LCD Monitor Advice...

[Gurm]

Well, my 19" Samsung has finally given up the ghost. I don't think it survived the trip very well. *shrug*

But since I let the movers pack and move it, they're on the hook! I haven't gotten a number yet, but they tend to sidestep making an actual insurance claim and just give you replacement price for the item. So I imagine I'll have $300 or so to play with, which goes a long way towards the $500 or so for a 17" LCD.

So... is the recommended unit still the NEC with the ultra-quick response time? I'd like DVI (so as to make use of my Radeon 8500's DVI-out), and a sub-20ms pixel response.

Gimme some units to check out people, I'll be ordering soon enough.

- Gurm

[CHHAS]

I got the Acer AL732 and I'm loving it. It has DVI and analog as well as Svideo and composite input, built in speakers, looks smashing in the alu and has a blue led! Blue led you hear that ?!

[az]

I'll be posting some more screens with the AUO panel (the only 16ms panel atm) tonight. Gotta go now

AZ

[Gurm]

CHHAS - response time?

- Gurm

[CHHAS]

16 ms, it has the AUO panel az mentioned.

[az]

OK, Gurm, your options are (taken from c't):

Acer AL732: DVI, SubD, Video, S-Video in, nice design, small bezel, built-in speakers w/ 2x audio-in (PC and video), grayscale not pure gray, t_rise 14 ms, t_fall 6 ms, 77-200 cd/m² contrast 576:1, settings for shortest response times: contrast 80, brightness 80, picture too bright and noticeable loss of bright grayscale detail at those settings.

ADI A715: DVI, SubD, nice design, built-in speakers, headphone out, height adjustible, poor analog image quality, very good digital quality (on par with the others), ok interpolation (others are better, ALL screens always interpolate to full-screen, distorting the image a bit since they're 5:4), t_rise 12 ms, t_fall 9 ms, 100-184 cd/m² (this might be too bright for dimly lit rooms, turning darker only possible by reducing contrast), contrast 394:1, settings for shortest response times: contrast 100, very noticeable loss of bright grayscale detail at this setting.

BenQ FP767 (analog only, thus I omit the details, ask if you want them)

LG Flatron L1710B (relatively slow - t_rise 26 ms, t_fall 5 ms, thus I omit the details, ask if you want them)

NEC-Mitsubishi Multisync LCD 1760NX: DVI, SubD, nice design IMHO, small bezel, height adjustible, problems with dark grayscale, but stays gray, doesn't become colored, brightness needs long to stabilize, t_rise 12 ms, t_fall 5.5 ms, 70-250 cd/m², contrast 499:1, settings for shortest response time: contrast min. 50, brightness 100, picture too bright and slight loss of bright grayscale detail at this setting.


VideoSeven L17M (analog only)

Viewsonic VG170m (analog only).

I'd say it comes down to a race between the Acer AL732 and the NEC 1760NX.

If you have any questions or want a particular detail, just ask. If your german is good enough, I can send you photos of the article and comparison tables (don't have a scanner).

AZ

[Paulr]

Where did you get the specifications for the NEC from?

You've got a total response rate of 17.5ms whereas the official specifications are 16ms.
You've also got a contrast ratio of 500:1 whereas the official specifications are 450:1.

You've also got this part about "problems with dark greyscale" listed whereas in the two months I've been using one I'm yet to see this issue.

[az]

Listed response is 16 ms for all the screens I posted on above, but you know.. marketing The NEC is actually closest to it from all screens with this panel.

The 499:1 contrast ratio was measured by c't (with an autronic-Melchers ConoScope if you want to know), for a viewer with 70 cm distance and an imaginary eye in the exact middle of the screen. They also measure contrast for the imaginary eye moving (at 70 cm distance) to the edges of the screen, the NEC's contrast then is 424:1 (476:1 for the Acer).

It may well be that you didn't notice the problems with dark grayscale, they use test images (www.heise.de/ct/ctscreen - attention, german. Grayscale can be tested when you click on "Graustufen/Brillianz") in rooms with defined lighting conditions and are very picky.

But what do you want? Your screen turned out to be one of the two best ones, from there it's only personal preference

AZ

[Kurt]

The best 2 are definitely the Acer AL732 or the NEC LCD1760NX.

@Gurm: if price is important, the Acer is 10-20% cheaper and gives you about the same performance.

@Az: good site there, too bad I don't speak German... Can you list the prices as well?

[az]

Cheapest prices I found:

Acer 507 EUR + shipping

NEC 463 EUR + shipping

AZ

[Gurm]

I'm probably ordering the NEC ('cuz the place I'm shopping doesn't carry the Acer) for $475.00 (USD). Not bad, says I.

- Gurm

[Taz]

Probably worth noting that the NEC is available in beige or black and the Acer is silver, (100% aluminium casing according to their website ).

In the UK the Acer is marginally cheaper than the NEC.

[Kurt]

Originally posted by az
Cheapest prices I found:

Acer 507 EUR + shipping

NEC 463 EUR + shipping

AZ

Expensive for Acer, I found some at 440 EUR.

[az]

Are you sure that's the 732, incl. VAT? There's a 712 as well...

AZ

[Paulr]

The discription of the NEC is actually a little misleading with regards colour.
The true colour should be listed as:

Black with a silver bezel
Beige with a silver bezel

There are some rather terrible pictures I took of my NEC available here

I was actually expecting a completely black LCD, however that is the 1700NX (the older model) not the 1760NX.
I actually like the silver & black colouring and think that "all black" is too much, but once again it is personal preference.