lost_soul on 26/9/2010 at 17:21
Up until last year, I had a beautiful 19 inch ViewSonic CRT for gaming. It died. Now I'm stuck with a 19 inch LCD and it sucks. The picture does not look the same from all angles, and the black levels aren't very good at all.
Perhaps some day I'll acquire a moderately large CRT for cheap. I will NEVER switch to wide screen, and I don't care to spend over $140 on any monitor.
Renzatic on 26/9/2010 at 19:03
Quote Posted by lost_soul
I will NEVER switch to wide screen
Out of curiosity, why not? You're not losing any vertical space, and it gives most applications more working room since their UIs are designed left to right. There are so many more advantages than there are disadvantages going widescreen than sticking with ole 4:3.
lost_soul on 26/9/2010 at 19:40
Mostly because 90% of the content I have is for a 4:3 aspect ratio. I still play many older games, and although I know these things can be worked around, it just isn't worth the effort. I don't watch movies at all either.
negativeliberty on 27/9/2010 at 00:13
Quote Posted by lost_soul
Mostly because 90% of the content I have is for a 4:3 aspect ratio. I still play many older games, and although I know these things can be worked around, it just isn't worth the effort. I don't watch movies at all either.
I went for a 22" widescreen LCD a couple years ago when my beautiful flat CRT died, and I don't regret it. So far, I've been able to find simple workarounds (thanks to WSGF of and TTLG of course) for all of the older games I play, except for Hitman 2 & 3, which I play non-stretched albeit with black bars on either side. Playing games like Thief on widescreen resolutions (and with correct(ed) FOV, so you actually see more of the periphery) is a real joy. Of course I just have to live with the fact that I can't play older adventure games in full screen, but aside from black bars it's hardly noticeable.
That said, I wish I didn't rush the purchase as much I did and went for a monitor with better blacks, and my monitor has some obvious bleeding right in the middle (not obvious in everyday use but when playing Thief it's obvious that there's a slightly brighter vertical band across the middle).
Anway, from what I remember of doing my research back then, here's a useful link:
(
http://www.flatpanelshd.com/panels.php) (to find out which TFT panel is used in a display)
Make sure not to get a bad TN-panel, which isn't to say there aren't some good ones, although with IPS panels going down in price that's the better option if you care about colour reproduction, and contrast to a degree (forget dynamic contrast!).
Keep in mind that the panel type has nothing to do with the backlight (CCFL, LED Edge-lit or OLED), so just because a certain monitor has an IPS panel doesn't mean it can't suffer from bleeding, and likewise not all TN panels have horrible blacks.
So if you're looking for a good TFT for playing Thief and similarly dark games then I really suggest you do your research before buying anything (and for reviews only use sites which specialise in tech or better yet LCDs). Pay attention to what is said about colour reproduction, backlight uniformity & bleeding, contrast & blacks. Pretty much all current LCDs have adequate response times so pay less attention to eye-grabbing "1ms GtG" claims.
lost_soul on 27/9/2010 at 01:39
Also, watch out for dead pixels! This monitor has one in the lower-right quadrent of the screen. It is glaringly visible in any Thief game, but unnoticeable in others like Urban Terror, or bright colorful games. They've got groovy videos on youtube that claim to fix these things, but it had no effect for me.
jermi on 27/9/2010 at 20:28
I once thought I had a dead pixel - turned out to be dust. In all the dozens and dozens of LCDs at work, I've only ever seen one single dead pixel. It was quite the rarity and attracted wide attention.
Widescreen TMA is not worth the effort? What can I say except you're plain wrong about that.
lost_soul on 28/9/2010 at 17:58
Turns out mine is a "stuck pixel", not a dead one. It is always lit, even in dark areas. That is why it shows up so well in Thief. Watching videos like this didn't seem to help, even while listening to some Jimi Hendrix. (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaTTjJncONI)
Vernon on 29/9/2010 at 07:36
Yeah I've got one too - gonna offload this monitor asap. You can apparently try to do a "pixel massage" but it really just sounds like snake oil, plus you can exacerbate the problem. I guess I'm lucky because it isn't the middle of the screen.
Fidcal on 29/9/2010 at 08:08
My TV has 5000 stuck pixels. No, wait a minute ... it's a logo. Phew! That's alright then.
My first LCD monitor was a Xerox. I was in the middle of playing Rowena's Curse and when I resumed with the new monitor it was unwatchable. Bloody awful misty grey blacks no matter how much I tweaked it. Desktop was fine.
I'm now using the Samsung LED backlit 40" but although it has acceptable blacks in Thief it is way overpriced and a sound amp is essential because being ultra-thin, its internal speakers are very poor. On a black screen I see slight light bleed through at bottom corners if I look for it but in general use I've never seen it (ie, it's never caught my eye in real useage.) Yes, I have the dynamic contrast off for PC input.
Dia on 29/9/2010 at 12:53
I tried using an LCD monitor, but after a few months decided I preferred my old CRT (by Mitsubishi) hands down when playing anything Thief.
