CRT or LCD Monitor

[Kaftan Barlast]

CRT's give me a headache, I cant even watch regular TV anymore.

[metadigital]

What have you done to Kaftan, you evil doppleganger?

 

CRTs do draw a lot of power, and they excrete a lot of waste heat and electromagnetic radiation (primarily directly behind the screen, projected in a straight line) so make sure you don't have anyone permanently situated behind the monitor ... unless it's your nephew. Maybe a bit of radiation therapy might do him some good.

[mkreku]

I have one LCD and one CRT screen in my household, so I have the luxury of being able to compare them side by side. There's NO WAY I would trade my old Samsung CRT (admittedly an expensive model mainly used for photo editing by the guy I got it from) for the quite expensive LCD my girlfriend currently has (and I paid for.. argh).

[LadyCrimson]

There's some stuff that I'd like about LCD's - less glare for one, weight another - but at least for certain types of work, CRT's still have the best color, contrast, etc etc.

[Cantousent]

The reason I went with the CRT is that I don't really have a problem with glare at this point. I haven't had a problem with glare since I've lived here.

 

Frankly, I would probably have dropped more cash for a larger CRT, but I wasn't willing to spend over a thousand dollars for this:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16824002139

 

but it's inferior to the monitor I actually purchased in every way that matters to me except for screen size. Even then, having all that surface and being confined to 1600 x 1200 would be a waste.

[LadyCrimson]

I haven't had a problem with glare since I've lived here.

Where you live affects screen-glare? I'd be curious for clarification/more info on that?

 

I'm not typically bothered by CRT glare; I do keep my contrast/gamma fairly dark etc., a personal preference unrelated to glare - so perhaps that's partly the reason. But long gaming/photo editing sessions can make the eyeballs start to feel drier than a desert, sometimes.

[Cantousent]

Oh, I'm sorry Lady. I was just showing my ignorance. I thought glare was reflected light on the screen. I take from your comments it must be the amount of glare that the screen outputs.

[taks]

ouch, snark away there ole pal! i'm sure it was all in good jest... hehe.

 

anyway, whomever dreamed up the idea of putting a curved mirror in the middle of a room with a variety of lights coming from all directions should be shot. the advent of flat screens helped a bit, but not until some wiseacre figured out that LCD/plasma/related screens all had to have a matte finish in order to work properly did the rest of the rubes decide to follow suit with their CRTs. my tv is a pain, and i'm considering junking it (mentioned in cant's tv thread) in favor of a rear-projection simply for the glare-proof screen alone.

 

taks

[Cantousent]

Wait. Wait! I honestly thought it was my mistake. I wasn't being snarky at all. I mean, I'd read about glare, but sometimes these terms get mixed up. I figured it had to be reflected light. I'm serious, I wasn't being snarky.

 

...Unless you meant Lady. In that case, all I forgive her. Really, I'm just confused now. If someone could explain what they mean by glare, I'd appreciate it.

 

What I thought it meant was reflected light. I intentionally have my monitor set up so it doesn't have a significant light source directly behind it. When I post pics later, you'll see what I mean. The room is well lit, but the biggest light sources are to the sides rather than behind.

[theslug]

Yeah I'm pretty sure glare is when light, from say a window with open blinds or a flood light, is hitting the screen causing it to go all insano.

[LadyCrimson]

Sorry for the confusion - I was using glare as a way to describe the combination of the light that comes from the monitor itself and the refresh rate flicker eyestrain stuff - anything that makes you squint, basically, I tend to think of as being glarey. It's not a dictionary definition ... I know, I'm nutty.

 

The light given off by monitors is very bright to my eyes, even with gamma/brightness and such turned down to the max you can go and still be able to at least see a dark corner in games, haha - it's like looking at a light bulb all day. LCD's have a flatter, duller, light-emitting effect on my eyes, even in a dark room where there's no light to reflect off the CRT glass.

[taks]

LCDs are not as bright and they have a special screen designed to diffuse light differently than a CRT would (actually, the original LCD screens focused light straight forward, which is why they had poor side views). anti-glare technology has been around for a looooong time (heck, you could even buy anti-glare screens to go over your monitor 20 years ago), yet it took the monitor einsteins till recently to figure it out. i mean, c'mon, it's not like there wasn't _demand_ for it. sheesh.

 

yes, btw, glare is reflected light. the other effects are perhaps worse with mirrored surface monitors, of course.

 

taks

[Morgoth]

I too have the intention to buy a LCD soon, but I never had one so I'm a little unexperienced with those. Do you think this is a good model? Viewsonic VA2010wb 20''

[Gromnir]

is not like Gromnir hates many folks, but we does hate the French... en masse. nevertheless, is hard for Gromnir to complain 'bout viewsonic graphic series crt monitors. have had a g90fb and a g220fb and is doubtful we ever buy any other brand o' monitor.

 

typical price for one o' these things is 'round $500... but you can gets a new/opened box model from a reputable retailer for 1/2 price. don't do refurbish. keeps checking buy.com and pricegrabber.com and we can almost guarantee that within a few weeks some 4-5 star retailer will offers an open box model in the $250-$350 range.

 

http://www.viewsonic.com/support/desktopdi...cseries/g220fb/

 

the thing is BIG, but if you gots a large 'nuff desk you is gonna be envy of all the kids on the block.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Cantousent]

Damn it, Gromnir. It would have been nice to know that before I bought the damned thing.

[metadigital]

*I* haven't bought a new monitor yet ...

[Cantousent]

*I* haven't bought a new monitor yet ...

 

Swine

[Gromnir]

as an aside, Gromnir has purchased 3 g220fb monitors in last few years. we got 2 at home and we purchased one as a gift. never paid more than $325 after shipping.

 

the opened box bit is great 'cause the monitor is still under full warranty... which is a 3 year deal for viewsonic and probably a 30 day to 1 year warranty from retailer. if something is actually wrong with the monitor chances are you is gonna have to pay some money to ship back to source, but if you do then you gets delivered a brand spanking new monitor that ain't an open-box item... which means chances are you is still saving a good chunk o' change over what you would pay even at newegg.

 

is a bit o' a hassle and you gotta be patient for open-box item to become available from reputable retailer, but for monitors it is a nice way to save some dough. am doubtful that we would ever buy other computer hardware this way, but monitors is kinda like tvs and is self-contained soldi-state appliances: low risk to Gromnir.

 

in any event, we gots no compassion for eldar. recall that embarrassing picture of Gromnir's "desktop" with the silly siamese cat perched on chair? no? well, that were one o' our g220fb monitors on the big ole desk. as an unabashed narcissist of first water we would expect eldar to recall such minutiae.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Cantousent]

Cut it out already, you're making me blush. I didn't remember, by the way, but I plan on searching for it.

[Gromnir]

makes it easy for you. we didn't save pic, but this obsidian message board software does save such stuff on our profile page... go figure.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Cantousent]

Yeah, I remember that picture. Cute cat. Anyhow, I've got my new monitor. It really doesn't take up much more space than my last one. I might end up getting a new desk so I can set up dual monitors. Reading the board, it doesn't make much difference. Playing game though... oh brother! Woo Hoo! My camera bit it, and I'm pretty much exhausted, so I'll do the picture things tomorrow.

[Kaftan Barlast]

Does anyone know what size widescreen I need to be able to match a 19" regular heightwise? I thought of having a WS monitor dualscreened with my regular normal one and it gets a bit funky if they vary too much in height.

[Cantousent]

Damned Camera decided to take a dive. I took the picture of the old monitor a night or two before the new one arrived. Somewhere during that time, the camera died and I had to take the next picture with my wife's old digital. Getting the monitor was a pain in the first place. I ordered it, but I usually leave the house around 6am and I don't get hom until after 8pm. So, they tried to deliver the monitor for two consecutive days. At that point, my wife arranged to have it sent to her work. Great. It weighs 60 pounds and it won't fit in either of our mustangs, so she had to get help from a friend and then she and her friend and her friends two sons had to help take it out of the truck. It's really not so much the weight as it is the bulkiness, though. I mean, she and her friend wouldn't have had a problem if not for the size of the box.

 

Anyhow, adventure over. Here's the new one:

 

 

 

I'm not going to include a before picture because the message board isn't letting me upload both picture and I'm getting increasingly irritated. So, the new picture will have to do.

 

As for the dual monitor thing, is it worth it? As you can see, I have limited desktop area for two monitors. I could get a bigger desk, I guess. I've usually gone cheap on the desks, but time change.

Edited June 9, 2007 by Cantousent

[mkreku]

Love the little purple heart-shaped box under the right speaker. Very manly.

[LadyCrimson]

I see I'm not the only one who sits up close to the screen.

"They" always say you should sit farther back, but I say, what's the point in a big monitor if you're going to sit half way across the room.

 

Do a lot of you have small desks? The few pictures I've seen here and there have been very small. It'd drive me crazy to barely have room for anything but the hardware on the desk surface. But I have this room all to myself, so I can fill it with essentially a giant table w/out issue.