Graphics Q?

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Hello,

I just treated myself to a Sony TFT monitor for an older system of mine. Its the 17" SB73B budget model - £180. The problem I have is although it's fully operational I feel the quality is kinda poor. The recommended resolution is 1280x1240 but when set as this the icons are too small. I tried all the usual options large fonts etc but am unable to get it just right. If I try and watch a dvd the quality is poor with a haze around objects on screen. I tried the config software that came in box but as is seems to be the best I can get it.
The graphics card in this system is a miserable 64Mb Nvidia geforce approx 3 1/2 years old. Would a better graphics card improve this considerably? Or is this the cheapo monitor at it's best? This graphics card has no problems running a dvd on the old 19" crt in same system. O\S is XP Pro
Thanks for any input.

 

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bear in mind TFTS are not designed to run at anything other than the res stated, unlike CRTs
if 1280x1024 is too smal your gonna have to look at ways of increasing stuff rather than lowering the res, as the lower res will look pants

 

TFT takes a bit of getting used to after CRT.
I changed mind to save desk space. It's fine for normal stuff, but absolute pants for video and gaming. Part of the problem is the weird 'back-lit' effect that you get. That makes games that are supposed to be dark (Doom3, Splinter Cell etc) look really gritty and horrible. I've got used to mine now, but it still misses out some of the more subtle effects. If you're a dedicated gamer or bit torrent kind of guy, don't go for TFT. On the other hand, if you've got a small desk, go nuts.

 

Hmm i'm an avid gamer, go to LAN Parties every month, play games atleast 14 hours a week, and have been using TFTs for 3 years now, im no sure the problems you talk about, before I switched I had a top of the line Iyama Vision master pro 21" CRT, and i tell you going back to that now gives me bloody headaches

what you cant do as a gamer is buy a cheap TFT, or you will experiance ghosting, video lag, and the other effects mentioned above, gamers are not adverse to spending coin on what matters, and a quality TFT matters
For anything other than gaming, cheap ones work fine, wouldnt switch back for the world, it is ofcourse down to personal preference, a monitor is a very personal thing, if you have to sit in front of something for numerous hours a day, get one YOUR comfortable with, not one that your mate is

 

Exactly. Good point well made.
TFT is the in thing. When I bought my first PC, you didn't eaven have the option. Now you go around a PC store and they all sell them with TFT. People think they look cool or modern, and never think about what's best for them.
It's a bit like preferring vinyl records. You're either a CD fan or a vinyl fan, and sometimes the old and tested ways are the best.
I'm ranting, aren't I?
The good thing about TFT is that they take up less room in the bin when you buy a new one...

 

Sooo, could mr nice prombles be a result of his older computer?

 

Mitz, as mentioned above, i suspect the problem is mr nice is trying to run the TFT in its non native res
unlike CRTS, TFTS are designed to work in thier native res, and only thier native res
some of the higher end ones have a zoom feature, whereby rather than stretching pixles, they center the smaller res in the middle of the screen, with lots of black space around, then zoom in so that it fills the screen without stretching the pixels


AJ, are you asking for monitor specs for the casual gamer?
to be honest casual gamers really dont notice the so called problems that apparant hardcore gamers think they noticed, idealy try and find one that with a 16ms response time, decent contrast and brightness levels
also try not to get one thats too high a res for your graphics card, like I said, they run at a set res and look poor in any other ers, so if you have a 20" LCD whos native res is 1600x1200, if you run doom 3 at 1024x768 because your gfx card just cant handle that kind of game any higher, then your shooting yourself in the foot so to say

15s generally 1024x768 (SVGA)
17s and 19s generally do 1280x1024 (SXGA)
20s and 21s to 1600x1200 (UXGA)
wide screen 20s do 1680x1050 (WSXGA)
wide screen 24s do 1920x1200 (WUXGA)

i could have my letters buggered up there, but the reses are pretty accurate i think

if your primary use is desktop stuff, then larger screen real estate (see: res) is better, but at the sacrifice of gaming looks/performance unless you have the PC to back up that resolution in 3D as well as 2D

hope that helps, its a bit late and ive had a long and drunk weekend

 

Yea I saw your reply phoenix, but he said he at the right resolution it still a crappy picture. That why I wonder if maybe his comp might just be to old to support that monitor so that it works right.

 

I think my problem is Wife+Mortgage+Child=Cheap as chips monitor.

 

I doubt his computer is the problem
if his graphics card has no problems powering a 19" CRT then a monitor is no problem
I wasnt sure if he was running at the correct resolution or not, he mentions that everything was too small, and trying all the usual tricks didnt help, so I assumed he had lowered the res to compensate
as a comparison my linux box has the old build in intel i810 graphics card and its running at 1600x1200@32bit colour just fine

check the cables, cables on LCDs are very important, use DVI if the monitor and video card support it!

a few tips include
use the correct resolution
use cleartype fonts
use 60hz and nothing else

use DVI if you have got it!!!! <-- cant stress that enough

 

Thanks for the advice given from all,

The monitor is good quality for the desktop and normal PC stuff, pictures and video are poor. Like Phoenix says if I set it at the recommended resolution I get the best quality (Vid&Pics still poor) but icons and the whole desktop setup are so small it's a pain to use. Things become a usable size when I set the resolution a step down to 1240 - 740 but the quality gets a little poorer. I doubted it was the system P4 2.2Ghz etc but never expected such a drop in image quality from CRT to TFT.
As I never use this system for games or lengthy vid's it should suffice.
Oh well...should have dug deeper in the pocket. Looks the part mind on my desk - very pleasing to the eye!

 

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is the response times on the TFT screens. Everything I've read indicates this is important if you don't want to get ghosting on Games and Films. Most recommendations i've seen are that <16ms and you will be ok. I just ordered a 19" TFT with DVI / Dsub and is 16ms all for the bargain price of £175! I'll let you know if they're right

 

I can attest that for standard desktop use, infact even games if your not one of those whacked CS players runs fine at 25ms

16ms is pretty much the new norm, espec for 17s and below, my new 20s at 16ms and i havnt seen a noticable improvement, but then again it was always my friends who said they saw ghosting and not me

 

dell were having a mad offer last week, i got about 140 quid off each of my 2001FP (20.1") down to like 338 each, considering my NEC still costs 700, and when i bought it originally it cost 1200, thats some bloody deal

im going to get a Dell 2405FPW (24") as it does 1920x1200 which is native HDTV resolution, ofcourse for 600 quid, dell managed to sell out pretty fkin quick, the identical apple (same panel) costs a grand still or more i think

monitor layout should then look something like this

2001FP - 2405FPW - 2001FP - 2080UX+ rotated into landscape mode for web browsing :P
course i think i need a bigger desk

 

I've ordered it from Aria www.aria.co.uk

this is the model I've ordered

http://www.aria.co.uk/ProductInfoComm.asp?ID=16907

 

looks like a good buy too, good make.

 

Just a note
dell are often doing very good deals on thier monitors
now, I dont have much time for dell consumer kit, but thier monitors have passed the tests of gamers and gaming review sites time and time again, and to pass a test in that arena, your doing something right

make sure you get the Ultravision line not the standard value ones

check out the reviews at places like anandtech where they compare them to other models