I'm going to buy two LCDs for my PC. I know what to look for, but the trouble is that I don't know how good certain models are without trying them out, and I can't seem to find reviews.

The best candidate so far is the Samsung 943BWX. I would like to spend no more than $250 per display.

I need:

1. Wide viewing angle. This is probably the most important. The viewing angle specs are worthless. Everything has a "near 180 degree" viewing angle if you define viewing angle as being able to see the image clearly. I need something that displays it with accurate colors. I notice that LCD TVs do a wonderful job of this. I don't care if the colors fade when I look at it from extreme angles, but I should be able to comfortably move around my desk area without any noticeable distortion.

2. Color accuracy/wide gamut. I'm coming from a rather nice (but aging) CRT that has rather nice color accuracy and, of course, amazing black levels. What's the deal with dynamic contrast? The Samsung I'm looking at is 8000:1 with DC. I've heard people complain that you can visibly see some screens fade the backlight, others have said it's awesome. I suspect color reproduction on mid-level consumer LCDs is good enough for me, I just need one where I know the dynamic contrast is good.

3. No ghosting. I remember people saying that 12ms displays had no ghosting, but that wasn't always true. The one I'm looking at is 5ms or so, which I should hope is more than enough.

4. No input lag. This shouldn't be an issue, I assume, on anything decent, but you never know where manufacturers will be cutting costs.

I would also like it to be widescreen, but I don't care that much as long as the display is big enough.

Also, glossy screens are out of the question. They provide poorer color accuracy and extreme glares. Gross.

I would also prefer to have height and tilt adjustment. I'll pass on the height if there is something really good and high value that doesn't have height, where a model with height adjustment is significantly more.

Any suggestions?

I don't know what your opinion on dell is (i personally do not like their computers) but they have some relatively good screens for the price. I think they are typically 5ms response time, many wide screen models, some of which are only ~200. I haven't noticed any angle problems with mine but I can't say I actually look that closely.

Just my .02

I can see ghosting on every TFT monitor I've ever used. Switching from a 19" Iiyama CRT to a 2ms Samsung 226BW (and it's an "S" panel) I noticed slight ghosting right away playing fast games, it was annoying at first but I got used to it.

You won't get both colour accuracy and good response times, TN Panels will give the best response times, but colour accuracy is poor compared with S-IPS or VA panel types... but for your price I doubt you'll find anything other than a TN panel anyway.

Emon, do you know the differences between TNs, PVA, S-ISP panels? I'm just asking cause the monitor you chose is a TN, and they are pretty much garbage for everything relating to IQ.

No, I don't. Bah.

I don't mind a little ghosting. I suppose 12ms response is fine.

I don't know. I care about image quality but it's not that important to me. I'd like something that is "reasonably" accurate and has decent black levels.

Ghosting is okay if it's minor ghosting that only happens in certain situations. I don't want to turn my character around at a modest pace and see motion blur. If I flick my mouse as hard as I possibly can and happen to see some blur, that's okay.

If viewing angle and color are important and S-IPS or H-IPS panel is a must. These are hard to find unfortunately, and expensive. You probably won't get anything under ~400$ or 20in".

TNs just plain suck; bad color that change based on angle, contrast that varies by angle, ect. This is what most panels are made from; it's easier to pump out cheap panels and hide behind meaningless specs, when really the panel type is just about the only thing you should worry about.

MVA/PVA panels are better than TN, have very good black, but their contrast ratio varies with the angle. This is very annoying.

*IPS displays are the best; they have consistent colors and contrast but are expensive and generally found only larger panels. H-IPS needs and AT-W polarizers, and not all of they come with one. Their black level are slightly worse, but everything else about them makes up for it.

Another thing you have to worry about is input lag. This is *way* more important than response time, and a big concern on many displays, especially one's with a lot of scaling features. It can be up to 80-90ms, which for a display, can be noticeable even in normal desktop use. This must be researched individually for every monitor, but Samsung is considered the worst offender lately.

Response is not that huge an issue anymore; TNs are have the best, but anything under ~6-8ms should do you fine. Really, any display worth buying will probably be 5-6 anyway. These numbers tend to be a bit meaningless and highly fudgeable. You'll need to look at reviews.


Also the Samsung you posted is glossy.

The bezel is glossy, not the actual screen (according to one reviewer, anyway).

Yeah, that monitor has a matte screen. Emon, if you can, you should try to have a TN monitor set side by side with a PVA and IPS panel; and then decide for yourself if it is something that is worthwhile to you.

But, from my experience with them, the difference between TN and PVA is pretty much night and day, and the IPS is just in a league of its own. For me, I will probably look for a PVA panel. They are slightly more expensive, but they are a compromise between TN panels and IPS panels. Meaning that they have better colour reproduction and viewing angles than TN panels, but at the cost of slightly lower response times, and a higher price tag.

Hmm, apparently LG.Philips displays are all IPS... except for the ones marked "TN," I assume. I'm currently looking at those. I'll setting for $350 if it's really that good.

Edit: Hmm, okay I guess they aren't all IPS. I'm looking at the specs and, amazingly, they tell you things like color saturation as a percentage of (I'm assuming) sRGB. Displays that are 60% and only have 6-bit color are most probably TN...

I <3 Dell's LCDs. Only the Ultrasharps though. The cheaper models use crappier panels.

Gah... 19" IPS displays are so expensive. It's cheaper to buy a very large IPS than two smaller ones, even though I'd prefer two smaller ones as it gets me more screen space. Not to mention that games will look subpar below native resolution, and there's no way I can run games at the crazy high resolutions that the large displays need.

Aauugh?? Dell UltraSharp 2009W? It says it has 102% of (presumably) sRGB gamut. The viewing angle looks too low to be IPS, but I'd settle for a TN in disguise if it was close enough.

Just wait til Black Friday man. You'll probably be able to find a decent 24" widescreen for 250-300.

I'm gonna go see if I can't score at least one 24" display black friday

Apparently it sucks.

God, I ****ing hate LCDs. People have been saying for the past 6 years that they are better than CRTs. ****ing bunch of liars.

Yeah, for some reason they started sticking cheaper panels in the 2009. Dunno why they gimped the 20" models. The 2005 and 2007 (after they fixed the color banding issue in the firmware of the 2007) were awesome though.

That really depends on what part of 'better' they were talking about. I love my old CRT, but during the summer, I did not enjoy the stream of heat pouring out of the back of it.

One thing that always pissed me off immensely about CRTs was aligning the display and getting the image shape as close as possible to an actual rectangle. Even on the last CRT I had, a fairly nice Samsung, it always bugged the hell out of me if I ever noticed it looking a little off and I'd spend way too much time trying to get it looking perfect. Probably doesn't bug most people, but it always bugged me. I haven't used CRTs in probably 3 years or so though, and I don't regret it one bit.

My dad's office still has an old CRT monitor, and it bothers me how the text warps around the edges of the screen. It didn't bother me much a decade ago, but it bugs the hell out of me now.

Well, I've found a well-rated store on Amazon that is sell Dell 2007FPs for $200. They're refurbished, but that's fine with me, as long as they are factory refurbished by Dell. I contacted the store asking about whether it's an S-IPS panel or an S-PVA...PVA wouldn't be too bad but I'd prefer the S-IPS. Also asked about the firmware/color banding deal.

At $200 I'll take either panel type, but hopefully if it's Dell refurbished that means the firmware issue will be fixed.