Flat screen monitors, what's the hype about

[yogi_hm]

I just can't see what's the hype behind flat screen monitor's, there expensive, display quality looks like s**t if you know what I mean (not all thought). Right now with what I see out there its better to buy a nice size tv and line that pc in there.

What do you guys think?

[Xenocrates]

I'm inclined to agree, except for the part that says the display sucks. It doesn't suck - not entirely. Truth be told the only benefit of purchasing a Flat Panel monitor is that it is easier on the eyes (low glare) and it is devoid of radiation.

However, Flat Panel monitors are only best suited for business purposes. This is because the refresh rate on a flat panel is very poor. This shows up especially when you play games on them. Because the refresh rate is slow, you will find that games that feature a lot of action oftentimes blur the screen, making it difficult to see what's going on.

The only other advantage of the Flat Panel monitors is that they are driving down the cost of CRT monitors. That spells good news for the lot of us ppl who want those big a**ed 19" monitors on our desktops for maximum satisfaction ;D

However, I wouldn't feed a PC through a TV though. Televisions cannot handle the resolution that a computer monitor supports (not even HDTV matches the best of computer monitors). Furthermore, TV pixels are circular, while Monitor pixels are square. The result is that when you view PC apps on the TV, a lot of blurry images result. The same thing occurs when you use a TV card to watch TV or play console games on your PC.

The default TV resolution is 320x240 (or something close to that) and the default monitor resolution in windows is 800x600, with some support for 640x480. The result is clear. Applications run cross platform will lose the desired texture and sharpness, no matter how good the TV card or throughput is.

There are SOME exceptions to this rule, but those TVs usually carry quite a HELL of a price tag. :-\

[yogi_hm]

Well I'm not even sure if they're good for business I've seen three brand new phillips monitors fail in less than six months of use were I work. So even the it's a gamble. But all I have to say is keep the coming so my nice as you put it big a**ed monitors price can come down.

[Ropy]

I heard the dells are good, their refresh rate is well suited for 3d action games... And also flat screen monitors generate way less heat than a regular CRT monitor (oven). Personally I would love one, but u not gonna see me buying any for now...

[wheelman]

Flat Screen Monitors or Flat Panel LCD you talkin bout Yogi?

We have Flat Panel LCD's at work which is not to be confused with Flat Screen which has the same big long back as regular CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) monitors but just the flat screen.

Flat screen is better than regular crt cuz the screen seems more alive and easy to look at especially if you have a low dot pitch on your monitor.

[GodKid]

I agree with most of Xeno said.. however not all..

Flat screens I would say are definately not only for business use... fact is.. some displays are crappy and others aren't.

For instance.. my new baby.. the G4... I'm now running an Studio 17" display and I can tell you that she's SWEET!!.. I haven't done enough research in displays to go running off at the mouth (yet) but I can tell you that a great deal of the people I know with flat panel displays simply misuse them and that gives em a bad rap...

Now I wouldn't go tell ANYBODY to go for a $1000 display when you can get mopre viewing space for $500 ... BUT it depends on what you're doing.. for instance.. if u were in multimedia I'd tell you spend the extra money.. colors are more vivid and true to life on an LCD than on a CRT.. however if you're doing web-design.. stick with the CRT becuase the fact is most people use CRT's.. so what you think may look sweet on your LCD, looks right crappy on a CRT (personal experience )

to close my 2 cents

alot of hardware being produced now is really for specific markets and industries, however the people selling them don't really tell the buyer that becuase they know there are equal amounts of professionals wthin those industries as there are enthusiasts with enough cash to look professional ... that's the flat screen philosophy

[Xenocrates]

GodKid, the refresh rates on the flat panel monitors (let's make the distinction from now) has to do with the technology behind the screen.

LCD screens ofcourse use a liquid crystal silicate that is ionized (charged) to produce the images on the screen. But here's the problem, when you deionize (uncharge - so to speak) a certain cell on the screen, the silicate still retains that charge for some time - some microseconds to be exact. What happens here is that long after the cell is uncharged, that pixel may still be lit, until the charge dissipates.

In layman's terms, this means that a refresh on the LCD screen will leave a temporary shadow of the last frame that was displayed, for a fraction of a second. While this is not bad for normal windows and application purposes, imagine a high speed deathmatch in Unreal Tournament where you fire a rocket that should have neutralised your target. But since your target is moving so fast (30 frames per second) your FPM (flat panel monitor) will have to change the same pixel 30 times for the one second. Toss in a 5 microsecond delay for each update, and you have a rather serious problem on your hands.

Your target has straffed and dodged the rocket, but your monitor has not updated your screen yet. You think the target is dead, but in the tense 2 seconds that it takes for your screen to fill up 60 frames, your target may have already aimed another pineapple for your skull. By the time your screen updates, you will probably only see a large rocket big enough to fill up your screen. In other words, you're dead.

Now this is a worse case scenario. Most times, you will only see a cool looking blur on your screen that looks something like waves of water as your target outstraffes your poorly aimed rockets. If the screen is alive with activity, those blurs will completely impair your judgement. It also looks very messy after awhile. You'll find yourself having to rely on your precognitive abilities more than anything else to score a frag or two.

In a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) monitor, ionification is not done in a liquid silicate. It is done on a semi-conductor surface in which ions can light up and off at nanosecond speeds - practically lightspeed. You can't beat lightspeed. You just can't.

Yes, CRTs are ovens. yes CRT produce radiation. Yes CRTs are dirt cheap in comparison. I don't blame a man for buying Flat Panel. The colours do have an added richness to them (this is really an optical illusion) - but you forgot to mention one MAJOR flaw with flat panels GodKid - Home Resolutions.

The Home Resolution is the rez at which the monitor's presentation looks best - the one it supports by default. Most flat panel monitors support 1024x768 as their home rez. Anything above or below that resolution either looks blurry or lacks texture and completeness. You will find it difficult to read your fonts in higher resolutions as pieces of the pixels that should complete your letters are chopped off.

However, flat panels are better on the environment (no barium compounds that can harm ground water), consume less desktop space, are easier to look at (low glare), and pose no radiation threat.

Now all they have to fix is the refresh problem, the resolution problem, and oh.....................the price.

Until then, CRT is king.

[deakie]

on some of the ut servers i go, the boys with high end connections and fast comps, make me look like im seeing blur. i have to compensate for the gits by shooting ahead of em.
ping is king.

[Xenocrates]

yeah, dat too .... ;D

[GodKid]

Again Xeno I agree...

I actually did mention the home rez thing... just didn't spell it out. When I spoke of misuse I was actually speaking to the fact that most people using LCD's try to use them at 640 or 800 to watch movies and the like.... thus not using the machine at its home res. Yes higher rez's tend to make a huge diff with normal sized text... but even designers doing page layout almost NEVER actually view the text at 100%... instead we like to "know" what size font to use... that kind o thing

I never disputed the effect of the refresh rate... that's why most gamers still go with CRT's... but again.. multimedia editing doesn't usually have critical refresh rate situations, instead we have critical "true-color" situations, which are best treated with using LCD technology

In the end I'll go back to what I said in my earlier post... the fact is.. most new technology is made/developed to fit particular industries.. this however does not stop peeps from selling this technology across the board

G4 fo eva!!

bless