I bought is now on sale for $239...and I have no probs with it whatsoever.

 

You'll get used to it after a while.

 

Most people say you should not be able to see ghosting under 8ms response time. meh...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The more I use an LCD the less I like it. Between the slight ghosting (no more liquid smooth lifelike motion in FPS) that seems everyone says you get used to in a couple weeks. Now I am getting input lag too (well i had it the whole time just found the definition) that no one warned me about.

It may not be much to some but it's enough to drive me crazy.

 

I figure I'm taking my new LCD back this weekend and try to find a good 19" CRT to last me a couple more years until they perfect LCDs. I played the UT3 demo on my old CRT at 1600x1200 and looked wonderful, it's just that the refresh rate is 60hz at that rez and cause my eyes to bleed. I just need a new CRT that can the handle higher rez better. Seems newegg has a Veiwsonic for $200. Any other recommendations?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The more I use an LCD the less I like it. Between the slight ghosting (no more liquid smooth lifelike motion in FPS) that seems everyone says you get used to in a couple weeks. Now I am getting input lag too (well i had it the whole time just found the definition) that no one warned me about.
It may not be much to some but it's enough to drive me crazy.

 

I figure I'm taking my new LCD back this weekend and try to find a good 19" CRT to last me a couple more years until they perfect LCDs. I played the UT3 demo on my old CRT at 1600x1200 and looked wonderful, it's just that the refresh rate is 60hz at that rez and cause my eyes to bleed. I just need a new CRT that can the handle higher rez better. Seems newegg has a Veiwsonic for $200. Any other recommendations?

 

i agree. return it and try a different brand first. if you still don't like it then look for a dell 22inch p1230. i have one sitting here that's on the way out. it'll do 1600x1200 at 100hz. i went to my 24inch lcd though and since the first week, have never looked back.

 

note - you also may be able to find an hp p1230 as i know both dell and hp had a p1130. the 1130 only did 85hz at 16x12 though.

 

i don't believe you'll find a 19inch that'll do 16x12 at anything about 85hz. personally, i much prefer 100hz to 85hz. 85 starts to hurt my eyes after a few minutes. 60hz don't get me started. i can't look at it for more than about 10 seconds.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The more I use an LCD the less I like it. Between the slight ghosting (no more liquid smooth lifelike motion in FPS) that seems everyone says you get used to in a couple weeks. Now I am getting input lag too (well i had it the whole time just found the definition) that no one warned me about.
It may not be much to some but it's enough to drive me crazy.

 

I figure I'm taking my new LCD back this weekend and try to find a good 19" CRT to last me a couple more years until they perfect LCDs. I played the UT3 demo on my old CRT at 1600x1200 and looked wonderful, it's just that the refresh rate is 60hz at that rez and cause my eyes to bleed. I just need a new CRT that can the handle higher rez better. Seems newegg has a Veiwsonic for $200. Any other recommendations?

 

i agree. return it and try a different brand first. if you still don't like it then look for a dell 22inch p1230. i have one sitting here that's on the way out. it'll do 1600x1200 at 100hz. i went to my 24inch lcd though and since the first week, have never looked back.

 

note - you also may be able to find an hp p1230 as i know both dell and hp had a p1130. the 1130 only did 85hz at 16x12 though.

 

i don't believe you'll find a 19inch that'll do 16x12 at anything about 85hz. personally, i much prefer 100hz to 85hz. 85 starts to hurt my eyes after a few minutes. 60hz don't get me started. i can't look at it for more than about 10 seconds.

 

Isnt your dell set to 60hz? Or do you just force it higher?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Isnt your dell set to 60hz? Or do you just force it higher?

refresh rates on crt and lcd are completely different. lcd's don't have the flicker that crts do.

 

crts are like looking at a light bulb.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...