LCD Monitors and gaming and DVDs

[Indiana]

Originally posted by az
This "pixelation" effect is due to the fact that you can see the transistors driving the LCD, which produces a kind of "grid" (my Iiyama Diamondtron tubes have this effect, too, but not that noticeably) - great for windows paint, though

Yes, that's exactly what I mean. And yes, CRTs with "Streifenmasken" (like diamondtron/trinitron ones) exhibit this a bit as well, at least more than "Lochmasken" (can someone please translate these, I don't know the technical terms for these in english....)

[Chucky Cheese]

i have two samsung 210T lcd panels (21.3") with my g550 dual dvi card. i don't play any 3d games but a friend of mine insisted that i try it...so i did...i tried castle wolfenstien. it looked ok, but not as good as his crt. one thing that i noticed was that my targeting reticle would dissappear when i turned real fast. it was still very playable.

dvd movies look fantastic on this model. the 210t also has hardware inputs(..s-video and rca) that will play in the PIP windows that are available through the remote control that comes with it

these panels do look better at 1600 x 1200 @ 75hz, right now i have both set to the max of 1280 x 1024 @ 60hz...i hope that the new hardware(..parhelia???) from matrox will give me higher res with dual dvi...hopefully with the same cable that i'm using with my g550.

does anybody know what the pixel responce is for these panels??

cc

[Michel Carleer]

Inidiana,
Yeah sorry, I misunderstood you. What you say is true. It is most obvious when drawing a green vertical line 2 pixels wide. Then what you see is two closely spaced green lines instead of one wider one. Very strange that a rectangle of the same color won't show the same effect and will look like completely filled. Tells you some about our brain interpreting what our eyes actually see.
But this, as you mention, has to do with the in-line alignment of the pixels. Yes, the same can be seen on CRT's with the same type of pixel alignment. This is one reason why I never liked the Trinitron type tubes, the other reason being the tension wires.
The dot-trio triangle alignment is far better, and I don't understand why they don't use it for LCD's.

[Gurm]

Pixelworks merely make the processor in the monitor which converts an analogue signal to digital. Damn fine electronics, but has very little to do with the display element... other than being hooked up to it.

- Gurm

[Duty]

Ok, here we go. I tried playing two games (JK2 and RedFaction) and one movie (The One) on my new Sylvania 17in LCD.

JK2 was choppy and crashed a lot. I tested it with the CRT and still found it to be choppy and unstable. It turned out to be a separate problem so, I moved to Red Faction. Here it ran well. The graphics were clean and smooth. I enjoyed playing on the LCD and could see it as the primary monitor.

The movie was clean and smooth as well, but the gradations could have been better. I am not sure if this is this LCD or all LCDs. I plan on setting this up next to a viewsonic to compare the difference as soon as my roommate will let me. He is currently testing two VE170s in a triple monitor setup.

To me the biggest problem with the Sylvania LCD is that does not have a digital input.

Over all the LCD is not as crisp on the gradations but everything else was great.

Jeff

P.S.
The res is set to 1152 by 864 at 16 bit. The refresh rate is set as 75hz.

[az]

"Streifenmaske" would be "slot mask" while "Lochmaske" would be "aperture grille", if I'm not mistaken

AZ

[Ali]

az, my problem is that all DVI cards available at the moment (including G550DVI) only output a maximum resolution of 1280X1024. That is because a single channel DVI controller is limited to that resolution.

The DVI specs allow for a dual channel connection, that will work to a much higher resolution


From: http://www.dell.com/us/en/arm/topics...s_2000-dvi.htm

Cut n Paste:

A single-link configuration can also support digital CRT resolutions of up to 1600 x 1200, but only at a 60-Hz refresh rate. (For a discussion of digital CRTs, see "The Future of DVI" later in this article.) The practical limit of a single-link configuration for CRTs at current 75- to 85-Hz refresh rates is 1280 x 1024 (at 85 Hz). Higher-resolution CRTs require a dual link configuration, which can support up to 1920 x 1080 at 85 Hz


Theres some good information there, its only fluke that its a Dell site, just the best site I found using google.


Ali

[az]

Where is the problem driving your LCDs at 1600x1200@60Hz, since LCDs don't flicker? Or do the g550 drivers permit this?

AZ

[Ali]

You cant. The G550 only goes to 1280X1024 when using the digital connection. If you use Analoge you can run at whatever your fp can handle (within reason).

Thats what put me off getting a G550, might as well stay with the G400 ifyou are going to be using analoge anyway.

Ali

[ALBPM]

Leave it to me to dredge this back up but thanks to Parhelia it has raised interest in LCDs.


Has anyone seen the Sony SDM-S81 which by the way is listed as 20ms response time or the Samsung 181Tor 191T which have 25ms response and have 500:1 contrast??????

The Samsung 181T and 191T have very thin 0.7" bevels so would work very well in Multi mode.


Also, is there a big picture difference in using the Analog vs Digital connections ????


Paul

[cjolley]

In my (very limited) exerience, the digital is perfect and the analog ony very good. At least on the cheap LCDs that I have seen.
chuck

[blacklotus]

Samsung 210T total pixel response is 40ms.

Originally posted by Chucky Cheese
i have two samsung 210T lcd panels (21.3") with my g550 dual dvi card. i don't play any 3d games but a friend of mine insisted that i try it...so i did...i tried castle wolfenstien. it looked ok, but not as good as his crt. one thing that i noticed was that my targeting reticle would dissappear when i turned real fast. it was still very playable.
.....
does anybody know what the pixel responce is for these panels??

cc

[blacklotus]

Never seen the Sony. But I've seen the Samsung 181Ts in some shops in SG. Mighty fine LCDs they are. .

WRT Digital vs Analog, digital is definitely the way to go if your vid card and monitor supports them. While Analog with very good cards (G400) and monitors are great, there's always the off-chance of some ghosting when running at high resolutions. (Think 1600x1200 and above). Digital connections eliminate these video gremlins totally. (unless the digital connections isn't up to par. Think R8500 pair up with a digital LCD monitor. )

Anyway, nowadays, most mid range vid cards and monitors all have digital connections. No reason not to avoid them.

Originally posted by ALBPM
Leave it to me to dredge this back up but thanks to Parhelia it has raised interest in LCDs.


Has anyone seen the Sony SDM-S81 which by the way is listed as 20ms response time or the Samsung 181Tor 191T which have 25ms response and have 500:1 contrast??????

The Samsung 181T and 191T have very thin 0.7" bevels so would work very well in Multi mode.


Also, is there a big picture difference in using the Analog vs Digital connections ????


Paul

[Chucky Cheese]

thanks Blacklotus!!!

as far as image quality goes, when i went from two analog outputs to two digital with my current setup it was like night and day...

the image(...wallpaper and viewing) seems more "solid" on the screen. i used to have a tendancy to turn up the brightness in an effort to compensate for refresh rate...i am aware that this is an illusion, i now keep the brightness to 50% and use the color management properties of the Matrox driver. lcds' are definitely easier on the old eyes. i use my system for surfing/reading, banking and i do alot of graph analysis for securities and commodities trading.

i also like the idea that i'm using less power, it is easier on the ups, the room that the computer is in stays cooler...thus the pc runs cooler. not to mention the small footprint of the lcd panel.

cc