Recommendations on good Monitor?

[manaheim]

I have one of these "gamer panels". It's very fast so it's awesome for games, but the color accuracy is absolutely fricken horrible.

I would ideally like to get another LCD to go with this one... at least 19" in size, but price is an issue, so I don't want to go crazy. Color and quality is top priority.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Early]

I have one of these "gamer panels". It's very fast so it's awesome for games, but the color accuracy is absolutely fricken horrible.

I would ideally like to get another LCD to go with this one... at least 19" in size, but price is an issue, so I don't want to go crazy. Color and quality is top priority.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I recently bought a Samsung 22" wide screen with 2ms response time from Circuit City for $300+. I don't do gaming, but the 2ms should be good for that. Personally, I am satisfied with the color, although I had to tone down the brightness to get it there.

On the negative side, videos really suck compared to my old CRT, so you might want to take that into consideration if you do gaming.

 

[Overread18 6]

Just checking, but do you have a monitor calibrator? Something like "Spyder 2 suite moniter calibration" which you use once every few months to calibrate the colours on your monitor

 

[Alex_B]

There are some very good ones from Eizo, if you really want to spend money

 

[manaheim]

I recently bought a Samsung 22" wide screen with 2ms response time from Circuit City for $300+. I don't do gaming, but the 2ms should be good for that. Personally, I am satisfied with the color, although I had to tone down the brightness to get it there.

On the negative side, videos really suck compared to my old CRT, so you might want to take that into consideration if you do gaming.

Careful... those Samsung 22s are the very ones that are notorious for the excessive blue tones.

Just checking, but do you have a monitor calibrator? Something like "Spyder 2 suite moniter calibration" which you use once every few months to calibrate the colours on your monitor

I do... I actually very stupidly didn't do for some reason, but this morning I got annoyed and dug around and found it. It's definitely much better, but I'm still very leery of it.

There are some very good ones from Eizo, if you really want to spend money

I'll look it up. Thanks!

 

[Garbz]

I'll point you to this thread which had quite a discussion on monitors:
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=117716

The summary is a decent monitor for photo work should have at the very least a S-PVA or IPS panel in them. Not the TN panel that gamers use. The TN panel may be crap for colour, but they are the only screens which are capable of the response times good for games.

If you're an avid gamer S-PVA is a lovely compromise. Since going to an IPS panel I have actually gotten motion sickness when playing some games.

Excellent monitors are made by Samsung, Eizo, NEC, HP, and a few other companies. But again Samsung and NEC make some very poor ones too.

Things to look for:
- IPS panel to ensure colours don't shift with viewing angle
- Colour gamut. (wide colour gamut if you know how to use colour management in photoshop or standard if you want to avoid the colour headache and still get excellent photos). By the way the Spyder II does not support wide Gamut monitors despite what it says on the box and I know at least NEC actively say do not use this calibrator with some of their screens.
- Internal Lookup Table. This is the kicker as it will allow proper calibration of the screen. Not the signal that feeds the screen but the screen itself. It will select it's 8bit output from a possible range of 12bit colours according to the LUT which is programmed by the calibrator.

errr that's all I can think of right now.
Dell make some nice S-PVA panels which a lovely compromise.

 

[penfold1]

stay away from anything glossy

I want to kill the guy at apple who decided to only make the new Imacs with glossy screens.....

 

[Bifurcator]

I have one of these "gamer panels". It's very fast so it's awesome for games, but the color accuracy is absolutely fricken horrible.

I would ideally like to get another LCD to go with this one... at least 19" in size, but price is an issue, so I don't want to go crazy. Color and quality is top priority.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I can't recommend any specific brand as I haven't gone through allot of LCDs yet. I just recently moved from two 21" CRTs to two 24" LCDs. But I can tell you the one factor that makes the most difference - yet which seems never to be mentioned in on-line reviews - so is worth mentioning! Bit Depth!

The monitors you have now sound like they're 6 bit. You want 8 bit! The cheaper "faster" TN monitors use 6 bit chips and then dither to compensate. That's fine for about 70% of the images you will likely be editing but it's the other 30% that will drive you insane. Every manufacturer decides their own contrast ratio and based on their own tests so those figures are totally bogus and meaningless - so of course those are what's advertised.

The other recommendation I can make (especially now that you're going to have two monitors) is to get one of those dual monitor stands that twist and turn every which way. Not only do they make the monitors seem to float over desk space freeing it up for the daily work shuffle but the repositioning of them actually allows the monitors a multi-purpose roll in the room they're in. Like, extended out past the front of the desk and tilted down slightly you throw some pillows on the floor and instant home theater. Or with the brightness temporarily cranked up and the LCD pointing down at about 80 or 90 degrees turns them into a light source for desk-top macro work equal or better than VERY expensive diffuse dedicated subject lights. etc. etc.

 

[manaheim]

^^^

ooo... I like it. My wife is gonna kill me. :lmao:

Thanks on the comment about the bit depth. I didn't even know to watch for that.

 

[Bifurcator]

It's basically the same thing Garbz said. He just said it the right way is all. It was over my head too when I 1st started shopping several months ago.

Be careful too cuz these 6bit TN monitors list 24bit on their spec sheets.

 

[Moglex]

Or with the brightness temporarily cranked up and the LCD pointing down at about 80 or 90 degrees turns them into a light source for desk-top macro work equal or better than VERY expensive diffuse dedicated subject lights. etc. etc.

Ooo, thinking outside the box. What a neat idea.

You could even have multiple light sources with each light optionally a different colour.

I feel a program coming on!

 

[Moglex]

Be careful too cuz these 6bit TN monitors list 24bit on their spec sheets.

Yeah, adding in those 64 levels of black really is a bit naughty!

 

[manaheim]

It's basically the same thing Garbz said. He just said it the right way is all. It was over my head too when I 1st started shopping several months ago.

Be careful too cuz these 6bit TN monitors list 24bit on their spec sheets.

Yeah, I actually went and looked mine up... it says "24 bits of color!" (not 24 bit depth, though) I suspect it's one of those "well, if we say it this way it sounds really good and isn't technically a lie..."

 

[iriairi]

Found this page in my quest for a monitor. I am still looking but this may be helpful. If it is not a good page, let me know...

http://www.flatpanels.dk/panels.php

 

[Easy_Target]

I have one of these "gamer panels". It's very fast so it's awesome for games, but the color accuracy is absolutely fricken horrible.

I would ideally like to get another LCD to go with this one... at least 19" in size, but price is an issue, so I don't want to go crazy. Color and quality is top priority.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks!

The one I use right now is an LG Flatron 1933.

2ms response time
3000:1 contrast ratio
19'' viewable
$150 at Circuit city about 9 months ago.


One warning about the monitor though, because of the high contrast ratio, if you turn the contrast all the way up, prepare to go blind.